Blues
Shemekia Copeland, daughter of Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, made her stage debut when she was eight years old. At that time her shy embarrassment outweighed her desire to sing, but when she was 15 and her father's health began to decline, she received the calling. "It was like a switch went off in my head," she remembers, "and I wanted to sing." And she's been singing from the heart ever since. At 16 she went on the road, opening shows for her father, and the release of her debut recording Turn Up the Heat in 1998 announced to the world that Shemekia Copeland had arrived. "Nobody wants to listen to someone singing just to earn some money," she says. "You've got to sing because you need to do it." Shemekia's passion for singing, matched with her huge, powerful voice, subtlety, and impeccable timing, gives her music a timeless appeal and power that has been achieved by only a few before her. Despite well-founded comparisons to a young Koko Taylor, Etta James, Ruth Brown, and Aretha Franklin, 21-year-old Shemekia sings her own brand of the blues. Schooled in Texas blues by her father and raised on the tough streets of Harlem, she creates deeply soulful music that reflects gritty urban realities and weaves together blues, soul, and rock and roll. "As long as I'm here, the blues will always be in me," Shemekia declares, "and I'm gonna be spreading it around the world. I'm going to keep on doing this and make my daddy proud."
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