He today lives in Indianapolis, who's 12th largest city in USA in the state of the Indiana. It is near where Grant grew up and where his family resides. He was born in hospital in Marion, Indiana, in the same hospital where James Dean was born. "I’ve been living in U.S.A. for a few years now. I was in Hollywood, Los Angeles for four years and here in Indiana the last years where I am near my whole family." Grant except his parents has one brother and one sister.
"Going back to 1983, after High School, I traveled U.S.A. with a band, and then performed on cruise ships for seven months in a singing/dancing cabaret-type show. Then I decided to not only sing, but also to act. New York City was my next destination and I started studying acting for film/tv, as well as Broadway". When he was 18 years old he performed in Disneyworld - Orlando, Florida.
Grant's disco story began in 1984 in Europe, to be exact in Italy. "Within two years, my show business journey brought me to Europe with a Broadway tour of the music SHOWBOAT. We traveled all over Europe, appearing in many of the most famous opera houses, and I loved it and I knew I was there to stay. I had always heard about Munich - Germany being a great place to make dance music and that was my dream... and destination! So, I cashed in my return plane ticket after SHOWBOAT ended. The rest of the cast flew back to New York from Palermo, Sicily. But I took the first train to Munich! In Munich I turned out right away where the music industry people would go out to (clubs, restaurants, bistros, etc.) and that's where I entered into the beginning of my 'Italo Dance Music' career."
"I came to Germany with Ciro (Zizzo), a friend that I met in Palermo, who had been a successful fashion model in Southern Italy, and wanted to break into modeling in Germany. So, we were on a predestined mission to conquer Germany - as two foreigners who didn't speak a word of the German language. He also opened the doors for me at the modeling agencies. But, he had to convince me first that I could do it. I had never thought of doing modeling, too. Sure enough, an agent signed both of us on."
Grant made huge modelling success and he did, among others, runaway show with model Eva Herzigova in Milan. This was only one among many shows. On the shows he met, of course, many famous people from fashion world, for example Donatella Versace. They became, I could freely say, good friends and he will make some nice favores to her and her family in the coming years. She asked Grant to sing at several of her dinner parties and he once serenaded her children.
After years of modelling Grant became in 2001 the face of Nivea in 35 countries in Europe.
As we could see earlier Grant had interest, not only in modelling, but in singing as well. "Munich seemed to have a certain magic for us... and suddenly me and Ciro found ourselves among the stars...literally!"
"I'll never forget the night I was at a dinner party where non-other than Divine himself was there! We started talking and spent hours getting to know each other. He immediately invited me to come to the music studio the next day, where he was working on a new catchy dance production with a producer I had never heard of in the U.S. Someone called FANCY!? Divine introduced me to Fancy and arranged for me to audition for him the next day. Fancy (Ric Tess) gave me a cassette of a song called Colder Than Ice and he told me to learn it by the next day! I was terrified and excited at the same time. So, the next day I met him in his long white Mercedes limousine. He popped the tape into the stereo and..
After this great success, Grant Miller and Fancy continued to release one hit for another, many fantastic songs have been released: (Find My) Tracks In The Snow, Wings Of Love, Lost In Paradise, In The Rain Again just to mention a few. Grant became hugely popular and many fans could enjoy his voice and Fancy's production. Probably many of you will be suprised with fact that Divine's song Give It Up was written especially for Divine and dedicated to Grant Miller!
Grant has other singing experience like:
- he was sang back-up for American country music star Barbara Mandrell;
- he represented the United States at The Baltic Song Festival in 1988;
- he sang a duet of That's What Friends Are For with Bonnie Tyler at a German benefit concert.
And that's not all from Grant, including his movie roles, he was a regular on American soap Guiding Light for over a year. It seems that Grant put together in a great way his singing and acting gifts what provided him satisfaction with his work and life. And also Grant is trained tap dancer. Perhaps Grant owe his career and voice to his mother because she can sang too. One day he suprised her by arranging for her to record two songs in a studio with Fancy. She sang two Carpenter's songs.
Grant is popular friend among his friends, and I can freely share, with all of you for the end of this little story about Grant Miller, a few words from his best friend Shane Lear who told me one nice little story who describe Grant on the best way: "Here in the U.S., nobody knows his music or his success in Europe and he never mentions it to most people. He doesn't brag or think that he's something special. But he treats his friends like they are special. He's really supportive and hilarious. One day he fell asleep on the couch at a friend's house and I went in to wake him up because it was getting late. Suddennly he opened his eyes and stared at the ceiling and started speaking in German like he was possessed by the devil or something! I thought something was really wrong with him and at the same time I was kind of scared. And then suddenly he starts laughing because it was all a big joke!"
From Grant Miller: "I send a big HELLO and HUG to ALL of my fans who have been loyal after all of these years."
This text, originally published in Italo Interviews website
was written by Zeljko Vujkovic friendly supported by Shane Lear.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.
