Duncan Millar (musician)

Duncan Millar (died May 2022) was an English pianist, keyboardist, songwriter and record producer from London, England. He was part of the UK pop music duo Blue Mercedes in the late 1980s, whose most successful song was "I Want to Be Your Property". This was a #1 hit for four weeks in the U.S. in 1988, on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart.[1]

After this, Millar wrote and produced a number of tracks released on C.T. Records, including several in an Italo house style, under the name Monica de Luxe,[2] and in 1992 the first track released by Tania Evans, subsequently of Culture Beat. He was then the first signing to EMI dance label Positiva Records in 1993, releasing a trance-style track called "Void" under the name Exoterix.[3]

In 1998, after releasing an instrumental acid jazz album on Indochina Records (a subsidiary label of China Records) under the name A-One,[4] Millar went on to release two smooth jazz albums on Instinct Records, N.Y.C. (Dream Your Dream [5] and Good to Go [6]). He achieved a UK MOBO nomination as Best Jazz Act for the first of these in 1999.[7]

In 2013, Millar released a further smooth jazz album, Fresh Air, on his own label, Warmday Records.

In May 2022, his former manager Simon Napier-Bell announced that Millar had died from pneumonia.[8]

References
  1. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 66. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  2. Anon., ed. (13 July 1991). "The Top 60 Dance Singles". Music Week. Spotlight Publications.
  3. Jones, Alan, ed. (12 April 1993). "The Club Chart". Record Mirror.
  4. Lands, David (January 1996). "A-One, Free Association". Jazz Journal. 49 (1): 16.
  5. Grey, Hilarie (December 1998). "Currents". Jazz Times: 125. ISSN 0272-572X.
  6. Allder, Kevin (October 2001). "Smooth". Echoes: 65.
  7. Anon. (October 1999). "Best Jazz Act Nominations". MOBO Magazine, The Official Magazine of the Malibu 1999 MOBO Awards. Peter Gould for BiG Publishing. p. 27.
  8. Simon Napier-Bell (18 May 2022). "Earlier this week, many of us lost a good friend". Facebook. Retrieved 19 May 2022.
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