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Stewart Copeland
Born Jul 16, 1952 in Alexandria, Egypt
After rising to international stardom with the
Police, Stewart Copeland largely rejected his pop music past to
pursue a career as a composer, authoring a prolific series of film
scores, operas, and ballets. Born July 16, 1952 in Alexandria,
Egypt, Copeland the son of a CIA agent spent his formative
years in the Middle East but attended college in California before
settling in England in 1975 and playing drums with the progressive
rock unit Curved Air. Following the group's dissolution, he
founded the Police with singer/bassist Sting and guitarist Henri
Padovani (the latter soon replaced by Andy Summers). Beginning
with their first hit, 1979's "Roxanne," the trio emerged
as one of the most popular and innovative bands of the post-punk
era, drawing upon reggae, funk, and world music to create a
uniquely infectious yet cerebral brand of pop which generated a
series of smash singles including "Every Little Thing She
Does Is Magic," "Every Breath You Take," and
"King of Pain." While with the Police, Copeland who
in 1980 issued a solo record, Music Madness from the Kinetic Kid,
under the alias Klark Kent not only earned wide critical
acclaim for his intricate, textured drumwork, but he contributed
many of the group's songs as well. At the peak of their commercial
success, the Police disbanded after touring in support of the 1983
blockbuster Synchronicity;
by that time Copeland was already established as a film composer,
however, earning a Golden Globe nomination for his score to
Francis Ford Coppola's Rumble Fish. In 1985 he released The
Rhythmatist, the product of his musical pilgrimage to Africa,
followed by an ever-increasing number of film scores including a
pair of Oliver Stone features, Wall Street and Talk Radio, in
addition to acclaimed projects like Ken Loach's Raining Stones,
Four Days in September and West Beirut as well as many more
mainstream Hollywood productions. Copeland's other work includes a
stint with the pop-fusion trio Animal Logic as well as authoring
the San Francisco Ballet's King Lear, the Cleveland Opera's Holy
Blood and Crescent Moon, and Ballet Oklahoma's Prey.
Bio By
Jason Ankeny
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