“Even in challenging times in South Africa, at the height of apartheid, I brought R&B groups from America to South Africa,” he said. However, after getting married in 1980, Miller could no longer live under the apartheid regime. He moved, with his wife, to Australia. “I was just totally opposed to the whole political system in South Africa,” he said. “There was no way I was going to have a family under the apartheid regime.” By 1985, Miller was divorced and making plans to permanently move to the United States. When he finally did make the move, he lived in Los Angeles for 16 years. During that time, he continued to manage musical acts and book shows and tours. One of his proudest accomplishments was orchestrating a reunion of the band, Bread, a popular American soft rock band, for a world tour in 1995. The group, which featured David Gates as lead singer, had more than a dozen hits in the 1970s, including “Make it With You,” “If” and others, and their records continued to do well even after their split. But Gates, who was enjoying a successful solo career, was initially reluctant to rejoin his former bandmates. As Miller recalled, “I spoke to David and we got on really well. He said, ‘I have no interest in getting back with Bread,’ but would I be interested in managing him? I said I would be, but the first prize would be to get the band back together. He said within a week he would send me a fax with the points it would take to get him back together with the group. “Eventually they all agreed on all the deal points. We toured all over for two years and after the tour David said he wanted to get back to being a solo artist. He asked me again if I would manage him, which I still do to this day.” A “musical historian,” by his own admission, Miller knows what it takes to be a great manager in the music business. He said, “You have to be well connected. You have to be able to open doors for the artists who you’re looking after.” Every artist that Miller has worked with, he’s believed in. He managed Little Anthony and the Imperials, one of the top vocal groups between the late ‘50s and the mid ‘60s. He also booked and promoted events for such artists as Keith Sweat, Deborah Cox, Montell Jordan, Brian McKnight, Mary J. Blige, The Temptations and many others of that stature. “When artists come to me and ask me to manage them, I have to at least feel that they have something really strong to offer. Not just to me but the world,” he explained. After leaving Los Angeles, Miller moved to New Orleans. He had a vacation apartment for years that he sold to buy a more permanent residence in 2003. Two years later, Hurricane Katrina struck the city, forcing Miller to take up residence in Las Vegas for seven years, returning Bread backstage in Cape Town with Selwyn Miller occasionally to check on the rebuilding of his home. Miller came back to New Orleans permanently in 2014 when he also retired from the music business. Retirement was short-lived, however. On a visit to South Africa in 2016, a top promoter there, Attie Van Wyk of Big Concerts, asked if he could organize a series of R&B shows to tour that nation. “I said I would and I basically came out of retirement to do that,” he said. The series, titled “Legends of R&B,” finished a tour in July featuring The Manhattans and Regina Belle. Other tours are in the works. When asked what was the main difference between the music business then and now, Miller replied, “When I started, the music business was relatively unsophisticated. It’s much more sophisticated today.” He also said that the impact of record sales on an artist’s success has changed. “Sales are not what they used to be. Artists today make the bulk of their receipts through live performances.” This private man has been able to quietly navigate the music business with his ethics and integrity intact. Miller made a career out of his childhood passion. The young boy who listened to New Orleansbased R&B legends on his family radio became a part of the industry he was so intrigued by. He continues to keep music at the center of his life by spreading his love and joy of the music throughout the world. “It’s a passion. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do,” Miller said. “If you love what you’re doing it’s not work.” �� Selwyn Miller with Rockin' Dopsie Selwyn Miller and Little Anthony of Little Anthony and The Imperials PHOTOS COURTESY OF SELWYN MILLER S E P T E M B E R / O C TOB E R 2 0 1 6 breakthrumediamagazine.com | BREAKTHRU MEDIA | 11
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