John Clyde Copeland (March 27, 1937 – July 3, 1997) was an American

Texas blues Texas blues is blues music from Texas. As a regional style, its original form was characterized by jazz and swing influences. Later examples are often closer to blues rock and Southern rock. History Texas blues began to appear in the early 190 ...

guitarist and singer. In 1983, he was named Blues Entertainer of the Year by the

Blues Foundation The Blues Foundation is an American nonprofit corporation, headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the County seat, seat of Shelby County, Tennessee, Shelby County in the southwest part of t ...

. He is the father of blues singer Shemekia Copeland. In 2017, Copeland was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame.

Career

Copeland was born in Haynesville, Louisiana. Influenced by T-Bone Walker, he formed the Dukes of Rhythm in

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

, Texas, and made his recording debut in 1956, signing with Duke Records the following year. Although his early records met with little commercial success, he became a popular touring act over the next two decades. His early recording career embraced blues, soul and rock and roll. He recorded singles for Mercury, Golden Eagle and All Boy, amongst others. His first single was "Rock 'n' Roll Lily", and he later cut successes such as "Down on Bending Knees" and "Please Let Me Know". For the most part, his singles featured Copeland as a vocalist more than a guitar player. Driven by disco to rethink his future, he moved to New York City in 1976, and played extensively in Eastern cities. In New York he met a young record producer named Dan Doyle who was instrumental in getting Copeland signed with

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by Al ...

. Doyle produced Copeland's initial Rounder releases including ''

Copeland Special ''Copeland Special'' is an album by the American musician Johnny Copeland. It was in 1981 on Rounder Records in the United States, Demon Records in the United Kingdom, and Black & Blue Records in France. It was recorded and mixed at Blank Tapes, 37 ...

'' for which he won a W. C. Handy Award in 1981, and ''

Bringin' It All Back Home ''Bringing It All Back Home'' (known as ''Subterranean Homesick Blues'' in some European countries; sometimes also spelled ''Bringin' It All Back Home'') is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was released in Apri ...

'' (1985). Copeland also recorded with

Albert Collins Albert Gene Drewery, known as Albert Collins and the Ice Man (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993),Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. ...

and

Robert Cray Robert William Cray (born August 1, 1953) is an American blues guitarist and singer. He has led his own band and won five Grammy Awards. Early life Robert Cray was born on August 1, 1953, in Columbus, Georgia, while his father was stationed a ...

, winning a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airpor ...

for Best Traditional Blues Album, for the album '' Showdown!''. Touring widely, Copeland appeared at the 1983 Long Beach Blues Festival and the 1988 San Francisco Blues Festival. Copeland also played at the 1985

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

, as a guest with

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble. Although his mainstream career spanned only seven years ...

and his band Double Trouble. Vaughan and Copeland performed the Bob Geddins song "Tin Pan Alley" together on Vaughan's compilation album ''Blues at Sunrise''. He also played on the first edition of BRBF (Blues Peer Festival) later that year. His later years were dogged by ill health due to a congenital heart defect. He died, aged 60, in Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center, in New York City, from complications of heart surgery for a heart transplanted six months earlier. Copeland was a resident of Teaneck, New Jersey. His daughter, Shemekia Copeland, established a successful career as a singer. He was also survived by his wife, son and two daughters. In 2017, Copeland was posthumously inducted in to the Blues Hall of Fame.

Selected recordings

*1981: ''

'' (Rounder) *1984: ''

Texas Twister Texas Twister is a fictional superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Roy Thomas and penciller George Pérez and first appeared in ''Fantastic Four'' #177 (December 1976). He was a ...

'' (Rounder) *1985: ''

'' (Rounder) *1989: ''Blues Power'' (

P-Vine Records P-Vine Records is an independent record label based in Tokyo, Japan. History It was started in 1976 by Blues Interactions, a firm founded in 1975 by Yasufumi Higurashi and Akira Kochi, as a record label focused on black music. The label name c ...

) *1989: ''Boom Boom'' (Rounder) *1991: ''When the Rain Starts Fallin (Rounder) *1994: '' Catch Up with the Blues'' (Verve) *1995: ''Jungle Swing'' (Verve Records) *1996: ''Texas Party'' *1998: ''

The Crazy Cajun Recordings John Clyde Copeland (March 27, 1937 – July 3, 1997) was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer. In 1983, he was named Blues Entertainer of the Year by the Blues Foundation. He is the father of blues singer Shemekia Copeland. In 2017, Cop ...

'' (Edsel Records) *1999: ''Honky Tonkin

References

External links

Official memorial website
* Copeland biographyat

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Johnny 1937 births 1997 deaths African-American guitarists American blues guitarists American male guitarists American blues singers Singers from New York City People from Haynesville, Louisiana People from Teaneck, New Jersey Kent Records artists Grammy Award winners Texas blues musicians Singers from Louisiana 20th-century American guitarists Guitarists from Louisiana Guitarists from Texas Guitarists from New York City Rounder Records artists P-Vine Records artists American funk musicians American dance musicians Wand Records artists 20th-century African-American male singers

Career

Selected recordings

See also

References

External links