Sheldon Miller

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Sheldon Miller

Background information
Birth name Sheldon Lee Miller
Born June 11, 1984 (1984-06-11) (age 24)
Origin Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genre(s) Rock, powerpop
Occupation(s) Musician
Instrument(s) Vocals, piano, organ
Years active 1998–present
Label(s) Columbia Records
One Haven Music
Associated acts This Is Me Smiling
Retro Morning
Website www.thisismesmiling.net
Notable instrument(s)
Fender Rhodes

Sheldon Miller is an American musician from Chicago, Illinois best known as the pianist and vocalist for the pop-punk band This Is Me Smiling.

[edit] Biography

Miller has been actively studying music and piano since the age of four, with vocal training following a few years later. Now residing in Chicago, IL, Miller was the only individual chosen to receive a full-ride scholarship to the Chicago College of Performing Arts to study Opera Performance and Piano Performance. He has spent two years working with the Mixed and Concert Choirs at a local high school, and four years assisting instrumentalists and vocalists in the IMEA and Solo & Ensemble contests. He previously spent two years as a free-lance instructor to students in the Chicago area. Sheldon Miller was a winner of the 2005 McCarthy Foundation Scholarship Competition.

Miller has also studied opera with baritone David Holloway, baritone Richard Stilwell, and as Judith Haddon, while studying piano under acclaimed Russian pianist Dmitry Rachmanov. He currently studies with Bulgarian pianist Ani Gogova.[1]

In 1998, as a freshman at Plainfield High School, Miller joined a punk band called Retro Morning. The band released a Split EP with The Red Hot Valentines and had a track included on a Smoking Popes tribute album, both on Mike Felumlee's Double Zero Records. The band attracted a devoted local Chicago following, but disbanded after its three core members graduated from high school.

In 2004, Miller helped to form the band This Is Me Smiling along with friends and former Retro Morning bandmates Dan Duszynski and Matt Schuessler, and joined by drummer Adam Kaltenhauser. Since then they have been signed by Columbia Records, recorded one album and toured nationally with many big name bands. Miller is the only member of This Is Me Smiling to continue his education while they pursue their music careers. He is still a student completing his undergraduate degrees.

When he's not playing with This Is Me Smiling or teaching, Sheldon can also be heard on many other artists' recordings as a session or ghost player.

[edit] Discography

Year Title Artist Credit
2005 This Is Me Smiling This Is Me Smiling Organ, Percussion, Piano, Vocals, Fender Rhodes, Group Member
2006 "Quit Turning Me Down" This Is Me Smiling Piano, Vocals, Group Member
2006 "Down And Out (Piano Rendition)" The Academy Is... Piano
2006 Like Vines The Hush Sound Collaboration
2006 Pessimism & Satire Logan Square Organ, Synthesizer, Piano

[2]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Vocals and More, vocalsandmore.net
  2. ^ Credits, All Music Guide