Ian Copeland...RIP

[gidgetgoestohell]

Brother of Stewart (The Police) and Miles (IRS
Records):

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060524/en_nm/copeland_dc

Wed May 24, 5:53 PM ET

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Ian Copeland, a pioneering
booking agent and music promoter credited with helping
launch the "new wave" alternative rock movement of the
1970s and '80s with such bands as the Police, the
B-52's and R.E.M, has died at age 57, relatives said
on Wednesday.

Copeland succumbed to melanoma on Tuesday at his home
in Los Angeles where he was surrounded by family
members, including younger brother Stewart
Copeland, a founder and drummer of the Police, his
publicist said.

With the help of older brother Miles, Copeland began
his career in show business as a booking agent in
London, where he discovered the Scottish funk outfit
Average White Band, who made their debut in 1973
opening for Eric Clapton.

Copeland moved in the mid-1970s to Macon, Georgia, to
work for the Paragon Agency, which booked tours for
popular southern rock acts like Charlie Daniels,
Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Allman Brothers Band.

But it was Copeland's role in helping brother Miles,
founder of the International Records Syndicate
(I.R.S.) label, introduce the British band Squeeze to
the United States that transformed his career.

The brothers adopted a strategy of building fan
support for Squeeze by booking the group on a tour of
smaller nightclubs, and successfully repeated that
formula to launch other bands, including the Police
and the B-52's.

Their work was pivotal in establishing the "club
circuit" that helped usher in the punk rock and new
wave scenes to the United States.

After the demise of Paragon, Copeland moved to New
York and started his own booking agency, Frontier
Booking International (F.B.I.), which represented such
acts as Adam Ant, the Bangles, R.E.M., nine inch
nails, the Go-Go's, UB40, Joan Jett and the
Blackhearts, Oingo Boingo, the Dead Kennedys and the
Cure.

The son of a jazz musician turned U.S. intelligence
officer, Copeland was born in Damascus, Syria, in the
midst of a military coup. As a young man he enlisted
in the U.S. Army at the height of the Vietnam War and
served in the infantry, earning numerous decorations.

He is survived by his two daughters, brothers Stewart
and Miles and a sister, Lorraine, a writer and
producer. Memorial plans were pending.

Reuters/VNU

[LATaurus]

I saw that, so sad...