SHEMEKIA COPELAND APPEARS ON "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN"!
Copeland was born in Harlem in 1979 and began singing as a child, encouraged by her father, the late Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland. She first appeared with her father at Harlem’s famed Cotton Club when she was just eight. When Johnny Copeland was diagnosed with a heart condition, he began taking Shemekia on the road with him to open his shows when she was just sixteen. She began appearing on her own at New York clubs a year later.
Signed to Alligator Records at the age of 18, Shemekia released her debut, TURN THE HEAT UP, in 1998 to massive popular and critical acclaim. In 2000 she returned with WICKED and received a Grammy nomination. Copeland's latest Alligator album, TALKING TO STRANGERS (produced by Dr. John), debuted at #1 on the Billboard blues chart and has been hailed by critics and fans as the best of her career. Copeland recently received five 2002 W.C. Handy Blues Award nominations, including Blues Album of the Year, Blues Entertainer of the Year, and Blues Band of the Year. TALKING TO STRANGERS has received glowing praise from USA Today, Vibe, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Ebony, The Chicago Tribune, Time Out New York, The Associated Press, Salon.com, Billboard, DownBeat, and many other national and regional publications.
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