|
contents | blues | |||||||||||||
| Shemekia Copeland Celebrates New Release Grammy-nominated and Harlem-bred vocalist Shemekia Copeland celebrates the release of her new CD, The Soul Truth, with a live performance in Trenton. Legendary Stax guitarist / songwriter / producer Steve Cropper produced Copeland's The Soul Truth, flavoring the recording with solid doses of Memphis soul and punching horns. Copeland's music has garnered praise from mainstream press and radio and earned her many awards, including the 2005 Blues Music Award for “Contemporary Female Blues Artist of the Year.” In 2005, DownBeat magazine named Shemekia this year's “Rising Star Of The Blues.” Born in Harlem, New York in 1979, Shemekia came to her singing career slowly. Her father, the late Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, recognized his daughter's talent early on. He even brought her on stage to sing at Harlem's famed Cotton Club when she was just eight. At that time Shemekia's embarrassment outweighed her desire to sing. But when she was 15 and her father's health began to slow him down, she received the calling. “It was like a switch went off in my head, ” recalls Shemekia, “and I wanted to sing. It became a want and a need. I had to do it.” Within a year she was touring with her father. Shemekia stepped out of her father's shadow in 1998 when Alligator released Turn the Heat Up to massive popular and critical acclaim, with rave reviews running in newspapers and magazine across the country. In 2000 she returned with Wicked (and received a Grammy nomination) then followed that with her Dr. John-produced release, Talking to Strangers in 2002. On the strength of these recordings, Copeland has appeared twice on Late Night With Conan O'Brien, and also performed on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition and the CBS Saturday Early Show. She's appeared on Austin City Limits and the Late Show With David Letterman (along with B.B. King), was featured in the Martin Scorsese-produced concert film Lightning In A Bottle, the PBS television series The Blues and even opened a show for the Rolling Stones in Chicago. She's toured the U.S., Canada, Europe and Australia. With the powerful and radio-friendly songs on The Soul Truth and continued non-stop touring, Shemekia will continue to reach fans across all musical genres. Throughout CD, Shemekia Copeland delivers music for both seasoned blues and soul lovers and new fans. “I want people who love hip-hop to know where it came from, ” she told Vibe magazine. “My music is rooted in blues, but it's different. I'm singing about my era. I'm here and I'm singing about now and not yesterday.” write your comments about the article :: © 2005 Jazz News :: home page |