Biography

Is the only member of The Police who is American.

Copeland's father, Miles Copeland, was a trumpeter in Glenn Miller's Air Force Band, and later became a founding agent in the CIA.

Lived in Egypt and Lebanon for a time when he was young due to his parents' careers (his father was in the CIA and his mother was an archaeologist.)

He is fluent in Arabic, the main language spoken during his childhood.

Step-cousin of Courteney Cox.

Smile my friends, in show-biz you have to take the rough with the smooth.

Classical music was always going through my head. Even when I listened to Hendrix [Jimi Hendrix] I imagined strings around him. I was never into opera, though. I had a problem with the singers. That exaggerated vibrato. It obscures the melody. Then I saw Wagner [Richard Wagner]'s "Parsifal" and I got it - overwrought dramatic subjects and overwrought dramatic music sobbing with emotion. When the opportunity to write one came, I thought, "There's nothing wrong with opera that a good opera wouldn't fix".

When I was a film composer under a deadline those instruments would gather dust. And any time I spent hooting away on my bass clarinet just for the fun of it felt like time wasted. Then I came to the realization that it's not goofing off, that's what I'm here for.

I am a crusader, educating musicians who have the depth of talent for large-scale enterprises. I encourage them. It's really a lot of fun. It's magnificent when you hear the orchestra pump it out. Learning to score a chart is easier than learning French. There are fewer words and, being musicians, the people I'm talking about already have that covered.

I was not a big fan of opera. I didn't really "get" the first few I saw until I saw a David Hockney production of "Tristan". That was en education as to what it's all about with opera: the power, the majesty, the kick-ass of a big orchestra and a big story.