THE 4 MILLS BROTHERS were all born in Piqua, Ohio -- John Jr. in 1910, Herbert in 1912, Harry in 1913, and Donald in 1915. Their father owned a barber shop and founded a barbershop quartet as well: the Four Kings of Harmony. When bass singer John Jr. died suddenly in 1936, father John Sr. took over the part. That’s dad in the picture.
John Sr. retired from the group in 1956 and Herbert, Harry and Donald were a trio from then on.
The Mills Brothers linked barbershop with doo-wop. And they worked in jazz all their lives.
There’s little that matches the Mills Brothers sound for chumminess, rhythm and warmth. Even “Yellow Bird”, essentially a song about loss, is a crooning, swooning ballad to a banana tree.
The great thing about the Mills Brothers was really that were so old and so friendly. When I was a boy, they were three jovial, overweight guys that lived in their tuxes. They were much older than my father, but even callow I could hear that they swung.
In sub-generational incarnation, they still do today.
(Main source: A Cappella – www.singers.com)
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