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

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 on Monday, the Philadelphia-born, Hamilton-based singer and composer revealed the diagnosis while sitting alongside his wife Elizabeth.

“So far it does not impact my ability to be fully in the moment with those I love,” he said in the message.

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

But the couple said he doesn’t plan to stop making art, as the experience has led to a “massive creative renewal.”

“As these parts of him go, I see his essential light shining brighter than ever,” Elizabeth said in the video.

“We want to challenge the mainstream image of illness which focuses on loss. We are actively asking the universe to show us where is the life here.”

Glenn-Copeland studied classical singing at Montreal’s McGill University in the early 1960s and performed at the World Fair in 1967.

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.

The couple said Glenn-Copeland intends to stay busy, writing a book, adapting a musical and planning to produce a children’s TV show.

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

David Friend, The Canadian Press