Amy Millan

Amy Millan
Performing with Broken Social Scene at the Intonation Music Festival, 2005
Background information
Born	(1973-12-03) December 3, 1973 (age 43)
Origin	Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Genres	Indie rock
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Vocals, guitar, piano
Labels	Arts & Crafts Productions
Associated acts	Stars, Broken Social Scene, Metric, Halves
Website	www.arts-crafts.ca/amymillan

Amy Millan (born December 3, 1973) is a Canadian indie rock singer and guitarist. She records and performs with the bands Stars and Broken Social Scene as well as having a successful solo career. Her second solo album, Masters of the Burial, was released by Arts & Crafts Productions in September 2009.

Amy Millan grew up in the Cabbagetown neighbourhood of Toronto. She attended high school at Jarvis Collegiate, and later the Etobicoke School of the Arts where she studied drama alongside future Broken Social Scene bandmates Kevin Drew and Emily Haines. Millan and Haines formed the band Edith's Mission. Although short-lived, Edith's Mission did play a sold out show at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto. After high school, Millan moved to Montreal for three years to attend Concordia University and gained experience as a solo performer by playing in coffee shops. Upon returning to Toronto, she formed the roots-rock band 16 Tons and wrote many of the songs that she would use to launch her solo career several years later. After the breakup of 16 Tons, Millan moved to Los Angeles. While living there, her song with 16 tons "Bury Me" was added to the soundtrack of the film Drowning Mona. However, Millan, missing a city where walking was encouraged over driving, returned to Toronto.

Stars was formed by Torquil Campbell and Chris Seligman in New York City. The line-up subsequently grew to incorporate Evan Cranley, with whom Millan had played gigs while a member of 16 Tons. Feeling that Millan would be a good fit for the group, Cranley invited her to New York City to audition in December 1999. After receiving assurances that she would be actively involved in the songwriting process, Millan agreed to join the band. As much of their debut album had been recorded prior to her joining, Millan’s involvement in 2001's Nightsongs was limited, although she did sing lead vocals on "Toxic Holiday". Desiring to return to Canada, but not wanting to move to Toronto, the band relocated to Montreal. Drummer Pat McGee was recruited as their fifth member prior to the release of their second album, Heart, in 2003. Millan's influence was more evident on this album, and a number of the tracks were performed as duets between her and Torquil Campbell, establishing a style for which the band would become well known. Stars' commercial breakthrough came with their 2004 album Set Yourself on Fire and the accompanying single "Ageless Beauty", which featured a lead vocal by Millan. Their fourth album, In Our Bedroom After the War, was released in 2007 and was followed by the EP Sad Robots the following year. In June 2010, they released their fifth full-length album, The Five Ghosts.