Mario Daniel Millo (born May 1955) is an Australian musician and composer from Sydney, he was a member of

symphonic rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

group

Sebastian Hardie Sebastian Hardie were Australia's first symphonic rock band. They formed in Sydney in 1967 as Sebastian Hardie Blues Band but dropped the 'Blues Band' reference when they became pop-oriented. By 1973 they developed a more progressive rock style, ...

from 1973 to their disbandment in 1977. Their debut album, ''

Four Moments ''Four Moments'' is the debut studio album by the Australian symphonic rock band Sebastian Hardie and was released in August 1975 by Polydor Records. It was their most commercially successful release. The single from the album was the instrumenta ...

'' (1975) peaked at No. 13 on the Australian

Kent Music Report The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 19 ...

Albums Chart. He has had a solo career and composed film and television soundtracks and scores. In 1978, he worked with

Jon English Jonathan James English (26 March 1949 – 9 March 2016) was an English-born Australian singer, songwriter, musician and actor. He emigrated from England to Australia with his parents in 1961. He was an early vocalist and rhythm guitarist for S ...

on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

for the television series, '' Against the Wind'' and its related single, " Six Ribbons". Both album and single peaked in the Top 10 on the relevant Kent Music Report charts. The series had international release, known as ''Mot alla vindar''/''Mot alle vindar''/''Mod vinden'' (1980) in

Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...

n countries where the album and single reached No. 1 in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

and No. 4 in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Millo's compositions have won Australian film industry awards for, '' The Lighthorsemen'' (1987) and television awards for, ''

Brides of Christ ''Brides of Christ'' is an Australian television miniseries produced by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 1991.Albert Moran, ''Moran's Guide to Australian TV Series'', AFTRS 1993 p 94 The series takes place behind the walls of a Sydne ...

'' (1991) and ''

Changi Changi ( ) is a planning area located in the geographical region of Tanah Merah in the East Region of Singapore. Sharing borders with Pasir Ris and Tampines to the west, Changi Bay to the southeast, the South China Sea to the east and the ...

'' (2001). ''Brides of Christ'' won an

Australian Record Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacin ...

(ARIA) Music Award in 1992 for 'Best Original Soundtrack Album' - Millo was nominated for the same award in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

for '' G.P.'' and in

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

for ''Changi''.

Biography

Mario Daniel Millo was born in May 1955, to Italian parents, and was raised in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. He was taught to play

mandolin A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...

at age five by his father, he learned

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

at eight and fronted his first band, The Menu, at Mitchell High School,

Blacktown Blacktown is a suburb in New South Wales, Australia, west of the Sydney central business district. It is one of the most multicultural places within Sydney, Greater Sydney. History Before the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the area of ...

, when 12. The Menu had Millo on guitar and vocals, Mark Friedland on drums, Vince Moult on bass guitar and Brian Nicholls on organ. The band won the 1969

2SM 2SM is an Australian radio station, licensed to and serving Sydney, broadcasting on 1269 kilohertz on the AM band. It is owned and operated by Broadcast Operations Group. The SM call sign is taken from the initials of Saint Mary's. 2SM's prog ...

Pepsi Pop Poll or 'Battle of the Bands' held at the Sydney Stadium. As a result, they signed a contract with a Sydney agency, and, renamed as The Clik, released a single, "La De Da" on

Festival Records Festival Records, later known as Festival Mushroom Records, was an Australian recording and publishing company founded in Sydney, Australia, in 1952 and operated until 2005. Festival was a subsidiary of News Limited from 1961 to 2005. The com ...

in November 1969. Their second single, "Mary Mary" was issued in March 1970, they were hired by

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a cola soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. In 2013, Coke products were sold in over 200 countries and territories worldwide, with consumers drinking more than 1.8 billion company beverage servings ...

and, as The Fantasy, promoted orange-flavoured

Fanta Fanta () is an American-owned brand of fruit-flavored carbonated soft drinks created by Coca-Cola Deutschland under the leadership of German businessman Max Keith. There are over 200 flavors worldwide. Fanta originated in Germany as a Co ...

in a series of TV ads, "Fancy Nancy". The Fantasy toured Australia and New Zealand, but disbanded in 1971. Millo travelled around Europe for six months and returned to Australia in early 1972 to reform The Clik with a new line-up of Garry Adams on lead guitar, Doug Bligh on drums (both ex-

Galadriel Galadriel () is a character created by J. R. R. Tolkien in his Middle-earth writings. She appears in ''The Lord of the Rings'', ''The Silmarillion'', and ''Unfinished Tales''. She was a royal Elf (Middle-earth), Elf of both the N ...

), and Phil Cogan on bass guitar. Justin McCoy replaced Adams on lead guitar, however The Clik separated in October 1973. Millo joined the Sydney-based pop group

to replace their founding lead guitarist, Graham Ford after they had released a debut single, "All Right Now". With Millo, Sebastian Hardie included Alex Plavsic on drums and his brother Peter Plavsic on bass guitar. They released a second single, "Day After Day" in April 1974. By that stage, Toivo Pilt had joined on keyboards, Millo had taken on lead vocals, and Sebastian Hardie began playing more original

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

material. They became Australia's first

group and released their debut album, ''

'' in August 1975. The album, produced by former member,

, peaked at No. 13 on the

Albums Chart. "Rosanna", written by Millo, appeared on the related Singles Chart. The band released a second album, ''Windchase'' in February 1976 which had less chart success, the group split in June. After a court case over use of the name Sebastian Hardie, Millo's new group was called Windchase with Pilt joined by Bligh (ex-The Cheks) on drums and Doug Nethercote on bass guitar. Windchase released ''Symphinity'', in June 1977, which had a heavier jazz-fusion sound but did not chart. The group disbanded in October and Millo began his solo career. Millo and English worked on the

for the 1978 TV series '' Against the Wind'' – English also had a starring role in the period drama. The album reached No. 10 and its associated single " Six Ribbons" peaked at No. 5. ''Against the Wind'' was screened in the United Kingdom and through

, where it was translated as ''Mot alla vindar'' (1980). Both the album, its title track and "Six Ribbons" peaked at No. 1 on the Norwegian albums and singles charts respectively. " Six Ribbons" and the album, peaked at No. 4 on the Swedish charts. Millo and English toured Scandinavia in 1980 using English's backing band, Baxter Funt. Millo recorded the track, "Rebecca" for the various artists' ''Australian Guitar Album'' released in 1979, it was issued as a shared single with Harvey James' "Let It Go". Millo's debut solo album ''Epic III'' appeared in November on

Polydor Records Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

, he engineered and produced the album using

Jackie Orszaczky Miklós József "Jackie" Orszáczky (8 May 1948, Budapest, Hungary 3 February 2008, Sydney, Australia) was a Hungarian-Australian musician, arranger, vocalist and record producer. His musical styles included jazz, blues, R&B, funk and progress ...

on bass guitar and Mark Kennedy on drums. "Life in Our Hands" had been issued as a single in August but neither album nor single had any chart success. Millo followed with his second solo album, ''Human Games'' in March 1983. His third solo album, ''Oceans of the Mind'', was released in 2002. Millo provided electric and acoustic guitars, mandolin, lead vocals and

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

; he wrote all the tracks and produced the album for Red Moon Music. His band members were Jeff Camilleri on bass guitar and backing vocals and Robbie Siracusa on drums and percussion. Guest musicians were

David Hirschfelder David Hirschfelder (born 18 November 1960) is an Australian musician, film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cu ...

on Nord synthesiser and Dave Wilkins and Jess Millo on backing vocals. In 1984, Millo released the original soundtrack for '' World Safari II: The Final Adventure'', a film documentary by

Alby Mangels Zwier Albertus "Alby" Mangels (born 16 November 1948) is an Australian adventurer and documentary film-maker widely remembered for his ''World Safari'' adventure travel films ('' World Safari'', '' World Safari II'', and '' World Safari III''). ...

. He followed with the soundtrack of television mini-series, ''

A Fortunate Life ''A Fortunate Life'' is an autobiography by Albert Facey published in 1981, nine months before his death. It chronicles his early life in Western Australia, his experiences as a private during the Gallipoli campaign of World War I and his re ...

'' in 1986. Millo developed a successful career in television and film soundtrack composition and production, winning six industry awards for work in '' The Lighthorsemen'' (1987), ''G.P.'' (1989), ''

'' (1991, two awards), ''See How They Run'' (1999) and ''

'' (2001). ''Brides of Christ'' won an

(ARIA) Music Award in 1992 for 'Best Original Soundtrack Album' - Millo was nominated for the same award in

for ''G.P.'' and in

for ''Changi''. In 1994, Millo, Pilt and the Plavsic brothers briefly reformed Sebastian Hardie to perform at a progressive rock festival, ProgFest, in

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, ...

, which was recorded and eventually released as ''Sebastian Hardie – Live in L.A.'' in 1997. They played material from ''Four Moments'', ''Windchase'', ''Symphinity'', and ''Epic III''. Another reunion occurred in 2003 when supporting the British art rock band,

Yes Yes or YES may refer to: * An affirmative particle in the English language; see yes and no Education * YES Prep Public Schools, Houston, Texas, US * Young Eisner Scholars, in Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Appalachia, US * Young Ep ...

on their Australian tour.

Awards and nominations

AFI Awards

The annual AFI Awards are presented by the

Australian Film Institute The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Cinema of Australia, Australian film indu ...

. , - , 1988 , , '' The Lighthorsemen'' , , Best Original Music Score , ,

AGSC Awards

The annual AGSC Awards are presented by the

Australian Guild of Screen Composers The Australian Guild of Screen Composers (AGSC) is a not for profit organisation, which was established in 1981, "to represent the interests of Australian screen composers by developing and promoting employment opportunities, undertaking educationa ...

. , - , 1999 , , ''See How They Run'' , , Best Original Music in a Children's TV or Animation Series , ,

APRA-AGSC Awards

The annual Screen Music Awards are presented by

Australasian Performing Right Association APRA AMCOS consists of Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA) and Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society (AMCOS), both copyright management organisations or copyright collectives which jointly represent over 100,000 songwri ...

(APRA) and

(AGSC) for television and film scores and soundtracks. , - , rowspan="2",

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, , rowspan="2", ''

'' , , Best Film Score , , , - , Best Television Theme , , , - ,

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

, , '' G. P.'' , , Best Television Theme , , , - ,

, , ''

'' , , Best Music for a Mini-Series or Telemovie , ,

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

, '' The Lighthorsemen'' , rowspan="4" , Best Original Soundtrack, Cast or Show Album , , rowspan="4" , ARIA Award previous winners. , - ,

, ''

'' , , - ,

, '' G.P.'' , , - ,

, ''

'' , , -

Discography

Studio albums

*''Epic III'' – (November 1979

) *''Human Games'' – (March 1983,

EMI EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...

/ Wheatley) *''Oceans of the Mind'' – (2002, Red Moon Music)

Soundtrack albums

*''World Safari II'' – (1984,

Powderworks Records Powderworks Records as Powderworks Records & Tapes Pty Limited was an Australian record label established in 1977, head-quartered in Brisbane. It was owned by members of Midnight Oil and their talent manager, Gary Morris. Aside from recording, i ...

/ BMG) *''A Fortunate Life'' – (1986, Polydor Records)

References

;General * Note: Archived n-linecopy has limited functionality. ;Specific

External links

*
2002 Interview
for ''ProgressoR'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Millo, Mario 1955 births Living people ARIA Award winners Australian people of Italian descent Australian male singer-songwriters Australian singer-songwriters