John Eric Copeland
John Eric Copeland (known professionally as Eric Copeland) is a Christian and jazz music producer, arranger, songwriter, author, and keyboardist. His production company Creative Soul works with Christian and jazz artists both nationally and internationally, and is the parent company to Creative Soul Records, Creative Soul Jazz, and Masterscore Music, all based near Nashville, Tennessee. As an artist, he is noted for his unique arrangements and songwriting fusing gospel and jazz styles together.
Early life
Eric Copeland was born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1963. His father, David Ellis Copeland, was a band leader and trombonist. His mother, Mary Janet Bond Copeland, was a piano teacher and accomplished church organist. Eric played piano growing up, and also played trombone in the Lafayette high school marching band. His musical training came from his parents, his grandmother, a piano teacher, and various mentors through church and high school.
At age thirteen, he began writing and arranging original compositions and it became apparent that music would become a lifelong obsession.
As a teen, he began recording music and releasing his own material to friends and family. Also, he became known as "the guy with the recording equipment", and began recording friends and family from his father's basement.
After attending both the University of Kentucky and the University of Illinois at Chicago, he worked in various bands and singing groups, all the while continuing to write and record original music and arrangements. It was in Chicago when he began getting serious about jazz, working with singers and bands in that area.
Creative Soul
In 1989, Eric moved back to his hometown and met his wife, who was running sound for a music group he was singing with. They married in 1990, and have two children. After settling down to life in Lexington, Eric began gathering equipment to release new material, and once again contributed to the music industry. Slowly, he began to build a clientele and reputation as a music producer, specifically for Christian/gospel and jazz clients.
In 1997, he released his first album It's So Cool, on the Creative Soul Records label. That same year, the first client record was released: Tender Mercy's Change. That began a landslide of production that continued into the 2000s and culminated in moving all production services to the Nashville, Tennessee, area. Creative Soul serves clients nationally and internationally, and its clients are regularly heard on Christian and jazz radio and in stores.
The Jazz in Me
After 18 years of production work, Eric returned to creating his own music, releasing "The Jazz in Me" on his new label, Creative Soul Jazz. The album is a smooth mixture of gospel, R&B, Latin, and jazz styles, featuring some of the best musicians in Nashville. The national and international release will be followed up by radio and limited tour support.
For the Creative Soul
As an author, Eric regularly writes for the noted blog "For the Creative Soul", read by thousands each month, and which has been reprinted by several national magazines and websites. Eric is preparing to release 52 of the writings in a weekly devotional book soon for both PDF online purchase and in printed form.
Discography (Solo Artist)
- It's So Cool (1997, Creative Soul Records)
- Cooler (1999, Creative Soul Records)
- Stolen Moments (2000, Creative Soul Records)
- The Jazz in Me (2008, Creative Soul Jazz)
Books and publications
- For the Creative Soul (2008, Creative Soul Press, PDF)
- For the Creative Soul Blog