The son of a former musician who later worked as a CIA operative, Copeland was born in Alexandria, VA, but raised in the Middle East and England. After returning to the USA to attend Berkeley, he returned to England, where he joined the alternative rock group Curved Air as a drummer. That gig lasted for a year (1975-76), and he went on to form The Police with Sting and Andy Summers.
One of the more popular groups of the late 1970s and early 80s, The Police combined New Wave with Mideastern and African musical influences. Hitting the USA in 1979, the group recorded five albums that produced several hits, including "Roxanne" (1979), "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" (1980) and the Number One "Every Breath You Take" (1983).
While Sting went on to an acting career after the breakup of The Police, Copeland accepted an offer from Francis Ford Coppola to score his teen drama "Rumble Fish" (1983), notable for its haunting and impressionistic percussive score that incorporated background noises. While most of his film work is not necessarily memorable, it shows his range and versatility. Even when not directly employing drums, Copeland has employed other instruments in creating a percussive beat.
As a solo writer and performer, Copeland had contributed songs to the soundtracks of films like "Riding High" (1980), "Bachelor Party" (1984), "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Part 2" (1986), and "Earth Girls Are Easy" (1989), but scoring features proved to be challenging. He provided the atmospheric music for two Oliver Stone films, "Wall Street" (1987) an "Talk Radio" (1988), the jaunty background for "She's Having a Baby" (1988) and the bright score for Ken Loach's comedies "Riff-Raff" (1991) and "Raining Stones" (1993). For John Duigan's period "Wide Sargasso Sea" (also 1993), Copeland created a varied score that was at once lush (for the romantic scenes) and menacing (for dream sequences). Employing native Caribbean touches, notably during a native dance sequence, the score assisted in cementing the varied qualities of the film.
Perhaps one of Copeland's most accomplished efforts was his work on Kevin Reynolds' "Rapa Nui" (1994), a lushly photographed, but somewhat ludicrous drama about the natives of Easter Island set before its discovery in the 18th Century. The score, though providing challenges to the composer, approximated Polynesian music, using logs and rocks for percussive effect. Overall, the music was imaginative, lush and lovely. He provided a textured background for Boaz Yakin's involving "Fresh" (1994) and a symphonic, eclectic soundtrack that eschewed African influences for the documentary "The Leopard Son" (1996).
On the small screen, Copeland created the throbbing, oddly rhythmic and memorable theme for the CBS series "The Equalizer" (1985-89). He has also provided appropriate soundtracks for the TV-movies "Afterburn" (HBO, 1992), "White Dwarf" (Fox, 1995) and the biopic "Tyson" (HBO, 1995). More recently, however, the composer has branched into more symphonic and classically-based work. He scored a ballet version of Shakespeare's "King Lear" and created the opera "Holy Blood and Crescent Moon" (1989). Other stage works have included "Horse Opera" (1992), "The Cask of Amontillado" (1993) and "Prey" (1994).
Copeland began recording solo under the pseudonym Klark Kent in the late 1970s when tension with Sting fomented. After the break-up of The Police, he recorded the African-tinged "The Rhythmatist" (1985) and formed the band Animal Logic, who recorded two albums in the late 80s and early 90s. Many music critics have praised Copeland's merging of rock with reggae and so-called "third-world" rhythms, forming what has been termed a pan-cultural style. He has been cited for his impressive percussive abilities, especially a tight snare sound and distinctive use of cymbals, and is often ranked as one of the most influential contemporary drummers in popular music.