46 Facts About Stewart Copeland

Stewart Armstrong Copeland was born on July 16,1952 and is an American musician and composer.

Stewart Copeland is best known for his work as the drummer of the British rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008.

Stewart Copeland has written pieces for ballet, opera, and orchestra.

Stewart Copeland was ranked the 10th best drummer of all time by Rolling Stone in 2016.

Stewart Copeland was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Police in 2003, the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 2005, and the Classic Drummer Hall of Fame in 2013.

Stewart Copeland's mother was born in Edinburgh, while his father was from Alabama.

Stewart Copeland's father was, according to his own 1989 biography and files released by the CIA in 2008, a key intelligence operative in Britain during the Second World War and a founding member of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Stewart Copeland's mother was an espionage veteran, serving in the British Special Operations Executive.

Miles Copeland was assigned CIA duties in the Middle East and the family moved to Cairo a few months after Stewart's birth.

When Stewart Copeland was five years old the family moved to Beirut, where he attended the American Community School.

Stewart Copeland started taking drumming lessons at age 12 and was playing drums for school dances within a year.

Stewart Copeland later moved to England, attending the American School in London and Millfield boarding school in Somerset from 1967 to 1969.

Stewart Copeland went to college in California, enrolling at Alliant International University and the University of California, Berkeley.

Stewart Copeland has overseen Copeland's interests in other music projects.

Stewart Copeland's other brother, Ian Copeland, was a pioneering booking agent who represented the Police and many others.

Stewart Copeland formed the Police and Kristina and Way both pursued solo careers.

Kristina and Stewart Copeland maintained the close personal relationship they'd formed while bandmates and were married in 1982.

In early 1977, Stewart Copeland founded the Police with lead singer-bass guitarist Sting and guitarist Henry Padovani, and they became one of the top bands of the late 1970s and early 1980s.

The Police's early track list was largely Stewart Copeland compositions, including the band's first single "Fall Out" and the B-side "Nothing Achieving".

Stewart Copeland recorded under the pseudonym Klark Kent, releasing several UK singles in 1978 with one entering the UK Singles Chart that year, along with an eponymous 10-inch album on green vinyl released in 1980.

In 1982, Stewart Copeland was involved in the production of a WOMAD benefit album called Music and Rhythm.

Stewart Copeland is seen in the film playing the drums in a cage with lions surrounding him.

In 1996, Stewart Copeland provided the score for The Leopard Son, Discovery Channel's first commercially released full-length feature film, made by wildlife filmmaker Hugo van Lawick.

Peter Gabriel employed Stewart Copeland to perform on his song "Red Rain" from his 1986 album So because of his "hi-hat mastery".

Stewart Copeland has performed with Mike Rutherford and Tom Waits.

In 1989, Stewart Copeland formed Animal Logic with jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and singer-songwriter Deborah Holland.

Stewart Copeland was commissioned by Insomniac Games in 1998 to make the musical score for the hit PlayStation game Spyro the Dragon.

Stewart Copeland composed a new title theme for Spyro Reignited Trilogy.

In 2002, Stewart Copeland was hired by Ray Manzarek and Robby Krieger of the Doors to play with them for a new album and tour, but the tour was cut short.

In 2005, Stewart 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, Stewart Copeland started Gizmodrome, a new project with avant-garde guitarist David Fiuczynski, multi-instrumentalist Vittorio Cosma, singer Raiz and bassist Max Gazze.

In January 2006, Stewart Copeland premiered his film about the Police called Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out at the Sundance Film Festival.

In 2008, RIM commissioned Stewart Copeland to write a "soundtrack" for the BlackBerry Bold smart phone.

Stewart 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.

Stewart Copeland attended a composer's roundtable and a question and answer discussion in conjunction with the festival.

Stewart Copeland wrote the score for a theatrical presentation of Ben-Hur, which premiered on September 17,2009, at the O2 Arena in London.

Stewart Copeland provided English-language narration of the production, which is performed in Latin and Aramaic.

Ricky Kej and Stewart Copeland previously worked together on a song in 2016.

In 1974, Stewart Copeland became romantically involved with Curved Air vocalist Sonja Kristina, and they were married from 1982 to 1991.

Stewart Copeland adopted her son from a previous relationship, and they had two sons of their own.

Stewart Copeland's hobbies include rollerskating, cycling along the beach in Santa Monica, filmmaking, and playing polo.

Stewart Copeland is active on his YouTube channel, where he uploads videos of himself and other musicians during jam sessions in his studio, the Sacred Grove.

Stewart Copeland grew up listening to a combination of Lebanese music, rock and roll, jazz, and reggae, but he selected from these styles what he needed rather than imitating them.

Stewart Copeland used another innovation, a splash cymbal based on a toy that he owned and that he helped Paiste design.

Stewart Copeland uses a wide dynamic range and demonstrates a proficiency of jazz-style articulation in his snare drum playing, interspersing strong back-beats with soft rim comping.

Stewart Copeland's equipment includes Tama drums, Paiste cymbals, Remo drum heads, and Vater signature drum sticks.