Ruth Copeland
Ruth Copeland | |
---|---|
Also known as | Kelly Michaels |
Born | c. 1946 (age 77–78) Consett, Durham, England |
Genres | |
Years active | 1964–1976 |
Labels |
Ruth Copeland (born c. 1946)[2] is an English former singer, based in the United States since the 1960s and known for her collaborations with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic.
Biography
Early life
Copeland was born in Consett, County Durham, in the north-east of England, where her father worked for the Consett Iron Company. She grew up in the Blackhill area as a neighbour of musician Freddie 'Fingers' Lee. She attended Consett Grammar School and Consett Technical College, and began singing with a local jazz band, the Collegians, in 1963. After her mother's sudden death and her father's remarriage, she left college to pursue a singing career, first in Blackpool and then in London, where she joined a band, Ed and the Intruders, in which Lee played keyboards.[2][3]
Music career
In 1965 she travelled to Detroit, where her sister Norma already lived, and soon began performing in clubs there as a blues and folk singer.[3] As Kelly Michaels, she recorded a single, "Foggy Days" / "I Need Him", for Ollie McLaughlin's Carla label. She also worked as a comptometer operator, and met and married football player Karl Sweetan, though the marriage was short-lived.[2]
After being spotted singing by
Collaborations with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic
At the same time as Copeland's involvement with Invictus, George Clinton's Parliament was also signed to the label. She became involved with work on the group's debut album, Osmium, and was credited with co-producing the record with Clinton; Bowen also worked on its production but for contractual reasons could not be credited.[5] She also wrote two of the album's tracks: "Little Ole Country Boy" and "The Silent Boatman". These tracks are unusual in
Alongside her work on Parliament's debut, Copeland also began working on solo material, and her first album,
Copeland also continued to collaborate with Clinton, co-writing a further two singles for Parliament, "Come in Out of the Rain" and "Breakdown", which were released in 1971–72. Clinton said of her: "She was a good writer, really particular about getting it right, a perfectionist!"[5] The year 1972 also saw Copeland contribute to the self-titled album The Politicians featuring McKinley Jackson. She co-wrote the album's opening track, "Psycha-Soula-Funkadelic", a track subsequently sampled by Brighton-based band The Go! Team, on their 2007 album Proof of Youth. However, both her relationship with Bowen, and her contract with Invictus, ended around this time, and for legal reasons she was unable to record with another company for several years.[5]
Copeland was unable to sustain the success of her initial albums and tours. In September 1972, she supported David Bowie on his US concerts. She recorded her third and final album, Take Me to Baltimore, in Philadelphia in 1976. Released by RCA Records it featured a duet with the record's co-producer Daryl Hall, but was unsuccessful, and shortly afterwards she retired from the music business.[5]
Later life
She remarried in the late 1970s, and started a new career as a production executive at a publishing firm, The Blue Book Network of Commercial Construction. In the 2010s, after years when her whereabouts were unknown, she re-emerged to give interviews about her earlier music career.[3][5]
Discography
Singles
- "The Music Box" / "A Gift of Me" (as New Play) (1969)
- "Hare Krishna" / "No Commitment" (1970)
- "Gimme Shelter" / "No Commitment" (1971)
- "Heaven" (Promo single) (1976)
- "Win or Lose" (Promo single) (1976)
Albums
- Self Portrait (1970, Invictus Records)
- I Am What I Am (1971, Invictus Records)
- Take Me to Baltimore (1976, RCA Records)
References
- ^ a b c d Hamilton, Andrew. "Self Portrait". Allmusic. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ a b c d Ged Naughton, "Child of the North: The Story of Ruth Copeland", Naughton Media, 17 March 2015 Archived 19 April 2017 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 18 April 2017
- ^ a b c d e f Bob Stanley, "Ruth Copeland: If Diana Ross was a poetess...", Record Collector, #465, April 2017, p.10
- ^ Stone, Sly. Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Retrieved 20 January 2024 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Brian Wheeler, "Golden Lady", MOJO, September 2015, pp. 63–67[dead link]
- ^ a b c Biography by Amy Hanson, Allmusic.com. Retrieved 18 April 2017