Cassie Miller’s Anaheim High teachers and classmates always knew she would hit the big time. A natural, Cassie was a star member of the school’s choir and a featured vocalist in theater productions throughout her time at Anaheim High and Fremont Junior High.
Now she’s touring the world and performing for audiences that number in the thousands, making stops along the way at Carnegie Hall, recording studios, TV and film sets.
But Cassie hasn’t forgotten her hometown roots. She performed for the Sept. 11 Service and Remembrance sponsored by the City of Anaheim to remember victims of the 9/11 terrorists attacks, including AHS Class of ’67 grad Charles “Chic” Burlingame, the pilot for American Airlines Flight #77, which was hijacked and crashed into the Pentagon.
Returning home to sing for another Anaheim audience has brought Cassie full circle in a career that started immediately upon graduating in 1978 from Anaheim High when she joined the Knott’s Berry Sisters trio. She also paid her dues singing on cruise ships and performing in various shows at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland.
Cassie’s big break came when she began singing background and touring with Perry Como and Andy Williams. She stills considers sharing the stage with these legendary singers a career highlight and “a dream come true.”
Cassie said she found her forte when she began singing with a local big band in Long beach in 1984. This experience ignited her love for the swing era. Since then she has worked with many ghost bands and swing bands including the Harry James, Jimmy Dorsey, Glenn Miller orchestras and others.
Her most recent tour was a departure from the big band genre as a background singer for Supertramp. She recently returned from a tour in France, performing for an audience of 77,000 people.
Other career highlights including doing her own solo tour of jazz clubs overseas, singing with John Lithgow at Carnegie Hall and being “Big Band Singer of the Year” by the LA Music Awards.
Her song styling has brought her wide acclaim from many entertainers including Gregory Peck, Jimmy Stewart, Placido Domingo, Jerry Lewis and Liza Minelli.
Cassie has also appeared in commercials and print ads for such companies such as IBM, Chrysler and others that have aired all over the US and other parts of the world.
Still she is drawn to her Anaheim roots and shared an interesting part of her life. “My parents adopted me when I was a few days old. I ended up finding my birthparents and siblings, only to discover that my birthfather had also gone to Anaheim High and I went to junior high with one of my half-sisters, but never knew it at the time. My birthfather and I both had the same music director, Sheldon Disrud, who is still living.”
More about Cassie, including her schedule of appearances, can be found at www.CassieMiller.net.
A lovely heart wrenching union of how history and families weave together. You have looked for the positive and have been willing to bless the rest of us with your story, life and love in music!