Hazel Miller is an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

and

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

singer. Originally from

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, she has performed in the

Denver, Colorado Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

area since 1984.

Early life

Miller was born in

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...

as one of seven children. She began singing professionally at the age of 15 and featured prominently in the Louisville music scene. She sang backup for

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), known professionally as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer. He is best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Tired of ...

, and opened for

Mel Tormé Melvin Howard Tormé (September 13, 1925 – June 5, 1999), nicknamed "the Velvet Fog", was an American musician, singer, composer, arrangement, arranger, drummer, actor, and author. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roa ...

and

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American baritone singer. He released 61 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably the song " You'll Never Find Another Love like Min ...

. Her band was the first

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

band to play regularly at the Louisville Hyatt Hotel.

Career

In 1984, while relocating to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with her two children, Miller's rental truck broke down in Denver, and she decided to stay. Since then, she has performed in Colorado and beyond. A review in the ''

Rocky Mountain News The ''Rocky Mountain News'' (nicknamed the ''Rocky'') was a daily newspaper published in Denver, Colorado, from April 23, 1859, until February 27, 2009. It was owned by the E. W. Scripps Company from 1926 until its closing. the Monday–Friday ...

'' called her ‘a force of nature’, and described her voice as "moving and powerful". She played at the Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater near Denver, at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

for then

President Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as the attor ...

, and for the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

after their 1998 Super Bowl win. Miller has toured with the military five times, including playing at

Iwo Jima is one of the Japanese Volcano Islands, which lie south of the Bonin Islands and together with them make up the Ogasawara Subprefecture, Ogasawara Archipelago. Together with the Izu Islands, they make up Japan's Nanpō Islands. Although sout ...

. She has been a regular performer on the

ETown eTown is a 501c3 non-profit broadcast organization based in Boulder, Colorado. eTown is a nationally syndicated multimedia and event production company. The eTown radio broadcasts on National Public Radio, community radio stations, and commerci ...

Radio Show, airing on

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

's national affiliate stations. Her recorded voice greets visitors taking the trains to the main terminal at

Denver International Airport Denver International Airport , often referred to by locals as DIA, is an international airport in the Western United States, primarily serving metropolitan Denver, Colorado, as well as the greater Front Range Urban Corridor. At , Effective Ju ...

. In 2008 she launched Hazel Miller Entertainment and became a

booking agent A talent agent, or booking agent, is a person who finds work for actors, authors, broadcast journalists, film directors, musicians, models, professional athletes, screenwriters, writers, dancers, and other professionals in various entertainment ...

. She has sung with or opened for

Julian Lennon Julian Charles John Lennon (born John Charles Julian Lennon; 8 April 1963) is an English musician, photographer, author, and philanthropist. He is the son of Beatles member John Lennon and his first wife Cynthia; Julian is named after his pate ...

Peter, Paul & Mary Peter, Paul and Mary were an American folk group formed in New York City in 1961 during the American folk music revival. The trio consisted of Peter Yarrow (guitar, tenor vocals), Paul Stookey (guitar, baritone vocals), and Mary Travers (contr ...

Charlie Musselwhite Charles Douglas Musselwhite (born January 31, 1944) is an American blues harmonica player and bandleader who came to prominence, along with Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, and Elvin Bishop, as a pivotal figure in helping to revive the Chicago ...

James Taylor James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fi ...

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

the Temptations The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield ...

, and many others. In addition, she toured for five years with

Big Head Todd and the Monsters Big Head Todd and The Monsters is a rock music, rock musical ensemble, band formed by Todd Park Mohr, Brian Nevin, and Rob Squires in 1986 in Colorado. The band has released several albums since 1989; their 1993 album ''Sister Sweetly'' went pla ...

, and has performed at major jazz and music festivals throughout Colorado.

Discography

Albums * 1995: ''Hazel Miller and the Caucasians (Live at the Fox)'' * 2001: ''I'm Still Looking'' (USA 1 Stop label) * 2001: ''Live at the Fox'' (Hapi Skratch Records label) * 2006: ''Icons'' (Hazel Miller label) Contributions * 1995: KBCO Studio C Vol. 5 * 2004: KBCO Studio C Local Edition * 2014 Blues Master 3

Awards

* 1995, 1996, 1997: Westwood Readers Poll Best Blues/R&B band * 2002: National Independent Music Award for Best Independent Blues-R&B Recording * 2008: Recognized as one of the 150 people who make Denver a better place to live * Local award for "Best Local Star in a Theatrical Production", for her appearance in a Colorado production of ''

The Vagina Monologues ''The Vagina Monologues'' is an episodic play written in 1996 by Eve Ensler which developed and premiered at HERE Arts Center, Off-Off-Broadway in New York and was followed by an Off-Broadway run at the Westside Theatre. The play explores ...

'' * 2023: inducted into the

Colorado Music Hall of Fame Colorado Music Hall of Fame (The Hall) is a nonprofit in Colorado, United States founded in 2011 with a mission to promote and support Colorado’s music community. Inductees ;2011 *John Denver *Red Rocks Amphitheatre ;2012 *Barry Fey * Flash Ca ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Miller, Hazel American women jazz singers American jazz singers Singers from Louisville, Kentucky Singers from Denver Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century American women