{{short description|American singer, songwriter, and composer (1926–2022)}} '''Alan Copeland''' (born '''Allan Robert Copeland''';<ref name="California, County Marriages, 1850-1953">"California, County Marriages, 1850-1953", FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8KY-2FY : Thu Oct 19 16:58:08 UTC 2023), Entry for Allan Robert Copeland and Dolores Mae Barty, 5 Nov 1948.</ref> October 6, 1926 – December 28, 2022), also known as '''Weaver Copeland''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.feenotes.com/database/artists/copeland-alan-6-october-1926-present/|title=Copeland, Alan (6 October 1926 – Present)|website=Feenotes.com|accessdate=15 January 2021}}</ref> was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and conductor.
==Life and career== Copeland was born in Los Angeles, California on October 6, 1926.<ref name="Leszczak2014">{{cite book|author=Bob Leszczak|title=The Odd Couple on Stage and Screen: A History with Cast and Crew Profiles and an Episode Guide|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Xe1ZBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA37|date=22 August 2014|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-1539-4|pages=37–}}</ref>
Copeland was a member of The Modernaires, first from 1948 to 1956 and then from 1959 to the mid-1960s.<ref name="Hyatt2010">{{cite book|author=Wesley Hyatt|title=A Critical History of Television's The Red Skelton Show, 1951–1971|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nxIkCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA76|date=11 August 2010|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1-4766-0875-4|pages=77–}}</ref> He also worked as a songwriter in Los Angeles in the 1950s. He co-wrote the song "Make Love to Me", "Back Where I Belong", "Darling, Darling, Darling", "High Society", "Into the Shadows", "This Must Be the Place", "Too Young to Know", and "While the Vesper Bells Were Ringing". He also worked as a composer for television and did arrangement work for musicians such as Ella Fitzgerald, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby.<ref name=mcleod>Kembrew McLeod and Peter DiCola, ''Creative License: The Law and Culture of Digital Sampling''. Duke University Press, 2011, p. 173.</ref> He also provided lyrics for such jazz instrumentals as Horace Silver's "Nica's Dream"<ref>Kelp, Larry (August 15, 1986). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/758720385/?clipping_id=134549137 "Horace Silver's Quintet Plays Hot New Rhythms"]. ''The Oakland Tribune''. p. 48. Retrieved November 3, 2023.</ref> and Clare Fischer's "Gaviota."<ref>Farbey, Roger (November 1, 2016). [https://www.allaboutjazz.com/intenso-clare-fischer-latin-jazz-big-band-clavo-records-review-by-roger-farbey "Clare Fischer Latin Jazz Big Band: Intenso!"]. ''All About Jazz''. Retrieved November 3, 2023. "'Gaviota (Seagull)' by Clare Fischer with lyrics by Weaver Copeland, features the inestimable vocal talent of Roberta Gambarini who delivers an enticing scat solo into the bargain."</ref>
Copeland led studio ensembles that released several albums in the 1960s. In 1968, he issued the single, "Mission: Impossible Theme / Norwegian Wood", interpolating the "Theme from ''Mission: Impossible''" and the Beatles song "Norwegian Wood" in what might be termed a proto-mashup.{{efn| In her 2014 essay, "When Pop Stars Collide: Mashups As Musical Destiny," Assistant Professor of Music Theory Christina Boone of Indiana State University states that this "was probably the earliest example of pop songs being heard ''at the same time'', overlaid on top of one another," while also noting that it cannot literally be termed a mashup since it employed no pre-recorded music but rather Copeland's own newly recorded arrangements of the two compositions.<ref name="BossOsborn2014">{{cite book|author1=Jack Boss|author2=Brad Osborn|author3=Tim S. Pack|title=Analyzing the Music of Living Composers (and Others)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-dgxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA168|date=24 July 2014|publisher=Cambridge Scholars Publishing|isbn=978-1-4438-6471-8|page=168}}</ref><ref>Boss; Osborn; Pack. op. cit., [https://books.google.com/books?id=-dgxBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA164 p. 164].</ref><ref>Boss; Osborn; Pack. op. cit., [https://books.google.com/books?id=-dgxBwAAQBAJ&q=Contributors+%22Christine+Boone%22&pg=PA168 pp. 161, 275].</ref>}} It peaked at number 120 on the ''Billboard'' Bubbling Under chart and won a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Pop Performance by a Chorus.<ref name=mcleod/> In 1980, in collaboration with his wife, fellow vocalist Mahmu Pearl, Copeland formed the band Feathers, which released at least three LPs and one CD compilation.<ref>Herman, Fred (August 25, 1987). [https://www.newspapers.com/image/692658997/?clipping_id=134553339 "A Natural Musician; He's Not the Usual Academic"]. ''The Modesto Bee''. p. 21. Retrieved November 3, 2023.</ref>
In November 2007, Copeland published his autobiography, ''Jukebox Saturday Nights''.<ref>{{cite news |title=Entertainer Copeland coming to Twain Harte |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89543431/the-modesto-bee/ |access-date=November 25, 2021 |publisher=The Modesto Bee |date=November 25, 2007}}</ref>
==Personal life and death== From November 5, 1948 until their divorce in January 1969, Copeland was married to Dolores Mae Barty,<ref name="California, County Marriages, 1850-1953"/><ref>"California Divorce Index, 1966-1984", FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPTS-XDM : 15 May 2014), Dolores M Barty and Alan R Copeland, Jan 1969; from "California Divorce Index, 1966-1984," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2007); citing Los Angeles City, California, Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.</ref> the sister of actor/activist Billy Barty. They had three children: Christine, Richard and Michael.<ref>Brody, Martin (August 15, 1980). "Innovative Troupe With Vaudeville Roots". ''Petaluma Argus-Couier''. p. 2B, [https://www.newspapers.com/image/246195161/?clipping_id=10697553 3B].</ref>
Copeland was married to Joyce Abbott Ross—née Manor, aka Mahmu Pearl—from July 22, 1971 until her death on December 22, 2009.<ref>"California Marriage Index, 1960-1985," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V6VW-ZX1 : 27 November 2014), Alan R Copeland and Joyce A Manor, 22 Jul 1971; from "California, Marriage Index, 1960-1985," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : 2007); citing Los Angeles City, California, Center of Health Statistics, California Department of Health Services, Sacramento.</ref><ref name="GMreAC">McCarthy, Guy (January 23, 2023; updated January 24). [https://www.uniondemocrat.com/news/article_939b2c36-9b84-11ed-9ae9-1b7470e06688.html "Alan 'Weaver' Copeland — vocalist, composer and Grammy-winning arranger — dies at 96"]. ''The Union Democrat''. Retrieved November 3, 2023. "Alan 'Weaver' Copeland, a longtime Cedar Ridge resident and a gifted vocalist, pianist, composer, and arranger for jazz giants like Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn, Frank Sinatra and other stars, died Dec. 28 at Sonora Senior Living at age 96, friends and family said." "Keith Evans, 58, a member of Now You Hazz Jazz who recorded a compact disc, 'Tranquillo Trio,' with Copeland, said Thursday in a phone interview. 'I used to go to his house at Cedar Ridge and care for him.' [...] 'I was with Weaver the moment he died at Sonora Senior Living off Highway 108,' Evans said. 'He’d been there I think for two months.' [...] Copeland left Los Angeles in the 1980s and he’d been in Cedar Ridge for 40 years. Copeland’s late wife, Mahmu Pearl, died in 2009. Sheila Ross, Pearl’s daughter and Copeland’s stepdaughter, lives in Truckee."</ref><ref>"United States Social Security Death Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JGY9-M3D : 12 January 2021), Joyce Abbott Copeland, 22 Dec 2009; citing U.S. Social Security Administration, Death Master File, database (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service, ongoing).</ref>
On December 28, 2022, at the age of 96, Copeland died at Sonora Senior Living in Jamestown, California,<ref>{{cite news |last1=Barnes |first1=Mike |title=Alan Copeland, Vocalist With The Modernaires and 'Your Hit Parade,' Dies at 96 |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/music-news/alan-copeland-dead-modernaires-red-skelton-your-hit-parade-1235292829/ |access-date=January 7, 2023 |publisher=The Hollywood Reporter |date=January 6, 2023}}</ref><ref name="GMreAC"/><ref>[https://health.usnews.com/best-senior-living/sonora-senior-living-21816 Sonora Senior Living; Overview]. ''U.S. News & World Report''. Retrieved November 3, 2023.</ref> survived by his son Richard Copeland, daughter-in-law Linda, granddaughter Rachel and grandson Samuel. Also a stepdaughter, singer Sheila Ross.<ref name="GMreAC"/>
==Discography== *''No Sad Songs for Me'' (Coral, 1957) *''Cool Country'' (ABC, 1966) *''A Bubble Called You'' (ABC, 1967) *''If Love Comes With It'' (A&M, 1969) *''Enchanting Woodwinds'', disc no. 6 of Reader's Digest Association's 6-LP set, ''Music in the Night'' (RCA, 1974)<ref>Williams, Neville (July 1974). [https://archive.org/details/EA1974/EA%201974-07%20July%20%28inc%29/page/n92/mode/1up?q=copeland "Variety Fare: Reviews of Other Recordings"]. ''Electronics Australia''. p. 93. Retrieved November 2, 2023.</ref>
===Collaborative work=== *With Count Basie: **''Basie Swingin' Voices Singin''' (ABC-Paramount, 1966) *As member of The Modernaires. Recordings beginning in the 1950s, after spinning off from the Glenn Miller Orchestra.
==Notes== {{Notelist}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== {{IMDb name|0178582}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Copeland, Alan}} Category:1926 births Category:2022 deaths Category:Songwriters from California Category:American conductors (music) Category:American male conductors (music) Category:American male composers Category:American male singers Category:American male songwriters Category:Glenn Miller Orchestra members Category:The Modernaires members