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Olivette Miller, a harpist, vocalist, and actress, was born in New York City on February 2, 1914. Her parents were Flournoy Eakin Miller, an actor and playwright from Columbia, Tennessee, and Bessie Oliver Miller, an early 1900s chorus girl and a respected actress. Olivette, an only child, was reared in the Harlem’s famous Striver’s Row now known as the St. Nicholas Historic District. This community significantly influenced her career, and she, in turn, made contributions to its cultural history, shaping her artistic sensibilities and providing her with a rich cultural background that would later be reflected in her music and performances.
Miller’s journey of learning and growth began at the prestigious Ethical Culture Fieldston School in New York and the East Greenwich Academy, a private Methodist boarding school in Rhode Island. She graduated in 1931. She continued her studies at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and the Juilliard School in New York. That educational journey extended to Paris, France, for private lessons with the harp professor, Marcel Tournier, at the Paris Conservatoire.
In 1934, Miller made her Broadway debut in Africana, an operetta in two acts at the Venice Theatre, a when she portrayed “Congi.” She also performed with Noble Sissle’s orchestra. Sissle was the founder and first President of the Negro Actors Guild in 1937. The Guild toured France and Spain with the USO between 1937 and 1939, ending it European presence just before the outbreak of World War II on September 1, 1939. She resumed touring with the USO between 1945 and 1946. In 1948, Miller presented an original boogie woogie composition for harp and voice, “I Woke Up Wit a Teardrop in My Eye “at Fisk University in Nashville.
Miller’s talent was recognized on television. In 1955 she appeared on Toast of the Town, hosted by entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. She also appeared at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York in 1962 when Toast of the Town officially changed to The Ed Sullivan Show. In 1974, her solo performances were the central attraction at Hobo Junction in Reno, Nevada, where she was called the “World’s Greatest Swing Harpist.” In 1976, she showcased her versatility by writing and co-producing The Show Folks, a syndicated situation comedy for television. Her artistic range extended to film, with a memorable performance as a “maid” in A Rage in Harlem in 1991.
Miller was married eight times. Amidst these relationships, she found love and family. She had a son, Alvin Miller Mallard with her husband, the saxophonist, Oett Mallard.
Olivette Miller died in North Las Vegas on April 27, 2003. She was 89.
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“Guide to the Olivette Miller and Bunny Briggs Collection,” chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/12332.pdf;
“Olivette Miller and Bunny Briggs collection,”https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/11/resources/12332;
“Olivette Miller, Jazz Harpist born,” https://aaregistry.org/story/olivette-miller-jazz-harpist-born/.
