- Inducted into the Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame in 1996.
- Big band leader and vocalist.
- He acquired the nickname "Lucky" in the 1920s while playing in a Chicago dice game. A member of gangster Al Capone's mob rubbed a pair of dice on his back (for "luck") before he made his shot, and wound up winning $2000. He gave Millinder a large tip and said, "You're a lucky guy". The nickname "Lucky" stuck with him for the rest of his life.
- After leaving full-time music, Millinder became a salesman for a spirit distillery. After that, he worked as a booking agent for big bands, as a disc jockey (on radio WNEW) and, finally, as a publicist and fortune teller.
- Millinder was respected more for his skills as a showman and for being a superb organiser, than for his musical skills (he neither played an instrument, nor was able to read music!). He did have a knack for attracting high quality musicians. Millinder began his career as a master of ceremonies and dancer in the theatres and ballrooms of Chicago during the prohibition era. He led his first musical outfit from 1931, coming to greater fame three years later, upon taking over leadership of the prestigious Mills Blue Rhythm Band at the Harlem Cotton Club. Millinder went bankrupt in 1939, but later reorganised another big band and remained on the scene intermittently until the summer of 1952.
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