Blues genes, baby

Blues genes, baby
April 8, 2011
By GARY DEMUTH
Salina Journal

ooking at pictures on blues guitar legend B.B. King's wall was one of the highlights of singer Shemekia Copeland's life.

On March 24, King and Copeland recorded a duet together, "Baby Don't Do It," and afterward, King invited Copeland and band members to hang out at his Las Vegas home.

"As he was telling stories, I looked up at his wall," said Copeland, a Harlem-born blues singer. "I saw pictures of him with all these presidents and even with Pope John Paul II. I asked myself how many blues artists get their picture taken with the pope?"

That experience reconfirmed to Copeland that she had made the right choice in her career.

"What a life to have led," Copeland said of the 85-year-old King. "That's exactly what I want to do when I'm in my 80s."

An early start

Copeland, 31, started singing the blues from an early age. She took the stage for the first time at age 8 and recorded her first critically acclaimed album at age 19.

While still in her 20s, she opened for the Rolling Stones and headlined the Chicago Blues Festival. She's also shared the stage with prominent rock and blues performers such as King, Buddy Guy, Taj Mahal and John Mayer.

Copeland will be in concert April 16 at the Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts, 151 S. Santa Fe.

If anyone can be said to have the blues in their genes, it would be Copeland. Her father was the late Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, who introduced his young daughter to blues, country and gospel music. Her mother was a big fan of classic soul music of the 1960s.

"I grew up in the hip hop era, so it was cool to listen to such diverse music growing up," she said.

Her father recognized Copeland's talent early on and brought her on stage to sing at Harlem's famed Cotton Club when she was just 8 years old.

"I was deathly afraid of being on stage and performing," she said. "But once I got on stage, something else took over. Now I love performing more than anything else."

When Copeland turned 15, her father's failing health motivated her to embrace blues singing as a career. He died in 1997 at age 60.

"I got a calling," she said. "I just felt like it was what I was meant to do and what my father wanted me to do. He didn't get to hear my whole first album, but he did hear me on a record."

A 'sizzling' voice

When the 19-year-old Copeland released her first album, "Turn the Heat Up!" in 1998, the Boston Globe described her voice as roaring "with a sizzling hot intensity."

A year later, she appeared in the movie "Three to Tango," and her song "I Always Get My Man" was featured in the film "Broken Hearts Club."

Copeland not only was inspired by her father, but by the great blues and soul singers of the 20th century, including Otis Redding, Sam Cooke, Bessie Smith, Koko Taylor, Ruth Brown and Dinah Washington.

"I'm all about the lyrics," she said. "They're very important to me, even more than the music. It takes me a long time to decide what I want to say. These songs I plan to perform for the rest of my life, and I want them to be worthy."

Salinan Chad Kassem has seen Copeland in concert and called her "one of those big mama blues singers."

"She's got a big, powerful blues voice, and she really lets you have it," said Kassem, owner of Acoustic Sounds and Blue Heaven Studios and producer of Salina's annual Blues Masters at the Crossroads concerts.

"If you like rompin' stompin' female blues, she's worth going to see," Kassem said.

Something new

With her latest album, 2009's "Never Going Back," Copeland said she has softened her big voice to give this record a more laid-back feel.

"I come from the old school of powerful singing, and I wanted to do something in a different style," she said. "The songs also are more mature. I've been around the world, I've done a lot of things, and I now have the right to say my opinions on things."

Copeland said her concerts reflect her changing vocal styles, ranging from powerful blues and gospel-flavored tunes to softer, more reflective soulful ballads.

"I want people to walk away having had an experience," she said. "I want to bring them up, bring them down and bring them in the middle. I want you dan