Rock Camp Artist:

Stewart Copeland

Associated Acts: The Police

Stewart Copeland has spent more than three decades at the forefront of contemporary music, as a rock star and acclaimed film composer, and across the worlds of opera, ballet, chamber, and world music. Recruiting Sting and Andy Summers in 1977, Copeland is renowned as the founder of The Police, a band that became a defining force in rock music from the 80s to the present day. His career includes the sale of more than 60 million records worldwide and numerous awards, including seven Grammy awards—most recently a 2023 Grammy for Best Immersive Audio Album and a 2022 Best New Age award for Divine Tides, a collaboration with Indian musician Ricky Kej. He has composed dozens of film and tv scores, including Francis Coppola’s Rumble Fish, Oliver Stone’s Wall St. and Talk Radio, Silent Fall, Highlander II—The Quickening, The Equalizer, Dead Like Me, among many others. Copeland’s operatic works include two based on the works of Edgar Allen Poe---The Cask of Amontillado and The Tell-Tale Hart; The Invention of Morel, which premiered in 2017at Chicago Opera Theatre; Electric Saint, a 2021 Weimar DNT premiere; Satan’s Fall—an oratorio performed across the U.S. in 2021; and The Witches Seed, his 2022 collaboration with creative partner and Pretenders lead singer/songwriter Chrissie Hynde which received three new productions in 2024. This year Copeland published his second book: Stewart Copeland’s Police Diaries. Further awards include the keys to the city of Milan, New York, Dallas, Melpignano and Cannes. Knighthood (Chevalier of the Order of Arts & Letters) in France; and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Through it all, a sense of humor and appreciation for his utterly unique career has shone through as he has enjoyed working in a remarkable array of genres.

Rock Camp Artist:

Robby Krieger

Associated Acts: The Doors

Robert Alan (Robby) Krieger, born January 8, 1946, in Los Angeles, is a musical performer and The Doors guitarist. He attended UCLA. “The first music I heard that I liked was Peter and the Wolf. I accidentally sat and broke the record (I was about seven). Then I listened to rock ‘n’ roll – I listened to the radio a lot – Fats Domino, Elvis, The Platters. “I started surfing at fourteen. There was lots of classical music in my house. My father liked march music. There was a piano at home. I studied trumpet at ten, but nothing came of it. Then I started playing blues on the piano?no lessons though. When I was seventeen, I started playing guitar. I used my friend’s guitar. I didn’t get my own until I was eighteen. It was a Mexican flamenco guitar. I took flamenco lessons for a few months. I switched around from folk to flamenco to blues to rock ‘n’ roll. “Records got me into the blues. Some of the newer rock ‘n’ roll, such as the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. If it hadn’t been for Butterfield going electric, I probably wouldn’t have gone rock ‘n’ roll. I didn’t plan on rock ‘n’ roll. I wanted to learn jazz; I got to know some people doing rock ‘n’ roll with jazz, and I thought I could make money playing music. In rock ‘n’ roll you can realize anything that you can in jazz or anything. There’s no limitation other than the beat. You have more freedom than you do in anything except jazz – which is dying – as far as making any money is concerned. “In The Doors we have both musicians and poets, and both know of each other’s art, so we can effect a synthesis. In the case of Tim Buckley or Dylan you have one man’s ideas. Most groups today aren’t groups. In a true group all the members create the arrangements among themselves.”

Rock Camp Artist:

Skunk Baxter

Associated Acts: Doobie Brothers

In 1972 Jeff “Skunk” Baxter became a founding member of the band Steely Dan and appeared with Steely Dan on their first three albums, Baxter left the band in 1974 to join The Doobie Brothers. As a session man, he had contributed pedal steel guitar on Vices as well as "South City Midnight Lady" on its predecessor, The Captain and Me. They went on to continued success with the 1976 album Takin' It to the Streets, 1977's Livin' on the Fault Line, and particularly 1978's Minute by Minute, which spent five weeks as the #1 album in the U.S. and spawned several hit singles; Baxter's work on the album includes a noted performance at the end of "How Do the Fools Survive?

Rock Camp Artist:

Leland Sklar

Associated Acts: James Taylor

Primary Instrument: Bass

Leland Sklar has been a prominent figure among Hollywood session bassists dating back to the 1970s and ever since. Sklar (born Leland Bruce Sklar, May 28, 1947, Milwaukee, WI) has more than 2000 albums to his credit (and still counting), and is considered to be one of the "A" players in the highly selective L.A. rock music community where the competition for recording dates is fierce, and where only the strongest will survive. His very recognizable bass playing style has been heard on hits by Linda Ronstadt, James Taylor, Hall & Oates, Jackson Browne, Phil Collins, Clint Black, Reba McEntire, and George Strait, to name just a few. And never one to remain idle, Sklar has entered the new millennium with a vengeance, taking on new projects with Willie Nelson, Steven Curtis Chapman, Nils Lofgren, Lisa Loeb, and many more. The reputation of a fine session player is not held exclusively to the record industry. Television and motion picture musical directors have called upon Sklar for his expertise countless times. He has played on TV shows such as Hill Street Blues, Knight Rider, Simon and Simon, and also on many motion pictures, including Forrest Gump, Ghost, Kindergarten Cop, and My Best Friend's Wedding. The list is virtually endless. Sklar moved from Wisconsin to Southern California when he was very young and started playing piano at age four. When he entered Birmingham Junior High in Van Nuys he fully intended to continue as a pianist in the school music program but found that there was an overabundance of piano students, but no string bass players. His instructor, Mr. Ted Lynn, asked Sklar if he would consider playing bass and, if so, he would teach him. As Sklar stated it, "...my life changed. Piano took a back seat and bass was it!" It was toward the end of the '60s and after completing his education at California State University, Northridge, as a music/art major that Sklar met James Taylor and they started doing some gigs. They thought they might be playing together for about a month, but then Taylor's "Fire and Rain" became a huge hit record and Sklar's career began to gain steam. Sklar's first sessions were with Taylor. The buzz surrounding this new bass player didn't take long to spread around Hollywood, and suddenly there was an icon in the making. Over the years Sklar has worked with nearly all of the top session players in Hollywood, but on the backs of album covers his name seems to pop up more frequently alongside drummer Russ Kunkel, guitarist Dan Kortchmar, and keyboardist Craig Doerge. This quartet would come to be known as the Section and they would record three of their own albums between 1972 and 1977 with the participation of additional select sidepersonnel. Occasionally the Section would give a subtly announced live performance, much to the delight of their esoteric followers who would seek them out and feast on their mastery.

Rock Camp Artist:

Darryl Jones

Associated Acts: Rolling Stones

Primary Instrument: Bass

Darryl Jones was born on the south side of Chicago into a musical family. His father taught him drums and xylophone at 7 years old. But when Jones saw his neighbor, Angus Thomas, playing bass in the school talent show, the nine year old foresaw his destiny. He immediately began studying with Angus, and within a year played his first gig, along with his brother on guitar, at the next school talent show. After completing the intensive music program at Chicago Vocational High School he attended Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. At 21, with the help of his longtime friend Vincent Wilburn Jr. (the nephew of Miles Davis), Jones landed a life-changing gig with the legendary jazz icon, with whom he would record and tour over the next five years. He can be heard on Decoy, You’re Under Arrest, and several live concert albums. The following decade brought distinctive opportunities: When Police front-man and bass player Sting picked up a rhythm guitar to embark on a solo career, he chose Jones to play the bass. He played on the Dream of the Blue Turtles album and appeared in the documentary film Bring on the Night, and subsequent album and world tour. During the eighties the young bassist also performed with Peter Gabriel on the Human Rights Now! tour, Herbie Hancock & the Headhunters, Madonna, Eric Clapton, and more. During this time Jones also made his mark on the New York electric jazz scene where he played alongside John Scofield, Hiram Bullock, the Gil Evans Big Band, and Steps Ahead. Another amazing opportunity came in 1993, when Jones was chosen to replace longtime band member Bill Wyman as bassist for the Rolling Stones. Since then, he has toured the world, performed on studio and live albums, and appeared in documentary and concert films with the Stones. He founded Jones Musical Instruments to produce high-quality basses and guitars, combining artisan craftsmanship and modern technologies, for seasoned professionals and dedicated enthusiasts. He envisions a world where music education is available to all, and therefore the company supports programs that bring music into public schools.