IBIZA and the world of club music is mourning the death of DJ Robert Miles, who has passed away aged just 48 at his home on the island.
Miles will be best known to music-lovers worldwide for his iconic 1995 instrumental hit, Children, often played at the time in tribute to clubbers who 'never made it home' and released right at the height of the ecstasy controversy, soon after the death of 18-year-old Leah Betts and of a parallel storyline on a near-identical theme on the British soap opera Hollyoaks.
Despite its frequent revival as a homage to young drug victims, Miles in fact created it as a tribute to the thousands of children killed during the Balkan war during the break-up of Yugoslavia, which continued for most of the 1990s.
The record became an overnight hit, selling five million copies and spending 13 consecutive weeks at number one in the Euro Top 100.
Miles said he composed it in a four-square-metre bunker he had made for himself in the family garage, never realising it would make him a global household name.
His music has since formed the backing track of over 100 TV adverts and several films, including those in the Bourne series.
Son of Italian immigrants in Switzerland, the DJ was born Roberto Concina, studied the piano as a child and began to work at the mixing desk in Italy in the 1990s.
Children, released when he was barely 26,was his first hit and remains his most famous today.
Miles had lived in Ibiza for many years, having founded the online radio station OpenLab on the island.
