What is Stewart Copeland's Net Worth?
Stewart Copeland is an American musician and composer who has a net worth of $80 million. Stewart Copeland is best known for being the drummer and founder of the band, The Police. Outside of the Police he has enjoyed a prolific career writing music for film, television, and video games. In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked Copeland as the tenth best drummer of all time.
In 1977, he co-founded The Police with Sting and Andy Summers. The band quickly became one of the most successful rock bands in the world, and they released a string of hit albums, including "Outlandos d'Amour," "Reggatta de Blanc," and "Synchronicity." Copeland left The Police in 1986 to pursue a solo career. The band reunited in 2006 for world tour that grossed more than $350 million.
He has released several solo albums, including "The Rhythmatist" and "Everywhere Is Home." He has also composed music for films, television, and video games. Some of his most notable film scores include "Rumble Fish," "The Color of Money," and "Wall Street."
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Stewart Copeland was born in 1952 in Alexandria, Virginia, the youngest of four children of CIA officer Miles Copeland. and Scottish archaeologist Lorraine Adie. In the 1970s, Miles Copeland's brother, Hunter Copeland, married Courteney Cox's mother (who is also named Courteney).
Shortly after his birth, the family moved to Cairo, Egypt. Later, when he was five, they moved again to Beirut, Lebanon, where Copeland attended the American Community School. At the age of 12, he began taking drum lessons, and within a year was playing drums at school dances. Copeland moved to England as a teen, and went to Millfield boarding school in Somerset. He came back to the US to go to college at Alliant International University, and then to the University of California, Berkeley.
Upon Copeland's return to England in 1974, he worked as a road manager for the reunion tour of Curved Air, a progressive rock band. Over the next two years, he served as the band's drummer.
The Police
Stewart conceived of forming a band called "the Police" in 1976. He thought of the name, wrote a band manifesto and even designed a logo. At this point he did not have any band mates. One night around this time he spotted a bass player singing in a club named Gordon Sumner. Gordon actually went by the name Sting. Along with guitarist Henry Padovani the trio became the Police. The band soon replaced Padovani with Andy Summers.
Stewart's brother Miles was their manager and his brother Ian was their booking agent.
The Police would go on to become one of the biggest bands of the late 70s and early 80s. Prior to the group's album debut, their track list consisted largely of compositions by Copeland, including their first single, "Fall Out." Some of Copeland's most notable songs with the Police include "Contact," "Does Everyone Stare," "Darkness," "Bombs Away," and "On Any Other Day," the lattermost of which also featured his lead vocals. Additionally, Copeland cowrote several tracks with Sting, such as "Re-Humanize Yourself," "Landlord," and "Peanuts."
The Police disbanded in 1986, although reunited at the 2007 Grammy Awards to perform their song "Roxanne." They went on to commemorate their 30th anniversary with a one-off reunion tour that included 151 dates across five continents. Just before this, Copeland directed the documentary "Everyone Stares: The Police Inside Out," which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2006.
Klark Kent
While he was with the Police, Copeland began recording music under the pseudonym Klark Kent. As Kent, he released a number of singles in 1978, including "Don't Care," which made it onto the UK Singles Chart. In 1980, Copeland released a 10-inch album on green vinyl with the title "Klark Kent: Music Madness from the Kinetic Kid." On the album, he did all the lead and backing vocals, and played every instrument from the drums and guitar to the piano and kazoo.
Movie Soundtracks
Beyond his work with the Police and his Klark Kent persona, Copeland has had a prolific career as a composer of movie soundtracks. In 1983, he provided the score for Francis Ford Coppola's "Rumble Fish," and earned a Golden Globe nomination for his work. Copeland also collaborated with singer-songwriter Stan Ridgway on a song from the film, called "Don't Box Me In," that received substantial airplay on the radio. Following this, in 1985, Copeland worked on the soundtrack to the documentary "The Rhythmatist," which focused on Africa, its people, and its musical culture. The next year, he scored the neo-noir crime thriller "Out of Bounds," starring Anthony Michael Hall.
After the disbanding of the Police in the late 80s, Copeland's film composing career truly took off. In 1987, he did the soundtrack for "Wall Street," and in 1988, scored "Talk Radio," "She's Having a Baby," and "The Jogger." This was followed by "See No Evil, Hear No Evil" in 1989. Copeland scored four films in 1990: "Taking Care of Business," "The First Power," "Men at Work," and "Hidden Agenda." He continued to work at a prolific rate throughout the rest of the 90s. Among his credits during the decade were "Airborne," "Raining Stones," "Surviving the Game," "Silent Fall," "SubUrbia," "Four Days in September," "Good Burger," "Central Station," and "Simpatico." Copeland did fewer movie scores in the 2000s and 2010s; his credits in these decades include "Sunset Strip," "Deuces Wild," and "We Are Your Friends."
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Further Composing Career
In addition to film, Copeland has composed pieces of music for many other media. On television, he did the soundtracks for "The Equalizer," "Dead Like Me," and "The Amanda Show," among others. He also composed music for the opera "Holy Blood and Crescent Moon" and for ballets such as "Casque of Amontillado," "King Lear," and "Emilio." In 1998, Copeland was commissioned to create the musical score to the video game "Spyro the Dragon," which he also did for four of the game's sequels. Outside of the "Spyro" series, Copeland did the soundtrack for the video game "Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare."
Other Projects
Among his many other projects as a musician, Copeland co-founded the band Animal Logic with jazz bassist Stanley Clarke and singer-songwriter Deborah Holland. Later, he formed the group Gizmo with avant-garde guitarist David Fiuczynski, instrumentalist Vittorio Cosma, bassist Max Gazzè, and singer Raiz. Another group, called Gizmodrome, was formed in 2017 with Adrian Belew, Vittorio Cosma, and Mark King. Meanwhile, as a solo performer, Copeland has played orchestral compositions at events including the Savannah Music Festival and SummerFest.
Personal Life
In 1982, Copeland married Sonja Kristina, the vocalist of his early band Curved Air. Together, they had two sons, Jordan and Scott. Copeland also adopted son Sven from Kristina's previous relationship. The couple divorced in 1991. From a prior relationship with girlfriend Marina Guinness, Copeland has a son named Patrick.
With his second wife, Fiona Dent, Copeland has three children: Dylan, Eve, and Celeste. Copeland and Dent live in Los Angeles, California.
Real Estate
In August 1996 Stewart paid $1.286 million for a home in LA's Brentwood neighborhood. Today the 7,000 square foot mansion is worth $8-10 million.
In June 2021 Stewart paid $4.75 million for a home in Montecito, California. In July 2023 he listed this home for rent for $25,000 per month.
