A GoFundMe campaign has been launched in support of revolutionary singer-songwriter and Black trans elder, Beverly Glenn-Copeland, and his wife, Elizabeth. According to the fundraiser page created by the couple’s child Faith, the 76-year-old musician and his wife have been rendered “essentially homeless” due to COVID-19 related cancellations.
“My father, Beverly is a musician, composer and performer who after writing and releasing music in relative obscurity over the last 50 years, at age 76 was on track to return the first profitable year, with tours scheduled in Australia, the U.K. and Europe,” Faith writes. “He was receiving attention from audiences worldwide, was set to tour Europe and Australia, and was due to record and release a new album. Now all of that has changed. The European tour scheduled for this summer has now been rescheduled to May 2021, meaning that my parents will have very little in the way of sure income for a full year.”
According to the campaign, Beverly and Elizabeth sold their house in Sackville, New Brunswick, a few months before the pandemic hit. Now, they are unable to finance a new home. The funds raised through the campaign will go towards moving and relocation funds, essential costs of living like groceries, and other expenses.
As Pitchfork points out, Glenn-Copeland’s 1986 album …Keyboard Fantasies… is recognized as a New Age classic. After decades of obscurity, Glenn-Copeland brought his mixture of folk, jazz, classical and blues to a U.S. stage for the first time last year. The multi-talented composer was also a long-time writer for Sesame Street, and his story was brought to wider audiences with the 2019 release of a documentary on his life: Keyboard Fantasies: The Beverly Glenn-Copeland Story.
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