Ian Adie Copeland (April 25, 1949 – May 23, 2006) was a British-American music promoter and booking agent who helped launch the new wave movement in the United States.
After a wayward youth growing up in the Middle East, where he was part of a gang involved in petty crime,[1] Copeland enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1967 at the height of the Vietnam War.
[3] 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.
[5] In 1979, Copeland founded Frontier Booking International (FBI) in New York, a talent agency that represented many of the premier new wave acts of the 1980s, including the B-52's, The Cure, The Police, Simple Minds, The Beat (UK), and The Go-Go's.
Copeland's other romantic partners included FBI client Marianne Faithfull and actor Courteney Cox, with whom he had a three-year relationship in the 1980s after his divorce from Connie.
Tonight, we are proud to continue the tradition and honor Miles, Ian, and Stewart Copeland and their famous, and oftentimes infamous, contributions to the music and entertainment industry.