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Biography
Infobox musical artist| name = Stewart Copeland| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| image = Stewart Copeland Marseille 2008.png| caption = Stewart Copeland in Marseille in 2008| birth_name = Stewart Armstrong Copeland| alias = Klark Kent| birth_date = birth date and age|mf=yes|1952|7|16| origin = Alexandria, Virginia | Death =| genre = Rock music|Rock , reggae , Pop music|pop , New Wave music|New Wave , jazz | occupation = Musician, composer| years_active = 1974–present| instrument = Drums, percussion, vocals, keyboards, guitar| First_album =| Latest_album =| Notable_albums =| Notable songs =| label = A& M Records|A& M , E1 Music | associated_acts = The Police , Animal Logic (band)|Animal Logic , Oysterhead , Gizmo (band)|Gizmo , Curved Air , Manzarek-Krieger | website = URL| http://www.stewartcopeland.net Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is an American musician, best known as the drummer for the musical band|band The Police . During the group's extended hiatus from the mid-1980s to 2007, he played in other bands and composed soundtrack s. Copeland was ranked by a Rolling Stone magazine reader poll in 2010 as the fifth greatest drummer of all time. http://www.rollingstone.com/music/daily-blog/blogs/rsstaffblogpost_2010/39743/39509 "Readers' Rock List: Best Drummers", rollingstone.com, February 8, 2010.
Background
Copeland was born in Alexandria, Virginia ,cite web|url= http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/01/26/DI2006012601460_pf.html |title=Film: "Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out" |publisher=Washingtonpost.com |date=2006-01-26 |accessdate=2011-10-10 http://www.stewartcopeland.net/biography/1952-75.htm Early days, the Middle East, music biz & Curved Airdead link|date=October 2011 the youngest of four children of CIA officer Miles Copeland, Jr. and Scottish archaeologist Lorraine Copeland|Lorraine Adie . The family moved to Cairo , Egypt a few months after his birth, and Copeland spent his formative years in the Middle East. In 1957, the family moved to Beirut , Lebanon and Copeland attended the American Community School at Beirut|American Community School there. He started drum lessons at age twelve and by age thirteen he was playing drums for school dances. Later he moved to England and attended Millfield from 1967 to 1969. Copeland went to college in California, attending United States International University and UC Berkeley . Returning to England, he worked as road manager for the progressive rock band Curved Air 's 1974 reunion tour, and then assumed drumming duties for the band during 1975 and 1976.
The Police
Main|The PoliceIn 1977, Copeland founded The Police with singer-bassist Sting (musician)|Sting and guitarist Henry Padovani (who was soon replaced by Andy Summers ), which became one of the top bands of the 1980s. The Police's early track list was mostly made of Copeland's compositions, including the band's first single " Fall Out " (Illegal Records, 1977). Though Copeland's songwriting contribution was reduced to a couple of songs per album as Sting started writing more material, he continued to co-arrange all The Police's songs with his two bandmates.
Klark Kent
Copeland also recorded under the stage name|pseudonym Klark Kent, releasing several UK singles in 1978 with one ("Don't Care") entering the UK Singles Chart that year, along with an eponymously titled 10-inch album on green gramophone record|vinyl released in 1980. Recorded at Nigel Gray 's Surrey Sound Studio, Copeland played all the instruments himself.
In 1982 Copeland was involved in the production of a World of Music, Arts and Dance|WOMAD benefit album called Music and Rhythm . In 1983, Copeland composed a musical score to earn a Golden Globe Award|Golden Globe nomination for his scoring of Rumble Fish . The film directed and produced by Francis Ford Coppola from the S.E. Hinton novel also had a song released to radio on A & M Records " Don't Box Me In " (UK Singles Chart n. 91) — a collaboration between Copeland and singer/songwriter Stan Ridgway , leader of the band Wall of Voodoo , that received significant airplay upon release of the film that year. After The Police stopped touring in 1984, Copeland established a career composing soundtrack s for movies Airborne (1993 film)|Airborne , Talk Radio (movie)|Talk Radio , Wall Street (1987 film)|Wall Street , Riff-Raff (1990 film)|Riff Raff , Raining Stones , Surviving the Game , See No Evil, Hear No Evil , Highlander II: The Quickening , The Leopard Son , '' She's Having a Baby , Taking Care of Business , West Beirut (film)|West Beirut , I Am David (film)|I am David , Good Burger ), television ( The Equalizer (TV show)|The Equalizer , Dead Like Me , Star Wars: Droids , the pilot for Babylon 5: The Gathering|Babylon 5 '' (1993), Nickelodeon (TV channel)|Nickelodeon 's The Amanda Show , The Life and Times of Juniper Lee ), and video game s ( Spyro the Dragon (series)|Spyro the Dragon and The Agents ), along with opera s ( Holy Blood and Crescent Moon , commissioned by Cleveland Opera ) and ballet s.
In 1985, Copeland released a solo album, The Rhythmatist. The record was the result of a pilgrimage to Africa and its people, and it features local drums and percussion, with more drums, percussion and other musical instruments added by Copeland. (Stewart is seen playing the drums in a cage with lions surrounding him). The album was the official soundtrack to the movie of the same name, which was co-written by Stewart. He also starred in the movie, which is "A musical odyssey through the heart of Africa in search of the roots of Rock & Roll." The movie is an almost psychedelic, psychological, anthropological, and mythological cosmic adventure drawing from sources like Joseph Campbell and Carl Jung , similar to Peter Weir 's " The Last Wave ."
In 1988 Copeland followed up with The Equalizer & Other Cliff Hangers on I.R.S. No Speak , an album collecting some of his soundtrack efforts. In 1986, Copeland teamed with Adam Ant to record the title track and video for the Anthony Michael Hall movie Out of Bounds (1986 film)|Out of Bounds . In 1989, Copeland formed Animal Logic (band)|Animal Logic with jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and singer songwriter Deborah Holland . The trio had success with their first album and world tour but the followup recording sold poorly, and the band did not continue. Copeland has occasionally played drums for other artists including Peter Gabriel , Mike Rutherford and Tom Waits . In 1993 he composed the music for Ch 4's Horse Opera and director Bob Baldwin. He was commissioned by Insomniac Games and Universal Interactive Studios (now Vivendi ) in 1998 to make the musical scores for the hit PlayStation game Spyro the Dragon (video game)|Spyro the Dragon . He also created the musical scores for the sequels '' Spyro 2: Ripto's Rage! , Spyro: Year of the Dragon , and Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly . In 1999, he provided the voice of an additional soldier|American soldier in the animation|animated musical film|musical comedy film|comedy war film South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut|South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999) .
In 2000, he combined with Les Claypool of Primus (band)|Primus (with whom he produced a track on the Primus album Antipop ) and Trey Anastasio of Phish to create the band Oysterhead . That same year, he was approached by director Adam Collis to assemble the film score|score for the film Sunset Strip (film)|Sunset Strip . In 2002, Copeland was hired by Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of The Doors to play with them for a new album and tour, but after an injury sidelined Copeland, the arrangement ended in mutual lawsuits. In 2005, Copeland released "Orchestralli", a live recording of chamber ensemble music which he had composed during a short tour of Italy in 2002. Also in 2005, Copeland started Gizmo, a new project with avant-garde guitarist David Fiuczynski . The band made their U.S debut on September 16, 2006 at the Modern Drummer Drum Festival. In January 2006, Copeland premiered his film about the Police called Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out at the Sundance Film Festival . In February and March, he appeared as one of the judges on the BBC television show Just the Two of Us (TV series)|Just the Two of Us (a role he later reprised for a second series in January 2007).
Main|The Police Reunion Tour At the 2007 Grammy Awards , Copeland, Andy Summers and Sting (musician)|Sting performed the song " Roxanne (song)|Roxanne " together again as The Police. This marked the band's first public performance since 1986 (they had previously reunited only for an improvised set at Sting's wedding party in 1992 and for their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003). One day later, the band announced that in celebration of The Police's 30th anniversary, they would be embarking on what turned out to be a one-off The Police Reunion Tour|reunion tour on May 28, 2007. Also at that time, Copeland released the compilation album The Stewart Copeland Anthology .
Recent Years
In 2008, Research In Motion|RIM commissioned Copeland to write a "soundtrack" for the BlackBerry Bold . Copeland created a highly percussive theme of one minute's length, from which he evolved six ringtones and a softer 'alarm tone' that are preloaded on the device.cite web|url= http://apcmag.com/must_hear_stewart_copelands_cool_new_blackberry_bold_theme_and_ringtones.htm |title="Stewart Copeland puts message in a bottle for BlackBerry Bold owners" |publisher=Apcmag.com |date= |accessdate=2011-10-10
In March 2008, Copeland premiered a new orchestral composition "Celeste" at "An Evening with Stewart Copeland", part of the Savannah Music Festival . The performance featured classical violinist Daniel Hope . Copeland's appearance at Savannah included a screening of Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out and a question and answer session. On August 21, 2009, at SummerFest '09, Copeland unveiled a recent composition, "Retail Therapy", which had been commissioned by the Music Society. Copeland then performed three more original works: "Kaya", "Celeste", and "Gene Pool", the last aided by San Diego-based percussion ensemble red fish blue fish.cite web|url= http://www.sdnn.com/sandiego/2009-08-22/blog/culture-cruncher/review-polices-stewart-copeland-rocks-summerfest |title="Review: Police's Stewart Copeland rocks SummerFest" |publisher=Sdnn.com |date= |accessdate=2011-10-10 Copeland was also present for a composer's roundtable and a question and answer discussion in conjunction with the festival. Copeland wrote the score for an updated theatrical presentation of chariot-racing saga Ben-Hur , premiered September 17, 2009, at The O2 arena (London)|the London O2 Arena . Copeland provided English-language narration of the production, which is performed entirely in Latin and the Aramaic language .cite web|author=John Garth |url= http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1180766/When-London-Romans--Ben-Hur-O2-staged-Latin-Aramaic.html |title="When in London, do as the Romans... Ben-Hur O2 show to be staged in Latin and Aramaic" |publisher=Dailymail.co.uk |date=2009-05-12 |accessdate=2011-10-10 In September 2009, a memoir by Copeland entitled Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies was released by Harper Collins .cite web| url= http://www.harpercollins.ca/books/9780061791499/Strange_Things_Happen/index.aspx |title=Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies |publisher= Harper Collins |accessdate=October 5, 2009 According to an interview Copeland conducted with the Californian music store Amoeba Music, the book chronicles much of Copeland's life, from his childhood through the course of his work with The Police and to the present.cite web|publisher = Amoeba Music | date = October 8, 2009 | url = http://www.amoeba.com/live-shows/performances/hollywood/2009-october-08/stewart-copeland-book-signing/artist.html |title=Stewart Copeland Book Signing | accessdate = October 23, 2009
In 2008, Copeland was commissioned by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra to create a percussion piece involving primarily Indonesian instruments. "Gamelan D’Drum" was first performed (after two weather delays) in Dallas on February 5, 2011.
In October 2009 he was a guest on Private Passions , the biographical music discussion programme on BBC Radio 3 .cite web|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/privatepassions/ |title=BBC Radio 3 |publisher=Bbc.co.uk |date= |accessdate=2011-10-10
On August 24, 2011, Copeland was a featured soloist on The Late Show With David Letterman , as part of their second "Drum Solo Week".
On January 10, 2012, he appeared on an episode of the A& E reality series Storage Wars to appraise a drum set.
Personal life
Copeland was romantically involved with Curved Air vocalist Sonja Kristina beginning in 1974, and they were married from 1982 to 1991.cite web | last = James | first = Billy | title = Interview: Sonja Kristina | work=Get Ready to ROCK& #33; | publisher=hotdigitsnewmedia group | url = http://www.getreadytorock.com/rock_stars/sonja_kristina.htm | date = May 2008Cite book | last = Copeland | first = Stewart | title = Strange Things Happen: A Life with The Police, Polo, and Pygmies | publisher = HarperCollins | year = 2009 Copeland adopted Kristina's son Sven from a prior relationship, and they had two more sons together, Jordan and Scott.Cite news | last = Pearce | first = Garth | title = Shea, yeah, yeah... | newspaper = The Daily Express | date = 18 August 1983 In 1981, Copeland fathered a son, Patrick, with Marina Guinness, daughter of Irish author Desmond Guinness .Cite news | last = Daly | first = Susan | title = Bohemian rhapsody: Marina Guinness and Kila | newspaper = Irish Independent | date = 19 July 2008Cite news | last = Ross | first = Seamus | title = Talent on Tap | newspaper = Sunday Mirror | date = 16 March 2008 Copeland currently lives in Los Angeles with his second wife, Fiona Dent, with whom he has three daughters (Eve, Grace and Celeste).
Copeland's oldest brother Miles Copeland III , founder of I.R.S. Records , was the manager of The Police and has overseen Stewart's interests in other music projects. Stewart's other brother, the late Ian Copeland , was a pioneering booking agent who represented the Police and many others. His father, Miles Copeland, Jr. , was a founding member of the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), according to his 1989 biography Miles Copeland: "...(Later, I was one of the 200 employees who were on the original list of career members when the CIA became official in July 1974)" ''The Game Player: Confessions of the CIA's Original Political Operative , London: Aurum Press , 1989 and files released by the CIA in 2008. http://news.aol.com/article/julia-child-others-part-of-spy-network/132516 Julia Child, Others Part of Spy Network , AOL News, August 14, 2008
Copeland's hobbies include rollerskating, cycling along the beach in Santa Monica, filmmaking and playing polo. Citation needed|date=January 2010
Drumming
Copeland is known for precise, energetic, and creative reggae-influenced drumming along with a Lebanese people|Lebanese -influenced style.cite web|url= http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=HiosLJU2PzM |title=Playing style of Stewart Copeland |publisher=Youtube.com |date=2009-04-18 |accessdate=2011-10-10 His distinctive sound centers on a hard, high-pitched crack on a snare or rimshot, and subtle hi-hat work with understated flourishes. During his years with The Police, he became known for engaging only the hi-hat with bass drum to keep the beat on many Police tracks. Copeland is a master of the syncopation|syncopated beat , and his distinct approach consolidates his position as an important drummer on the world stage, subsequently influencing generations of drummers.
Copeland is also noted for his strong emphasis on the groove as a complement to the song, rather than as its core component. He once drove this point home at a drum clinic: Copeland announced that he would show the audience something "that very few modern drummers can do," and proceeded to play a simple rock beat for two minutes. Nonetheless, his playing often incorporates spectacular fills and subtle inflections which greatly augment the groove. Compared to most of his 1980s contemporaries, Copeland's snare sound was very bright and cutting. Another novelty was his use of splash cymbal s. He is also one of the few rock drummers to use the traditional grip rather than the matched grip .
Equipment
Stewart Copeland currently uses Tama Drums|Tama drums, Paiste cymbals, Remo drum heads and Vater drum sticks.
"The Equalizer" / "The Equalizer Busy Equalizing" - 1988
References
Reflist|2
External links
http://www.stewartcopeland.net/ Copeland's official site
The PoliceCurved AirUse mdy dates|date=August 2010 Persondata | NAME =Copeland, Stewart | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH =July 16, 1952 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Stewart Category:1952 births Category:Living people Category:American expatriates in Egypt Category:American expatriates in Lebanon Category:American expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:American film score composers Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:American rock drummers Category:The Police members Category:Curved Air members Category:People educated at Millfield Category:Foreign Service brats Category:People from Alexandria, Virginia Category:People from Cairo Category:People from Beirut Category:Reality television judges Category:Video game composers Category:United States International University alumni
