March 30, 2010 - 8:28am
Will Millar
sold millions of records with the Irish Rovers, starred on CBC, produced a
documentary film on the violence in Northern Ireland, wrote a best-selling book
on boating and now creates evocative paintings in his Cowichan Valley studio.
He shared
some of his colourful past with history students at Vancouver Island University
and offered a little advice to young people setting out in the world.
“Without
dreams, nothing will happen. When I dream, I believe I’m rehearsing my future,”
said the musician who had a modest dream when he started a folk-pop band in
Calgary in the 1960s.
“I just
wanted to make a record,” he said.
With his
brother George, cousin Joe and other musicians born in Northern Ireland, the
Irish Rovers crossed Canada and the U.S. splitting what was left after expenses
from $400 a week playing clubs and bars.
With
talent, perseverance and the help of fate the band landed a recording contract
in San Francisco.
At a time
when the Beatles and Rolling Stones were in their prime, the Irish Rovers hit
it big on the strength of a fantasy tune called The Unicorn which
eventually sold eight million copies worldwide. “It was like winning the
lottery,” Millar said.
“It was
great to hear his perspective,” said Cheryl Krasnick Warsh, who invited
Millar to speak to her History 209 class which focuses on North American
Popular Culture since 1970.
“I wanted
to include a Vancouver Island artist to talk about Canadian content in the age
of the big American and British bands,” she said.
Millar
brought his guitar and tin whistle to class and included musical interludes as
he talked about encounters with a diverse array of entertainers from Steve
Martin to Jimi Hendrix to Doug McClure, star of the Wild West TV series The
Virginian.
Millar told
students how success at his initial modest dream led to further dreams and
bigger expectations such as playing twice to sold-out crowds at New York’s
Carnegie Hall.
“Music was a vehicle for my dreams,” Millar said, noting
that he could have been a millionaire if he hadn’t put such a high priority on
having fun.
He said the world is much more serious than it was in the
late 1960s when Flower Power was in full force and he advised young people
today “to take life a bit easier — with a bit of a laugh.”
Millar left the Irish Rovers after 30 years with the band
but continued to perform as he pursued other creative interests. He celebrated
his “last hurrah” at touring last spring and now paints a variety of scenes and
characters he has encountered over the years.
As he notes on his website: “My mother always said that I
was a ‘Jack-of-all-trades. Master-of-none.’ She might have been right. But the
paintings that I turn out nowadays make me happy and give me great joy to
paint. Isn't that the main thing in life?”
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For more information about Will Millar, visit: www.celtic-music.com
Tags: In the Community
