George Millar

George Millar is a Northern Irish/Canadian music producer, singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known as co-founder of the Irish folk group The Irish Rovers.

Millar is a prolific composer/songwriter. In the early days of the band he wrote many songs with his brother, Will Millar. George has produced all of The Irish Rovers albums since 1993 for Rover Records. He has also produced albums for his brother, Will Millar and sister, Sandra Beech.

The waterfront has always been a source of inspiration for his songwriting, while producer, Rick Salt’s studio in downtown Nanaimo is the place to record the results. Most recently, George's song "Hey Boys Sing Us A Song" was nominated Single of the Year in the 2023 Canadian Folk Music Awards. In 2010 his song, "Gracehill Fair" won SOCAN Song of the Year in the Vancouver Island Music Awards.

Other compositions include "No More Bread and Butter" which appeared in the film, "Dudley Do-Right", "Bells Over Belfast", "The Girls of Derry", "The Boys of Belfast", "Rambling Boys of Pleasure", "And The Sun It Still Rises". Other songs "The Titanic", "The Dublin Pub Crawl", and "Whores and Hounds" have gained popularity and become some of the Rovers' most requested songs. In 2017 Millar wrote the sequel to the Rovers 1968 hit, The Unicorn, called "Narwhal, Continuing Story of The Unicorn".

Millar has also written several Children's songs for The Irish Rovers album, "Songs for the Wee Folk", and more for The Irish Rovers "The Irish Rovers, 50 Years", including "The Rovers Farewell", and the humorous, "Her Wonderful Ass".

George was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, ca. 1947. As children, George sometimes joined siblings Will and Sandra who performed as "The Millar Kids" in Ireland before the family emigrated to Canada. While in his teens, George met Jimmy Ferguson at an Irish function in Toronto in 1963. They began playing as The Irish Rovers and were soon joined by George's cousin Joe Millar who also emigrated to Canada. After touring around Ontario playing in cafe's, clubs and hotels, George, Jim and Joe left Toronto for Calgary where they joined brother Will Millar who was performing on "Just 4 Fun", a children's TV show. With the addition of Will, The Irish Rovers became four and played at The Depression Coffee House in Calgary. Later headed to California where they made a name for themselves at the Purple Onion in San Francisco. They were later joined by Wilcil McDowell.

George's lead vocal is heard on most of their recordings, including the original 1967 recording of "The Black Velvet Band". He is also heard on "Lord of the Dance", "No More Bread and Butter", "The Lass With The Bonny Brown Hair", "Home To Bantry Bay", and the ballad which we wrote after the death of his wife Betsy, "And The Sun It Still Rises".

1982: Winner, Producer, Juno Award for Best Children's Album, "Inch By Inch"
2011: Winner, Producer/Songwriter, Vancouver Island Music Awards, SOCAN - Song of the Year, "Gracehill Fair"
2023: Nominated, Single of the Year, Canadian Folk Music Awards, "Hey Boys Sing Us A Song"

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