Beverly Glenn-Copeland

Beverly Glenn-Copeland (born 1944) is a singer and songwriter who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to a musical family.[1] He has spent most of his life and career in Canada.[2] Glenn-Copeland began publicly identifying as a trans man in 2002.[3][4][5]

Beverly Glenn-Copeland
Bornc. 1944
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
GenresJazz, new age, folk
Occupation(s)Songwriter, musician, actor
InstrumentsGuitar, piano, synthesizer
Years active1970–present
LabelsGRT, Atlast
Associated acts

Early life

As a child, Glenn-Copeland listened to his father play the music of Bach, Chopin, and Mozart on the piano, and heard his mother occasionally sing spirituals.[6]

In 1961, Glenn-Copeland was one of the first black students to study at McGill University in Montreal.[7]

Musical career

Glenn-Copeland started his career as a folk singer incorporating jazz, classical, and blues elements.[8] He also performed on albums by Ken Friesen, Bruce Cockburn, Gene Murtynec, Bob Disalle, and Kathryn Moses,[8] and was a writer on Sesame Street.[9] He spent twenty-five years entertaining children as a regular actor on Canadian children's television show Mr. Dressup.[10]

Glenn-Copeland's 1986 electronic album, Keyboard Fantasies, recorded using equipment including a Yamaha DX7 and a Roland TR-707,[11] and other recordings were rediscovered and promoted by a Japanese collector [12] in 2015.[13] Before Glenn-Copeland's gender transition was made public, "Keyboard Fantasies" was selected as one of the 70 greatest recordings by women by The Stranger.[14]

Other albums by Glenn-Copeland include Beverly Glenn Copeland (1970), Beverly Copeland (early 1970s), At Last! (1980), Primal Prayer (released under the pseudonym Phynix in 2004), and Transmissions (released in September 2020).[15][16]

Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story, a documentary directed by Posy Dixon, was released in 2019.[17][18][19]

Planned 2020 international tours to Australia, the United Kingdom, and other European destinations were re-scheduled to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A fundraising campaign was initiated to help Glenn-Copeland and his wife after the loss of their house that resulted from these changes; the campaign raised over $90,000.[20] In the same year, Glenn-Copeland created a prerecorded video performance of his song "Courage" for Buddies in Bad Times and CBC Gem's online Queer Pride Inside show.[21]

The Keyboard Fantasies album was named as the public vote winner of the Polaris Heritage Prize at the 2020 Polaris Music Prize.[22]

References
  1. "About Beverly Glenn-Copeland".
  2. "Exclusive: Watch Beverly-Glenn Copeland's Incredible Lecture at the Red Bull Music Academy Weekender in Montreal". Complex. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  3. "Voice soars above gender, says transgender man performing in Toronto this week". Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  4. "The singer formerly seen as she". Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  5. "Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Music for a Future That Never Came". Complex. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
  6. Hsu, Hua. "Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Music for a Future That Never Came". The New Yorker. Retrieved November 10, 2020.
  7. Díaz, Devan (January 7, 2020). "Going Exploring With Beverly Glenn-Copeland". PAPER. Retrieved June 10, 2020.
  8. "Beverley Glenn-Copeland - Biography & History - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  9. Advisor, Resident. "Review: Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Copeland Keyboard Fantasies". Resident Advisor. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  10. "Beverly Glenn-Copeland". SÉANCE CENTRE. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  11. Ediriwira, Amar (October 20, 2016). "Invisible City Editions preps Beverly Glenn-Copeland reissue". The Vinyl Factory. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  12. "Play It Forward: Glenn Copeland".
  13. Hsu, Hua. "Beverly Glenn-Copeland's Music for a Future That Never Came". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 8, 2021.
  14. "The Problem with NPR's '150 Greatest Albums Made by Women' List". Retrieved December 1, 2017.
  15. "Listeners Found Beverly Glenn-Copeland. It Was Time".
  16. "Beverly Glenn-Copeland: Transmissions: The Music of Beverly Glenn-Copeland". Pitchfork. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  17. "British Council Film: Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story". film-directory.britishcouncil.org.
  18. Reynolds, Daniel (August 28, 2020). "The World Is Finally Ready for Trans Musical Genius Glenn Copeland". The Advocate. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
  19. "Kickstarter launched for documentary Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music. Retrieved February 2, 2021.
  20. Sanders, Wren (June 3, 2020). "GoFundMe Launched for Composer and Black Trans Elder Beverly Glenn-Copeland". Them.us. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  21. Peter Knegt, "This Pride, come inside for a digital queer cabaret unlike anything else". CBC Arts, June 22, 2020.
  22. "2020 Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize Winners Named". FYI Music News, November 16, 2020.


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