Ruth Copeland
| Ruth Copeland | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Kelly Michaels |
| Born |
c. 1946 (age 70–71) Consett, Durham, England |
| Genres | Funk, soul, folk |
| Years active | 1964–1976 |
| Labels | Invictus Records, RCA Records |
| Associated acts | George Clinton, Parliament, Funkadelic |
Ruth Copeland (born c. 1946) is an English-born former singer, based in the United States since the 1960s and known for her collaborations with George Clinton and Parliament-Funkadelic.
Copeland was born in Consett, County Durham, in the north-east of England, where her father worked for the Consett Iron Company. She grew up in the Blackhill area as a neighbour of musician Freddie 'Fingers' Lee. She attended Consett Grammar School and Consett Technical College, and began singing with a local jazz band, the Collegians, in 1963. After her mother's sudden death and her father's remarriage, she left college to pursue a singing career, first in Blackpool and then in London, where she joined a band, Ed and the Intruders, in which Lee played keyboards.
In 1965 she travelled to Detroit, where her sister Norma already lived, and soon began performing in clubs there as a blues and folk singer. As Kelly Michaels, she recorded a single, "Foggy Days" / "I Need Him", for Ollie McLaughlin’s Carla label. She also worked as a comptometer operator, and met and married football player Karl Sweetan, though the marriage was short-lived.
After being spotted singing by Edwin Starr, she met and developed a relationship with Motown songwriter and record producer Jeffrey Bowen; they later married. Bowen was involved in setting up Invictus Records with Holland, Dozier and Holland, and Copeland signed a contract with the newly-formed company in 1969. According to Copeland, "their plan was to create another Diana Ross – only white this time." Bowen began producing records for the label, and Copeland became one of the label's first performers (and one of a minority of white artists on the soul-focused label) as a member of the newly signed group The New Play. They released a single "A Gift of Me" / "The Music Box", co-written by "Edith Wayne" (a pseudonym used by Holland, Dozier and Holland), Ron Dunbar, and Copeland. However, it was not successful and the group soon disbanded. Copeland was also asked to write lyrics for a Holland-Dozier-Holland tune, and came up with words about missing her dog in England; the record producers disliked the results, and instead had Ron Dunbar write the words to the song that became the hit "Band of Gold".
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