Darby Mills tells a few stories about how she became the “Queen of Scream.”
Her dad was a fantastic singer, she said, and while the family would be at their cabin, he would often belt out some tunes that would generate applause from other holiday-goers around the lake.
The Vernon native, who was about four when she first witnessed this display, was sold on his public performances.
“That sunk so deep into my soul,” she told The Tri-City News last week.
She tried out for the school choir but didn’t make the cut so, instead, Mills threw herself into acting.
By Grade 10, she had developed a set of lungs that knocked her high school buddies off their feet.
Once, she laughed at a student who was singing the Heart hit Crazy On You. “A boy can’t sing that song,” she told him.
His band challenged her to take the microphone and was so impressed with her vocal ability and performance that they recruited her for next their road trip — to 100 Mile House.
The experience “changed my life,” she said.
Buoyed by her musical success, Mills moved to Calgary, where she auditioned “for a million bands” and worked in a record store.
She landed a role in the dance ensemble Business Before Pleasure, which had just lost its female singer, before hooking up with Steelback, a rock group from Victoria.
A year later, in 1981, she was scooped up by the Headpins — another rock act that was founded by Chilliwack members Brian MacLeod and Ab Bryant (formerly of Prism).
With Mills as their Queen of Scream — and a deal with Solid Gold Records — the Headpins rose to the top.
Their debut album, Turn It Loud, went platinum and charted for six weeks, with Don’t It Make Ya Feel as a single.
Their next album, Line of Fire, spawned the hits Celebration and Just One More Time and, soon, they were opening for big American bands like Kiss, Whitesnake, ZZ Top and Aerosmith.
But by the end of 1985, Mills, who said she co-wrote a third of the Headpins’ tunes, found herself without a band.
She retained the recording contract with MCA and recorded music in England for her first solo album.
That fell through, too, when MCA released Mills the next year.
Over the years, the Headpins tried to make a few comebacks but the Juno-nominated singer had a tough time recovering financially from the band’s debts and legal battles.
She returned to Vernon and raised two boys (now ages 20 and 25) with her husband.
Three years ago, Mills played her last show with the Headpins and launched The Darby Mills Project, which on Monday will headline the Canada Day celebrations at Castle Park in Port Coquitlam.
Mills promises the July 1 concert will include some of her favourites: some Headpins singles, some originals from her Flying Solo work and some covers that “made huge impressions on my earlier life,” she said, noting Nazareth’s Hair of the Dog and Razamanaz.
With the release of her new CD titled LIVE, a Telus TV documentary called The Queen of Scream and more gigs on the horizon, Mills said things are starting to look bright.
“I’m getting my footing again,” she said. “I’ve got some festivals coming up and I still have my voice.
“I’m thankful for whatever the universe has given me… and I’m happy to have been given the opportunity that I’m known not just as the singer of the Headpins. I have a band now that’s going to make you dance and stomp your feet — not just bang your head.”
Music for the city of Port Coquitlam’s Canada Day party July 1 runs from 5 to 10 p.m. and will feature Hickelstock, Western Jaguar, Disco Funeral, Destineak and The Darby Mills Project. The fireworks are set to blast off after the last song, at around 10 p.m. For more information on the Canada Day festivities at Lions and Castle parks, go to portcoquitlam.ca/canadaday for the list of activities.
