Mo was born in the cacaphony of sound of a music & broadcast family in the region of Amsterdam. She remembers her mom (gifted with a beautiful voice) carrying her on her arm while singing and dancing on songs of Burt Bacharach, Louis Neefs, Nat 'King' Cole, Jacques Brel, Gilbert Becaud, the American Songbook and many others. Other influences include her DJ brother and his 70ies repertoire, her singing- and piano playing sister and Joop Lagarde, her piano playing dad (& clarinet & guitar) as well as the acclaimed chief sound engineering with Dutch National Radio Broadcasting NOS. Dad takes Mo along to broadcasts, recording sessions, concerts and introduces her to radio, live sound and the world of music (classic, jazz & easylistening) with its national and international icons. Mo is soon taken - at age 6 - under the wings of classical piano virtuoso A. Benrath Bolman. In primary school she is asked to sing upfront in music class and she starts building upon her voice in a choir where she's put in the back with the adults due to her 'big' voice. The choir doesn't last long: Mo's send away for repeatedly singing "too loud" :)
Mo accompanies her fellow scholars on the piano in music class and plays/sings in theatre plays by the time she leaves primary school. The passing of her piano mentor, with whom she had a very special connection, occurs when she's 17. It provokes a 100% shift towards singing... and the world that her DJ-brother had introduced her to: funk, soul, jazz and rock. Mo pops up in the underground scene of Amsterdam and surroundings (guest vocalist in several combos), meets another Hilversum-born citizen in Dutch producer Pim Koopman (son of Ton Koopman, Radio Chamber Orchestra and a good colleague of her dad) for backing vocalist work for o.a. his project "The President". She becomes lead singer of rock band Affengeil (Tilburg, south-NL) in 1993 and tours with Dutch band Defauve for 2 seasons as tour manager (France & Spain). A European tour as vocalist with another band, Too Hot To Handle, brings her to Switzerland (1995).
She meets, jams and plays with a variety of people (the Argus Blues Band, Broadcast, Colin Vallon, Clélia Band, Diana Miranda, Elina Duni, Fabiana Rodrigues, Funky Rabbit, Gérard Suter, Herbalist Crew, Joe Frank, Laurent & Olivier Quinche, Marc Favez, Angeles Cuevas, Mike P. White, Patatas Chipas Club, José-Luis 'Sartèn' Asaresi, Sito, Slim Rouai, Sophie Ding, Uptown Studios and more). She tours extensively the festivals in France and Switzerland throughout 5 years with the Vaudoise party band Les Socquettes Mauves and with her own band Mo Better Blues (French-Swiss-Arabic lineup), still next to her second life as international (radio) reporter.
She meets Italo Peruvian drummer/percussionist, composer, producer and sound engineer Luca Solari in 1998. Solari sees and hears what Mo also finally understands herself about her own talents and calling against her many services to other artists. He introduces her to American topvocalist Jennifer Weatherly (an incredible source of warmth and wisdom to Mo), bluegrass fiddle virtuoso Willy Wainwright, guitarists Nicolas Wetzell and Olivier Uldry, bass player Bob Harrison, banjo-player John Spangler, piano players Markus Fillinger and Al Blatter, as well as many other great musicians. Mo quits journalism and tours Europe, handling the on-the-road CD sales and promotion for Jennifer Weatherly & Willy Wainwright. With Wetzell, Peruvian composer and songwriter, she delivers her first project "Goin' Basic", initially a demo-project but, due to the demand, independently released as mini-CD in 2005. Mo finally allows herself to live up to her calling. Not so surprising: she has always "flourished late" in life.
Her collaborations with Luca Solari, Nicolas Wetzell, Dutch/Latin guitarist Guy Nikkels, Dutch drummer David Barker, Venezuelan percussionist Julio D'Santiago, Swiss bass player Julien Gahwiler, "milles-pattes" José-Luis 'Sarten' Asaresi, drummer Richard 'Doc Spoons' Spooner, guitarist Al Christie, bass player Arnaud Bled, piano players Matthew Savnik & Gilles Rosset and many others of various musical horizons, enriched Mo's musical universe significantly. It allowed her to experiment a lot, discover different approaches to music and further build upon various ways of vocal use.
As a follow up, Mo took up the piano again and specialized herself vocally with Danish vocal pedagoque & voice researcher Cathrine Sadolin (Complete Vocal Technique) in Copenhagen, Denmark. She's the first voice professional of Switzerland who's Certified CVT Vocalist (1-year Curriculum for Advanced Vocalists in 2007) as well as Authorized CVT Teacher & Vocal Coach (3-year Curriculum for Voice Professionals 2008-2011).
In 2007 Mo introduced CVT to Switzerland and created "Vox Sana Vocal Education". She's much in demand as vocal coach, singing teacher, expert in speech & presentation techniques and voice emergency aid ever since.
Current music projects:
"Mo Millar Band" (Rhythm & Blues with "Proud Mary, a Tribute to Tina Turner")
"Soul Food" (acoustic - - vocals-guitar)
Guest vocalist in "H2H" (Rock & Blues)
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