Kerry Mills(1869-1948)

Writer of popular songs from 1893 to the end of World War I. His best known songs were "At A Georgia Camp Meeting", which is often used (uncredited) as a background for minstrel numbers and has numerous recordings from the early years of jazz, "Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis", and "Red Wing", which became a classic of the American country fiddle repertoire. He is also thought to be the first to introduce the "cake walk" into popular music, with his march "Whistling Rufus". A trained violinist, he was unable to find a job when he moved to New York in 1895. He started his own publishing firm that year when other Tin Pan Alley publishers turned down his songs.