*Sidney Miller, a former music promotion executive turned publisher of the seminal “Black Radio Exclusive” magazine, is set to be honored by the Living Legends Foundation with the “A.D. Washington Chairman’s Award” at the organization’s annual awards and dinner event on October 4, 2019 in Hollywood, CA.
The prestigious non-profit, founded in 1991, recognizes pioneers and professionals in the music industry.
“I am honored,” Miller told Lee Bailey in a recent interview in Los Angeles. “My efforts have helped a lot of black people in the music industry and in radio and I look forward to more creations to make life better for black folks in the music industry and radio industry.”
Miller, still feisty and robust at 86, is not just sitting in a rocking chair reminiscing about his 50 years in the music business. His mission these days is to continue the upward movement of black radio and black music.
“I know that I am not finished,” said Miller, also a musician, who grew up in Pensacola, Florida playing the trumpet. “I know that there is still a place for us in this business because as we speak, we are still the most copied, the most imitated music on the planet. Our music is the most creative around the world.”
A 1955 graduate of Florida A&M University (FAMU), Miller has a storied history of promoting music acts like jazz saxophonist Julian “Cannonball” Adderley while still in college. However, he noted the head of the music department did not respect jazz music.
“When I was enrolled at FAMU, the head of the music department, Dr. William P. Foster, would not allow us to practice Jazz in the rehearsal rooms,” Miller recalled. “He informed us that if we only wanted to play BLUES AND JAZZ we didn’t need to come to college.”
Miller went on to book acts in the military while an officer in the Army. In 1966, he found himself at the famed Capitol Records and rose up the ranks heading up the label’s promotion divisions encompassing R&B, pop, and country music. He worked with acts including Adderley, Nancy Wilson, Candy Staton, Lou Rawls, and The Fortunes.
Eight years later, he went out on his own doing independent promotions and personal management. One of his biggest projects was promoting the 1976 “Car Wash” soundtrack, which went on to become MCA Records’ biggest selling record of that year.
Also, in 1976, Miller started publishing the innovative BRE. The magazine was the go-to publication for everything and anything about black music – artists, radio, and retail (selling music at record stores). Without going into too much detail, Miller recalled a disturbing conversation he had with another black music executive when he ventured into the magazine business.
“When I announced that I was going to start a magazine, (another music executive) looked at me and said, ‘You are sure going to make a lot of money,’ Miller said. “And then he said, ‘Just remember that I told you it’s going to be your own brothers who are going to try to take you out.’”
By the early 1990s, the magazine was still going strong and Miller added another element by organizing the annual “BRE Conference.” Everybody who was anybody in music and beyond attended the conference held in cities like D.C., New Orleans, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, and the Bahamas. There was an awards show and musicians such as Prince, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Tina Turner, Mariah Carey, Anita Baker, James Brown, and George Duke were on tap.
Apparently, Naughty By Nature was discovered at a BRE conference and before MC Hammer became a household name, he got his first industry exposure at a Los Angeles BRE conference. Yep, those were the days. But unfortunately, the digital age would change everything.
“The guy from Phillips Music came to the Black Music Association’s meeting in California … we were in there talking about how we were going to save the black retailer,” Miller said. “He said, ‘You can’t do it. You can’t save the black retailer. We’re going to be selling records online and we won’t need retailers anymore.’”
Sidney Miller’s future plans include bringing the “Annual BRE Conference” back, working on a comedy/music radio show called “Jokes and Jams.” On top of that, he’s also developing strategies to put out more stage plays about black music legends.
Props should also be given to Miller for being ahead of the times when back in the day he created “Hollywood Live,” a weekly radio show via satellite that interviewed the biggest and hottest names in black entertainment and was syndicated to over 60 markets around the country. Remember the part about being ahead of its time? Well, what that means is that a lot of the affiliates did not have satellite reception capability, so an innovative Miller ran high-quality phone lines to those stations to make it work.
We also look forward to hearing what Sidney Miller will have to say to his fellow industry peers when he gives his acceptance speech for the “A.D. Washington Chairman’s Award” at the Living Legends Foundation Awards and Dinner on October 4 in Hollywood. We’re betting whatever he says it won’t be boring. Stay tuned.
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