Imani Coppola
Encyclopedia
Imani Francesca Coppola (born on April 6, 1978, NYC) is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 and violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist probably best known for her 1997 hit "Legend of a Cowgirl" which sampled the instrumentals from "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...

. In 2008 Coppola returned as one half of the pop duo Little Jackie, with a hit single "The World Should Revolve Around Me
The World Should Revolve Around Me
"The World Should Revolve Around Me" is the debut single by US R&B duo Little Jackie.-Background:Speaking in July 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul, Little Jackie frontwoman Imani Coppola explained how the song came about: "Being an artist isn't conducive to...

".

Early life and education

Coppola grew up as the second-youngest of five children in Long Island, New York, Coppola's lower-income family, headed by a black mother and Italian father, did not fit in, and she and her family were picked on. Her circumstances encouraged her independence and also her creativity, as her family, who received welfare
Welfare
Welfare refers to a broad discourse which may hold certain implications regarding the provision of a minimal level of wellbeing and social support for all citizens without the stigma of charity. This is termed "social solidarity"...

, had little money to pay for entertainment. Her mother, a teacher, was the primary income earner, while her carpenter father was often out of work and refused to earn an income from his art.

Coppola grew up surrounded by music, as her father is a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 musician, her mother plays bass
Bass (instrument)
Bass describes musical instruments that produce tones in the low-pitched range. They belong to different families of instruments and can cover a wide range of musical roles...

, and all of her brothers and sisters are musically inclined. She says her first musical memory is of her father, who was her biggest musical influence, playing the song "Bessie's Blues" "on a severely out of tune piano." She began playing violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

 at the age of six, eventually studying studio composition at the State University of New York at Purchase
State University of New York at Purchase
Purchase College, State University of New York, is a public four-year college located in Purchase, New York, United States. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York system...

. She was not happy and left after one year, but during her time at Purchase, she made some demos and passed them on to her older sister Maya, who is a singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

 in the music business. Maya gave them to her boyfriend, music publisher Ross Elliot, who got Coppola together with producer Micheal Mangini at Digable Planets
Digable Planets
Digable Planets is an American alternative hip hop trio based in New York City, composed of Ishmael "Butterfly" Butler , Mary Ann "Ladybug Mecca" Vieira and Craig "Doodlebug" Irving . They released their debut album Reachin' in 1993, and their follow-up album Blowout Comb in 1994...

. While still in college, Coppola cut three demo tracks with Digable that resulted in a bidding war for the artist among other studios. Coppola accepted a recording contract with Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

 in 1997.

Columbia contract

Coppola's debut album, Chupacabra
Chupacabra (album)
Chupacabra is the debut album by Imani Coppola, released on October 28, 1997. The title refers to the legendary chupacabra , a creature believed through some parts of the Americas to drink the blood of livestock...

, was released in 1997. The album was critically well-reviewed in The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, where Ann Powers
Ann Powers
Ann Powers is an American writer and pop music critic.Powers has been writing about popular music and society since the early 1980s...

 described it as buoyed by "fanciful raps and supple vocals." Among the album's tracks, the song "Legend of a Cowgirl" became a video hit on MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....

.
In 1998 Coppola played Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 to 1999, and was revived in the summer of 2010. It...

, although she was vocal about her opinion of Lilith founder Sarah McLachlan
Sarah McLachlan
Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC is a Canadian musician, singer and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, as of 2006, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards and four...

 before the tour, indicating that she felt McLachlan was "boring to watch live". "I think she's a good songwriter, at times, and singer. She's boring to watch live, though," said Coppola. " In 2000, she teamed with the Baha Men
Baha Men
The Baha Men are Bahamian singers in a Bahamian band. They play a modernised style of Bahamian music called Junkanoo.-Early career as High Voltage :...

 for the European and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n Top 10 hit "You All Dat".

Columbia Records dropped her in 2000, subsequently shelving her second studio album, Come and Get Me... What?!. Coppola had been frustrated by the music studio's desire for her to sample other artists when she wanted to compose her music entirely herself. Then 22, Coppola felt she needed to learn considerably more about music and art. Never having performed beyond high school musical theater, Coppola felt she had achieved success too easily, without truly working for it.

Independent career

Without a major label behind her, Coppola started recording music at home in 2001, also in 2001, Coppola was part of the band supporting Sandra Bernhard
Sandra Bernhard
Sandra Bernhard is an American comedian, singer, actress and author. She first gained attention in the late 1970s with her stand-up comedy in which she often bitterly critiques celebrity culture and political figures. Bernhard is number 97 on Comedy Central's list of the 100 greatest standups of...

 in her off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...

 production of The Love Machine
The Love Machine
The Love Machine is a 1969 novel written by Jacqueline Susann. Her first book following her hugely successful Valley of the Dolls, it was published by Simon and Schuster in June 1969. While it ultimately was not as successful as Dolls, it was an enormous best-seller and, like its predecessor, it is...

. She released two albums, Post Traumatic Pop Syndrome and Little Red Fighting Mood the following year through independent distribution. During this time Coppola also starred in the movie "The Singing Biologist" playing a smart and witty New York cafe singer looking for something new to bring to her band. By 2004, Coppola was playing acoustic guitar in small clubs like Forum in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 with her drummer Alex Elana, in the Two Shadow Posse. According to Coppola, these events were not well-attended, and she hated performing at them.

In 2005, she launched her own website (created by a fan) and also opened an online music store where she released the shelved Come and Get Me... What?! as well as two new albums, Small Thunder and The Vocal Stylings of Imani Coppola. Also in 2005, she wrote and performed the song "Freedom Come" for the independent film On the Outs and co-wrote Maia Sharp
Maia Sharp
Maia Sharp is an American singer and songwriter. In addition to her solo career, she has written songs for and collaborated with several country and pop musicians including Cher, Trisha Yearwood, Bonnie Raitt, Edwin McCain, and Art Garfunkel.-Early life:...

's single "Fine Upstanding Citizen". In 2006 she contributed two of her own songs, "Woodstock" and "Fake Is The New Real", and arranged all of the strings for artist Alice Smith
Alice Smith
Alice Smith is an New York City-based singer, her style anchored in rock, R&B, blues, jazz and soul. Raised between Washington, D.C. and a farm in Georgia, she sang in Moomtez and Black Rock Coalition while studying History at Fordham University...

's debut album For Lovers, Dreamers and Me. She can also be heard singing back up vocals and playing strings on several songs of the album.
In 2006, she released a free skit album, Audio Blahgs. On May 26, 2006 Coppola performed with Peeping Tom
Peeping Tom (band)
Peeping Tom is a rock band led by Mike Patton. To date, they have released one eponymous album and two singles. Patton has enough material written for the project to possibly record two more albums.-Artists who have played with Peeping Tom:*Rahzel...

 on Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Late Night with Conan O'Brien is an American late-night talk show hosted by Conan O'Brien that aired 2,725 episodes on NBC between 1993 and 2009. The show featured varied comedic material, celebrity interviews, and musical and comedy performances. Late Night aired weeknights at 12:37 am...

. Subsequently, she went on tour with the band, providing both vocals and violin. During this tour, Imani has performed songs from her album The Black & White Album. In an interview with Erin Broadley in November, 2007, Coppola indicated that she had enjoyed the experience of working with Patton and other artists, which she found artistically open.

Coppola's eighth studio album, The Black & White Album, was released digitally on January 14, 2007 and released through Ipecac Recordings
Ipecac Recordings
Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman and Mike Patton Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles,...

 on October 30, 2007. Bill Braun wrote in Amplifer Magazine in November 2007 that Coppola's The Black and White Album has an organic nature that reflects America's diversity. The Globe and Mail wrote that The Black and White Album is a "brutally honest album that's fun to hear." Bret McCabe wrote in the New York Sun on November 13, 2007 that in The Black and White Album Coppola mixed musical genres like Brazilian pop wizard Tom Zé
Tom Zé
Tom Zé is a songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer who was influential in the Tropicália movement of 1960s Brazil. After the peak of the Tropicália period, Zé went into relative obscurity: it was only in the 1990s, when the musician and label head David Byrne discovered an album recorded...

.

In November, 2007, Coppola said in interview that she was unsure if she was going to tour to support The Black & White Album, citing financial concerns. She said, "I don’t even have a car. I don’t know, I would love to put together at least one banging show together for this album. Definitely, it deserves that."

2011, Imani released her new single and high budget video titled "Over It." This is the first single off her upcoming album.

Little Jackie

In 2007, Coppola was signed to S-Curve Records as part of the band Little Jackie
Little Jackie
Little Jackie is an American band consisting of Imani Coppola and Adam Pallin. Little Jackie, which derives its name from the 1989 hit song "Little Jackie Wants to Be a Star" by Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, released a hit single in 2008 called "The World Should Revolve Around Me" from their debut album...

, with whom she collaborated with producer and multi-instrumentalist Adam Pallin
Adam Pallin
Adam Pallin is an American music producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is most notable for being the producer/programmer half of the pop duo Little Jackie with Imani Coppola...

. Coppola sees Little Jackie as an opportunity to get back into pop and also to generate the income she needs to follow her dream of developing artists herself. She indicates that "genre-bending acts" like Gnarls Barkley
Gnarls Barkley
Gnarls Barkley is an American soul duo comprising Danger Mouse and Cee Lo Green. Their first studio album St. Elsewhere was released in 2006; along with its first single "Crazy". Both single and album were a major commercial success and have been noted for their large sales by download...

 have enabled her to return to the music industry through this venture.

Speaking in July 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul
Blues & Soul
Blues & Soul is a British music magazine covering black music. Genres covered include soul, R&B, jazz, hip hop, reggae and world music. It was first published in 1966 and is known for first using the term Northern Soul....

, Coppola stated: "Whereas, in my opinion, Imani Coppola is a REAL artist, Little Jackie represents my 'POPULAR artist' side... And to me this is probably my last attempt at becoming a superstar! If it blows up — WONDERFUL! If I become a superstar — FANTASTIC!... And if I don't, I guess I'll stay very happy just being a crazy-lady artist — making art every day and having that be my food!"

The group has released one album, The Stoop
The Stoop (album)
The Stoop is the 2008 studio debut album released by duo Little Jackie on the S-Curve label. The album produced a single hit, "The World Should Revolve Around Me", which reached #92 on the Pop 100 Billboard chart and peaked at #14 on the UK Singles Chart...

, which launched the hit single "The World Should Revolve Around Me
The World Should Revolve Around Me
"The World Should Revolve Around Me" is the debut single by US R&B duo Little Jackie.-Background:Speaking in July 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul, Little Jackie frontwoman Imani Coppola explained how the song came about: "Being an artist isn't conducive to...

".
2011, Little Jackie released their second album MADE4TV.

Songwriting and artistic vision

Coppola says her songwriting is fused through a pop sensibility, within which she exercises her creativity and individuality. She indicates that her tastes and musical influences are diverse, including classical, which she acknowledges can be a problem in an industry that wants its artists to be clearly defined. Coppola decided to write in whatever genre she wanted. She describes her focus on The Black and White Album as "more experimental, more punk, more rock." Coppola also incorporates theater into her performance with her visual creativity, donning different wigs or makeup during performances.

Coppola uses a different process when she is songwriting for herself than when she is songwriting for another artist or writing on spec. She says, "My brain changes, my thought processes, my body language changes, the way I work changes....; When you do work for other artists, it’s definitely more of a job and it requires a lot of tools."
Among her career goals, she hopes to produce and develop other artists.

Personal life

Coppola lives in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where she continues to struggle with the racial friction she endured as a child. Coppola says, "I have issues with white people AND black people. There's this double standard where the white world went out of its way to stop making fun of black people, but black people feel entitled to make fun of white people and other kinds of people. I'm speaking emotionally, because I'm a little raw and salty from living in the 'hood and not fitting in." A private person, Coppola also struggles with the modern demands for artist accessibility in the music world, with such demands as online interviews and video blogs. In making choices in her own life, she is torn between respect and resentment at the legacy left by her parents. She says, "My parents are both artists and we starved, we went through a lot of difficulty growing up because of their choices in life... When it comes down to making important decisions about my life and my foundation, you know, their artistic side haunts me. Like maybe I should just do what they did."

Albums

  • Chupacabra
    Chupacabra (album)
    Chupacabra is the debut album by Imani Coppola, released on October 28, 1997. The title refers to the legendary chupacabra , a creature believed through some parts of the Americas to drink the blood of livestock...

    (October 28, 1997) - Released on Columbia Records
    Columbia Records
    Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...

  • Come and Get Me... What?! (2000) - Self release
  • Post Traumatic Pop Syndrome (April 6, 2002) - Self release
  • Little Red Fighting Mood (October 6, 2002) - Self release
  • Afrodite (January 1, 2004) - Released on Mental Records
  • Small Thunder (2005) - Self release
  • The Vocal Stylings Of Imani Coppola (2005) - Self release
  • Audio Blahgs (2006) - Free Download
  • The Black And White Album
    The Black And White Album
    The Black and White Album is the eighth solo album from American singer-songwriter and violinist Imani Coppola. It was released on the Mike Patton-owned Ipecac Recordings in 2007, her first for the label.-Track listing:...

    (January 14, 2007) - Self release & Ipecac Recordings
    Ipecac Recordings
    Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman and Mike Patton Ipecac Recordings is an independent record label based in California. It was founded on April 1, 1999 by Greg Werckman (ex-label manager of Alternative Tentacles,...

     (November 6, 2007)
  • Free Spirit
    Free Spirit (Imani Coppola album)
    Free Spirit is an album released on January 25, 2010 by American singer and violinist Imani Coppola as a free download on her website. She describes the album as "Free organic music 100% made by me...

    (January 25, 2010) - Free download
  • The Glass Wall (2012)

Singles

  • "Legend of a Cowgirl" (1997) - Imani Coppola - #36 US, UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

     #32, #20 NZ
  • "I'm a Tree" (1997) - Imani Coppola
  • "Pay Me Back Bitch" (2010)
  • "Mama Gotta Work Out" (2010)
  • "Over It" (2011)

Other

  • "Brand New Day" (2009 cover) (from Sting's 1999 solo album of the same name) performed for Chase Bank.

Little Jackie albums

  • The Stoop
    The Stoop (album)
    The Stoop is the 2008 studio debut album released by duo Little Jackie on the S-Curve label. The album produced a single hit, "The World Should Revolve Around Me", which reached #92 on the Pop 100 Billboard chart and peaked at #14 on the UK Singles Chart...

    (July 8, 2008) - S-Curve (July 8, 2008) - Parlophone
    Parlophone
    Parlophone is a record label that was founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch was formed in 1923 as "Parlophone" which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a leading jazz label. It was acquired in 1927 by the Columbia Graphophone Company which...

     - UK
    UK Albums Chart
    The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...

     #138

  • Made4TV   (October 15, 2011) - Plush Moon Records/TuneCore

Little Jackie singles

  • "The World Should Revolve Around Me
    The World Should Revolve Around Me
    "The World Should Revolve Around Me" is the debut single by US R&B duo Little Jackie.-Background:Speaking in July 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul, Little Jackie frontwoman Imani Coppola explained how the song came about: "Being an artist isn't conducive to...

    " (2008) - UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

     #14
  • "The Stoop" (2008) (Released October 27, 2008) - #DNC UK
  • Take Back The World (2011) (Released September 30, 2011) - Plush Moon Records/TuneCore

External links

  • Imani Coppola at Discogs
    Discogs
    Discogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...

  • Imani Coppola Lyrics
  • Afrodite at CD Baby
    CD Baby
    CD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...

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