“Music Box Dancer”: A Huge Non-Vocal Hit Song

The “Music Box Dancer” was a hugely successful non-vocal hit song that took the musical world by storm in the late 1970s and, consisted mainly of a piano theme accompanied by other instruments. This hit was given to the world by Frank Mills, who wrote as well as recorded it in 1974 and in 1978 it became a single that in the Christmas of that year, entered the top ten of several pop music charts in Europe as well as in Asia.

Different Versions Have Been Recorded

It even enjoyed considerable popularity in the United States in 1978, reaching the number 3  spot on the Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 in April of the following year. The “Music Box Dancer” has been copied and, many different versions of this song have been produced and, famous pianists such as Floyd Cramer, Roger Williams as well as Eric Robertson and, many other orchestral artists like James Last and 101 Strings have produced their own version of this immensely popular song.

It has been set to calypso tune as well as an accordion version of it has been produced in Sweden and, has even been sung in Japanese - such is its popularity. In fact, “Music Box Dancer” is thought to have been one of the greatest instrumental pop music hits of the mid and late 20th century and, at a time when instrumental songs were not becoming hit songs, with disco music growing in popularity, the “Music Box Dancer” was a standout exception of its time.

The man behind this wonderful non-vocal song was Frank Mills, who had played piano for many different musical groups while at high school and, later gave up medicine to pursue music as a career. He was a part of the pop group known as The Bells and got some amount of fame when they recorded a successful song called Stay Awhile. He went solo and recorded a pop vocal called Love Me, Love Me, Love that was to reach numero uno in many countries, but in 1974 he had left The Bells to go solo.

It was during those days in 1974 that the “Music Box Dancer” was recorded and, it took another four years before it became a hit, shooting up the charts in Europe as well as in Asia. Frank Mills has since received numerous platinum as well as gold albums from many different countries and, even received a Grammy nomination. This immensely talented musician has won many awards and, also appeared on many television shows in Canada, USA, Japan and Europe.