Will Millar is an Irish-Canadian singer best known as a co-founding member of The Irish Rovers. Until his departure in 1995, he was the group's front man. He plays guitar, banjo, mandolin and tin whistle.
Born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, Millar and his sister Sandra Beech performed as The Millar Kids before the family emigrated to Canada. Millar formed a Calypso Band, Kalypso Kews, that performed for two years in Toronto's Yonge Street at the Calypso Club. Millar moved to Calgary and hosted a children's TV show as well as forming an Irish folk trio.
In the 1960s, Millar invited his brother George, his cousin Joe and Jimmy Ferguson to stay with him in Calgary. He brought them on his TV show and started performing with them at Calgary's first folk club, The Depression. Under the guidance of Les Weinstein, Millar's manager, he took the new group to San Francisco and after an audition they made the Purple Onion in San Francisco and the Ice House in Pasadena their home base club. In 1968, the group's recording of the Shel Silverstein song "The Unicorn" went to #7 on the Billboard pop chart in the U.S. and became the Irish Rovers' signature song.
In 1995, Millar filed suit against his former bandmates and their lawyer, claiming they conspired to remove him from the band and had misappropriated royalties he was owed.[1]
In 1996, Millar formed a new band called Some Mad Irishmen and released two CDs and toured extensively with his creation of the stage production of "Ireland..where the song and dance began". He built a recording studio with his friend John Ellis and recorded a children's CD on the Attic label. He also appeared semi-regularly on The Red Green Show as Jimmy McVeigh, a postman who was trying to repair a boat.
Since his departure from the Irish Rovers, Millar produced six solo albums. Four Celtic instrmental CDs were released by Chacra Music. 1. The Lark in the Clear Aire 2. Celtic Seasons 3. Celtic Reverie 4. Journey of the Celt. Two of these albums went Gold in Canada. Millar has published two books, Children of the Unicorn (published by McClelland and Stewart) and Messing About in Boats (published by Whitecap Publishers). The latter made it to the top ten in The Globe and Mail's non-fiction list.
Millar is also an oil painter with paintings in galleries in Ireland and British Columbia.share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=0AcOGThm4ctWT0Y