Rebekah's Bio
REBEKAH MILLER was born in Atlanta, Georgia and spent her first seventeen years in the small town of Bremen, Georgia, fifty miles west of Atlanta. REBEKAH’S first musical influence was her father, JOE, who played the piano, sang in the church choir and was soloist for special events. MILLER began studying classical piano at age 7, and continued to play piano and organ for church, accompanying soloists through high school and college. JOE may have been the first influence, but it was her Mother, LUVAIN, who waited in the car during piano and voice lessons, telling REBEKAH that music is something a person can enjoy their entire life.
MILLER wrote her first lyrics at the age of twelve, taking well known Christmas tunes and rewriting the lyrics specifically for each of her teachers as Christmas gifts.
A graduate of Agnes Scott College, in Atlanta as well as East 15 Acting School in London, MILLER has a B.A. in English as well as Dramatic Arts. Following graduation, REBEKAH became director of the Albany Regional Theatre, with shows such as Godspell and Shaw’s Passion, Poison, Petrifaction.
A two year stint in New Orleans as a copywriter led her into recording her copy for radio spots and brought her into the Voice Over scene. Seeking more Voice Over work, MILLER moved to Los Angeles where she succeeded in Voice Overs as well as acting. REBEKAH worked on television and stage with Lucille Ball, Mike Douglas, a Joe Namath series, The Hudson Brothers and understudied EMMY winner Marcia Wallace on stage at The Queen Mary.
REBEKAH took a leap of faith and joined a noted Literary Agency in Los Angeles as a reader. Following this valuable learning experience, she began writing spec scripts and fell in love with the New Orleans based hit TV series, Frank's Place. Creator/Producer, Hugh Wilson hired REBEKAH to write a script for his EMMY, PEABODY, NAACP IMAGE AWARD winning, GOLDEN GLOBE nominated television show, starring TIM REID. On to ABC Afterschool Specials.
MILLER took the advice of her friend, legendary SAXOPHONIST, ARNIE LAWRENCE, with whom she sang in Jerusalem. At that time ARNIE was commuting between Israel and New York where this consumate teacher taught at the prestigious NEW SCHOOL. REBEKAH studied voice at the NEW SCHOOL, special classes arranged by LAWRENCE. He also gave his first assignment: to write a song -- music and lyrics. Complete the next day: “Buffalo Wings and Eggs” as well as her serious yearning for knowledge, impressed ARNIE who suggested jazz piano next.
Rebekah & Ted
Seeking the best to live up to the NEW SCHOOL standards, REBEKAH asked her piano tuner (who also tuned for the Atlanta Symphony) the name of the best jazz pianist in her new home, Atlanta. Without batting an eye, he said, “TED HOWE”.
While studying with HOWE, MILLER realized that improvisation with jazz is rarely accomplished having studied to read the music, not the chords. Hearing “Buffalo Wings and Eggs” gave HOWE the idea to present a tune to REBEKAH to see how her lyrics meshed with his music. And, thus became a thriving PARTNERSHIP: HOWE composing the music, arranging the demos and MILLER writing the lyrics and coaching vocalists. MATT STILL, their engineer, who was a multi GRAMMY WINNER even before he became ELTON JOHN’s CO-PRODUCER, made both adept at PRODUCING music.