Frank Mills
Frank Mills | |
---|---|
Born | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | 27 June 1942
Instrument(s) | Piano |
Frank Mills (born June 27, 1942) is a Canadian pianist and recording artist, best known for his solo instrumental hit "Music Box Dancer".
Early life and education
Mills was born in Montreal, Quebec. He was raised in Verdun, Quebec[1] and started playing piano at the age of three. His family was musical and his mother also played piano and his father sang tenor. By the time he was 17 both his parents had died of cancer. [2]
Mills attended McGill University[1] for five years.[citation needed] At McGill, he initially studied engineering, but eventually switched to the Department of Music.[citation needed] He entertained his Delta Upsilon fraternity brothers with songs from ragtime to Bob Dylan (a new musician at the time). The fraternity piano had thumbtacks on every hammer and produced a unique sound.[citation needed]
Career
In the late 1960s, Mills became a member of The Bells. He left the band in 1971 just before it had international success with the single "Stay Awhile."
Mills worked as a pianist for CBC Television[1] and recorded his first solo album, Seven Of My Songs, which produced the hit single "Love Me, Love Me Love". The song made its debut on the Canadian charts in October 1971 and early the following year peaked at #1 on the Canadian charts, number 46 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 8 on Billboard′s Easy Listening chart[3][4] His 1972 cover of Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" made top 25 on the Canadian charts, but only reached number 106 in the US.[5]
Mills released an album in 1974 that featured "Music Box Dancer", but it was not a hit initially. When he re-signed with executive Michael Hoppé at
In
"Music Box Dancer" was Mills' only US Top 40 pop hit. The follow-up, another piano instrumental, "Peter Piper", peaked at number 48 on the Billboard Hot 100 but became a Top 10 hit on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.[7] Mills managed one final Adult Contemporary chart entry, "Happy Song", which peaked at number 41 at the beginning of 1981.[4]
Mills won two Juno Awards in 1980 for "Peter Piper", one for Composer of the Year and one for Instrumental Artist of the Year. He again won in the latter category in 1981.
He continued to release albums until the early 1990s. In 2010 he traveled on a Christmas tour with Canadian singer Rita MacNeil.[10] Mills and MacNeil toured again in November–December 2012.[11]
Film and television appearances
"Music Box Dancer" was the theme song of the local Los Angeles CBS half-hour TV documentary show 2 on the Town from 1979 through the early 1980s.
"Music Box Dancer" has been heard on an episode of
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Mills made a number of appearances on the annual
References
- ^ a b c "Frank Mills". The Canadian Pop Encyclopedia. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013 – via canoe.ca.
{{cite encyclopedia}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ "Not Familiar With Music Box Dancer? Oh Yes You Are". MyKawartha.com. 22 Nov 2013. Retrieved 2 Oct 2020.
- ISBN 9780898201550.
- ^ ISBN 9780898200997.
- ^ "Frank Mills". GRAMMYconnect. The Recording Academy. Retrieved 1 June 2019.
- ^ American Top 40 with Casey Kasem, March 10, 1979.
- ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (ed.). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-2008.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (ed.). Joel Whitburn's Top Adult Contemporary 1961-2006.
- ISBN 9780823075133.
- ^ "Rita MacNeil, Frank Mills team up to bring Sharing Christmas show to Showplace on Dec. 5". The Peterborough Examiner. 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2023-03-28.
- ^ "Rita MacNeil, Frank Mills team up to bring Sharing Christmas show to Showplace on Dec. 5". The Peterborough Examiner. 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2023-03-28.