- Johnny Coppin
Infobox musical artist
Name = Johnny Coppin
Img_capt = Publicity photo taken before 1999
Img_size = 100
Landscape =
Background = solo_singer
Birth_name =
Alias =
Born = flagicon|EnglandApril 5 ,1946 South Woodford ,Essex ,UK
Died =
Origin =Cheltenham ,Gloucestershire ,UK
Instrument = Guitar, Piano
Voice_type =
Genre =Folk
Occupation = Singer, Songwriter, Composer, Broadcaster
Years_active = 1968—present
Label = Vertigo, Rola, Avada, Red Sky
Associated_acts =Decameron ,Phil Beer ,Laurie Lee ,Show of Hands ,Anthony Stewart Head
URL = [http://www.johnnycoppin.co.uk www.johnnycoppin.co.uk]
Current_members =
Past_members =
Notable_instruments =Johnny Coppin is an English
singer/songwriter ,composer , poetryanthologist and broadcaster. He playsguitar andpiano and has written and recorded many albums as a solo artist. He has a weekly one-hour show onBBC Radio Gloucestershire entitled "Folk Roots" which he has produced and presented every week since 1996. Coppin has been the Musical Director for the Festival Players since 1992.Early years
Coppin formed his first band "The Shifters" with cousin Martin Wright on bass, Neil Dunwoody on guitar, and Howard Jones on drums. Their first public performance was at the
United Reform Church Hall inWoodford Green . Eddie Broadbridge joined band as lead singer and they renamed themselves as "Eddie and the Shifters." In 1966, while studyingarchitecture at the Gloucestershire College of Art inCheltenham , he formed "Love to Mother" with Al Fenn on guitar, Tom Bennison on bass and Mike Ketskemety on drums.Decameron
Coppin first came to prominence as one of the founding members of Decameron. The band was originally formed as a duo with Dave Bell (vocals, guitar, bass guitar, percussion) in 1968 and Coppin and Bell wrote most of Decameron's songs throughout their existence. Decameron became a four piece in 1969 with the addition of former "Love to Mother" bandmate Fenn (vocals, guitar, mandoline) and Geoff March (vocals, cello, fiddle, keyboards) the following year.
When Coppin, Fenn and March graduated from university, Decameron went fully professional and were signed by the Fingimigig Agency run by
Jasper Carrott andJohn Starkey . After much touring, the band recorded their first album "Say Hello to the Band" in 1973. The same year Dik Cadbury (vocals, bass guitar, 12 string guitar) joined to complete the classic line-up. They also appeared on rare occasions using their alter-egos "The Magnificent Mercury Brothers" playing mostly covers ofBeach Boys andJan and Dean songs featuring the rich vocal harmonies that Decameron were famous for.Over the next three years Decameron released one album per year and toured extensively. Due to a lack of sufficient commercial success the band decided to call it a day and their final gig was in
Southsea on July 4th 1976. Since then they have reformed for occasional one-off reunion gigs, usually with Mick Candler on drums, and recorded a live album "Afterwords" in 2001 in benefit of Coppin's wife Gillian who died from ovarian cancer just a few months later.olo
Coppin formed his own band in 1977 with
Phil Beer (guitar, fiddle, vocals), Steve Hutt (bass, vocals), Candler (drums) and Tony Bennett (guitar, vocals). With these musicians he collaborated withNigel Mazlyn Jones on his 1976Ship To Shore (album) and 1979 Sentinel albums. Coppin's first album was a solo effort, "Roll On Dreamer ".In December 1978 and December 1979-January 1980 Coppin was the musical director for
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Everyman Theatre inCheltenham . cite web | title=Official Anthony Stewart Head Audio Work | url=http://www.anthonyhead.org/Audio.html| accessdate=30 December | accessyear=2006] Anthony Head (Rupert Giles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer) played Joseph and also made contributions to Coppin's second album, " No Going Back", which was a band effort.After three albums of original songs, Coppin found a rich vein of material when he decided to set poems written by famous
Gloucestershire authors to music. His first effort, "The Roads Go Down", had been included on his first solo album. Coppin's first full album of Gloucestershire poems set to music, "Forest and Vale and High Blue Hill", was premiered at the 1983Cheltenham Literary Festival to much acclaim. Coppin has chosen poems from writers such asIvor Gurney ,F. W. Harvey andFrank Mansell . Perhaps the most famous poet whose work Coppin has set to music isLaurie Lee and they even collaborated on the album "Edge of Day".Coppin's subsequent work has included completely original work as well as further albums based on the Gloucestershire theme. Most albums have at least one song where Coppin has taken lyrical content and added his musical interpretation.
Johnny's TV appearances include his own programme "Song of Gloucestershire" for the
BBC , "Stars in a Dark Night" forChannel 4 , and "Music Writers on TV" for HTV, while his radio work includes "Kaleidoscope" for Radio 4, "West Country Christmas", the Arts Programme and "Folk on Two" for Radio 2, as well as many appearances on British local radio shows.His music for theatre includes "Songs on Lonely Roads" (the story of composer/poet
Ivor Gurney ) withDavid Goodland , TheShrewsbury Theatre Guild 's production of "Arthur's Plough", as well as writing and directing the music for the Festival Players Theatre Company and their touring productions ofShakespeare which culminate in the Three Choirs Festival. He has edited two poetry anthologies: "Forest & Vale & High Blue Hill" and "Between the Severn and the Wye" - poems from the border counties of England and Wales. His third book was "A Country Christmas," a collections of prose, poetry, carols, songs and folklore.Coppin's
BBC Radio Gloucestershire show, "Folk Roots," was the fifth most listened to BBC Local Radio programme broadcast through the internet with over 5,000 people listening per week.Albums
Decameron
*"Say Hello to the Band" (1973)
*"Mammoth Special" (1974}
*"Third Light" (1975)
*"Tomorrow's Pantomime" (1976)
*"Afterwords" (2001)olo
*"
Roll On Dreamer " (1978)
*"No Going Back" (1979)
*"Get Lucky" (1982)
*"Forest and Vale and High Blue Hill" (1983)
*"Line of Blue" (1985)
*"English Morning" (1987)
*"Edge of Day" withLaurie Lee (1989)
*"The Glorious Glosters" (1990)
*"Songs on Lonely Roads" (1990)
*"Songs and Carols for a West Country Christmas" (1990)
*"Force of the River" (1993)
*"The Gloucestershire Collection" (1994)
*"A Country Christmas" (1995)
*"The Shakespeare Songs" (1997)
*"A Journey" - compilation (2001)
*"Keep the Flame EP" with Paul Burgess and Mick Dolan (2004)
*"The Winding Stair" (2005)
*"Breaking the Silence" with Mike Silver (2007)ingles
The Magnificent Mercury Brothers
*"The New Girl in School / Why Do Fools Fall In Love? / What About Us?" (1975)
olo
*"Believe in You b/w Run to Her" (1980)
*"We Shall Not Pass" (1980)Books
*"Forest and Vale and High Blue Hill" (1991)
*"Between the Severn and the Wye" (1993)
*"A Country Christmas" (1997)Festival Players Productions
Coppin wrote the songs for these productions:
*"Merry Wives of Windsor" (1992)
*"Much Ado About Nothing" (1994)
*"A Winter's Tale" (1995)
*"The Merchant of Venice" (1996)
*"As You Like It" (1997)
*"A Midsummer's Night Dream" (1998)
*"Romeo and Juliet" (2002)
*"Comedy of Errors" (2003)
*"Twelfth Night" (2004)
*"A Midsummer's Night Dream" (2005)
*"Hamlet" (2006)
*"As You Like It" (2007)References
External links
* [http://www.johnnycoppin.co.uk Johnny Coppin website]
* [http://www.decameron-uk.com/history.htm Decameron website]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/gloucestershire/local_radio/profiles/johnny_coppin_feature.shtml Johnny Coppin, presenter on BBC Gloucestershire]
* [http://www.dikcadbury.com Dik Cadbury website]
* [http://www.thefestivalplayers.co.uk/thefestivalplayers/johnnycoppin.htm Festival Players website]
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