Michael Edward Mills (born December 17, 1958) is an American

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where ...

, singer, and

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Def ...

who was a founding member of the

alternative rock Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commercial ...

band R.E.M. Though known primarily as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist of R.E.M., his musical repertoire also includes keyboards and occasional lead vocals. He contributed to a majority of the band's musical compositions and is the only member to have had formal musical training.

Early life

Michael Edward Mills was born to Frank and Adora Mills in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...

, where his father was stationed in the

Marines Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refl ...

. The family moved to

Macon, Georgia Macon ( ), officially Macon–Bibb County, is a consolidated city-county in the U.S. state of Georgia. Situated near the fall line of the Ocmulgee River, it is located southeast of Atlanta and lies near the geographic center of the state of G ...

, when Mills was around six months old. Mills met future R.E.M. bandmate

Bill Berry William Thomas Berry (born July 31, 1958) is an American musician who was the drummer for the alternative rock band R.E.M. Although best known for his economical drumming style, Berry also played other instruments, including guitar, bass guitar ...

while they attended high school in Macon. The duo started out in bands together. Early projects included the band Shadowfax, later called The Back Door Band. Mills attended the

University of Georgia , mottoeng = "To teach, to serve, and to inquire into the nature of things.""To serve" was later added to the motto without changing the seal; the Latin motto directly translates as "To teach and to inquire into the nature of things." , establ ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates a ...

, which is where R.E.M. formed.

Career

Mills is credited with being the chief composer behind many of R.E.M.'s songs, including " Nightswimming", " Find the River", "

At My Most Beautiful "At My Most Beautiful" is a song by the American alternative rock band R.E.M. During the song's creation, members of the group noted its similarity to the work of the Beach Boys and purposefully fashioned it to resemble that band's output. Singe ...

", "Why Not Smile", "Let Me In", " Wendell Gee", "

(Don't Go Back To) Rockville "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville" is the second and final single released by American rock band R.E.M. from their second studio album, '' Reckoning''. The song failed to chart on either the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 or the UK Singles Charts. Backgroun ...

", "Beat a Drum", "Be Mine", " Electrolite", and " What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" In particular, R.E.M.'s 2004 album ''

Around the Sun ''Around the Sun'' is the 13th studio album by American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on October 5, 2004 on Warner Bros. Records. Description The album was released in three editions: Cassette (the band's final release on the medium), ...

'' was heavily shaped by Mills' piano and keyboard contributions. Mills is responsible for the prominent backing vocal and

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. Howeve ...

parts found in the band's back catalog, with his vocal contributions being most noticeable on 1986's ''

Lifes Rich Pageant ''Lifes Rich Pageant'' is the fourth studio album by the American alternative rock band R.E.M., released on July 28, 1986. R.E.M. chose Don Gehman to produce the album, which was recorded at John Mellencamp's Belmont Mall Studios in Belmont, Indi ...

'' and 2008's ''

Accelerate In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by t ...

''. He sang lead vocals on the songs " Texarkana", "

Near Wild Heaven "Near Wild Heaven" is a song by American rock band R.E.M., released in August 1991 as the third single from their seventh studio album, '' Out of Time'' (1991). The song was also the first single released by the band to have had its lyrics both ...

The Clique A clique is a close social group. Clique or The Clique may also refer to: Math and computing * Clique (graph theory) ** Clique problem in computer science Business and brands * Clique (vodka), a Latvian vodka sold in the United States Entertai ...

cover "

Superman Superman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, and debuted in the comic book '' Action Comics'' #1 ( cover-dated June 1938 and pu ...

" and

The Troggs The Troggs (originally called the Troglodytes) are an English garage rock band formed in Andover, Hampshire in May 1964. Their most famous songs include the US chart-topper " Wild Thing", " With a Girl Like You" and " Love Is All Around", all ...

cover "

Love Is All Around "Love Is All Around" is a song recorded by English rock band the Troggs, featuring a string quartet and a 'tick tock' sound on percussion, in D-major. Released as a single in October 1967, it was a top-ten hit in both the UK and US. "Love I ...

R.E.M. had been talking about disbanding since 2008, and eventually did so in 2011. In a 2013 interview, Mills said there is no possibility of an R.E.M. reunion. Mills described it as "31 wonderful years and the opportunity to end it on our own terms". Mills has written and performed with friends on various projects during his time with the band and since. In 1990 he wrote music for Howard Libov's short film ''Men Will Be Boys''. That same year, he recorded with

Warren Zevon Warren William Zevon (; January 24, 1947 – September 7, 2003) was an American rock singer, songwriter, and musician. Zevon's most famous compositions include "Werewolves of London", " Lawyers, Guns and Money", and " Roland the Headless Th ...

together with Buck and Berry as the Hindu Love Gods. In 2012, Mills contributed piano to a

Record Store Day Record Store Day is an annual event inaugurated in 2007 and held on one Saturday (typically the third) every April and every Black Friday in November to "celebrate the culture of the independently owned record store". The day brings together fa ...

single released by

Drive-By Truckers Drive-By Truckers are an American rock band based in Athens, Georgia. Two of five current members ( Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley) are originally from The Shoals region of northern Alabama and met as roommates at the University of North Alab ...

member Patterson Hood, in protest of a

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

development being built in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the ...

. Mills is a member, along with

Steve Wynn Stephen Alan Wynn (''né'' Weinberg; born January 27, 1942) is an American real estate developer and art collector. He is known for his involvement in the American luxury casino and hotel industry. Early in his career he oversaw the construction ...

Scott McCaughey Scott Lewis McCaughey is an American singer, guitarist and songwriter and the leader of the Seattle and Portland-based bands The Young Fresh Fellows and The Minus 5. He was also an auxiliary member of the American rock band R.E.M. from 199 ...

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M. He also plays the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his ca ...

, and

Linda Pitmon Linda Pitmon is an American drummer known for her work with the supergroups The Baseball Project and the Filthy Friends. Pitmon played percussion in band and orchestra in high school. She suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and drumming was a h ...

, of The Baseball Project. Mills performs as part of singer-songwriter

Joseph Arthur Joseph Arthur (born September 28, 1971) is an American singer-songwriter and artist from Akron, Ohio. He is best known for his solo material, and as a member of Fistful of Mercy and RNDM. Arthur has built his reputation over the years through ...

's band. On April 3, 2014, while performing with Arthur, Mills broke the news that

David Letterman David Michael Letterman (born April 12, 1947) is an American television host, comedian, writer and producer. He hosted late night television talk shows for 33 years, beginning with the February 1, 1982 debut of ''Late Night with David Letterman' ...

would be retiring in 2015. Mills took a band self-portrait that he posted to

Instagram Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...

and did a short interview about "breaking" the story. Since 2010, Mills has played with a rotating group of musicians for a series of concerts built around

Big Star Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton (vocals, guiar), Chris Bell (vocals, guitar), Jody Stephens (drums), and Andy Hummel (bass). The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a ne ...

's album ''

Third/Sister Lovers ''Third'' (reissued in 1985 as ''Third/Sister Lovers'') is the third album by American rock band Big Star. Sessions started at Ardent Studios in September 1974. Though Ardent created promotional, white-label test pressings for the record in 197 ...

''. Known as Big Star's Third, the concerts have taken place in London, Sydney, Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, and New York. A longtime Big Star fan, Mills wrote the liner notes for the 2014 reissue of the band's first two releases, 1972's '' #1 Record'' and 1974's '' Radio City''. In 2016, he toured to support a ''Concerto for Violin, Rock Band, and String Orchestra'' with childhood friend

Robert McDuffie Robert McDuffie is an American violinist. He has played as a soloist with many of the major orchestras around the world including those of New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Montreal, Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Minnesota, H ...

, along with guitar players

William Tonks William Tonks is an American musician based out of Athens, Georgia. He is most known as a dobro player, songwriter, and singer. Background Tonks was raised in Montclair, New Jersey before moving south to Savannah, Georgia at the age of nine. His ...

and John Neff. The tour resumed in 2022.

Musical style

Mills' melodic approach to bass playing is inspired by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

and

Chris Squire Christopher Russell Edward Squire (4March 1948 – 27June 2015) was an English musician, singer and songwriter best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the progressive rock band Yes. He was the longest-serving original member, having r ...

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * YES (Your Extraordinary Saturday), a learning program from the Minnesota Institute for Talent ...

; Mills has said, "I always played a melodic bass, like a piano bass in some ways ... I never wanted to play the traditional locked into the kick drum, root note bass work." Mills has more musical training than his bandmates, which he has said "made it easier to turn abstract musical ideas into reality." During R.E.M.'s career, Mills often harmonized with

Michael Stipe John Michael Stipe (; born January 4, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter and artist, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of alternative rock band R.E.M. He is known for his vocal quality, poetic lyrics and unique stage presence. Pos ...

in songs; in the chorus for "Stand", Mills and Stipe alternate singing lyrics, creating a dialogue.

Discography

*1984 – Hindu Love Gods – "Gonna Have a Good Time Tonight"/"Narrator". *1985 – Full Time Men– ''Full Time Men'', organ on "One More Time" *1987 –

– ''

Sentimental Hygiene ''Sentimental Hygiene'' is the sixth studio album by rock singer-songwriter Warren Zevon and his first " sober" one. The album was released on August 29, 1987, by Virgin Records. The release of ''Sentimental Hygiene'' marked the first studio albu ...

'' on "Sentimental Hygiene", "Boom Boom Mancini", "The Factory", "Trouble Waiting to Happen", "Detox Mansion", "Bad Karma", "Even a Dog Can Shake Hands", and "The Heartache" *1987 – Waxing Poetics– ''Hermitage'', production *1988 – Billy James – ''Sixes and Sevens'', production *1988 –

The Cynics The Cynics are an American garage rock band from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The band, at the time consisting of guitarist Gregg Kostelich, drummer Bill Von Hagen, vocalist Michael Kastelic who joined in 1985, bass player Steve Magee, and keyboa ...

– "What's It Gonna Be"/"Roadrunner" (live) *1989 –

Indigo Girls Indigo Girls are an American folk rock music duo from Atlanta, Georgia, United States, consisting of Amy Ray and Emily Saliers. The two met in elementary school and began performing together as high school students in Decatur, Georgia, part o ...

– ''

'', bass guitar on " Tried to Be True" *1989 – Vibrating Egg – ''Come On in Here If You Want To'', writing and performance *1990 –

Kevn Kinney Kevin Kinney, known professionally as Kevn Kinney (born March 12, 1961),"The Baseball Project at Wux ...

– '' MacDougal Blues'' *1990 – Hindu Love Gods – '' Hindu Love Gods'' *1990 – Hindu Love Gods – " Raspberry Beret" *1991 –

Nikki Sudden Adrian Nicholas Godfrey (19 July 195626 March 2006), known professionally as Nikki Sudden, was a prolific English singer-songwriter and guitarist. He co-founded the post-punk band Swell Maps with his brother, Epic Soundtracks, while attending So ...

– '' The Jewel Thief'' *1991 – Nikki Sudden – " I Belong to You" *1991 –

– '' Athens, Andover'' *1991 –

Robbie Robertson Jaime Royal "Robbie" Robertson, OC (born July 5, 1943), is a Canadian musician. He is best known for his work as lead guitarist and songwriter for the Band, and for his career as a solo recording artist. With the deaths of Richard Manuel i ...

– '' Storyville'', singing on "Shake This Town" *1992 – '' Jane Pratt Show''

theme music Theme music is a musical composition that is often written specifically for radio programming, television shows, video games, or films and is usually played during the title sequence, opening credits, closing credits, and in some instances at so ...

*1993 – Automatic Baby – "

One 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

" *1993 –

The Smashing Pumpkins The Smashing Pumpkins (also referred to as simply Smashing Pumpkins) are an American alternative rock band from Chicago. Formed in 1988 by frontman and guitarist Billy Corgan, bassist D'arcy Wretzky, guitarist James Iha and drummer Jimmy Ch ...

– ''

Siamese Dream ''Siamese Dream'' is the second studio album by American alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins, released on July 27, 1993, on Virgin Records. Despite recording sessions fraught with difficulties and tensions, ''Siamese Dream'' debuted at n ...

'', piano on "Soma" *1993 –

Three Walls Down 3 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 3, three, or III may also refer to: * AD 3, the third year of the AD era * 3 BC, the third year before the AD era * March, the third month Books * '' Three of Them'' (Russian: ', literally, "three"), a 1901 ...

– '' Building Our House'', production *1993 – Three Walls Down – "Steps"/"Wooden Nails"/"Faith in These Times" (live) *1994 – ''

Backbeat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a p ...

'' soundtrack *1994 –

Victoria Williams Victoria Williams (born December 23, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, United States, although she has resided in Southern California throughout her musical career. Diagnosed with multi ...

– ''

Loose Loose may refer to: Places * Loose, Germany * Loose, Kent, a parish and village in southeast England People * Loose (surname) Arts, entertainment, and media Music Albums * ''Loose'' (B'z album), a 1995 album by B'z * ''Loose'' (Crazy Horse album ...

'', vocals on "You R Loved" *2000 –

Christy McWilson Christy McWilson is an American singer-songwriter based in the Pacific Northwest. She has performed with the Dynette Set, the Picketts, as a solo artist, and with many other artists, including Dave Alvin and The Young Fresh Fellows. Early li ...

– '' The Lucky One'' *2006 – Various artists – '' Big Star Small World'', bass guitar on "The Ballad of El Goodo", with

Matthew Sweet Sidney Matthew Sweet (born October 6, 1964) is an American alternative rock/power pop singer-songwriter and musician who was part of the burgeoning music scene in Athens, Georgia, during the 1980s before gaining commercial success in the 1990 ...

*2006 – Mike Mills and Sally Ellyson – "Jesus Christ", a

song covered for a charity single for the

Red Apple Foundation Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

*2007 – Mudville – '' Iris Nova'', piano on "Eternity" *2008 –

Modern Skirts Modern Skirts was an alternative rock band based in Athens, GA. The band consisted of four members: Jay Gulley (guitar and vocals), JoJo Glidewell (guitar, piano, and vocals), Phillip Brantley (bass, guitar, and vocals) and John Q. Swint (drums). ...

– ''All of Us in Our Night'', production on "Motorcade" *2008 – The Baseball Project – '' Volume 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails'' *2009 – ''

Favorite Son Favorite son (or favorite daughter) is a political term. * At the quadrennial American national political party conventions, a state delegation sometimes nominates a candidate from the state, or less often from the state's region, who is not a ...

'' soundtrack – "Gift of the Fathers" *2009 –

Jill Hennessy Jillian Noel Hennessy (born November 25, 1968) is a Canadian actress and singer. She is most known for her roles on the American television series ''Law & Order'', on which she played prosecutor Claire Kincaid for three seasons, and ''Crossing ...

– ''Ghost in My Head'', backing vocals on "Erin" *2009 – The Baseball Project – '' Homerun EP'' *2010 – Various artists – ''The Voice Project'', cover of

Billy Bragg Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957) is an English singer-songwriter and left-wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, with lyrics that mostly span political or romantic themes. His music i ...

's "Sing Their Souls Back Home" *2011 – The Baseball Project – '' Volume 2: High and Inside'' *2011 – The Baseball Project – ''

The Broadside Ballads ''The Broadside Ballads'' (2011) is an album from The Baseball Project, bringing together songs that were recorded as ‘real time’ commentary on the 2010 baseball season for ESPN.com with unreleased extra tracks from '' Volume 1: Frozen Ropes a ...

'' *2012 –

Jason Ringenberg Jason Ringenberg (born November 22, 1958) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and guitarist and the lead singer of Jason & the Scorchers. Early life and education Ringenberg was born in Kewanee, Illinois, and grew up in nearby Sheffi ...

– ''Nature Jams'' – vocals on one track *2012 – Patterson Hood & The Downtown 13 – "After It's Gone"/"Unspoken Pretties" – performance on A-side, single released for

*2014 – The Baseball Project – ''

3rd Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * H ...

'' *2022 -

Superchunk Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of ...

- ''

Wild Loneliness ''Wild Loneliness'' is the twelfth studio album by the American indie rock band Superchunk. It was released on February 25, 2022, by Merge Records. Ahead of the album release, the band put out three singles: "Endless Summer," "This Night," and "O ...

'', vocal on "On the Floor"

Personal life

Mills is an avid

fantasy sports A fantasy sport (also known less commonly as rotisserie or roto) is a game, often played using the Internet, where participants assemble imaginary or virtual teams composed of proxies of real players of a professional sport. These teams compete bas ...

player, with interest in NFL, NBA, and PGA teams, among others. He is also a fan of his alma mater's football team, the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The female athletic teams are sometimes referred to as Lady Bulldogs. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference ( ...

. He is married to Jasmine Pahl. He is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

.'' Q'', March 1995 Mills has one sibling, younger brother Mitch, who is also a musician.

Notes and references

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mills, Mike 1958 births American rock bass guitarists American male bass guitarists Living people American atheists Melodica players Writers from Athens, Georgia Musicians from Orange County, California R.E.M. members Songwriters from California The Minus 5 members American alternative rock musicians American rock songwriters American male songwriters Alternative rock bass guitarists Alternative rock keyboardists American rock pianists American organists American male organists American rock keyboardists Musicians from Athens, Georgia The Baseball Project members Hindu Love Gods (band) members Guitarists from Georgia (U.S. state) Guitarists from California Record producers from California Record producers from Georgia (U.S. state) 20th-century American singers 21st-century American singers 20th-century American guitarists 21st-century American guitarists American male pianists 21st-century organists 21st-century American keyboardists 20th-century organists 20th-century American keyboardists