About this Artist

Since the 1997 release of her debut, Turn the Heat Up (recorded when she was just 18 years old), singing sensation SHEMEKIA COPELAND has taken the music world by storm. Quickly conquering the blues community - she holds four W.C. Handy Awards, five Living Blues Awards, and a Grammy nomination - she has her sights set on music lovers everywhere. Her television and radio appearances include Austin City Limits, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, the CBS Saturday Early Show, and National Public Radio's Weekend Edition, and she has been the subject of countless magazine and newspaper features and reviews. Copeland also recently headlined the 2002 Chicago Blues Festival.

Copeland's new release, Talking to Strangers (Alligator) comes on the heels of her previous CD (the Grammy-nominated Wicked). The new album finds Shemekia stretching out farther than ever before, her music treading the ground where blues and soul meet rock and roll. The album was recorded in New York and produced by Dr. John, who also adds his piano prowess to the mix.

Born in Harlem, New York in 1979, Copeland came to her singing career slowly. Her father, the late Texas blues guitar legend Johnny Clyde Copeland, recognized his daughter's talent early on. He always encouraged her to sing at home and even brought her on stage to sing at Harlem's famed Cotton Club when she was just eight. When she was 15 and her father's health began to slow him down, she received the calling. He began taking her on the road with him when she was just 16. Soon enough, she was opening shows. Copeland stepped out on her own when Alligator released Turn the Heat Up to popular and critical acclaim.