11/02/11 bv

HAYS, Kan. -- Three-time Grammy winner, acclaimed songwriter, speaker and painter Bill "Birdsong"' Miller will perform at Fort Hays State University in celebration of Native American heritage.

Miller will perform at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Nov. 7 in the Beach/Schmidt Performing Arts Center. He will share stories about his music and the culture from which it springs and perform his music.

The performance is sponsored by Diversity Affairs at Fort Hays State University and is free for students and the public.

Over the past four years, Miller has made three albums, received a Grammy Award and led Wisconsin's La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, a member of the League of American Orchestras.

His art has been showcased in the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian, the Trickster Gallery in Chicago and the American Indian Community House Gallery in New York.

He has won six Native American Music Awards, including the 2007 Lifetime Achievement honor. In 2010, he won the Best Native American Album for "Spirit Wind North."

Miller is a member of the Mohican tribe and he grew up on the Stockbridge-Munsee Reservation in Wisconsin. He was brought up in a unique melting pot by his Native American father and his German mother.

His music and art was his way to escape with an alcoholic father in the home. His past shaped him into what he is today.