Currently readying a new album for release next year, and ahead of his October tour, Beverly Glenn-Copeland today shares highly emotive and deeply moving cover versions of two Marvin Gaye classics, “What’s Going On” and “Save The Children”, via Transgressive Records. Marvin Gaye’s landmark album What’s Going On delivered a profound message of unity and social awareness. Released in 1971, it confronted pressing issues such as war, racism, and police brutality, all while urging us to care more deeply for one another and the world we share. All these themes can be connected to the events of today and have moved Glenn deeply: Gaza, the attacks on Trans rights and the Black Lives Matter movement. These new recordings are Glenn’s personal response to our current times and articulate the mission behind all of his music: to bring communities together, build collective resilience and speak truth to power.

Listen to “What’s Going On” and watch the video HERE

Listen to “Save The Children” and watch the video HERE

Commenting on the two cover versions Glenn says: “Marvin Gaye was my teacher. Though I didn’t get the chance to meet him in this life, his untimely death broke my heart. I still listen and learn from his wisdom. Marvin’s music is prophetic and his message of unity through love still rings true today. I’m honoured to be covering these two deeply meaningful songs that captured the zeitgeist of a nation at a pivotal time in our shared history. Listen to his introspective lyrics. Dance to his soulful grooves. Get yourself alive in the hands of a master and heed his call.” 

Glenn will soon be returning to these shores for a highly-anticipated October UK tour. These are his first UK shows since 2019 and the extraordinary career renaissance triggered by the rediscovery of his classic Keyboard Fantasies album. The tour will see Glenn-Copeland perform tracks from his acclaimed 2023 album The Ones Ahead as well as fan favourites from across his storied career, accompanied by creative partner and musical producer Elizabeth Copeland. As well as four UK shows the tour will stop off in Dublin and Belgium – dates below:

Beverly Glenn-Copeland UK + EU Tour:

Thursday 2nd October – Edinburgh – The Queen’s Hall

Tuesday 7th October – Dublin – Vicar Street

Friday 10th October – Cardiff – Llais Festival at Wales Millenium Centre

Wednesday 15th October – London – Hackney Empire

Sunday 19th October – Manchester – Aviva Studios

Wednesday 29th October – Brussels – Ancienne Belgique at KVS

Tickets HERE

In the tumult of this world, there is one constant; people need each other. Every motion brushes against another. We are forever intertwined in a collective dance, none of us are siloed or still. The eclectic works of Beverly Glenn-Copeland and Elizabeth Copeland root deeply into these truths, drawing a myriad of musical practices toward a single, luminous conviction: that music can shake us loose from the disconnect that closes us off from one another. Their multifaceted body of work surrenders to the beauty, pain and great capacity for healing that courses through life in all its forms. In its unguarded sincerity, it invites you to share in its courage. To imagine a new world of community and connection. Where the music reminds us of our collective power and strength, and gives us nourishment to carry on, together. 

Glenn 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 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 about selling the remainder; a new generation had unearthed his art. The music spread globally, and a few years later, in his 70s, Glenn 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’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 has continued to develop his own prismatic musical practice. The songs on 2023’s hugely acclaimed The Ones Ahead drew from a wealth of traditions, from American jazz to Irish fiddle songs to West African percussion. Glenn 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”.