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| Title | Mills Brothers singing in a nightclub, Seattle, 1963 |
| Photographer | Staff Photographer
Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| Date | 1963 |
| Caption | The Mills Brothers perform at a Seattle nightclub in 1963. The group is comprised of father John Sr. and sons John Jr., Herbert, Harry, and Donald. The boys started practicing their harmonies in their father's barber shop. Later they used kazoos to imitate musical instruments. After forgetting their kazoos at one performance, they began improvising the sounds of instruments with their own voices: John, bass trumpet and tuba; Harry, trumpet and sang baritone; Herbert, sax, trombone and trumpet; Donald, sang lead tenor vocals; John Jr., played guitar - the only real instrument used.
The Mills Brothers were the first black vocal group to appeal to white audiences. Their success included 71 chart singles in a career that spanned from 1925 to 1982. "Paper Doll, " recorded February 18, 1942, stayed number one on the charts for 12 weeks and eventually sold more than six million copies. |
| Notes | Handwritten on sleeve: Mills Brothers; singing group.
Caption information source: P-I research files.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): November 1963. |
| Subjects | Mills Brothers; Singers--Washington (State)--Seattle; Nightclubs--Washington (State)--Seattle; Guitars--Washington (State)--Seattle; Pianos--Washington (State)--Seattle; Music ensembles--Washington (State)--Seattle; African Americans--Washington (State)--Seattle; Sound equipment & supplies--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Personal Names | Mills, John Sr.
Mills, John Jr.
Mills, Herbert
Mills, Harry
Mills, Donald |
| Places | United States--Washington (State)--Seattle |
| Digital Collection | Museum of History & Industry Photograph Collection |
| Image Number | 1986.5.36032.1 |
| Ordering Information | To order a reproduction or to inquire about permissions contact photos@mohai.org or phone us at 206-324-1126. Please refer to the Image Number and provide a brief description of the photograph. |
| Credit Line | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection, Museum of History & Industry, Seattle; All Rights Reserved |
| Repository | Museum of History & Industry, Seattle (MOHAI) |
| Repository Collection | Seattle Post-Intelligencer Collection |
| Type | Image |
| Physical Description | 1 acetate negative: b&w; 4 x 5 in. |
| Digital Reproduction Information | Scanned from original negative as a 3000 pixel TIFF image in 8-bit grayscale, resized to 640 pixels in the longest dimension and compressed into JPEG format using Photoshop 6.0 and its JPEG quality measurement 3. |
