USA: FORMER 'POLICE' DRUMMER STEWART COPELAND CONTINUES HIS CAREER AS A FILM COMPOSER WITH THE RELEASE OF 'THE LEOPARD SON'

Record ID: 386728

  • Title: USA: FORMER 'POLICE' DRUMMER STEWART COPELAND CONTINUES HIS CAREER AS A FILM COMPOSER WITH THE RELEASE OF 'THE LEOPARD SON'
  • Date: 25th September 1996
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES ( (SEPTEMBER 27,1996) (RTV) (SOUNDBITE ENGLISH) COPELAND SAYING WHEN THE BAND BROKE UP I HAD NOT FINISHED YET EITHER WITH ANDY'S GUITAR PLAYING OR STING'S SINGING. I THINK THERE'S A LOT MORE TO DO, I HADN'T GOT BORED OF THAT FORMAT AT ALL BUT OTHER THINGS WERE BEGINNING TO HAPPEN LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES ( (SEPTEM
  • Embargoed: 10th October 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAENJ1PZ6YR3GA1NIJ5K4M5CJL
  • Story Text: Former "Police" drummer Stewart Copeland continues his solo career as a film composer with the release of "The Leopard Son" -- a documentary for which he composed the soundtrack.

    Copeland, the son of a jazz-playing CIA-agent father and a classical music-loving archaelogist mother, grew up in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and the United States.

    Playing rock music since the age of 12, Copeland was a founding member of The Police, one of the most successful rock groups of the 1980's.

    The band, made up of Copeland on drums, Sting and Henri Padovani, formed in England in 1977 during the punk rock explosion.

    Andy Summers replaced Padovani on guitar after the release of their debut single and the band survived as a trio until they recorded their last album "Synchronicity" in 1983.

    But not all the members were ready to move on.

    "When the band broke up, I hadn't finished yet with either Andy's guitar playing or Sting's songs," Copeland recently told Reuters in Los Angeles.

    "I hadn't got bored of that format at all but other things were beginning to happen." Some of those things, for Copeland at least, was composing film scores.

    The band was still together when Copeland composed his first film score, for Francis Ford Coppola's "Rumblefish".

    It was while working on that score he realized there was a musical life for him after rock 'n' roll.

    Copeland's latest score, for "The Leopard Son", premiered in Los Angeles last month (September 25).

    Produced and directed by award-winning film maker and naturalist Hugo van Lawick, the documentary was filmed in the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, East Africa.

    It tells the story of the coming of age of a young leopard, following his journey to young adulthood, observing his trials and tribulations as he learns to lead an independent life.

    Copeland says the documentary gave him the opportunity to immerse himself in African music.

    "I've been very influenced by African music," he said. "Almost all the music I've done has reflected that." During his tenure as a film composer, Copeland also began experimenting with other musical media.

    His opera, ballet and symphonic works include "King Lear", "Emilio," "Horse Opera" and "The Casque of Amontillado", a two-character opera based on the Edgar Allen Poe short story.

    Copeland has also previously spent time in Africa when he filmed and recorded his musical odyssey across the continent in a personal documentary "The Rythmatist".

    Since 1984, Copeland has written scores for big name directors, including Oliver Stone (Wall Street, Talk Radio), John Hughes (She's Having a Baby) and Kevin Reynolds (Rapa Nui).

    He's also worked with many top art-house directors such as John Duigan (The Wide Sargasso Sea), Ken Loach (Raining Stones) and Boaz Yakin (Fresh).
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