Tony Copeland

“Tony Copeland” a jazz guitarist born and raised in the small port town of Portsmouth, Virginia. He 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”. As his father was a hard worker and a great provider, it was his mother who kept him and his seven siblings in church filled with a host of undiscovered musicians. This is where they honed their skills b...

“Tony Copeland” a jazz guitarist born and raised in the small port town of Portsmouth, Virginia. He 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”. As his father was a hard worker and a great provider, it was his mother who kept him and his seven siblings in church filled with a host of undiscovered musicians. This is where they honed their skills by watching and imitating the older guitar, bass and drum players. It is a fact that Tony did much of his early practicing, in the closet. The story goes like this: His father belonged to the quartet “The Golden Tones” which eventually disbanded. Floyd the father brought the musical instruments (guitar, bass, amplifier and microphone) home and put them away in the closet. They (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”. After a rough bout of depression, Tony slowly began to re-focus on his music career. He joined and did a short tour with “The Virginia Aires” as the bass player. He later joined and toured with Sonlite Records southern gospel group “The Scotts”. Even though he shared his talent, experience and expertise with other groups Tony was always writing, recording and studying everything he could about the business of music. After the Scotts Copeland relocated to Rhode Island and continued to play with various R&B bands. In 2000 he relocated to Mobile Alabama where he composed, produced and recorded his first Christian CD single entitled “Life is Worth Living” with the financial help from his close friend Morris Parsons and Mary Hobdy. In 2001 he relocated to Houston Texas where he released his next project entitled “Thank You Jesus”. The next project 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, Ron Smith formerly of Maze featuring Frankie Beverly, Earl Kluh etc…He composes, produces the music that he records. He is also director of Danay Music Publishing Co. When he plays the guitar he doesn’t use a pick, he uses his thumb due to the fact that, in his early years of practicing, he was actually too small to hold the guitar and the Fender jazz bass that his father Floyd had bought home. So he used his four fingers on his right hand, to hold the heavy instrument in place on his lap, while he played with his thumb. His performance is a very exciting one, as he uses all of his energy to perfect his craft and entertain the audience. He has been seen actually talking to his guitar while performing as he bounces to the beat of the groove. 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. Therefore, he is committed to the jazz audience, as he’s putting in the hard work that’s required in hope of bringing forth great and inspiring music to them all. Danay Records PO Box 740061 Houston TX 77274 teejaydeesproductions@yahoo.com