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Stewart Copeland 101

© Melanie Gold

There's a video scene from The Police's rock and roll hall of infamy that makes me cringe. It's the interview with a young Martha Quinn of MTV, where Stewart Copeland says, "You want to see me whip Sting's butt?" Quinn foolishly says, "YEAH! That would be great!"Sting splashes water in Stew's face, the two tumble over chairs as Andy watches stupefied, and Stewart and Sting proceed into one of their well-known brotherly brawls that ends with Sting saying, "Die, bastard!"

A person might deduce from this scene that Stewart Copeland and Sting were like a match to a tinderbox, a moth to a flame, a very destructive pair. Both men, however, insist that they were and still are very close. They talk frequently. Stewart was even filmed bantering with his former bandmate during the early leg of Sting's Brand New Day tour late last year. It's no wonder that after the recent airing of VH1's Police: Behind the Music, reunion hopes are at a fever pitch.

So let's look at the man who got The Police together in the first place: Stewart Copeland.

The Copeland brothers, Ian, Miles III, and Stewart.

Born in Alexandria, Virginia (USA) on 16 July 1952, Stewart Armstrong Copeland was the youngest of three Copeland boys. His brothers, Ian and Miles III, are also in the music business: Ian runs a booking agency and Miles provides managing expertise, formerly as The Police's manager and today as Sting's. Miles Copeland II, Stewart's father, worked for the Central Intelligence Agency and has authored several out-of-print books on the subject. For more information, see ABE Books.

Ian Copeland is credited with getting Stewart his first gig. The Copelands were living in Beirut, and Ian had landed a replacement drummer gig in a local band called the Nomads. Ian practiced the drums but found his kid brother sitting "in the background like a vulture waiting for me to get tired. Pretty soon I got bored with it, and Stewart took over from there. I guess you could say I got Stewart his first job."

"Drums are an accompanying instrument," says Stewart, a consummate drummer. "On the career level you don't get anywhere until you have found a singer, guitarist or lead instruments that you have to get hooked up with. It's not enough to be good at playing drums. You have to find the rest of the band."

Some of Stewart's early work includes the one-man band Klark Kent, in which he played all the instruments, and as drummer for the mildly successful Curved Air (CDNow has a good selection). Then Stewart met Sting in Newcastle, England in 1976 while the singer was performing with local band Last Exit. After a few performances with punk guitarist Henri Padovani, Sting and Stewart connected with Andy Summers via Mike Howlett and the resulting Strontium 90 release (also available at CDNow). Padovani was quickly phased out once sophisticated guitarist Andy Summers signed up with The Police.

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