McKinley James Millet Jr. (October 25, 1935 – June 29, 1997) was an American

Rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

pianist, bassist, singer and songwriter, best known for co-writing and first performing the songs " Rich Woman" and "All Around the World" with his group, Li'l Millet and His Creoles.

Life and career

He was born in

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

, Louisiana. At the age of 10, he played in a band with his brothers, performing pop hits of the day. By about 1952, he had joined the Hawkettes, but left before they recorded, being replaced in the group by Art Neville. He then formed his own band, Li'l Millet and His Creoles, who played clubs in Louisiana and Mississippi. The band comprised Millet (vocals, bass), Edgar Myles (vocals, trombone), Lee Allen (tenor sax), Ernest Mare (guitar), Bartholomew Smith (drums), James Victor Lewis (tenor sax) and Warren Myles (piano). They were heard playing at a club in

Thibodaux, Louisiana Thibodaux ( ) is a city in and the parish seat of Lafourche Parish, Louisiana, United States, along the banks of Bayou Lafourche in the northwestern part of the parish. The population was 15,948 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Thib ...

by Bumps Blackwell of Specialty Records, who signed them to a contract and first recorded them at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studios in September 1955. Their first single, "Rich Woman" / "Hopeless Love", was released in November 1955. "Rich Woman" was co-written by Millet with Dorothy LaBostrie, and was later recorded by

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The Fabulous Thunderbirds The Fabulous Thunderbirds is an American blues rock band formed in 1974. Singer Kim Wilson is the only constant member through the band's entire history. Their 1986 album ''Tuff Enuff'' sold over a million copies, and spawned two minor hit singl ...

, and

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter. He was the lead singer and lyricist of the rock band Led Zeppelin from its founding in 1968 until their breakup in 1980. Since then, he has had a successful solo ca ...

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, for whom it won the 2009

Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals The Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality pop songs on which singers ...

. Millet recorded again in 1956, but the results were unissued until the 1980s or later. He also worked as a songwriter, co-writing "All Around the World", which was recorded by

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American singer, pianist, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the "Ar ...

as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of his 1956 hit "

The Girl Can't Help It ''The Girl Can't Help It'' is a 1956 American musical comedy film starring Jayne Mansfield in the lead role, Tom Ewell, Edmond O'Brien, Henry Jones, and Julie London. The picture was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin, with a screenpla ...

". Millet's demo version of the song was unissued until 1993. Li'l Millet and His Creoles continued to perform locally until the 1980s. After the dissolution of his band, Millet worked as a bus driver in the 1990s and played a few charity events. He died of cancer in 1997.Jeff Hannusch, ''The Soul of New Orleans: A Legacy of Rhythm and Blues'', Swallow Publications, Ville Platte 2001, , pp. 74–76

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millet, Lil 1935 births 1997 deaths Rhythm and blues musicians from New Orleans Specialty Records artists 20th-century American musicians