Quick Facts
- Full name: Michael Edward Mills
- Parents: Franklin and Adora Mills.
- Siblings: brother Mitchell Mills
- Date of birth: 17 December 1958
- Place of birth: Orange County, California, U.S.
- Education: Mount de Sales Academy in Macon GA, where he was a star student. Dropped out of the University of Georgia to focus on his music career.
- Right- or left-handed: right-handed
- Height: 5ft 10in (178cm)
- Eye colour: brown
- Hair colour: natural – light brown; nowadays, bleached (and probably greying)
- Trademarks: glasses, nudie suits, cowboy hats, crooked teeth (nice smile though!)
- His role in R.E.M.: singer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, arranger, producer
- Instruments: bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, piano, organ, various synthesisers, dulcimer, accordion, harmonica, percussion, saxophone, sousaphone, tuba etc.
- Voice type: lyric tenor
- His favoruite bass guitar: Throughout his career Mike has played a variety of guitars; the earliest remembered is the vintage see-through Ampeg Dan Armstrong bass, as seen on the cover of R.E.M.’s Best Of I.R.S. Years compilation. In the early days of R.E.M. Mike was mostly associated with a b/w Rickenbacker 4001, but in the mid-1980s he switched to Fender Precision, which has since been his preferred model
- His favourite bass strings: Dean Markley Nickel Steel Bass Medium round wounds
- His favourite bass picks: Dean Markley extra-heavy triangular picks
- Interests (aside from music): sports (baseball, basketball, golf, tennis…), politics, social activism, nice cars, going out & partying
- Residence(s): Athens, GA and Los Angeles, CA
- Sexual orientation: straight
- Relationship status: unknown
- Children: son Julian Mills, born in 1989
- Zodiac sign: Sagittarius (Ascendant Aquarius, Moon in Pisces)
- Chinese Zodiac sign: Dog
- How other people describe Mike: clever, upbeat, affable, well-read, straightforward, outspoken, perfectionist, loves to sleep
- His favourite R.E.M. albums: Murmur, Lifes Rich Pageant, Automatic For The People, Reveal
Franklin Mills died in 2001; in his honour, the family founded the Franklin H. Mills Scholarship in Voice Fund (more info, plus a photo of the Mills clan here). The family has also established the Adora Mills Scholarship for University of Georgia School of Music students
After Franklin’s death, Adora Mills married William Powers Jr.; he died in 2009
March 2nd, 2010 at 1:28 am
He’s not quite 5’10″. He likes to say he is, but it’s 5’9″ at the most.
March 2nd, 2010 at 7:05 am
Well most people don’t know their exact height. Michael Stipe has claimed 5’9.5″ and he and Mills are approximately the same, so…
November 7th, 2010 at 10:24 am
Ah, as long as guys are taller than me, I don’t mind. His teeth are terrible, but he’s a looker in my book #.____.#
April 18th, 2011 at 11:08 am
I like Mike’s teeth! They’re crooked in exactly the same way as David Bowie’s were (he had them fixed post-Diamond Dogs era). It’s part of his unique visual charm.
April 19th, 2011 at 10:48 am
I concur with you wholeheartedly, Mare!
April 20th, 2011 at 11:24 am
I recall someone saying that’s his only rockstar trait.
April 20th, 2011 at 1:38 pm
Well, that and his “Nudie” suits! At 10k+ a pop that’s pretty nice rock star stuff!
August 12th, 2011 at 12:53 pm
I seriously adore his teeth. They’re the sweetest thing ever.
I remember seeing him for the first time (in Shiny Happy People) when I was around 4 years old. He was the only thing I could remember about REM.
At some point in my life I’ve managed to get a boyfriend resembling him (especially with the teeth) and boy was I happy!
He still makes my day everytime I see him. Stipe, that is.
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