NAMES IN THE NEWS : Mitch Miller May Sing Alone

Band leader Mitch Miller, whose TV sing-alongs made him a household word in the 1960s, says his hometown fans may have seen the last of him.

Miller, 78, told an audience of nearly 3,000 over the weekend that he may not be conducting in Rochester, where he has led two concerts for the last 10 years with the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra.

“Regrettably, this may be my last concert here,” Miller said Saturday, “because Dean Corey has informed me he won’t be asking me back next fall.”

Corey, the orchestra’s president and executive director, called Miller “a very arrogant and forceful kind of guy.”

“The truth is, we had taken a couple of surveys and found that as many people disliked him as liked him,” Corey said.