Irving Mills

Irving Harold Mills (né Isadore Minsky; 16 January 1894 Odessa, Ukraine – 21 April 1985 Palm Springs, California) was an American music publisher, musician, lyricist, and jazz artist promoter. He sometimes used the pseudonyms Goody Goodwin and Joe Primrose.

Mills was born in Odessa, Ukraine, although some biographies state that he was born in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in New York City. His father, Hyman Minsky (1868–1905), was a hat maker who had immigrated from Odessa to the United States with his wife Sofia (née Sophia Schifre; born 1869). His father, Hyman, died in 1905, forcing Irving and his brother, Jacob (aka "Jack"; 1891–1979), to work odd jobs including bussing at restaurants, selling wallpaper, and working in the garment industry. By 1910, Mills was listed as a telephone operator.

Mills married Beatrice ("Bessie") Wilensky (maiden; 1898–1976) in 1911 and they subsequently moved to Philadelphia. By 1918 Mills was working for publisher Leo Feist. His brother, Jack, was working as a manager for McCarthy and Fisher, the music publishing firm of lyricist Joseph McCarthy (1883–1943) and songwriter Fred Fisher (1875–1942).

In July 1919, Irving Mills and his brother, Jack, founded Jack Mills, Inc., which was renamed Mills Music Inc. in 1928.

The Mills brothers discovered a number of great songwriters, including Zez Confrey, Sammy Fain, Harry Barris, Gene Austin, Hoagy Carmichael, Jimmy McHugh, and Dorothy Fields. He greatly advanced and even started a few of the careers of Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Ben Pollack, Jack Teagarden, Benny Goodman, Will Hudson,Raymond Scott and many others.

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