The Mills Brothers
| The Mills Brothers | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Piqua, Ohio, United States |
| Genres | Jazz, traditional pop |
| Years active | 1928–1982 |
| Labels | Brunswick, Decca, Dot, London |
| Website | The Mills Brothers official site |
| Past members | John Mills Jr. Herbert Mills Harry Mills Donald Mills John Mills Sr. |
The Mills Brothers, sometimes billed as The Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as The Four Kings of Harmony, were an African-American jazz and pop vocal quartet of the 20th century who made more than 2,000 recordings that combined sold more than 50 million copies, and garnered at least three dozen gold records. The Mills Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
The group was originally composed of four brothers – all younger than three older sisters in the family of nine – all born in Piqua, Ohio, 25 miles (40 km) north of Dayton: John C. Jr. (October 19, 1910 – January 23, 1936) bass vocalist and guitarist, Herbert (April 2, 1912 – April 12, 1989) tenor, Harry Flood (August 9, 1913 – June 28, 1982) baritone, and Donald (April 29, 1915 – November 13, 1999) lead tenor. Their parents were John Hutchinson (February 11, 1882 – December 8, 1967) and Eathel Mills. John Sr. owned a barber shop and founded a barbershop quartet, called the '"Four Kings of Harmony"'. John Hutchinson Mills Sr. was the son of William Hutchinson Mills and Cecilia Simms who lived in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.
As the boys grew older, they began singing in the choir of the Cyrene African Methodist Episcopal Church and in the Park Avenue Baptist Church in Piqua. After their lessons at the Spring Street Grammar School, they would gather in front of their father's barbershop on Public Square or at the corner of Greene and Main to sing and play the kazoo to passersby.
They entered an amateur contest at Piqua's May's Opera House, but while on stage, Harry discovered he had lost his kazoo. He cupped his hands to his mouth and imitated a trumpet. The success of his imitation led to all the brothers taking on instruments to imitate and created their early signature sound. John Jr. accompanied the four-part harmony first with a ukulele and then a guitar. They practiced imitating orchestras they heard on the radio. John, as the bass, would imitate the tuba. Harry, a baritone, imitated the trumpet, Herbert became the second trumpet and Donald the trombone. They entertained on the Midwest theater circuit, at house parties, tent shows, music halls and supper clubs throughout the area and became well known for their close harmonies, mastery of scat singing, and their ability to imitate musical instruments with their voices.
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