I HEARD
THE MILLS BROTHERS
SONGWRITER: DON REDMAN
COUNTRY: U.S.A.
ALBUM: EARLY CLASSICS 1931-1934
LABEL: BRUNSWICK
GENRE: JAZZ
YEAR: 2001
The Mills
Brothers, sometimes billed the Four Mills Brothers, and originally known as the
Four Kings of Harmony, were an American jazz and pop vocal quartet who made
more than 2,000 recordings that sold more than 50 million copies and garnered
at least three dozen gold records.
The Mills
Brothers were the first African-American artists to have their own show on
national network radio, on CBS in 1930, and the first to have a #1 hit on the
Billboard singles chart, with Paper Doll in 1943. They were inducted into the Vocal
Group Hall of Fame in 1998.
The Mills
Brothers were born into a family of nine in Piqua, Ohio, United States. The
band consisted of Donald (lead tenor vocals, April 29, 1915 – November 13, 1999),
Herbert (tenor vocals, April 2, 1912 – April 12, 1989), Harry (baritone vocals,
August 9, 1913 – June 28, 1982), and John Jr. (guitar, double bass, vocals; October 19, 1910 –
January 23, 1936). Their father, John Hutchinson Mills (February
11, 1882 – December 8, 1967), was a barber with his own shop and a barbershop
quartet. He 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 lessons at the Spring Street Grammar School, they
gathered in front of their father's barbershop or on the corner to perform.
They entered an amateur contest at May's Opera House but while on stage Harry
realized he had lost his kazoo. He improvised by cupping his hand
over his mouth and mimicking the sound of trumpet. The brothers liked the idea
and worked it into their act. John, the bass vocalist, would imitate the tuba. Harry, a baritone,
imitated the trumpet, Herbert became the second trumpet, and Donald the
trombone. John accompanied the four-part harmony on ukulele and
then guitar. They practiced imitating orchestras they heard on the radio.
When the town is fast asleep, and it's mid-night in
the sky
That's the time the festive chink starts to wink his
other eye
Starts to wink his dreamy eye, lazily you'll hear him
sigh
Strangers taking in the sights, pig-tails flying here
and there
See that broken wall street sport, still thinks he's a
millionaire
Still thinks he's a millionaire, pipe dreams banish
every care
Chinatown, my Chinatown
Where the lights are low
Hearts that know no other land
Drifting to and fro
Dreamy dreamy Chinatown
Almond eyes of brown
Hearts seems light and life seems bright
In dreamy Chinatown.
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