Kerry Mills was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer of popular music during the Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley

Tin Pan Alley is the name given to the collection of New York City music publishers and songwriters who dominated the popular music of the United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century...

 era. His stylistically diverse music ranged from ragtime

Ragtime

Ragtime is an original musical genre which enjoyed its peak popularity between 1897 and 1918. Its main characteristic trait is its syncopated, or "ragged," rhythm. It began as dance music in the red-light districts of American cities such as St. Louis and New Orleans years before being published...

 to cakewalk

Cakewalk

The Cakewalk dance was developed from a "Prize Walk" done in the days of slavery, generally at get-togethers on plantations in the Southern United States. Alternative names for the original form of the dance were "chalkline-walk", and the "walk-around"...

 to marches

March (music)

A march, as a musical genre, is a piece of music with a strong regular rhythm which in origin was expressly written for marching to and most frequently performed by a military band. In mood, marches range from the moving death march in Wagner's Götterdämmerung to the brisk military marches of John...

. He was most prolific between 1895 and 1918.

Mills was born Frederick Allen Mills in Philadelphia. He trained as a violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist and was working as head of the Violin Department of the University of Michigan

University of Michigan

The University of Michigan is a public research university located in Ann Arbor, Michigan in the United States. It is the state's oldest university and the flagship campus of the University of Michigan...

 School of Music when he began composing.

Mills moved to New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 in 1895 where he started a music publishing firm (F. A. Mills Music Publisher) from which he published his own music and that of others.

Mills died in Hawthorne, California

Hawthorne, California

Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. The city at the 2010 census had a population of 84,293, up from 84,112 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

.

Selected works

• "Any Old Port in a Storm
  Any Old Port in a Storm
  "Any Old Port in a Storm" is a popular song composed by Kerry Mills with lyrics by Arthur J. Lamb. Published in 1908, it has been recorded many times. The lyrics as published:...
  
  "
• "At A Georgia Camp-meeting"
• "Impecunious Davis"
• "In The City Of Sighs And Tears"
• "Just For The Sake Of Society"
• "Kerry Mills' Barn Dance"
• "Let's All Go Up To Maud's"
• "Like A Star That Falls From Heaven"
• "The Longest Way 'Round Is The Sweetest Way Home"
• "Meet Me In St Louis, Louis" (words by Andrew B. Sterling
  Andrew B. Sterling
  Andrew B. Sterling was an American lyricist.Born in New York City, after he graduated from high school, he began writing songs and vaudevilles. An important event was his meeting with the composer Harry Von Tilzer in 1898...
  
  )
• "Red Wing
  Red Wing (song)
  "Red Wing" is a popular song written in 1907 with music by Kerry Mills and lyrics by Thurland Chattaway. Mills adapted the music from Robert Schumann's composition for piano "The Happy Farmer, Returning From Work" from his 1848 work Album for the Young, Opus 68. The song tells of a young Indian...
  
  " (words by Thurland Chattaway
  Thurland Chattaway
  Thurland Chattaway was a popular music composer, active from approximately 1898 to 1912. Most famous for writing the words to the popular hit "Red Wing". Other songs include "Little Black Me" and "Can't You Take It Back and Change It For a Boy"....
  
  ). Mills adapted the melody from Schumann
  Robert Schumann
  Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
  
  's "Merry Peasant"
• "We'll Be Together When the Clouds Roll By" (words by Alfred Bryan)
• "While The Old Mill Wheel Is Turning"
• "Whistling Rufus"

External links

• Sheet music for his song "We'll Be Together When the Clouds Roll By" from the collection at University of Oregon Libraries