Tony did much of his early practicing, in the closet. The story goes like this...

“Tony Copeland” a jazz guitarist born and raised in the small port town of Portsmouth, Virginia, began playing music at an early age, after his parents Floyd, a retired Longshoreman and Velma a retired city worker, purchased two guitars, one for him and one for his older brother “Reneal”. While his father was hard at work, his mother kept him and his seven siblings in church, filled with a host of good musicians. This is where the young musicians including Tony honed their skills by watching and imitating the older guitar, bass and piano and drum players. 

Tony did much of his early practicing, in the closet. The story goes like this...his father sang bass vocals in a local quartet, “The Golden Tones” who eventually disbanded. Floyd the father brought the musical instruments (guitar, bass, amplifier and microphone) home and put them away in the closet. Tony would sneak in while his father was away and practice on these instruments in the dark. Too short to turn on the light, and afraid that he would be exposed by the other siblings, was the reason for this unusual practice behavior.

 Tony is a graduate of Manor High School. While working at a London Fog coat factory, he attended Commonwealth College and Rice Aviation where he studied to become a certified Airframe repairman. This effort was halted after the sudden and tragic death of his youngest brother “Gary”. He simply retired his efforts as a musician. After a rough bout of depression, he slowly began to re-focus on his music career. He joined a local group “The Virginia Aires” as bass player and later joined and toured with a Sonlite Records recording act, “The Scotts”.

Even though he shared his talent, experience and expertise with other, Tony was always studying everything he could about the business of music. After the Scotts, he relocated up north to Rhode Island and continued to play bass and guitar with various groups. In 2000 he relocated to Mobile Alabama where he composed, produced and recorded his first CD single entitled “Life is Worth Living” with the financial help from his friend Morris Parsons and Mary Hobdy. In 2001 he relocated to Houston Texas where he released his next project entitled “Thank You Jesus”. His next single entitled “The Right Way” was released 2007.

Tony taught himself to play by listening to other great musicians and artist such as, Stanley Clarke, Fourplay, Johnnie “Guitar” Watson, Ernie Isley, George Duke, Ron Smith formerly of Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Earl Kluh etc…

He is an independent artist on his own label, Danay Records as well as owner and director of Danay Music Publishing Co. (ASCAP)

Even though Tony performs and understands various styles of music such as, Reggae, Funk, R&B, and Gospel, he truly loves the art of improvisation. His commitment to the jazz audience is what keeps him hard at work, in hope of producing great and inspiring music for them all.

So in summary when you hear or see Tony Copeland live, you'll get a mixture of the 70's funk, the 80's R&B, and the 90's jazz sound, put together to come up with a current unique sound as never heard before. "It's got that positive vibe"

Contact info:

Tony Copeland

PO Box 740061

Houston TX 77274

TEL: 832-396-1905

http://www.teejaydeesproductions@yahoo.com

Viewing Locations:

http://www.myspace.com/tonycopeland7

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/tonycopeland

http://www.musicianpromote.com/Tony_Copeland/

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