Johnny Coppin is an English singer/songwriter, composer, poetry anthologist and broadcaster. Best remembered as one of the founding members of Decameron, Coppin plays guitar and piano and has written and recorded many albums as a solo artist. While Coppin formed his first band The Shifters with his cousin Martin Wright on bass, Neil Dunwoody on guitar, and Howard Jones on drums, he first came to prominence as one of the founding members of Decameron. The band was originally formed as a duo with Dave Bell (vocals, guitar, bass guitar, percussion) in 1968 and Coppin and Bell wrote most of Decameron's songs throughout their existence. Decameron became a four piece in 1969 with the addition of former Love to Mother bandmate Fenn (vocals, guitar, mandoline) and Geoff March (vocals, cello, fiddle, keyboards) the following year. Coppin formed his own band in 1977 with Phil Beer (guitar, fiddle, vocals), Steve Hutt (bass, vocals), Candler (drums) and Tony Bennett (guitar, vocals). With these musicians he collaborated with Nigel Mazlyn Jones on his 1976 Ship To Shore (album) and 1979 Sentinel albums. Coppin's first album was a solo effort, Roll On Dreamer. It was released in 1978. Since then he has regularly released albums, the most recent being Breaking the Silence (with Mike Silver), released in 2007.
