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Roger Dean Miller (January 2, 1936 – October 25,
1992) was an American singer, songwriter, and
musician.

Born in Fort Worth, Texas, to mother Laudene Holt
Miller and father Jean Miller, Roger, the youngest
of three boys, was sent to live with his uncle and
aunt, Elmer and Armelia Miller, in Erick,
Oklahoma, when his father died while Roger was
just one year old.

Roger had a lonely and unhappy childhood. Heavily
influenced by  the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday
nights and the Light Crust Doughboys on Fort Worth
radio, he desperately wanted to be a
singer-songwriter. When he was 17 he stole a
guitar, but turned himself in and chose to join
the army rather than go to jail. He later quipped 
"My education was Korea, Clash of 1952|52." 

On leaving the army he went to Nashville, to work
on his music career. In 1959 he wrote his first
number one song, "Billy Bayou" recorded by Jim
Reeves.

Although conventionally grouped with "Country"
singers, Miller's unique style defied easy
classification. He had a string of pop hits in the
1960s, and also his own TV show for a few years.
Many of his recordings were humorous, novelty
songs with whimsical lyrics, coupled with vocalese
riffs filled with nonsense syllables. Others were
sincere ballads, which also caught the public's
fancy, none more so than his signature song, "King
of the Road", about a presumed "hobo" who relishes
his life and freedom, riding the rails.

In addition to 11 Grammy Awards, Roger Miller won
Broadway's Tony award for writing the score for
the musical Big River.

He was voted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall
of Fame in 1973 and the Country Music Hall of Fame
in 1995. In Erick, Oklahoma where he grew up, a
thoroughfare was renamed "Roger Miller Boulevard."


Roger Miller died of lung and throat cancer. He
was a lifelong cigarette smoker. In a TV interview
once, he explained that he composed his songs from
"bits and pieces" of ideas he wrote on scraps of
paper. When asked what he did with the unused bits
and pieces, he half-joked, "I smoke 'em!" One of
his songs, "A Man Can't Quit", centered around his
addiction to cigarettes.

==Notable songs==
*"King of the Road"
*"Chug-a-Lug"
*"Little Green Apples"
*"Dang Me"
*"England Swings"
*"Engine Engine Number Nine"
*"In the Summer Time"
*"Do-Wacka-Do"
*"Kansas City Star"
*"You Can't Roller Skate in a Buffalo Herd"
*"Whistle Stop" (featured on the infamous Hampster
Dance website)

==Awards==
*1964 - Grammy Award: Best Country Song: "Dang Me"
*1964 - Grammy Award: Best New Country and Western
Artist
*1964 - Grammy Award: Best Country and Western
Recording, Single: "Dang Me"
*1964 - Grammy Award: Best Country and Western
Performance, Male: "Dang Me"
*1964 - Grammy Award: Best Country and Western
Album: "Dang Me"/"Chug-a-Lug"
*1965 - Jukebox Artist of the Year
*1965 - Grammy Award: Best Country Song: "King of
the Road"
*1965 - Grammy Award: Best Country Vocal
Performance, Male: "King of the Road"
*1965 - Grammy Award: Best Country and Western
Recording, Single: "King of the Road"
*1965 - Grammy Award: Best Contemporary Vocal
Performance, Male: "King of the Road"
*1965 - Grammy Award: Best Contemporary (Rock 'N
Roll), Single: "King of the Road"
*1965 - Grammy Award: Best Country and Western
Album: "The Return of Roger Miller"
*1965 - Academy of Country and Western Music:
"Best Songwriter"
*1965 - Academy of Country and Western Music: "Man
of the Year"
*1985 - Tony Award : Best Score: "Big River"
*1988 - Academy of Country Music: Pioneer Award
*1995 - Country Music Hall of Fame 
*1997 - List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award
recipients A-D|Grammy Hall of Fame Song : "Dang
Me"
*1998 - List of Grammy Hall of Fame Award
recipients J-P| Grammy Hall of Fame Song : "King
Of The Road"

==External links==
*http://www.rogermiller.com/ Roger Miller official
site