The Mills Brothers

Genres:	Big Band & Swing • Jazz • Music Videos & Concerts • Mystery / Thriller • Vocals
Descriptive "tags":	jazz • vocal jazz • 30s • 40s • 50s • swing
Decades Active:	1940s • 1950s • 1960s • 1980s • 1990s • 2000s

Biography

The three permanent members of this vocal group were Herbert Mills (2 April 1912, d. 12 April 1989, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA), Harry Mills (b. 19 August 1913, d. 28 June 1982, Los Angeles, California, USA) and Donald Mills (b. 29 April 1915, d. 18 November 1999, Los Angeles, California, USA). John Mills Jnr. (b. 19 October 1910, d. 24 January 1936, Bellefontaine, Ohio, USA), added vocal notes in string bass form and played guitar. All the brothers were born in Piqua, Ohio, USA, sons of a barber who had been a successful concert singer. By the mid-20s, they were singing in sweet, close harmony in local vaudeville, providing their own backing by accurately imitating saxophones, trumpets, trombones and bass. With the main trio still teenagers, they had their own show on Cincinnati radio before moving to New York in 1930.

The brothers signed to Brunswick Records and had a hit in 1931 with their first disc, ‘Tiger Rag’, which they also...

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