Ian Copeland

Ian Adie Copeland (April 25, 1949 – May 23, 2006) was an American music promoter and booking agent who helped launch the new wave movement in the United States.

Copeland was born in Rif Dimashq near Damascus, Syria, the second of four children born to CIA officer Miles Copeland, Jr. and his wife Lorraine Copeland (née Adie), an archaeologist. His older brother Miles Copeland III founded I.R.S. Records, and younger brother Stewart Copeland was the drummer in The Police. His younger sister Lorraine (nicknamed "Lennie") is a writer and producer.

After a wayward youth growing up in the Middle East, where he was part of a gang involved in petty crime, Copeland enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1967, at the height of the Vietnam War. He was assigned to the 1st Infantry Division, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant at age 19. He served with distinction and was awarded the Bronze Star Medal amongst other decorations. It was during his tour of duty in Vietnam that he earned the nickname "Leroy Coolbreeze". Although Copeland later had misgivings about the Vietnam War, he was proud to have fought for his country.

Copeland began his career in the music industry with the help of his brother Miles, first as a tour manager for Wishbone Ash, and then as a booking agent in London at John Sherry Enterprises, where he discovered the Average White Band and other artists. In 1977, he moved to Macon, Georgia to work for the Paragon Agency booking tours for rock groups. Ian and Miles developed a strategy of using small venues and clubs to break the British band Squeeze in the North American market, a formula they would repeat with other bands. Around this time he also helped his brother Stewart write the lyrics of the song "Nothing Achieving", which became the B-side of The Police's first single "Fall Out". Although officially uncredited, Copeland also contributed lyrics to Stewart Copeland's single Too Kool to Kalypso and The Police's Dead End Job .

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