Frank Mills

Frank Mills (born June 27, 1942), is a Canadian pianist and recording artist, best known for his solo instrumental hit "Music Box Dancer". Born in Quebec, Mills began his career as a member of The Bells, a group in which he was a member from 1970 to 1972. He performed piano for the band, whose best-known hit was "Stay Awhile" (1971). After leaving The Bells in 1972, Mills began a solo career. His first solo efforts hardly made a dent in the music charts, although his 1972 single "Love Me, Love Me, Love" reached as high as #46 on the Billboard charts and a cover of Ricky Nelson's "Poor Little Fool" was also successful in Canada (both songs featured Mills singing as well as playing piano). When Polydor Records heard one of his songs, "Music Box Dancer" and saw the potential of the song, Mills released it as a single and it became a smash, reaching #3 in the USA in the spring of 1979. It was Mills' only U.S. Top 40 hit; the follow-up, another similarly catchy piano instrumental titled "Peter Piper", peaked at #56. Mills won two Juno Awards in 1980 for "Peter Piper", one for Composer of the Year and one for Instrumental Artist of the Year. He again won in the latter category in 1981. He continued to release albums until the early 1990s, but has now retired from the music business.