Composer and guitarist Mario Daniel Millo was born in May 1955 in Sydney, Australia.
Mario’s father taught him how to play the mandolin at age five. He learned guitar at eight and led his first band, The Menu, at 12.
Millo joined the Sydney-based rock group Sebastian Hardie to replace lead guitarist Graham Ford. The Sebastian Hardie lineup included Mario Millo on guitar and vocals, Alex Plavsic on drums and his brother Peter Plavsic on bass. After Toivo Pilt joined the group on keyboards, Sebastian Hardie started playing original progressive rock.
The group became Australia’s first progressive symphonic rock group and released its acclaimed debut album, Four Moments in 1975.
Sebastian Hardie released a second album titled Windchase in February 1976 that didn’t perform as well as the debut album. The group disdanded in June.
After a legal argument over use of the name Sebastian Hardie, Millo formed a new progressive rock group called Windchase with Pilt on keyboards, Bligh on drums and Doug Nethercote on bass.
Windchase released Symphinity in June 1977, an album that was more jazz-rock fusion oriented. The group disbanded in October and Millo started his solo career.
He has had a successful solo career, composing film and television soundtracks and scores. In 1978, he worked with Jon English on the soundtrack for the television series Against the Wind.
Millo’s compositions have won Australian film industry awards for The Lighthorsemen (1987) and television awards for Brides of Christ (1991) and Changi (2001). Brides of Christ won an Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Music Award in 1992 for Best Original Soundtrack Album.
In 1994, Millo, Pilt and the Plavsic brothers briefly reformed Sebastian Hardie to perform at a progressive rock festival, ProgFest, in Los Angeles. The performance was recorded and eventually released as Sebastian Hardie – Live in L.A. in 1997. They played material from Four Moments, Windchase, Symphinity, and Epic III.
Throughout 2018-2020, Mario Millo has been playing music from his former progressive rock bands as well as new material.
Discography:
Epic III (Polydor Records/Musea, 1979)
Human Games (EMI, 1983)
Oceans of the Mind (Red Moon Music, 2002)
Performs Four Moments (Live In Tokyo) (Belle Antique, 2019)
Soundtrack albums
World Safari II – (Powderworks Records/BMG, 1984)
A Fortunate Life (Polydor Records, 1986)