Duncan Millar (died May 2022) was an English pianist, keyboardist, songwriter and record producer from

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. He was part of the UK

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

duo Duo may refer to: Places *Duo, West Virginia, an unincorporated community and coal town in Greenbrier County, West Virginia *Duo, Tampere, a shopping centre in Hervanta, Tampere, Finland * DUO, a twin-tower development in Singapore Arts, enterta ...

Blue Mercedes Blue Mercedes were a pop music duo from London, England, comprising David Titlow and Duncan Millar. Their debut album, ''Rich and Famous'', was produced by Phil Harding and Ian Curnow for PWL, with songs written by Titlow and Millar. "It was d ...

in the late 1980s, whose most successful song was "I Want to Be Your Property". This was a #1

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization in ...

for four weeks in the U.S. in 1988, on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart. After this, Millar wrote and produced a number of tracks released on C.T. Records, including several in an

Italo house Italo house (often simply referred to as "Italian" or "Italian house" in the UK) is a form of house music originating in Italy. Typically popular in Italy, Britain, and United States since the late 1980s, it fuses house music and Italo disco. Th ...

style, under the name Monica de Luxe, and in 1992 the first track released by

Tania Evans Tania Evans (born 28 May 1967) is a British singer and songwriter. She gained popularity during her participation in the German Eurodance group Culture Beat from 1993 to 1997. Career Evans' first release was the single "Can't Let Go" in 1992 o ...

, subsequently of

Culture Beat Culture Beat is a German Eurodance project formed in 1989 by Torsten Fenslau. The act has gone through a number of lineup changes over the years; they achieved the most success whilst fronted by singer Tania Evans and rapper Jay Supreme. Their ...

. He was then the first signing to

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

dance label

Positiva Records Positiva Records is a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and concentrates on releasing dance music in the United Kingdom, UK. The record label was set up in 1993 in music, 1993, by Nick Halkes, who previously ran XL Recordings. Its headquar ...

in 1993, releasing a

trance Trance is a state of semi-consciousness in which a person is not self-aware and is either altogether unresponsive to external stimuli (but nevertheless capable of pursuing and realizing an aim) or is selectively responsive in following the dir ...

-style track called "Void" under the name Exoterix. In 1998, after releasing an instrumental acid jazz album on Indochina Records (a subsidiary label of

China Records China Records was a record label founded 1 October 1984 by Derek Green (music), Derek Green. Its top-selling artists were Art of Noise, Morcheeba and the The Levellers (band), Levellers. In 1986 and 1987, China Records releases were manufactu ...

) under the name A-One, Millar went on to release two

smooth jazz Smooth jazz is a genre of commercially-oriented crossover jazz and easy listening music that became dominant in the mid 1970s to the early 1990s. History Smooth jazz is a commercially oriented, crossover jazz which came to prominence in the 19 ...

albums on

Instinct Records Instinct Records is a New York City electronic-music record label that first gained prominence in 1989. It is best known for releasing much of Moby's early work. Moby produced a number of tracks under various monikers so that in the early days, t ...

, N.Y.C. (''Dream Your Dream'' and ''Good to Go'' ). He achieved a UK

MOBO The MOBO Awards (Music of Black Origin, also known as the MOBOs) are an annual British music award presentation honouring achievements in " music of black origin", including hip hop, grime, UK Drill, R&B, soul, reggae, jazz, gospel, and Af ...

nomination as Best Jazz Act for the first of these in 1999. In 2013, Millar released a further smooth jazz album, ''Fresh Air'', on his own label, Warmday Records. In May 2022, his former manager

Simon Napier-Bell Simon Robert Napier-Bell (born 22 April 1939) is an English record producer, music manager, author and journalist. At different times, he has managed artists as diverse as the Yardbirds, John's Children, Marc Bolan, Japan, London, Ultravox, Bon ...

announced that Millar had died from pneumonia.

References

External links

Duncan Millar's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Millar, Duncan Year of birth missing Place of birth missing 20th-century births 2022 deaths English keyboardists English pianists English jazz musicians Musicians from London English record producers English male songwriters