Julian Cope

Julian Cope
Cope performing in Japan, 1970s
Born	Julian David Cope (1957-10-21) 21 October 1957 (age 59) Deri, Monmouthshire, Wales, United Kingdom
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, author, antiquarian
Years active	1978–present
Website	www.headheritage.co.uk
Musical career
Genres	Rock
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, bass guitar, organ, piano, Mellotron, synthesizer
Labels	Zoo, Mercury, Island, Def American, Echo, Head Heritage
Associated acts	Crucial Three, The Teardrop Explodes, Queen Elizabeth, Brain Donor, Black Sheep, Sunn O))), Donald Ross Skinner, Thighpaulsandra
Writing career
Period	1982–present
Subjects	Musicology, sociology, poetry

Julian David Cope (born 21 October 1957) is an English musician, author, antiquarian, musicologist, poet and cultural commentator. Originally coming to prominence in 1978 as the singer and songwriter in Liverpool post-punk band the Teardrop Explodes, he has followed a solo career since 1983 and worked on musical side projects such as Queen Elizabeth, Brain Donor and Black Sheep.

Cope is also an author on Neolithic culture, publishing The Modern Antiquarian in 1998, and an outspoken political and cultural activist with a noted and public interest in occultism and paganism. As an author and commentator, he has written two volumes of autobiography called Head-On (1994) and Repossessed (1999); two volumes of archaeology called The Modern Antiquarian (1998) and The Megalithic European (2004); and three volumes of musicology called Krautrocksampler (1995), Japrocksampler (2007); and Copendium: A Guide to the Musical Underground (2012).

Cope's family lived in Tamworth, Staffordshire, but he was born in Deri, Caerphilly, Wales, where his mother's parents lived, while she was staying there. Cope was staying with his grandmother near Aberfan on his ninth birthday, which was the day of the Aberfan disaster of 1966, which he has described as a key event of his childhood.

Cope grew up in Tamworth with his parents and his younger brother Joss. He attended City of Liverpool C.F. Mott Training College (now Liverpool John Moores University), and it was here that he first became involved in music.