January 23, 1936: John Mills Jr. of the Mills Brothers Dies

Left to right: Herbert, John Jr., Donald, Harry

January 23, 1936: John Mills Jr. dies of pneumonia, only 25 years old. So early deaths in music were already a well-established thing before rock and roll.

He was the first of the Mills Brothers to die. For a time, their father, John Sr., joined the group, before they settled as a trio.

The Mills Brothers were from Piqua, in western Ohio. John Sr. was a barber, and formed a traditional barbershop quartet, calling it The Four Kings of Harmony. His sons learned harmony from them. John Jr., who sang bass and played guitar -- giving the group their original name, Four Boys and a Guitar -- was born in 1910; Herbert, tenor, in 1912; Harry, baritone, in 1913; Donald, lead tenor, in 1915.

Duke Ellington heard the brothers in Cincinnati in 1928, and took them to New York. With John Jr., they had hits with "Ole Rockin' Chair," "Lazy River," "Lulu's Back In Town" and "Bye-Bye Blackbird." They weren't exactly precursors to rock and roll, or even rhythm & blues. Despite an obvious jazz influence, they were more like what came to be known as "easy listening music."

In 1934, The Mills Brothers became the first African-Americans to give a command performance before British royalty. They performed at the Regal Theatre for a special audience of King George V and Queen Mary. However, while on their British tour, John Jr. became ill. In those last few years before the widespread use of antibiotics, he never recovered. 

In 1943, they became the 1st all-black act to have a Number 1 hit on Billboard magazine's popular music chart (since its institution in 1940), with "Paper Doll." It would remain their biggest-selling song. In 1944, they recorded the World War II-themed song "Till Then," which became a smash, and returned as a doo-wop song by The Classics in 1963. In 1952, the Mills' recording of the standard "Glow Worm" became their best-remembered song.

John Sr. lived on until 1967. The 3 surviving sons had one of the longest careers of any music group ever, living long enough to do an American Express card "Do you know me?" commercial in 1981.

Do you know us? You know our songs:

"Shine, little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer!"

But our faces hardly get a glimmer of recognition. So we carry the American Express card. Without it, we'd be...

"Up a lazy river without a you-know-what!"

The American Express card: Don't leave home without it!

Harry lived until 1982, Herbert until 1989, and Donald until 1999. As of January 23, 2022, a legacy group continues performing under the name, including Donald's sons, John Mills II and Don Mills Jr.

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January 23, 1936 was a Thursday. Jerry Kramer, Hall of Fame guard for the Green Bay Packers, was born.

Baseball and football were out of season, and the NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were 3 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings, 4-2 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit.

* The New York Americans beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-2 at the old Madison Square Garden. Joe Jerwa scored with 2:00 left in overtime.

* And the Montreal Canadiens and the Chicago Black Hawks played to a tie, 1-1 at the Montreal Forum.