Mica Millar

Name, where are you from?

Mica Millar, Manchester.

Describe your style (dress sense) in three words?

Neutral, Layered and Minimalist.

What’s the best gig you’ve ever been to (and why)?

I saw Anderson .Paak in a tiny little basement venue in Manchester a few years ago just before he was doing much bigger shows. There was about seventy people there (maybe less) so me and my mate were able to just walk straight to the front and watch the show really close up. He was doing his thing singing and playing drums at the same time with so much style, charisma and talent - I thought, this guy is a star. I wasn’t wrong. Seeing Stevie Wonder at Hyde park was also a massive highlight - he played for about four hours straight and it was the first time id heard him live His backing singers could all have been solo singers in their own right. They each performed a song, the first to sing sounded like Whitney Houston and one after the other the next vocalist was even better than the last.

If you could be on the line up with any two artists in history, what would the line up be?

I've gotta go with the classics… Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.

Which subcultures have influenced you (and why?)?

The US and UK Soul scene (both Northern and Southern Soul) has been a big influence on me musically (and Northern Soul and the 60’s definitely inspired my hair cut too). I also grew up in Manchester and my parents had one of the first independent shops in Affleck's in Manchester’s Northern Quarter selling vintage clothes - my dad still has the shop ‘Zeffa’ thirty-odd years later and is something of a veteran these days (Fred Perry’s new Manchester store is on the floor below). Growing up in Manchester and being part of a music scene and industry that had pretty much been abandoned by all the major labels until quite recently has, I think, had its benefits. To me, the lack of corporate musical/creative infrastructure encouraged the birth and growth of all this creativity and independent art and business in places like the Northern Quarter and I watched it go from this very bleak, industrial, grubby part of town to a vibrant hub that brought together a lot of interesting sub-cultures. I worked in the shop as a teenager and loved styling all these weird and wonderful people - from goths to hipsters and everything in between. I think all that taught me about having the freedom to express my own individuality. It is probably what has also inspired me to write, produce and release my debut album independently - it's called 'Heaven Knows' and it's out now.

If you could spend an hour with anyone from history, who would you choose?

Martin Luther King

Of all the venues you’ve been to or played, which is your favourite?

Albert Hall in Manchester - I haven’t played it yet but I’m performing my hometown album launch show there on Sunday 25th September. (My other album launch show is at Jazz Cafe, London on 17^th September). Albert Hall is a huge, converted church in the centre of town with an amazing ornate ceiling and huge stain glass church windows all around. The venue just has a really amazing vibe about it and the sound is incredible too. I filmed the music video for the album’s title track at Albert Hall and I just knew I needed to do my hometown launch show there. I can’t wait.

Your greatest unsung hero or heroine in music?

I am a big fan of classic Soul as you have probably guessed so my heroes and heroins are all pretty well revered. There is a female folk/country singer who I loved growing up called Shawn Colvin who nobody in the UK seems to know about. Her song 'Polaroids' is beautiful.