Ali's former brand maker takes on opera world

By Mark Lamport-Stokes

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Anyone approaching Harlan Werner's multi-level Hollywood home during a weekday morning is likely to be greeted by the rousing sounds of a classically trained tenor exercising his unique voice.

This unexpected welcome to the leafy neighbourhood provides a clear-cut clue that Werner, after two decades of working with boxing great Muhammad Ali, has embarked on a very different chapter in his life as a brand and image maker.

Werner, a long-haired Californian who would not look out of place strumming a bass guitar for a seventies-style rock group, first met Ali at the age of 18.

The pair struck up an immediate bond, and Werner launched a long business relationship with the three-times world heavyweight champion on a simple handshake.

"I can make you big again. I have a plan," Werner recalled of his surprisingly confident approach to the iconic Ali in 1986. Ali's immediate response was: "Kid, stick with me. I'll take care of you."

That handshake paved the way for Werner to handle Ali's life rights and marketing rights for the next 20 years while he also represented retired sporting greats such as baseball's Sandy Koufax and American footballers Joe Namath and Jim Brown.

Three years ago, however, the working relationship with Ali changed.

"In 2006, Muhammad Ali and his wife sold his life rights and marketing rights to another company and my role as agent changed," Werner told Reuters.

"It was very much diminished. I still had a consulting role but it pretty much changed. Muhammad Ali was 50 percent of my time and 70 percent of my revenues."

NEW CHALLENGE

Werner has since linked up with Argentine tenor Carlos De Antonis, a larger-than-life character who speaks eight languages and sings in at least as many different styles.

De Antonis has carved out a successful career, mainly in musicals and opera, in his native South America and also in Europe. Helped by Werner, he is now trying to make a name for himself in the United States.

"After more than 20 years of working and giving my heart and soul to doing mainly one thing, I really wanted a new challenge. I wanted something different," Werner said.

Asked why he had veered off in such a different direction, Werner replied: "The music world was something I was interested in, I just had not found the right fit and the right situation.

"Someone then gave me some music to listen to. I heard the first song and immediately got goose bumps.