Grammy award winner Bill Miller performs at Riverside, months after heart attack

Miller negotiated with his doc to play for hometown

A heart attack April 11 couldn’t keep a three-time Grammy Award winner from coming back home to perform in La Crosse. 

A grateful and eager Bill Miller talked about his ordeal and performed in front of about 1,500 at Thursday night’s first Moon Tunes concert at Riverside Park. 

Miller flat lined two months ago. Coming back to, not La Crosse, but life was a miracle. Coming back to La Crosse, that was negotiation. 

Miller described the conversation with his doctor: “He said, ‘What would you like to do, if anything you could do right now in your life?’

“I said, ‘I want to go home. I want to sing in La Crosse.’ And he said, ‘Well, we have to check your heart out.’ And, two days ago, he said my right side of my heart is starting to beat in rhythm with my left again. And he said, ‘You can get on that plane.'”

Miller also talked with the audience about his near-death experience.

“I remember getting in on this gurney and they said, ‘Sir, we better get you in. You’re probably going to die tonight,'” Miller recalled. “I didn’t see any angels. I didn’t see any light. I didn’t float above myself. I just came back.”

Miller had surgeries for several blood clots in his heart, lungs and leg. 

The Valley View Rotary announced that it would split donation money with Miller 50/50 to help him with expenses. 

Miller has opened for the event every time, since its inception five years ago.

Here’s a clip from Miller at Riverside in 2013, telling a story about his part in the Disney movie Pocahontas.

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