Stewart Copeland of The Police is no stranger to the power of music after nearly 50 years in the music industry. While the drummer has had many magical memories across is career — with more sure to come — he says he’ll never forget the first moment he recognized the power of music.
LISTEN NOW: The Police's Stewart Copeland on how his crush helped him realize the power of music
The 70-year-old musician recently sat down with Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers for an episode of the, This Little Light podcast to talk about everything from his upbringing to becoming a mega star.
“I was kind of a late developer and a scrawny kid and I longed for adult masculinity,” he shared. “All my buddies were kind of growing up and I was still kind of a little kid — the youngest sibling — but as soon as I hit the drums, BAM, I am a hairy-ass, silver-back swinging through the trees bangin’ logs. It was instant, masculine adulthood.”
Aside from the masculinity he’d always longed for, Stewart soon found there was ever more power that came with musicianship when he filled an open drummers spot in his school’s most-popular band.
“Playing in this band at the British Embassy Beach Club, there was Janet McRoberts, dancing while I’m banging away,” he reminisced. “We were playing, ‘We Gotta Get Out Of This Place’ [by The Animals] and there’s Janet McRoberts, all 15-years-old of her *sighs* and I’m 12 and she dancing to my beat. I’m making her body move. Oh my God, that was such an uplift, such a powerful jolt of what life is all about — what I want to do with my life — and it kind of stuck.”
And just like that, Copeland was hooked.
Hear about his early music journey, upbringing, musical inspirations and how he handled conflict amongst mega-group The Police by tuning into his conversation with Flea on the This Little Light podcast above.
Hosted by Flea, founding member and bassist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers, This Little Light is a podcast about falling in love with music. Flea interviews musical guests from all genres to discuss the teachers who guided them, the influences that inspired them, and how the lessons they learned as young musicians have shaped their creativity, resilience, and careers. The podcast is produced by Cadence13 and Parallel, with proceeds benefiting the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that Flea co-founded in 2001.
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