Stewart Armstrong Copeland was born in Alexandria (Virginia), on July 16, 1952, by a well-off family.

Father (Miles Copeland Jnr.), Glenn Miller Orchestra’s trumpeter, was one of the founders of the CIA and, subsequently, was transferred by the U.s. Government as political adviser in some Middle East States.

On account of what, Stewart spent his infancy in Egypt and, mostly, in Beirut. The memory of the Beirut period is resumed in that He said in an interview: "I was just a child, but i remember explosions by night, clashes between factions and shots of weapons. We lived in a flat with the rooms full of foods and tubs full of water".

Stewart began to play drums just in Beirut along with other american-community guys.

When his family was transferred to London, Stewart went to study in Millfield, an exclusive private school. When he finished the high school, he went to San Diego and entered to a musical course and then he transferred at the "Berkley University" where he took a degree in media and communications, double-bass and drums.

In this period the brother Miles asked Stewart to make the Joan Armatrading’s tour-manager (That had a contract with the "A&M" label). When the matter was settled, Stewart came back to London, where He became the "Curved Air" tour-manager; Darryl Way, a member of that band, had just Miles as a manager. Original drummer left the band and he was replaced by Stewart which recorded with them two albums: "Airborn" and "Midnight Wire". Stewart played his last time with the Curved Air on December 23, 1976: Day in which the band gave notice of its dissolution. During a stay in Newcastle, Stewart saw Sting played with "The Last Exit" and he was introduced to him by a common friend, the reporter Phil Sutcliffe. At the beginning of January 1977, Stewart proposed to Sting to move himself to London, where the Police Adventure started.

During the Outlandos D’amour recording previous period, Stewart recorded his own material, that doesn’t be used with the Police, due to the fact that Sting wasn’t able to sing that songs, in an album entitled "Don’t Care", using the pseudonym of "Klark Kent", which identity was kept secret for a certain period. In the album, in addition to the drums, Stewart played guitar and bass too. The lp sold 50,000 copies and Stewart/Klark was invited at "Top Of The Pops", where he was saw by Sting, Andy and his brother Miles, as his manager.