Kerry Mills

Kerry Mills
Born
Frederick Allen Mills

1 February 1869
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Died5 December 1948 (aged 79)
Hawthorne, California, United States
Other namesF.A. Mills (publishing as)
Occupation(s)Composer, Music Publishing Executive
Known forF.A. Mills Music Publisher

Kerry Mills (né Frederick Allen Mills; 1 February 1869 in Philadelphia – 5 December 1948 in Hawthorne, California), publishing also as F.A. Mills, was an American ragtime composer and music publishing executive of popular music during the Tin Pan Alley era.[1][2][3][4][5] His stylistically diverse music ranged from ragtime through cakewalk to marches. He was most prolific between 1895 and 1918.[6][7][8][9][10]

Career

Red Wing 1907 sheet music

Mills trained as a violinist and was head of the Violin Department of the University of Michigan School of Music when he began composing. He moved to New York City in 1895 and started a music publishing firm, F. A. Mills Music Publisher, publishing his own work and that of others.[11]

Selected works

  • "Impecunious Davis"
  • "In The City Of Sighs And Tears"
  • "Just For The Sake Of Society"
  • "Let's All Go Up To Maud's"
  • "The Longest Way 'Round Is The Sweetest Way Home"
  • "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" (words by Andrew B. Sterling)
  • 1895 : Rastus on Parade - Characteristic Two Step March for Piano
  • 1895 : Shandon Bells - Two Step March
  • 1896 : Happy Days in Dixie - Characteristic March
  • 1897 : At A Georgia Camp Meeting - A Characteristic March listen to:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLR2ZI0evgs
  • 1899 : Whistling Rufus - Characteristic Two Step March, Polka & Cakewalk
  • 1899 : Impecunious Davis - A Characteristic March
  • 1900 or before: Cake-Walk
  • 1900 : Kerry Mills Medley - Themes from Previous Cake Walk and Songs
  • 1902 : Harmony Moze - Characteristic Two Step
  • 1902 : A Brand Plucked from the Burning (words by Alfred Bryan)
  • 1902 : I Know She Waits for Me (words by Alfred Bryan)
  • 1903 : Valse Hèléne
  • 1903 : Petite Causerie - A Quiet Chat
  • 1903 : Valse Primrose - Les Primevères
  • 1903 : 'Leven Forty-Five From The Hotel - Two Step March
  • 1903 : Me and Me Banjo - Characteristic Piece
  • 1903 : Petite Causerie (A Quiet Chat)
  • 1903 : Valse Helene
  • 1903 : L'amour Aux Bois (Cupid's Bower)
  • 1903 : Valse Primrose (Les Primeveres)
  • 1903 : Like A Star That Falls From Heaven (words by Alfred Bryan)
  • 1904 : We'll Be Together When the Clouds Roll By (words by Alfred Bryan)
  • 1906 : Old Heidelberg: - Characteristic Two Step March
  • 1906 : While The Old Mill Wheel Is Turning (words by Will D. Cobb)
  • 1907 : Red Wing" - An Indian Intermezzo (words by Thurland Chattaway). Mills adapted the melody from Schumann's "The Happy Farmer"
  • 1908 : Kerry Mills Barn Dance
  • 1908 : Sun Bird - Intermezzo
  • 1908 : Hallie (A Little Romance)
  • 1908 : Sweet Sixteens - March
  • 1908 : Any Old Port in a Storm (words by Arthur J. Lamb)
  • 1908 : If You Were Mine (words by Arthur J. Lamb)
  • 1909 : Comical Eyes (words by Bartley C. Costello)
  • 1909 : Kerry Mills Rag Time Dance
  • 1909 : A Georgia Barn Dance
  • 1909 : The Scarf Dancer - A Novelty Two Step
  • 1909 : Lily of the Prairie - Two Step Intermezzo
  • 1909 : Sicilian Chimes - Reverie
  • 1909 : Kerry Mills Potpourri
  • 1909 : Don't Be an Old Maid, Molly
  • 1909 : Where Were You Last Night? (words by Alfred Bryan)
  • 1910 : That Fascinating Ragtime Glide
  • 1910 : Valley Flower - Intermezzo
  • 1910 : Kerry Mills Palmetto Slide
  • 1910 : The Wyoming Prance - A Rag Time Two Step
  • 1910 : I've Lost My Nannie
  • 1911 : You've Got the Wrong Number, But You've Got the Right Girl (words by Arthur J. Lamb)
  • 1914 : Kerry Mills Turkey Trot
  • 1914 : Kerry Mills Fox Trot
  • 1918 : Snooky Hollow - Intermezzo
  • 1919 : Tokio - Fox Trot on Chorus from Geisha Girl

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kerry Mills.

References

  1. ^ Biography Index, H.W. Wilson Co.; ISSN 0006-3053
        Vol. 1: Jan. 1946–Jul. 1949 (1949)
        Vol. 6: Jan. 1961–Jul. 1974 (1965)
  2. ^ Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians (Mills is in Vol. 4 of 6), Macmillan; Schirmer
       6th ed., Slonimsky (ed.) (1978); OCLC 4426869
       8th ed., Slonimsky (ed.) (1992); OCLC 24246972
       9th ed., Laura Kuhn (ed.) (born 1953) (2001); OCLC 44972043
  3. ^ Biographical Dictionary of Twentieth-Century Classical Musicians, Nicolas Slonimsky (ed), Schirmer (1997); OCLC 36111932
  4. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of American Music, (Mills is in Vol. 3 of 4), H. Wiley Hitchcock & Stanley Sadie (eds.), Macmillan Publishers (1986); (see Oxford Music Online); OCLC 13184437, OCLC 230202868
  5. ^ The Heritage Encyclopedia of Band Music: Composers and Their Music — Supplement, William H. Rehrig (ed.), Westerville, OH: Integrity Press (1996); OCLC 45209483
  6. ^ American Popular Songs, From the Revolutionary War to the present, edited by David Ewen, New York: Random House (1966); OCLC 598027
  7. ^ Popular American Composers, From Revolutionary times to the present — A Biographical and Critical Guide, 1st ed., compiled & edited by David Ewen, New York: H.W. Wilson Co. (1962); OCLC 63081753
  8. ^ Notable Names in the American Theatre, Walter Rigdon (born 1930) (ed.), Clifton, NJ: James T. White & Co. (1976); OCLC 2372945
        Alphabetized by titles of address,     e.g.: Dr., Mrs., and Sir
  9. ^ The Oxford Companion to Popular Music, by Peter Gammond, Oxford, England: Oxford University Press (1991); OCLC 22382241
  10. ^ Sweet and Lowdown: America's Popular Song Writers, by Warren Craig, Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow Press (1978); OCLC 3380132
  11. ^ The Complete Encyclopedia of Popular Music and Jazz, 1900-1950, by Roger D. Kinkle (1916–2000) (Mills is Vol 3 of 4), Arlington House Publishers, New Rochelle, NY (1974) OCLC 897890