Beverly Glenn-Copeland Tickets at Vicar Street

Glenn-Copeland began his musical career in the 1960s when he studied classical singing at Montreal's McGill University and performed at Expo 67. A pair of self-titled, multi-genre albums released in the early '70s showcased his powerful voice and songwriting talent. In 1986, while living in rural Ontario, Glenn-Copeland taught himself to use digital synthesis and recorded the album that would ultimately alter the entire course of his career.

At the time, he self-released 'Keyboard Fantasies' via a 200-copy cassette run, selling just a handful while the rest waited in storage. In 2015, a Japanese record collector emailed Glenn-Copeland about selling the remainder; a new generation had unearthed his art. The music spread globally, and a few years later, in his 70s, Glenn-Copeland embarked on his first European tour to share his songs with live audiences, a journey captured in Posy Dixon’s 2019 celebrated documentary 'Keyboard Fantasies'.

Since 'Keyboard Fantasies’ rediscovery, a new generation of listeners and artists have embraced Glenn-Copeland's music. In 2021, he released the remix album 'Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined', which featured reimagined versions of the album's songs from contemporary visionaries such as Arca, Blood Orange, Julia Holter and Kelsey Lu.

More recently, having been blown away after seeing him perform live in Stockholm, Romy from The xx sampled Glenn Copeland on her single “Enjoy Your Life”. Glenn-Copeland also recently collaborated with Sam Smith on a new recording of his classic song “Ever New” for the Red Hot Org “Transa” album, released last year.

As his work has spread its inspiration, Glenn-Copeland has continued to develop his own prismatic musical practice. The songs on 2023’s 'The Ones Ahead' draw from a wealth of traditions, from American jazz to Irish fiddle songs to West African percussion. Some, like ‘No Other’ and ‘Stand Anthem’, were originally born as parts of song cycles and stage plays. Glenn-Copeland writes with an ear to what he calls the Universal Broadcasting System, receiving transmissions from the vibrations of the world around him and faithfully transcribing them. “The UBS sends what it wants, and like a good servant, I listen and write what I am given”.