When Miles Axe Copeland III was born on May 2, 1944, there was a
very bright star in the sky, though no one is quite certain
which star it was. There were also V-1 and V-2 rockets dropping
in the near vicinity, as it was the height of the World War II
blitz of London. Miles' father, Miles Axe Copeland, Jr., was
stationed in England in the American army doing
counter-intelligence for the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic
Services), where he met and married Miles' future mother,
Lorraine Adie, who was in British Intelligence S.O.E (Special
Operations Executive). Miles' passport shows his birth date as
April 2 because father Miles made a mistake on the original
application. Throughout life, Miles has had surprise birthday
parties thrown on April 2 and people wish him happy birthday one
month early. Rarely has anyone, except close family, wished him
happy birthday on May 2. (The psychological damage done to him
due to this fluke is unknown).
The family then alternated between Middle East posts and
Washington D.C. In 1953, father Miles Jr. was loaned by the
C.I.A. to Gamal Abdul Nasser (President of Egypt) to organize
the Egyptian secret intelligence, The Mukabarat. He soon became
Nasser's closest western advisor. It was here that Lorraine
Copeland took up archeology and Miles III took up an interest in
collecting anything ancient, from mummy parts to coins. It was
also here that young Miles became friends with Col. Hasan
Tuhami, Nasser's machine gun toting bodyguard who lived next
door. In later years, this friendship became extremely useful as
Mr. Tuhami became Vice Prime Minister of Egypt and came to the
rescue of The Police, whose equipment was stuck in Egyptian
customs, jeopardizing a concert at the Cairo University that
night. Father Miles' exploits are recounted in three books: Game
of Nations, The Real Spy World and his autobiography, The Game
Player.
From 1957-68 the Copeland family was stationed in Beirut,
Lebanon during the hey-day of that city. Miles attended high
school at the American Community School where he was president
of his senior class. Along with his archeologist mother, he
further developed his fascination for ancient civilizations,
especially their art and architecture. This interest took him to
travel widely throughout Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Egypt.
During the summer breaks, he taught judo, having previously
earned a first-degree black belt. He was the first person ever
to put on a judo exhibition for Lebanese television, his first
television appearance. He was also presented with a license to
teach Judo to the Lebanese Army. He accepts no responsibility
for the ineffectiveness of that army in subsequent years.
From 1962-66, he attended Birmingham Southern College
(receiving his B.A. in History and Political Science) in
Birmingham, Alabama, the birthplace of his father and home to
various Copelands (cousins, grandmother, etc.). He spent one
semester at American University in Washington, D.C. (the
Washington semester program), studying the workings of the US
government up close and personal. From 1966-69, he attended the
American University of Beirut, earning his M.A. in Economics.
Courses focused largely on how to bring a third world country
into the 20th century (without huge oil revenues). Meanwhile,
times were strange in Beirut as the seeds of civil war were
finding soil and at one point, Miles and other Americans were
secretly whisked out of the country for their own protection,
returning months later when deemed "relatively safe."
He promoted his first music concert at the University in
1968, the first "psychedelic" style happening in Beirut
(without the use of drugs of course). This caught the attention
of a local Lebanese concert promoter who was soon to bring a
British pop group to perform in Beirut and wanted to beef up the
show with some of Miles' production ideas, which included
projection, black lights, and "go-go" girls. The British group,
Rupert's People, performed all summer and came to rely on Miles
to save them from the perfidy of the promoter and general
un-togetherness. Miles soon discovered he was good at this and
loved the challenge. Summer over, Rupert's People returned to
England, plotting how to rope this energetic American into
helping them on their home turf.
In 1968, he formed his first business partnership, Middle
East Security Consultants, with his close friend, Amr Ghaleb,
son of Egypt's Ambassador to Lebanon (known to run the largest
spy network in Lebanon). Various incidents caused both the CIA
local chief and Ambassador Ghaleb to put an end to this
enterprise. Of particular embarrassment was Miles' unfortunate
habit of answering the phone, "CIA, how can we help you?"
It should be interjected here that at this point, one could
have assumed Miles would move into a career in international
politics, Middle East business, or even the CIA, following in
the footsteps of his colorful father. But no- a completely
different path evolved; set in motion by father Miles' astute
predictions. It is significant that Miles Sr. was fascinated
with the operation of the human mind. "What makes Johnny tick?
Environment or genetics?" A certified genius himself, with an
IQ of 162, he knew genius resided in his wife's Adie side of the
family also. Brother-in-law, Ian Adie, was reading ancient Greek
at age 3- currently could speak every European language, plus
was fluent in Chinese. On a visit to Beirut, he impressed all by
(1) tuning into Radio Peking on the family "Ham" radio and
laughing at all the jokes and (2) figuring out the Arabic
language by the time he left two weeks later. He was also in the
intelligence "business," becoming the world's leading expert on
Sino-Soviet relations. Therefore, suitably stocked with
intelligence, he set about to build an encouraging environment.
He decided that exposing his children to the peccadilloes and
intrigues of the real world- whether they were then interested
or not- would impart by osmosis, perception, instinctive
understanding, and, hopefully, wisdom that would come in handy
in later years. This was not too difficult when one's
"hobnobbing" circle included over the years: President Nasser
of Egypt ("leader of the Arab World"), Kim Philby (Britain's
most famous spy who ended up as a general in the KGB), Adnan
Khasochggi (famous arms dealer and general wheeler dealer), as
well as countless lesser and behind the scenes personages of
power, intrigue, and general skullduggery. The family Sunday
lunch was more likely than not to feature discussions of what
the Sudanese Liberation Army was up to (Father Miles having
taken Miles to a meeting with them in Washington) or which
military leader was likely to come out on top in Ghana politics.
It was at this time that Miles the elder made it clear to
Miles the younger, soon to be graduating from college, that a
career in the CIA should be furthest from his thoughts. "It will
disappoint and frustrate you and there's no money in it," he
cautioned. He had come to realize that there were two powerful
forces working against the CIA: one coming from the "left" and
one from the "right." The "left" was generally hostile to the
CIA and opposed behind the scenes skullduggery on moral grounds,
even if in the interests of the U.S.-- basically the old "the
ends do not justify the means" argument. The "right" was
basically and unabashedly anti-intellectual. When father Miles
was involved in setting up the CIA in its earliest days,
recruitment focused on finding people who were experts on or had
firsthand knowledge of their subject. Staff for the "Russian
Desk" should speak and read Russian, for instance. College
professors and recent immigrants were obvious choices. They
would have not only knowledge, but also perception. As the
Vietnam War progressed, the CIA became more "operations"
oriented (covert actions), rather than intelligence-gathering,
which meant more and more recruitment of military types. The
military mind is historically suspicious of the intellectual and
certainly suspicious of the immigrant who may harbor secret
sympathies for the homeland. As the military mind set eventually
"took over," it now became policy to put people on "Russian
Desk" who would have no connection at all to Russia- could not
speak the language, etc.- so there was no danger of latent
sympathies. This "safe" policy obviously had its drawbacks (to
put it mildly), as we have seen from recent events wherein the
CIA and, hence, the US government was taken by surprise by huge
international events, and has generally operated on in the dark
or with completely wrong information. As father Miles' fears
turned out to be justified, it is fortuitous he completely
discouraged his son from a career in government. Besides, he
wanted his sons to make REAL money, something he never did.
Also, as US law does not permit foreign-born citizens to become
President and Miles Copeland III was born in London, why go into
a job where you can never be top man?
Finishing with college and having become somewhat
disenchanted with developments in the Middle East, Miles
rejoined the family who had subsequently set up base in London,
England. Here, he reunited with Rupert's People, who launched
him on a crash course in the music business. Alas, it became
apparent as Miles was becoming "educated" that the day of the
"pretty boy" pop group like Rupert's People was over, being
supplanted by the scruffy musician-oriented progressive rock
era.
One night at a club in northwest London, Miles met two such
"progressive rock" musicians and became inspired to help them
form a group. The result was Wishbone Ash, which became a
successful band that eventually led Miles to sign Climax Blues
Band, Renaissance, Al Stewart, Joan Armatrading, Curved Air, and
Caravan. Wishbone's first LP went top 30 and they were voted
Best New Band by the major U.K. music press. The band's third LP
was unanimously voted Album of the Year in the U.K. Wishbone
Ash, and later Miles' other clients, made numerous tours of the
U.S., making Miles an unrivaled expert in every aspect of
touring British bands in the U.S. market.
During this first period of Miles' career, he formed his
first record label, BTM (British Talent Managers) Records,
became partners in a UK concert booking agency, which first
employed brother Ian back fresh from Vietnam, and started a
music industry magazine, College Event, keeping his name out of
it via a front man editor so he could write glowing articles
about all his artists. Coincidentally, the magazine
revolutionized concert booking in the UK simply by publishing
regular lists of touring artists, their average fees, who their
booking agent was, and the phone numbers. This eliminated a
whole layer of middlemen who up to that time bought and sold
artists from agent to agent, promoter to promoter because they
knew who was who and how to get hold of them.
Also in this period, Miles befriended a brash, eager young
New York lawyer unhappy in a sleepy law firm. Seeing in him a
possible exit scenario, he talked Miles into setting up a New
York office with him in one room and Miles in another. That
lawyer was the now-legendary Allen Grubman and the office; the
beginning of what is now the world's most powerful music
business law firm.
In 1975, Miles embarked on a major moving festival tour
throughout Europe, much like today's Lollapalooza, called
"Startrucking 75," which featured most of his acts, plus Tina
Turner, Lou Reed and John McLaughlin's Mahavishnu Orchestra. The
first of its kind, Startrucking was, in concept, a success, but
it was a financial quagmire that forced Miles to dissolve his
management company and start again. The final straw occurred on
the last several shows when Lou Reed failed to show up as he had
locked himself in a bathroom in New Zealand and there was no
indication of when he would come out.
This comeuppance proved to be an invaluable lesson in life.
Namely, what goes up, can also go down, and when down, one
really finds out who one's friends are. One consequence was
Miles was now stuck in England and had to give up his office in
New York. He also gave up the magazine, record company, and the
booking agency partnership. Miles' way back up coincided with
the punk explosion in the United Kingdom where he found an
affinity because the punk rockers didn't care that Miles no
longer had any money. They just wanted someone to pay attention
to them, and Miles did.
During this anarchic period, 1977-79, Miles acted in various
roles as agent, manager, producer, and record company (founding
Illegal Records, Deptford Fun City Records and Step Forward in
1977) for almost every act in the punk/new wave scene: The Sex
Pistols (as agent for the first and only European tour), The
Clash (for about three weeks), Johnny Thunders and the
Heartbreakers, Cherry Vanilla, Generation X (with Billy Idol),
Blondie (being the first to bring the group to the U.K.),
Television, John Cale, Lou Reed, Patti Smith, and many more.
The depth of his relationships in the punk scene made him the
obvious choice to executive produce the first movie dedicated to
the scene, Michael White's, "Urgh! A Music War," which still
airs occasionally on TV around the world. His office also became
the headquarters for the Rolling Stone magazine of the punk
movement, Sniffing Glue, the most famous and influential fanzine
of the day. With Miles' help, the fanzine grew from selling a
few hundred copies to a 20,000 circulation accomplished largely
by hard work, word of mouth, and a unique product at the right
time and the right place.
Creating Firstars Management, he was manager for Squeeze and
for his brother Stewart's new band, The Police. Miles recorded
John Cale, Wayne County and the Electric Chairs, Chelsea, The
Cortinas, Sham 69, The Cramps, The Fall, Alternative TV and both
The Police's and Squeeze's first singles.
In 1978, he recorded The Police's first album and, after
hearing Roxanne, decided that the group would require the
distribution of a major company. By making A & M Records an
offer they couldn't refuse, The Police were signed to that
company. Miles then independently financed the group's first
U.S. tour, which sent word of mouth wheels in motion and which
subsequently saw the group become the hottest band in the world.
In The Police, Miles found three individuals with the same
positive energy and lack of commitment to old ways of doing
things that he had. No idea was too crazy to at least consider.
All four of them- Sting, Andy, Stewart, and Miles- recognized
early on it was their combination of contrasts- merger of things
that "shouldn't" belong together from the music mixture of
punk, pop, jazz, and reggae to their unique stripped down
touring style- that made them different. When Miles dreamed up
the title of the first album to encapsulate the essence of what
was going on, "Outlandos d'amour" (combining outlaw-commandos
of love), it was immediately adopted. Miles went on to title the
next two albums, "Regatta de Blanc" and "Zenyatta Mondatta."
Miles' original title for the third LP was "Trimondo
Blondomina" (three blondes conquering three worlds), but it was
a bit too much for Sting. But in truth, the group had, in fact,
conquered all three worlds. They were the first Western group to
play in India and one of the very few to do Egypt. They
re-opened Greece to Rock & Roll after years of military
dictatorship. The Police performed to huge, ecstatic crowds in
Argentina and Chile. Much of this was captured in "Police in the
East" and "Police Around the World" videos. Meanwhile, a
monthly magazine was launched in the UK titled, "The Police,"
which reached a circulation of over 100,000, and featured photos
of The Police in these various exotic and picturesque locales.
Photo credits were more often than not: Miles Copeland III.
The success of The Police and the novel methods used to break
them enabled Miles to talk Jerry Moss (head of A&M Records) into
distributing a U.S. version of his U.K. labels with A & M in the
United States, and I.R.S. Records was born. In the next few
years, the company had hits with The Buzzcocks, The Beat, The
Cramps, Wall of Voodoo, Timbuk 3, R.E.M. and a number one album
with the all-girl group, The Go-Gos. This album ended up as the
number one seller in the U.S. for the entire year. This formula
established the label as one of the most innovative in the
business, and, at the same time, The Police rose to greater and
greater heights, giving Miles and I.R.S. an immense profile.
On July 2, 1982, Miles was the front page of the UK Marketing
Week magazine with the headline "The Empire Built on Rock."
This period featured many articles in the press detailing his
exploits, style, accomplishments, even some scurrilous ones
associating him with various movie starlets. All this served to
reinforce the idea "don't believe everything you read." Miles
also now learned firsthand the meaning of his father's joking
advice: "don't let the truth stand in the way of a good story."
The media's propensity to exaggerate and embellish, whether
positive or negative, is worth fully appreciating (and using to
one's advantage).
Looking back on the I.R.S. legacy, it becomes apparent that
not only was the label influential in marketing music, but it
ended up populating the business with a surprisingly large
number of top executives who got their start there and who
credit Miles with launching their careers. Another major success
Miles had was with The Bangles, whom he managed from their early
beginnings until several months before the group's dissolution.
In 1986, the all-girl group had the number one worldwide hit of
the year, "Walk Like An Egyptian." Though Miles had always seen
this song as a smash hit, it was not considered a single neither
by the group's U.S. nor UK record companies. Miles couldn't talk
the U.S. company into releasing it, but did manage to cajole the
UK company into releasing it as the fourth single. It took off
immediately as a virtual worldwide phenomenon.
By coincidence, this period also witnessed the beginning of
MTV and Miles was one of the first to recognize the fledgling
networks potential. The Police became the first artist to be
sponsored by MTV and Miles became the first (and until now only)
to have his record company produce its own show on MTV, the IRS
Cutting Edge. This novel show ran for five years and was the
first to expose many of the decade's later stars on television.
Also in the world of television Miles developed Jools
Holland, the young keyboard player from Squeeze, into a major TV
host/personality. Believing Jools had that special something; he
talked The Police into using him as the host on their upcoming
TV special. It worked for The Police AND for Jools, landing him
in a five-year contract as host on British television's Channel
4 music show, "The Tube." After "The Tube" had run its course,
Jools continued to be very much in demand. At one point, Miles
had the poor bastard commuting back and forth across the
Atlantic (on the Concorde of course) hosting a Sunday TV show
for Lorne Michaels (producer of Saturday Night Live) in New York
and a BBC show in London on Wednesdays.
Meanwhile, on a parallel and symbiotic path, the third
Copeland brother, Ian, was going from strength to strength as
the premiere booking agent of the new wave. Calling his agency
Frontier Booking International (FBI), he was soon booking all of
Miles' bands, plus a host of others. His exploits are recounted
in his notorious autobiography published by Simon and Schuster,
"Wild Thing."
Miles has been a keynote speaker at the New Music Seminar and
the Juno Awards and has been featured speaker at South by
Southwest. In England, he was given a one-hour program for
Channel 4 Television titled "Miles Copeland's England," aired
nationally in prime time where Miles spoke about the good and
bad sides of the United Kingdom, a fairly notorious program in
that country, and apparently a favorite of then Prime Minister
Margaret Thatcher. The program was picked up by Danish
television and more recently, by Norwegian television who liked
its capitalist sentiments. Interestingly, the show was scheduled
for another airing on Channel 4, but was pulled after intense
lobbying by several left-wing members of the programming board
fearing it would have "undue influence" on the upcoming
national elections. It is rumored that Miles was somewhat
disappointed at this turn of events as the Conservative Party
could now claim victory without Miles' help. He also made
numerous other television appearances in the United Kingdom and
elsewhere. He has been featured in four of VH-1 "Behind The
Music" programs on The Police, Sting, The Go-Gos and The
Bangles, plus several programs on R.E.M for British television.
In 1984, The Police went into hibernation and Miles carried
on managing Sting through seven solo albums, and continues to
work with brother Stewart, who is one of the major soundtrack
composers in the movies today. He watches over Stewart's
interests in various bands, Animal Logic (with Stanley Clarke),
Oysterhead (with Trey Anastasio and Les Claypool), and projects
with Andy Summers, the third member of The Police. He launched
Stewart's major current business, film soundtracks, by securing
the score for him on Frances Ford Coppola's "Rumblefish."
Stewart has gone from strength to strength with countless
soundtracks under his belt.
I.R.S. Records moved to MCA with hits that included Belinda
Carlisle, the 1989 number one hit album from The Fine Young
Cannibals and highly successful albums from R.E.M. (1982 through
1988). In the 1990, I.R.S. joined the EMI family and had hits
with Concrete Blonde, Stan Ridgeway, dada, and #1 hits in the
U.K. with Pato Banton and Doctor and the Medics. Another signing
was Torch Song containing William Orbit. Quickly realizing that
William was the magic of the group and a production genius,
Miles encouraged him to produce other IRS artists, thereby
launching William's producing career. (Recently William produced
Madonna.)
Miles broadened the base of the company in 1987 to take in
films with I.R.S. Media, Inc., and has acted as Executive
Producer for over twenty-five films to date beginning with the
company's first film, "The Decline of the Western Civilization
Part II," "The Metal Years" (directed by Penelope Spheeris),
"One False Move" (directed by Carl Franklin, written by Billy
Bob Thornton, and chosen as the Best Movie of 1992) and "Tom and
Viv," which was nominated for two Academy Awards (1995). Miles
himself appears in one of the films, "Bank Robber" with Patrick
Dempsey as a TV evangelist, a role he felt particularly suited
to.
The film division was closed in 1996 to re-focus the company
back to its core business of music. As a footnote, Miles also
appeared in two memorable scenes in Sting's film, "Bring on the
Night."
Music publishing has always been a core business for Miles.
IRS Music, Illegal Songs, and Bugle Songs operate in London and
Los Angeles. Miles hosts an annual songwriter's retreat where he
brings together writers and artists from all over the world to
his 14th century castle in the Dordogne region of France. This
has led to hits for platinum selling artists such as Celine
Dion, Aerosmith, Jars of Clay, Toby Keith, Aaron Tippin, Keith
Urban, and Jon Bon Jovi. Attendees have included Cher (who
claims the retreat was one of the greatest experiences of her
life), Carole King, Ted Nugent, Jeff Beck, Jon Bon Jovi, Hanson,
Keith Urban and many more.
In 1988, in the U.K., he joined with booking agent veteran
Phil Banfield, purchased several other agencies, and created
what has now become the third largest booking agency in Europe,
CODA, representing a wide array of artists from dance to pop to
rock and whose roster includes Zucchero, Jeff Beck, Scissor
Sisters, Supertramp, Michael Flatley's Lord of the Dance,
Bellydance Superstars, and Emma Shapplin to name a few of the
over one hundred artists represented. The company is
particularly strong in the DJ and dance market fluctuating
between 1 and 2 in that market.
Along with his brothers, Stewart and Ian, Miles was honoree
and recipient of the Humanitarian Award from the AMC Cancer
Research Center in 1985. The awards program noted:" Seventeen
years ago, the first AMC Humanitarian Award went to Judy
Holliday, a brilliant musical star and actress. Tonight, we are
proud to continue the tradition and honor Miles, Ian, and
Stewart Copeland and their famous, and often times infamous,
contributions to the music/entertainment industry. Early in each
of their individual careers, the Copeland Brothers were
considered mavericks- the new frontiersman. Miles, attending to
music management; Ian, involved as a music agent; and, Stewart,
a talented composer, engaged as a drummer in The Police- all
were iconoclasts. While they were bucking the established
institution, practices and attitudes of the music industry, they
were on the cutting edge of pioneering "new music" into the
United States. Their methods, once scorned, are now imitated. It
is fitting that we pay tribute to the Copeland Brothers and
their pioneering spirit. "
Billboard Magazine has also acknowledged him with an award
for his contributions to the music world. In the U.K., during
The Police years, he organized and ran, together with British
M.P. (Member of Parliament) Anthony Steen, The Outlandos Trust,
which donated a portion of Police's earnings to many youth music
projects throughout Britain. He has also supported Sting and
Trudie Styler's Rainforest Foundation.
In 1997, when EMI closed a number of labels, including
I.R.S., in a major consolidation effort, Miles established the
independent label ARK21 distributed by EMI worldwide. The roster
included Waylon Jennings, Leon Russell, Liquid Soul, Beautiful
South, Human League, Belinda Carlisle, Paul Carrack, Howard
Jones, Alannah Myles, Tony Williams and Paul Thorn. Subsidiaries
of the label include Mondo Melodia (world music), Pagan Records
(techno/dance), and Pangaea Records (co-owned by Sting and
devoted to soundtracks including "Leaving Las Vegas," "The
Object of My Affection," "The Mighty," "The Thomas Crown
Affair," and "Red Planet"). In 2001, Pangaea became a wholly
owned subsidiary of ARK21.
ARK21 moved distribution to Universal in 1999, now the
world's number one record distributor. Initial success was
achieved in Europe with presence on the Pagan label and "The
Thomas Crown Affair" soundtrack on the Pangaea label. , the
company released the Moody Blues Live on the ARK21 label, which
was also a PBS special. Other unique and critically acclaimed
albums were the soundtracks to the IMAX films "Everest,"
featuring the music of George Harrison, "Dolphins," featuring
the music of Sting, and "Journey Into Amazing Caves," featuring
the music of The Moody Blues.
Married in 1989 to Argentinean model and sculptress, (now
psychotherapist) Adriana Corajoria, the Copelands have three
children, Miles Axe IV, Aeson Armstrong, and Axton Emerson who
reside in Los Angeles and Chateau Marouatte in France.
This marriage and the prevalence of the Spanish language in
the Copeland household fostered an interest in the Latin Music
market, particularly Rock en EspaΓ±ol. Consequently, Miles found
himself one of the few Anglos paying attention to this exciting
new musical hybrid. He released Manu Chao's first solo album,
Heroes Del Silencio, Mano Negra and El Gran Silencio, plus a
compilation of the top Rock en EspaΓ±ol stars from throughout
Latin America performing Spanish language versions of The Police
songs on "Outlandos D' Americas."
In 1998 Miles became influenced by the RaΓ― music movement in
Algeria and France, which led him to encourage the collaboration
of RaΓ― Superstar Cheb Mami with Sting on Desert Rose from
Stings Brand New Day album. This became a worldwide super hit
and was performed at the Superbowl and Grammys (which was the
first time Arabic was heard at both these events). Ark 21
released Cheb Mami's Meli Meli album in the U.S. in October
1999. This was followed by Khaled, Rachid Taha, Faudel and a
number of other superstar Arab artists, including Kazem Al
Saher, Ragheb Alame and Hakim.
September 1999 saw the re-entry into the market of Sting with
his new album, Brand New Day. This album and the world tour
(October 1999 thru April 2001) had Miles and the company heavily
involved in all aspects of Sting. The album sold 8 million
copies worldwide. The tour grossed 70 million. Unwittingly Miles
virtually revolutionized the use of corporate advertising by a
unique deal with Jaguar to promote the Desert Rose single. Upon
first viewing the video for Desert Rose, Miles noticed that the
Jaguar car inadvertently used came off as good as the song did.
He immediately tracked down the advertising account executive
for Jaguar and offered the video in return for a major TV
campaign that advertised Stings song and album. The result was a
fourfold sales jump for Sting AND Jaguar. This synergistic
marriage of art and commerce has become the ultimate model that
everyone has been trying to emulate ever since. A full chapter
is devoted to it in "Madison & Vine" by Scott Donaton
(McGraw-Hill).
Many corporations had bad experiences working with music
personalities and their entourages. Musicians by nature are
suspicious and anti-establishment. Most would not believe there
was actually promotion or image enhancing-potential to be had;
only money. The Sting Jaguar commercial changed this forever.
Miles' knack of marrying art and commerce to mutual advantage
led to a number of lucrative speaking engagements, something
Miles likes to do and seems to be good at. As a manager,
publisher, record exec and agent for other acts, he found it a
refreshing challenge to be an "act" himself.
Late 2001 saw the launch of an offshoot of the Mondo Melodia
label, Mondo Rhythmica, to release the exciting new hybrid World
Music sounds with modern rhythms coming out of the U.S.A., U.K.
and France. Releases included Trans Global Underground, Shabaz,
Oojami, Shani, Zohar and the legendary Rachid Taha. Mondo
Melodia became an important source of world music in the USA,
featuring artists from all over the Middle East, Persia, Greece,
Italy, France, India, Africa, Spain, Turkey, North America, and
Latin America.
Firstars Management also expanded by signing pop opera
superstar Emma Shapplin, the Moody Blues, the Anglo-Latin rap
artists Delinquent Habits, and Greek opera star, Mario
Frangoulis. Emma Shapplin's album was released by ARK21 in May
2002 with several territories releasing in September and in the
United States at the end of 2003. Emma reached number one in
Israel, Greece, Turkey and Canada with Top Tens in Holland,
Argentina and a host of other countries.
September 11 was a dramatic shock to Miles beyond the sorrow
of those tragic events. The next day he had two Arab stars with
an entourage of Arab musicians (28 in all) booked to fly to the
U.S. for an eagerly anticipated tour. Needless to say, neither
Hakim from Egypt, nor Khaled from Algeria felt it appropriate to
tour the U.S.A., aside from the fact there were now no flights.
The tour, which had virtually already sold out, was moved to
March 2002 and proceeded without a hitch. The start date
coincided with the World Economic Forum being held in New York
City, hosted by Mayor Giuliani and then-Vivendi head, Jean-Marie
Messier. Miles, who seems to have become known as Mr. World
Music and Mr. Cultural Diversity, was asked to organize duets
for the concert being held for the event. The brief: cultural
diversity and different cultures working together. Miles called
Israeli superstar Noa to join Khaled in singing John Lennon's
"Imagine" in Hebrew, Arabic and English. This Arab-Israeli,
Jewish-Muslim collaboration brought the house down and remains
one of the most powerful music moments in Miles' colorful
career. Also on the bill, Miles paired Hakim with Puerto Rican
superstar Olga TaΓ±on singing an Arabic-Spanish duet written at
the previous year's songwriting event in France. So powerful was
this song, that the pair were invited to perform at Radio City
Music Hall in New York for the One World Jam (for cultural
diversity) that resulted in the second major Arab star singing
on mainstream U.S. television.
Following in this tradition, Miles, with the help of
producer, Narda Michael Walden, created a new duet for Hakim
with soul icon, James Brown. Released on Hakim's Lela CD July
2006 on the IRS World label.
2001 and 2002 saw great changes in the music business with a
great deal of debate surrounding digital rights, Napster, artist
relations with labels, piracy, CD burners, etc. Many articles
appeared expounding all sorts of notions usually to the
detriment of the record companies. Though Miles has had strong
and vocal opinions about many aspects of the record business, he
saw no value in killing the Golden Goose with unfair and
misrepresented attacks. Accordingly, he wrote several articles
for various magazines that were picked up on various websites
including the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America).
In trying to bring common sense into the argument as well as the
real facts, Miles found himself one of the few willing to be
outspoken in defense of the industry. This caught the attention
of the RIAA, who asked him to join them in Sacramento for a
California Senate hearing on artist rights. Miles was asked to
be the industry spokesman at the press conference, while Don
Henley represented the other side.
Miles admits to a certain amount of awkwardness at being
lumped in as an industry man, as most of his life has involved
in pushing artists interests. His basic view is that if the
industry is to be attacked. It should be based on facts, not
wild misinformation and supposition, and it should DEFINITELY
not be done in a way to weaken the industry's ability to protect
BOTH artists, company rights, assets being besieged by the
public's new demand, and ability to get music for FREE. The
debate goes on.
2002 saw ARK21 and Mondo Melodia enter into several recording
ventures. One was with DJ Quiks' label, Bungalo Records, with
Quiks' first release launched in June. The second was a joint
venture with Egypt's premier record company, Alam el phan, which
brought the company a host of Arabian superstars: Amr Diab,
Nawal Zoughbi, Moustafa Amar, Samira Said, Mohamed Mounir,
Ragheb Alame, etc.
Events in the Middle East saw Miles in demand as a spokesman
with views on the Arab perspective. He appeared twice on Bill
Maher's Politically Incorrect as well as a number of radio
shows. In fact, Miles started his own two-hour talk show once a
week on KRLA from 12 p.m. to 2 a.m. every Monday for three
months. As one would expect, the Palestine/Israeli conflict was
a prominent theme with Miles attempting a dialogue between both
sides. One show featured calls from Israelis in Tel Aviv
describing their situation; others featured Palestinians.
Unfortunately, Miles did not achieve a peace initiative, but
still believes one is possible some day. Miles currently writes
for An Nahar, an Arab/English weekly newspaper, and is political
editor for Buzzine Magazine, an up market Los Angeles-based
monthly artist entertainment magazine.
In his continuing support for charitable causes, particularly
ones focusing on the plight of the peoples in the third world,
ARK21 released in the U.S. a unique compilation album for the
Sabera Foundation, a charity in Calcutta, India dedicated to
orphaned girls. Miles could hardly say no to an impassioned plea
from Melanie Griffith who, along with her husband Antonio
Banderas, is a major supporter of this unique charity. The album
features unique tracks from Sting, Ricky Martin, Alanis
Morrisette, Elton John, Cher, Luciano Pavarotti, Alejandro Sanz,
Bob Dylan, Antonio himself, and more. The album was released in
the U.S. in November 2002.
In December 2002, Miles was in Moscow with Emma Shapplin for
the first ever Christmas concert extravaganza in Russia. Emma
performed with Placido Domingo & Jose Carraras and a 380-member
orchestra and choir.
Always willing to share his view, experiences, and advice, in
may 2002 miles was keynote speaker at the EAT'M conference
(Emerging Artists & technology In Music)and in January 10, 2003,
was the keynote speaker at the Dutch music conference, Eurosonic
Noorderslag Seminar. He has lectured and sat on entertainment
business panels for the Beverly Hills Bar Association, Pollstar,
Musician's Institute, UCLA, University of Montana, Vanderbilt
University, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
With his interest in Middle Eastern music and the obvious
challenge of coming up with a way to break into the US market,
Miles was on the lookout for a vehicle ever since the success of
Sting's "Desert Rose." That song gave clear indication of the
potential for an American audience to accept this sort of music
on a massive scale. By chance, Miles organized a promotion for
the Mondo Rhythmica album release of Oojami's fortuitously
titled, "Bellydance Breakbeats," which featured a bellydance
competition. The competition was such fun and it pointed to the
fact mainstream Anglo audiences would show up to see a dance
show as much, if not MORE, so than a pure music show. By putting
the two together, perhaps this was the vehicle Miles was looking
for.
Consequently, the first half of 2003 saw the Firstars
Management team create an entertainment show featuring Middle
Eastern dance and music. Titled the Bellydance Superstars and
Desert Roses, the show attracted the attention of the William
Morris Agency and Perry Farrell of Jane's Addiction, who was
organizing Lollapalooza 2003. Needing something different, with
female energy and sex appeal, the show was booked for the entire
tour performing one show in the afternoon on the second stage
and an evening spot on the main stage. This took the art of
bellydance to 30 cities performing in front of over 500,000
people the biggest exposure ever for the bellydance art form.
So successful was the show, Miles and his Firstars team were
energized to take full advantage of what they saw as a rapidly
growing interest in the art of bellydance, as well as Arab
music. The company embarked on a comprehensive program to create
high quality products better than anything on the market.
Instructional DVDs featuring America's top teachers, performance
DVDs featuring American top dancers, bellydance CDs, and a full
length feature film American Bellydancer directed by documentary
maker, Jonathan Brandeis. See
www.bellydancesuperstars.com .
With his major focus now shifting to World Music and the
"bellydance business," Miles entered similar territory he
experienced in 1972-78 when he threw his lot in with the punk
rock movement. Once again, the mainstream establishment was both
bemused and convinced he had lost his marbles. At the same time,
the bellydance establishment just like the punk "establishment"
was completely suspicious of an outsider and Miles' intentions.
Word spread rapidly that he was only interested in pretty girls-
not talented ones. This was, of course, half true; he WAS
interested in pretty girls if he was going to have a chance of
making a success in the mainstream. But he was also interested
in the talent as the first criteria.
Getting little or no help from the mainstream booking
agencies (except in Europe), and most of the established
promoters, Miles descended once again into the trenches and
booked and largely promoted himself a 58-city tour of North
America with the help of his small team and an adventurous tour
marketing company in Phoenix, Insight Management, who he met via
the Moody Blues. As word spread among the bellydance community
that this was the real deal, the tour began to draw crowds and
sell out in quite a few cities.
Major front page and double page spread features appeared in
such papers as the Vancouver Sun, Seattle Times, Philadelphia
Weekly, Eugene Register-Guard, as well as positive coverage in
many entertainment magazines. This momentum and positive
response was duplicated even more so in Europe for the last half
of 2004 with 46 shows in 7 countries, scoring glowing articles
in the prestigious UK newspapers, The Daily Telegraph, The Daily
Express, and the UK's number one Sunday paper, The Sunday Times
(5 pages), as well as major television appearances in Spain,
France, and the UK. Performing on France's number one rated
show, "Le Plus Grand Cabaret du Monde," the Bellydance
Superstars performed to an audience of 10 million.
The net effect of all this was the growing realization that
Miles had, in fact, NOT lost his marbles and if the press
coverage was right, he was about to have the hottest dance
sensation since Riverdance. By the end of 2004, this "left of
center" enterprise had performed over 180 shows to over 700,000
people live and via over 30 television appearances to over 100
million people (not including the China broadcast where accurate
numbers are not known). With the extensive bookings and new
bookings for 2005, there is no longer any doubt that bellydance
as an art form has every chance to succeed in a big way on the
"main stage," and that the Bellydance Superstars had set the
ultimate standard as the world's premiere professional
bellydance troupe.
2005 began with the launch of the full-length feature film
documentary, "American Bellydancer," directed by Jonathan
Brandeis and produced (and financed) by Miles. Needless to say
the film created quite a controversy in "bellydance land," and
Miles and staff inadvertently became stars of their own movie.
Starting as a pure documentary on the fascinating world of
bellydance in the US, director Jonathan Brandeis quickly saw
that the events surrounding the Bellydance Superstars project
and ensuing controversy- their performance in Bali, Indonesia
and on Lollapalooza were very much a part of bellydance in the
USA today and gave the film a thread to bind all the other
footage together. The film performed theatrically from February
through April, and be shown at several film festivals, including
the Tiburon International Film Festival, San Fernando Valley
International Film Festival, Santa Cruz Film Festival and the
Beirut International Film Festival.
Also released in the first quarter on DVD, was the Bellydance
Superstars Live in Paris filmed at the famed at the Follies
Bergeres. This 9-camera shoot stands as the most spectacular
presentation of the art of bellydance ever filmed.
Bellydance instructional DVDs featured prominently in 2005
with the BDSS front line stars Jillina, Sonia, and Rachel Brice
all releasing product. Discovering that no video/DVD existed
dedicated expressly to women teaching them to defend themselves
against a mugger/attacker- and that long time family friend,
Joanne Harris, had become America's Tae kwon do women's champion
while developing a "system" for exercise and self-defense for
women- the company created the first in a projected series
entitled "Urban Knockout" released in April 2005.
In April of 05 the company began filming the first ever
documentary on Arab music in association with the Corporation
for Public Broadcasting, funded under the "America at the
Crossroads" grant. Titled "Dissonance and Harmony", it features
top Arab stars, up and comers, plus collaborations with Western
artists. The film was a direct result of an invitation by Deputy
Secretary of Defense Tory Clark for Miles to come to the
Pentagon to advise the Defense Department how to "win hearts and
minds in the Middle East", via his expertise and contacts in
the entertainment industry. That meeting was recounted in four
pages of Tory Clark's book "Lipstick On A Pig" published in
2007. The final portion of the film was filmed in Los Angeles
with 24 Arab stars and musicians performing at the Roxy with
American and Western guest stars. Al Jazeera aired the film
throughout the Arab world the month of September, 2008 with
Arabic subtitles. PBS in the U.S.A. first releases the film at
10 pm on November 2, 2008. Information can be found on the PBS
web site
www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads
Music CDs remain a major part of the business with albums
being commissioned as well as licensed for the American and
world market. The majority are in the "world music" arena
specializing in Middle Eastern and Western fusions featuring
some of the genre's biggest stars. To create a dedicated home
for such music separate from the broad spectrum of music
originally released by Ark 21 Records, a new label was launched
for the first time using the Copeland name in a title. Copeland
International Arts (CIA of course) released the first title in
2006 and now all bellydance, Middle Eastern, world music product
will be released by this company. Releases include Zohar, Beats
Antique, Oojami, Turbo Tabala, Pentaphobe, Issam Houshan,
Bellydance Superstars series, Desert Roses series, Egyptian
Sha'bi superstar singer Saad Al Soghrier, Hoda, Henry Padovani
and Introduction to Bellydance (DVD).
In addition to releases via the Universal system Miles
re-launched the IRS label with EMI to specialize on World Music
from the EMI catalogue especially music from the Middle East.
The IRS logo will add the word "World" to the moniker. IRS
World's first releases included Arab superstars Nancy Ajram and
Hakim. The first branded album series is "Bellybeats" released
in Sept 07 and features great Middle Eastern tracks for
listening as well as for bellydancing (or any other dancing
style for that matter)
At the beginning of June 06 Miles launched his own one hour
radio show on XM Satellite Radio's channel 29, UPOP. "The Kasbah
After Dark With Miles Copeland" aired Monday through Friday at
midnight on the East Coast and at 9:pm on the West Coast. It was
the first national radio show in the U.S.A. dedicated to Arab
Music. After 36 shows it was decided to revamp the show in a new
format to better fit the Upop channel and this is now being
worked on.
In June 06 the company entered the annual bellydance
convention business with the launching of Raqs Britianna in
Manchester, England. The event featured the teachers of the
Bellydance Superstars plus local British bellydance teachers in
a weekend event including vending, workshops, open stage all day
dancing and a Bellydance Superstars show on Saturday night. In
June 07 the event moved to the beautiful Winter Gardens in
Blackpool, England and rated as one of the biggest Bellydance
events in all of Europe in this its second year. Raqs Britianna
08 returned to the Winter Gardens for the June 17-18 weekend and
another resounding success confirming it as Europe's biggest
bellydance event.
By the beginning of 2007 it was apparent that the Bellydance
Superstars were making the transition to the mainstream market.
Columbia Artists, one of the most prestigious performing arts
promoters agreed to sign the show for agency representation
taking that burden off Miles's back. China and the Pacific rim
entered the game as champions of the show bringing them to
Taiwan and Korea for 8 shows in March and with the success
rebooking them for August 2008. The Casino du Monte Carlo
rebooked them for another three month run (April " June) and as
of the middle of May the BDSS could boast to having performed
470 shows in 18 countries in just under 4 years. The first tour
booked by CAMI (Columbia Artists) commenced in the USA in
October and proved a great success with virtually every venue
rebooking the act for the 08-09 season. With the conclusion of
the West Coast portion of the tour in Feb March 08 the BDSS was
now firmly established as a mainstream performing arts staple.
April 08 tour of Italy proved to be an unexpected success to
everyone except the BDSS with sellout shows in some of Italy's
most beautiful and prestigious venues. A quick jaunt to Dubai on
charter jet delivered a stunning show to the first Arab audience
the BDSS had ever played to followed at the end of the tour with
three sold out shows in Casablanca, Morocco. This brought the
show tally to over 500 shows in 20 countries.
Also in O8 the company continued to expand into the
Bellydance convention business with the successful launch of
TribaLondon in Feb, Raqs L.A. May 17-18, Raqs America in
Washington DC June 24-25, and TribaL.A. Sept 27-28. Plans are to
add one more convention in Europe, Raqs Italia set for the last
weekend in May 09 just outside of Venice, Italy.
New 2008 CD releases by Lebanese singer Isa Ghandour and Ude
player Charbel Rouhana, and the new two CD set Belly Bar series
continue the search for more great Arab talent to release into
the Western market. Upcoming are Lebanese songstress Tania Salah
who is well featured in the "Dissonance and Harmony" film,
Egyptian singer Amenia, and more.
Miles will be featured as the instructor in one episode of
VH1's Charm School on air in October, 08. He is keynote speaker
at the annual Beacon Summit in South West Britain, October 28.
The Documentary Channel (U.S.A) airs "American Bellydancer"
during the month of November, 08. PBS airs the film "Dissonance
& Harmony" for first broadcast November 2 at 10pm. Direct TV
Latin America airs "American Bellydancer" and "Bellydance
Superstars Live in Paris" September-October, 08
When Miles Axe Copeland III was born on May 2, 1944, there was a
very bright star in the sky, though no one is quite certain
which star it was. There were also V-1 and V-2 rockets dropping
in the near vicinity, as it was the height of the World War II
blitz of London. Miles' father, Miles Axe Copeland, Jr., was
stationed in England in the American army doing
counter-intelligence for the O.S.S. (Office of Strategic
Services), where he met and married Miles' future mother,
Lorraine Adie, who was in British Intelligence S.O.E (Special
Operations Executive). Miles' passport shows his birth date as
April 2 because father Miles made a mistake on the original
application. Throughout life, Miles has had surprise birthday
parties thrown on April 2 and people wish him happy birthday one
month early. Rarely has anyone, except close family, wished him
happy birthday on May 2. (The psychological damage done to him
due to this fluke is unknown).