| Alston Koch | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Alston Koch |
| Born | July 21, 1951 Colombo, Sri Lanka |
| Genres | Ambient, pop, jazz, blues, folk, trance |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter, composer, arranger |
| Years active | 1966–present |
| Website | alstonkoch.com Alston Koch Facebook |
Alston Koch, is a Sri Lankan-born singer-songwriter, record producer, international recording and television star, and the Ambassador for Tourism for Sri Lanka.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9] Koch is the only Sri Lankan born solo artist signed to an international record label (BMG/RCA) with chart success in most territories of the world.
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He was born and raised in Sri Lanka, and belongs to the Sri Lankan Burgher People. He spent his teenage years singing with Mignonne Fernando and her Sri Lankan pop group 'The Jetliners'. Koch attended the Wesley College, Colombo. As well as performances with The Jetliners, he played with Gabo and the Breakaways and The Esquire Set in Colombo in the late 1960s, before emigrating to Australia in 1970.
In Australia, he formed his band Darktan, recorded three international hits on the RCA label. He toured the world, first with Darktan, then S-witch, and later as a solo artist. With Darktan, Koch appeared on several television programmes in Australia.
His first major hit, "Disco Lady", earned him his first gold record. The song also won him the ‘best new talent’ at the 1979 International Disc Jockey Association Awards.
Koch also introduced 'The Bus Stop', which became a dance craze, when performing the song on the TV programme, Bandstand.
Since 2007, he has fulfilled a voluntary position as Ambassador for Tourism in Sri Lanka.[10] In the same year, Koch wrote an official song for The Sri Lankan cricketer, Muttiah Muralitharan.[11]
In 2008, Koch wrote a song about climate change for a UNWTO presentation at The World Travel Mart Exhibition in London. He also presented the song at the Live the Deal Climate Change conference in Copenhagen.[12] He is the goodwill Ambassador for the campaign, and the song has been promoted globally.
In 2009, he was appointed to the committee for the Cricket World Cup 2011 tournament staged in India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.
In 2010, he was inducted into the Hard Rock Hotel's 'Hall of Fame' at a ceremony in Pattaya, Thailand, with his album, Kookaburra was installed on the venue's wall of memorabilia. The same year Koch was also appointed chairman of the organising committee for the launch of 2,600 years of Buddhism in Sri Lanka, held in May 2011.