Beverly Glenn-Copeland reveals dementia diagnosis, will soon play final Canadian show

By David Friend, The Canadian Press on September 23, 2024.

Musician Beverly Glenn Copeland, shown in a handout photo, says he's been diagnosed with dementia and will play three previously planned final concerts over the next two weeks. THE CANADIAN PRESS/HO-Brianna Blank **MANDATORY CREDIT**

TORONTO – Beverly Glenn-Copeland says he’s been diagnosed with dementia and will play his final concert tour dates over the next two weeks.

In a video posted to his Instagram account, the Philadelphia-born, Hamilton-based singer and composer revealed his diagnosis while sitting alongside his wife Elizabeth.

The couple said while his condition impacts his memory, it hasn’t yet affected his ability “to be fully in the moment,” which has encouraged him to pursue creative aspirations in the short term.

He will play his last Canadian concert in Montreal on Thursday before stops in Brooklyn on Sept. 30 and Saugerties, N.Y. on Oct. 5.

Glenn-Copeland studied classical singing at Montreal’s McGill University in the early 1960s and performed at the World Fair in 1967, which led to his decision to stay in Canada.

In the years that followed, Glenn-Copeland released a folk-jazz album and frequently appeared on CBC’s “Mr. Dressup,” while his 1986 album “Keyboard Fantasies” is credited as a pioneering work of early synthesizer and drum machine sounds.

Glenn-Copeland began publicly identifying as a transgender man in the early 2000s, while a rediscovery of “Keyboard Fantasies” by a Japanese record collector in 2015 led to a broader reconsideration of his work.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2024.