Appointed as the Commonwealth Union’s Envoy to Australia and the Pacific Region in October 2025, Alston Koch carries a legacy that ranges from entertainment to climate activism to cultural rights advocacy.
Long before taking on this Commonwealth Envoy role, Koch had already secured his place in Australia’s music rights landscape as a recognised member of the Australian Performing Rights Association (APRA) under its publishing and copyright division. His inclusion in APRA AMCOS Publishing Copyright stood as a remarkable personal achievement, while also emphasising the growing recognition of South Asian musicians within a highly structured and competitive Australian rights system.
APRA AMCOS, as it is known today, represents over 124,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers, licensing music uses and ensuring that royalties return to creators. As an accredited rights holder, the framework did not just provide Koch with administrative membership but also established him as a rights-empowered creator within Australia’s formal music economy in a time when migrant musicians often struggled to assert intellectual property ownership. Koch’s publishing rights position at APRA also contributed largely towards gaining an equal footing with prominent Western music figures.
While his affiliation with APRA was a significant achievement, it was his early entertainment career that laid the foundation that later flourished and gained widespread recognition. Born in Colombo, Alston Koch kick-started his career as the lead vocalist of The Jetliners, a band that had a large influence on Sri Lanka’s modern pop era. His move to Sydney during the 1970s signalled the beginning of a new era in his career, entering the Australian music industry at a time when Asian performers were rarely seen on national broadcasts.
After signing with RCA Records Australia, he fronted the band Dark Tan, introducing disco to Australian commercial radio and television. His highly acclaimed self-written hit Disco Lady earned him a gold record and went on to establish his title as Asia’s King of Pop.
With the influence of the performances of Channel 9’s Bandstand and collaborations with international acts, including a televised appearance with ABBA, Koch reached a significant place in his career, where a Sri Lankan-born artist led a mainstream Australian entertainment career.
Through RCA, EMI and Sony, Koch released multiple singles and albums that charted throughout Australia and Southeast Asia. His televised performance during the Stars & Stripes Concert under the Sydney Harbour Bridge became a defining image of multicultural Australian music culture emerging in the late 1970s. His America’s Cup anthem, “Kookaburra,” commissioned for a national sporting campaign, took his Australian media identity one step further.
In addition to recording music, Koch also transitioned smoothly into global entertainment circuits. He represented Sri Lanka at the Family Film Awards in Hollywood and later entered the cinema himself, earning the Signis Asia Best Actor Award for his lead role in “According to Matthew”, a Sri Lankan film produced with international distribution standards. His climate change anthem, written for a United Nations-linked initiative in London, gained diplomatic recognition, receiving praise from the UK Ministry and being acknowledged as a cultural contribution to global environmental dialogue.
His performances at ICC Cricket World Cup ceremonies, his induction into the Hard Rock Hotel’s Hall of Fame, and his recognition by the California State Senate and U.S. Congress only contributed more to positioning him as an entertainer whose influence extended well beyond music charts.
