Roberto Concina (3 November 1969 – 9 May 2017), known professionally as Robert Miles, was an Italian record producer, composer, musician and DJ. His 1995 composition " Children" sold more than 5 million copies and topped the charts worldwide.

Early life

Robert Miles was born in Fleurier, Switzerland, to Italian parents. Miles became proficient at playing the piano during his youth in Friuli, Italy, in the small town of Fagagna, where his family moved when he was young, and had been in the music scene since 1984. He worked as a DJ in some Italian clubs and private radio networks, and in 1990 he used his savings to establish his own recording studio and a

pirate radio station Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that Radio broadcasting, broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are receive ...

Music career

1994–1997: Breakthrough and ''Dreamland''

In 1994, Miles wrote a

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

and chill-out piece based on acoustic guitar chords and soft synthesizer effects, " Children", which was later developed into a dream house song featuring a piano theme on top. The single picked up sales slowly, but within two weeks of its official release in 1995, it had sold more than 350,000 copies all over Europe and topped the charts in many countries. The single received an unprecedented "Essential Tune of The Week" three weeks in a row on

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio s ...

's show, causing a furious bidding war. It was then signed to Deconstruction Records in the UK by Giles Goodman of Dynamik Music (who represented Platipus Records the initial UK licensee). After occupying the Euro Top 100 chart number 1 spot for thirteen consecutive weeks , by 1997, "Children" had sold more than five million copies worldwide. It earned Miles platinum records in many countries, a

Brit Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsore ...

(Robert Miles is, to date, October 2022, the only Italian artist who has received the award) as Best International Male Newcomer 1997, a World Music Award as World's Best Selling Male Newcomer, and various other awards. Miles' next single was "

Fable Fable is a literary genre: a succinct fictional story, in prose or verse, that features animals, legendary creatures, plants, inanimate objects, or forces of nature that are anthropomorphized, and that illustrates or leads to a particular mor ...

". Part of this song was used in the theatrical trailer for the U.S. movie ''

Ever After ''Ever After'' (known in promotional material as ''Ever After: A Cinderella Story'') is a 1998 American romantic period drama film inspired by the Charles Perrault fairy tale, "Cinderella". It is directed by Andy Tennant and stars Drew Barrymor ...

'' starring

Drew Barrymore Drew Blythe Barrymore (born February 22, 1975) is an American actress, director, producer, talk show host and author. A member of the Barrymore family of actors, she is the recipient of several accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a ...

and Dougray Scott. His debut album '' Dreamland'' was released on 7 June 1996 in Europe, and released in the United States about a month later. The album included a cover of " One and One" featuring British singer Maria Nayler. This cover became very popular (it reached number 1 in the Euro Top 100 Singles Chart during the Christmas period and remained in the top spot for six consecutive weeks) and was later released as a single in Europe and the U.S.

1997–1998: ''23am''

In November 1997, Miles released another track, " Freedom", which was one of the key tracks on his second album ''

23am ''23am'' is the second studio album by composer Robert Miles, released in late 1997 via Deconstruction and Arista labels. Background and recording The composition of ''23am'' began from the '' Dreamland'' tour, during which Miles collected audio ...

'', featuring vocals provided by Kathy Sledge of Sister Sledge. Containing a different feel from the previously more club-oriented ''Dreamland'', ''23am'' incorporated more lyrics-driven songs than its predecessor while maintaining Miles' trademark piano sound from the first album.

1998–2002: Departure from label and ''Organik''

After splitting from

Deconstruction The term deconstruction refers to approaches to understanding the relationship between text and meaning. It was introduced by the philosopher Jacques Derrida, who defined it as a turn away from Platonism's ideas of "true" forms and essence ...

BMG BMG may refer to: Organizations * Music publishing companies: ** Bertelsmann Music Group, a 1987–2008 division of Bertelsmann that was purchased by Sony on October 1, 2008 *** Sony BMG, a 2004–2008 joint venture of Bertelsmann and Sony that wa ...

and his former management in London, he set up his own

independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels and artists are often represented ...

Salt Records (stylised as S:alt Records, with S:alt being short for suitably:alternative) in 2001 and released his third album, ''

Organik ''Organik'' is the third studio album by Robert Miles, released on 11 June 2001. The first he independently recorded and produced after quitting his record company, it marked a complete departure from the style of his first two albums but still ...

'', featuring the new single "Paths" with vocals provided by Nina Miranda of

Smoke City Smoke City was an English band that blended acid jazz and trip hop, borrowing from Brazilian styles such as samba and bossa nova and some lyrics have excerpts in Portuguese. They are best known for their single " Underwater Love", which was ...

. Guests on the album included

Trilok Gurtu Trilok Gurtu (born 30 October 1951) is an Indian percussionist and composer whose work has blended the music of India with jazz fusion and world music. He has worked with Terje Rypdal, Gary Moore, John McLaughlin, Jan Garbarek, Joe Zawinul ...

, Bill Laswell and Nitin Sawhney. Music from ''Organik'' was used on various

movie soundtracks A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

such as '' The Bourne Identity'', ''

Derrida Derrida is a surname shared by notable people listed below. * Bernard Derrida (born 1952), French theoretical physicist * Jacques Derrida (1930–2004), French philosopher ** ''Derrida'' (film), a 2002 American documentary film * Marguerite Der ...

'', and '' City of Ghosts''. It was licensed to Narada Productions' Shakti Records label in the USA. In 2002, an album containing mainly

remix A remix (or reorchestration) is a piece of media which has been altered or contorted from its original state by adding, removing, or changing pieces of the item. A song, piece of artwork, book, video, poem, or photograph can all be remixes. The o ...

es of songs found on ''Organik'' was released. The album, appropriately entitled ''

Organik Remixes ''Organik Remixes'' is a guest remix album based on Robert Miles's 2001 album ''Organik''. The record was released on November 18, 2002 through Salt Records label. Two of the remixers, Kuzu and Fissure, were chosen by Robert Miles from an online ...

'', contained remixes by the winners of the remixing contest held on Robert Miles's Web site, as well as remixes from well-known artists such as Future Sound of London,

Riton Riton may refer to: * Riton (musician) (born 1978), recording name of electronic musician Henry Smithson * Riton (duet), a Bulgarian pop duet, * Riton Liebman (born 1964), Belgian comedian, actor and director * Lutfor Rahman Riton, Bangladeshi wr ...

, and Alexkid among others. The album also had one new track, "Bhairav", which featured the vocals of

Amelia Cuni Amelia may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Amélia'' (film), a 2000 Brazilian film directed by Ana Carolina * ''Amelia'' (film), a 2009 film based on the life of Amelia Earhart Literature * ''Amelia (magazine)'', a Swedish w ...

2004–2005: ''Miles_Gurtu''

In 2004, Miles released '' Miles Gurtu'', his fourth album, which was a collaboration with percussionist

and included

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to ...

elements. Also guesting on the album were Nitin Sawhney, Jon Thorne, Mike Patto and Paul Falloon.

2011–2012: ''Thirteen''

Miles' fifth album, entitled '' Thirteen,'' was released worldwide on Salt Records in February 2011. For this album, Miles produced a blend of alternative and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

with ambient and electronic soundscapes. In 2012 Miles finished working on the soundtrack for the movie documentary ''The Turn of THIS Century'', directed by Peter Beyak and featuring the photography of

Life Magazine ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

. He founded a new FM and online alternative radio station, ''Open Lab'', broadcasting from Ibiza, a project bringing together culture, arts, media, technology and innovation.

Death

Miles died from cancer in Ibiza, Spain, on 9 May 2017 at the age of 47. Miles’ Open Lab station was taken off-air shortly afterwards, pending discussions on the future of the station. After receiving many messages from people expressing dismay at the station's suspension, it was announced that the station would be returning soon in 2019, starting with a live radio stream in January 2019 and followed by a reboot to radio on 106.4 FM in Ibiza in April 2019.

Discography

Studio albums * '' Dreamland'' (1996) * ''

'' (1997) * ''

'' (2001) * '' Miles_Gurtu'' (with

) (2004) * '' Thirteen'' (2011)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miles, Robert 1969 births 2017 deaths People from Neuchâtel Italian trance musicians Italian dance musicians Arista Records artists Narada Productions artists Brit Award winners Italian DJs People from Fagagna People of Friulian descent Deaths from cancer in Spain Swiss emigrants to Italy Italian expatriates in Spain Electronic dance music DJs Bertelsmann Music Group artists Virgin Records artists EMI Records artists