Miles Bonny loves reality.
His music is a warm blanket that hugs you while exploring life’s bed of nails. Social Awareness filters through microphones and computers to represent itself as a creation that will be experienced by soulful people around the world. Collaborations with some of the biggest names in House music and modern legends of Hip Hop have placed his creations in the annals of music history.
His story starts as a child watching his father play a role in many orchestras and as a result, Miles views the world as a symphony. Sometimes he calls it "Social Work Music". Through playing trumpet, singing, and compositing electronic music, he creates a soundtrack for our collective life experience. Largely influenced by Black American Music and European Classical Sounds he has enjoyed a career as a part of international music scenes. His headlining tours have included 8 countries on 3 continents. Collaborative works have addressed suicide in Russia, fatherhood in Italy, identity in USA and arts mentorship in Poland. More than a musician, Miles has simultaneously managed a successful and extensive career in social systems design, investigated community health, provided youth empowerment, and life saving overdose prevention.
Miles is known for taking leaps of faith and landing clearly on his feet, only to leap again. His current exploration has taken him far from his metropolitan NYC upbringing, through the Midwest where he began his music career, to natural off-grid living in the high deserts of New Mexico, and now across the globe to Lutruwita / Tasmania, Australia where he is currently developing a relationship with the ocean.
Rather than fear the negative aspects of the world, Miles dives into them as he seeks possible answers to our collective social issues. Connect with Miles and welcome the future as your friend.
The Inwood neighborhood of NYC in the 1980s
Miles Bonny as a young boy with his family in New York City’s Times Square in the mid 1980s
New York City
1980-1981
Born to musical parents, Miles entered into this world via New York City. As a baby living in the Inwood neighborhood of upper Manhattan, he absorbed the latin and beat music of his neighborhood before moving to New Jersey after his mother stopped a robber from entering the family’s apartment via fire escape. His father Francis continued work in NYC through out Miles’ life, making the 15 minutes drive from NJ as he maintained a successful trumpet career playing various settings from clubs to symphonies and broadway.
Even after moving from the city, Miles continued to spend time there visiting weekly to explore the many corners of his favorite borough. As a teenager, access to 90s NYC allowed him to witness iconic locations such as Keith Haring’s Pop-Shop, Fat Beats, early Supreme, MOMA, Pearl Paint, MTV’s Total Request Live and Virgin Megastore. A love of boutiques, good quality food, independent music stores, and modern art has followed him ever since.
NYC remains his model for what a city can be. A place to easily walk or use public transit with people from all cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. A place where new ideas can become a reality that transforms the lives of the people who enjoy it afterward.
New Jersey
1981-1999
Teaneck was a town from which many people commuted daily to NYC for work. Despite now living in New Jersey, Miles frequently visited NYC via bus and subway in his teenage years. That was where it was all happening.
Growing up in Teaneck, New Jersey allowed for Miles to experience living within a community that included a wide variety of cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Peers came from families of Vietnamese, Jamaican, Russian, Isreali, Italian, and Greek origin. As a result, being aware of the beauty of diverse cultures was embedded in him. A sense of seeking harmony among humanity was also encouraged by a personal family culture of ministers, musicians and therapists. Locally, attending churches such as Riverside NYC provided consistent reminders of human potential. Francis, his father, played an arrangement of “Kumbaya, my lord” as a part of the ceremony at Riverside Church welcoming Mandela’s first visit there since re-gaining his freedom from South Africa. Brass musicians regularly gathered to play in his family’s yard. Miles' mother spent many years volunteering in the church’s food bank, something he experienced as a volunteer many years later in Nashville Tennessee.
After High School graduation, despite being made fun of for his decision to attend University in Kansas, he was ready to leave the East Coast and return to the Midwest USA where his family originated as Americans.
Miles among school mates in Teaneck, New Jersey
Fat Beats NYC, where teenage Miles’s weekly visits allowed for him to explore independent hip hop culture
The campus of University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas
MIles sitting in the studio at KJHK 90.7fm where he hosted programs such as “Classic Underground Sound”
Lawrence, Kansas
1999-2005
After graduating from high school in Teaneck, New Jersey, he decided to attend the University of Kansas in Lawerence, Kansas. WIth many family ties to this town and region of the USA’s midwest, he was excited to begin a new chapter unlike his upbringing in the NYC metro area. Bringing with him all the things he had experienced on the east coast allowed for new ideas and implementation of the community building he’d previously witnessed. After learning to make electronic compositions, he began collaborating with vocalists in his dorm room. The music scene in this college town was strong and Miles became an important part of the music scene, especially for hip hop music. He founded Lawrencehiphop.com as a means of promoting local artists and welcoming a broader audience to join the community. He also created music with his group SoundsGood and other musicians. In addition, DJing on KJHK 90.7fm provided him with cornerstones for positive social impact. Lifelong friendships have extended from this period of his life.
Music made in Lawrence, Kansas USA
Miles sitting next to bandmate Joe Good, as hip hop group SoundsGood, in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, MIssouri skyline
Miles in the studio of Kansas CIty LIive TV station for an interview and performance
Kansas City, Missouri
2005-2012
While Lawrence, Kansas provided a fertile environment for Miles to develop his music creation career, after many years, he was ready for a new landscape. Kansas City, only a 45 minute drive from Lawrence, built upon his relationship with the region and its music scene. DJing frequently provided and consistently exciting outlet for his creativity and community social support. 2005 saw the release of the most popular of his music creations to date, SoundsGood’s “Biscuits & Gravy.” Although when Miles moved to KC he was still a part of the hip hop group SoundsGood, when the lead vocalist of that group decided to quit making music, Miles was left with only his beats. Without a vocalist, he decided to produce himself as and become both a vocalist and horn player. In 2006 he created his debut vocal project “Smell Smoke.” Recording his own compositions led him to collaborate with others around the world. In 2009 he 1st toured in Europe after his Closer Love EP was released on Germany’s Melting Pot Music. Touring continued for many years and peaked with the release of his sought-after album Lumberjack Soul.
After a memorable era in Kansas City filled with fun times and great people, Miles felt he had acheived everything that he wished for and was ready for his next chapter. He and his family sought an environment in nature where they could live on their own terms, closer to the earth. They purchased some land, sold most of what they owned, and started driving west.
In 2026, Miles was included in a mural celebrating Kansas City music of Black American origin
Music made in Kansas City USA
Rio Grande Gorge bridge at sunset in Taos, New Mexico
Miles jumping on a highway in Taos County, New Mexico
Music made in Taos, New Mexico USA
Taos, New Mexico USA
2012-2026
After a successful career in Kansas City, Miles and his family decided to move to the a remote community in southwest USA in order to explore off-grid and minimal living. With their own hands, they created a home made of natural materials harvested from the region. Miles was an original DJ and the first to play only vinyl records on Taos’ KNCE 93.5fm. This station has gone on to win NM station of the year. He was also the first DJ to perform at the Taos Mesa Brewing Mothership, which he did 2x a week for many years.
Miles seated with family during his Taos News “Unsung Hero” award ceremony in 2026
Working in fields of youth homelessness, substance addiction prevention, overdose prevention and improving community health outcomes rounded out his experience in this part of the country. In 2026 he was honored as an Unsung Hero working toward the betterment of the greater community.
While touring in Australia, he met Shhor during a show in Melbourne with Osunlade. They wedded and lived together in New Mexico for many years. In 2024, they released their duo album Letters from the Desert, foreshadowing their next move.
Miles standing in New Mexico with a flugelhorn, as pictured in Taos News
Miles Bonny and Shhor at their wedding on a mountain in Lutruwita / Tasmania, Australia
Tasmania, Australia // 2026-Present
Since Miles Bonny and Shhor met in Melbourne, Australia as they performed together alongside Osunlade, they have re-shaped each other’s lives. Since Shhor moved to USA to live with Miles for 9 years, they have decided to re-balance out their lives by moving to Shhor’s homeland of Lutruwita (Tasmania) Australia. Follow along as his life there develops and new music is created.