Jimmy Miller

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The Rolling Stones 1967

James "Jimmy" Miller (born March  23, 1942 in Brooklyn , New York , †  October 22, 1994 in Denver , Colorado ) was an American record producer and musician who made numerous albums for from the mid-1960s to the early 1990s produced well-known music groups , including Blind Faith , Spooky Tooth , Traffic , Motörhead , Plasmatics and Primal Scream . He is best known for his collaboration with the Rolling Stones , for whom he produced a number of singles and albums, which are among the most successful works of their band career.

life and work

Spencer Davis Group 1966

Miller was the son of Anne Wingate and Bill Miller (1904-2002), an entertainment producer of Russian descent. He owned the Riviera nightclub in New Jersey in the 1950s and later operated several casinos in Las Vegas . Bill Miller was known for bringing well-known artists to Las Vegas. His greatest success was in 1969 to win Elvis Presley for appearances at the International Hotel in Las Vegas. Jimmy Miller's half-sister Judith Miller is a former New York Times journalist who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize .

In the early 1960s, Miller released a few singles as a singer and musician and had a recording deal with Columbia Records . As a result, he became familiar with the processes in a recording studio and decided to work as a producer himself. In the mid-1960s, Miller produced local soul and R&B groups from New York and New Jersey , including George Clinton with his then-band The Parliaments.

In 1965 Miller composed and produced the single Incense , which was released under the band name The Anglos. As a result, Chris Blackwell , the founder of the music label Island Records , became aware of Miller and brought him to London to mix the song Gimme Some Loving by the Spencer Davis Group for the American market. Miller added a Gospel -like backing vocals added, accelerated the pace and added percussion added and a live setting, so that the song in 1966 for the first big single success of the group in the United States was. Miller then produced an album and the hit single I'm a Man for the Spencer Davis Group , which he composed with the band's singer and keyboardist Steve Winwood .

Spooky Tooth 1969

After Steve Winwood split from the Spencer Davis Group in 1967, Miller produced the first three albums for Winwood's new band Traffic and contributed the lyrics to the Traffic song Medicated Goo . During this time Miller also produced the first two albums by Spooky Tooth , a blues rock band from Great Britain.

Jimmy Miller had met the Rolling Stones in 1967 at Olympic Studios in London when they recorded Their Satanic Majesties Request in Studio A and Jimmy Miller produced Traffic's debut album Mr Fantasy in Studio B. Dissatisfied with the result of their work, they hired Miller as a new producer to develop a new sound with him. The first results of their collaboration were the hit single Jumpin 'Jack Flash and the 1968 album Beggars Banquet .

Olympic Studios in London

Miller also occasionally provided musical input and inspiration for the songs of the Rolling Stones. Thus arose samba - rhythm of Sympathy for the Devil largely under his influence. During the studio recordings of the song, which were recorded by the film director Jean-Luc Godard , a fire broke out in the Olympic Studios, caused by hot film lights. Everyone present fled the burning studio. The Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman and Jimmy Miller, who was also present, were able to save the tapes with the recordings. After the fire brigade had put out the fire, the two of them brought the undamaged tapes back to the studio's safe.

Other successful productions by Miller with the Rolling Stones were the 1969 single Honky Tonk Women and the album Let It Bleed . In the same year Miller produced the only album by the super group Blind Faith around Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood, which had been founded at the suggestion of producers Robert Stigwood and Chris Blackwell. After working with Blind Faith, Miller and Delaney Bramlett produced the album On Tour with Eric Clapton of Delaney & Bonnie , which was recorded live on December 7, 1969 at the Fairfield Halls in Croydon . Also involved in this recording were George Harrison of the Beatles and Bobby Whitlock , for whom Miller produced two solo albums in the 1970s.

Kracker 1973

In the early 1970s, Jimmy Miller produced the gospel and blues- inspired album Refugee with the Danish progressive rock band The Savage Rose . At this time he also discovered the band Sky from Detroit with front man Doug Fieger , who later founded the band The Knack . Miller brought the young band members to London, where they recorded their first album in Studio A of Olympic Studios, while in Studio B the Rolling Stones recorded the album Sticky Fingers with Miller . The Rolling Stones were followed by the productions of Exile on Main St. (1972) and Goats Head Soup (1973). The collaboration with the Rolling Stones ended for Miller in 1973 after he was heavily addicted to heroin and thus unable to work.

In the following years, Miller struggled with his alcohol and drug addiction and produced lesser-known bands such as Kracker , Locomotiv GT and Trapeze . It was not until the late 1970s that Miller temporarily overcame his dependency and mixed the outstanding Motörhead album Overkill . Frontman Lemmy Kilmister admitted Miller a substantial part of the album and referred to him as the fourth member of Motörhead. With the follow-up album Bomber , however, Miller fell back on his heroin addiction and neglected his duties as a producer, so that there was no further collaboration with Motörhead.

Johnny Thunders around 1980

In the 1980s, Miller turned to punk , producing the band Plasmatics and New York musician Johnny Thunders . In the mid-1980s he made some studio recordings with Jo Jo Laine , wife of Denny Laine , who was formerly a member of Paul McCartney's Wings . In the early 1990s Miller worked with the Scottish band Primal Scream on their hit album Screamadelica and produced the hit single Movin 'On Up . Miller's latest productions included three tracks from The Wedding Present's Hit Parade 2 compilation .

In the early 1960s, Miller married the singer Gayle Shepherd, who was a member of the Shepherd Sisters singing group. From this marriage came Deena Miller, who now works as a musician and singer. By the late 1970s, Miller was married to Kerri-Anne Kennerley, who says she ended the relationship because of domestic violence . His last wife was called Geraldine, who died before him. With her he had a son, Michael Miller, who died of cancer at the age of 33 . Jimmy Miller also had a stepson , Steven Miller, who is a son of his last wife, Geraldine, who works as a newspaper photographer in Connecticut . Jimmy Miller died of liver failure at the age of 52 .

Discography

As a musician (selection)

  • 1962: Maybe Tomorrow (But Not Today) / Woman Or Child (Columbia)
  • 1963: OK / There Is Always A First Time (May)
  • 1965: On A Back Street / Break My Heart Break (Counterpoint)

As a producer (selection)

year Artist album
1966 Spencer Davis Group The Second Album
1967 traffic Mr. Fantasy
1968 Spooky Tooth It's all about
1968 traffic traffic
1968 The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet
1969 Spooky Tooth Spooky Two
1969 traffic Last exit
1969 The Rolling Stones Let it bleed
1969 Blind Faith Blind Faith
1970 Delaney & Bonnie On Tour with Eric Clapton
1970 Ginger Baker's Air Force Ginger Baker's Air Force
1970 Sky Don't hold back
1970 Sky Sailor's Delight
1971 The Rolling Stones Sticky Fingers
1971 The Savage Rose Refugee
1972 The Rolling Stones Exile on Main St.
1972 Crackers La Familia
1972 Bobby Whitlock Raw Velvet
1973 The Rolling Stones Goats Head Soup
1973 Crackers Cracker fire
1975 Locomotiv GT All Aboard
1979 Trapezoids Hold on
1979 Motorhead Overkill
1979 Motorhead bomber
1980 Plasmatics New Hope for the Wretched
1983 Johnny Thunders In Cold Blood
1991 Primal Scream Screamadelica

Musical contributions

Jimmy Miller played the drums himself and occasionally made a percussion contribution to his productions , especially for the Rolling Stones.

  • Backing vocals : Sympathy for the Devil (1968)
  • Percussion: Family (1968)
  • Cowbell : Honky Tonk Women (1969)
  • Drums: You Can't Always Get What You Want (1969)
  • Percussion: Gimme Shelter (1969)
  • Percussion: Monkey Man (1969)
  • Percussion: Can't You Hear Me Knocking (1971)
  • Drums: Happy (1972)
  • Drums: Shine a Light (1972)
  • Drums: Tumbling Dice (1972)
  • Percussion: All Down the Line (1972)
  • Percussion: I Just Want to See His Face (1972)
  • Percussion: Loving Cup (1972)
  • Percussion: Sweet Black Angel (1972)

literature

  • David N. Howard: Sonic Alchemy: Visionary Music Producers and Their Maverick Recordings . Hal Leonard Corporation, Milwaukee 2004, ISBN 9780634055607 , pp. 115-148.
  • Nick Talevski: Rock Obituaries: Knocking On Heaven's Door . Omnibus Press, London 2006, ISBN 9781846090912 , p. 429.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://www.deenamiller.com/ (March 1, 2019)
  2. ↑ https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4960024/Kerri-Anne-Kennerley-pointed-loaded-gun-ex-husband.html (01.03.2019)
  3. ↑ https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2859930/bio (02.03.2019)
personal data
SURNAME Miller, Jimmy
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Miller, James
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American producer
DATE OF BIRTH March 23, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City , New York
DATE OF DEATH October 22, 1994
Place of death Denver , Colorado