Remembering Chaz Millionaire: A Voice, and So Much More
Contributing writer Lizzy Nyoike remembers Chaz Millionaire, the longtime Twin Cities radio personality who died Aug. 19 at age 61 after more than four decades on KMOJ and later KRSM. His daughter, Marz Lovejoy, has spent the weeks since his death hearing story after story from people he quietly helped, part of a philosophy he lived by daily. Colleagues including Walter "Q Bear" Banks Jr. and Miic Brooks remember him as a mentor who saw everyone, prerecording his show before surgery so it wouldn't miss a beat. Lovejoy has launched the Chaz Vision Media Legacy Fund to carry his commitment to youth, media and the arts forward.
Many may be aware of the local icon’s passing, but perhaps not his story. For more than four decades, Twin Cities listeners knew Chaz Millionaire by his unmistakable voice, spinning jazz, R&B and soul music over the airwaves, and giving shout-outs to people across the community from DJ booths, stages and neighborhood events, often dressed with the kind of style that made him hard to miss.
Millionaire died Aug. 19, 2026, at age 61.
For generations of listeners, Millionaire was one of the familiar voices of KMOJ 89.9 FM, “The People’s Station,” where his presence became deeply connected to the music, people and culture of Minneapolis. He spent more than 40 years with the station, bringing his personality to the airwaves while using the microphone to recognize the community around him.
Long before listeners knew the voice of Millionaire coming through their radio, Marz Lovejoy knew it as the voice of her father.
Lovejoy grew up with her father’s love for music and community woven into much of her childhood. A self-described “daddy’s girl,” she often accompanied him around the Twin Cities, wherever they went, it seemed someone knew Millionaire.
“We couldn’t even get three feet without somebody saying, ‘Hey, what up Chaz?'” Lovejoy said.
At the time, those encounters were part of growing up with her dad. As she got older, Lovejoy began to understand how deeply her father was connected to the community around him.
Some of her most meaningful memories of her father were the quieter ways he cared for people. Lovejoy remembers regularly going with her father to check on elders, bringing them things they needed or simply stopping by to spend time with them.
“I really grew up around so many elders because of him,” Lovejoy said.
That care was not something Lovejoy said her father sought recognition for, part of a message he regularly shared with listeners: do one random act of kindness a day, and don’t tell anybody about it.
Since his death, Lovejoy has heard how often he lived by those words.
Her phone has been filled with calls and messages from people sharing stories she had never heard before. Some told her Millionaire had been there during their lowest moments, when they felt as though they had no one else to turn to.
“There are people all over town who have a story about my dad, how he’s helped them and nobody else knows about it,” Lovejoy said.
For Walter “Q Bear” Banks Jr., those stories reflect the man he knew for more than 40 years.
Banks, KMOJ’s assistant program manager and longtime on-air personality, watched Millionaire become a fixture both inside the station and throughout the neighborhoods it served.
“He was community,” Banks said. “Not just Northside as a Northsider for life (NFL), but even beyond that he was south side of St. Paul.”
Millionaire’s connection stretched beyond North Minneapolis. Banks remembers him DJing in parks, working with youth and fatherhood programs, emceeing events and showing up throughout Minneapolis, St. Paul and the surrounding communities.
On KMOJ, one of Millionaire’s signatures was giving on-air shoutouts. Banks remembers the list sometimes becoming nearly as long as the songs Millionaire played. He did not only recognize prominent names or major accomplishments. Sometimes he simply wanted someone doing something positive to hear their name on air.
“You didn’t have to be recognized for doing the greatest of things, but just doing something,” Banks said.
When Andrea Pierre helped onboard Millionaire at 98.9 FM KRSM Radio, she wondered why a broadcaster with decades of experience wanted to work at a smaller community station, one instinct that followed him well beyond KMOJ. Millionaire told her he came with a purpose to help the next generation.
“He wanted to be a mentor,” Pierre said.
Pierre remembers him sharing music from his own collection and offering young broadcasters the knowledge he had accumulated over the years. She noticed the connection he built with younger Black men at the station, encouraging them as they found their own voices in the media.
That mentorship left a lasting impact on Miic Brooks, KRSM Radio station manager, whose relationship with Millionaire grew from crossing paths in the community to working alongside him in radio.
Brooks first met Millionaire years earlier at a North Minneapolis community event. Over time, Millionaire became a friend and an elder who consistently encouraged him.
“He always poured into me every single time that I saw him or interacted with him,” Brooks said.
Brooks said Millionaire often reminded him of his strength and the importance of the legacy he was building as a Black man. It was something Brooks said Millionaire did for many people.
“He saw everybody,” Brooks said.
At KRSM, Millionaire carried his love for Minneapolis into “Flyte612,” mixing soul music with the work of local artists and giving community members a platform to share what they were doing, putting local and established artists side by side without treating them as if they belonged in separate categories, Brooks said.
Millionaire’s commitment to radio remained even during difficult moments in his own life. Before undergoing surgery, Brooks said, Millionaire prerecorded segments so his show could continue while he recovered, and even from the hospital, he listened and checked in.
For Pierre, memories like those make it difficult to think of Millionaire’s death only in terms of what the community has lost.
“I think he filled us up so much that he left us a lot to carry on with,” Pierre said.
Thinking about what carrying on her father’s legacy looks like, Lovejoy created the Chaz Vision Media Legacy Fund in hopes of continuing his commitment to youth, media, music and the arts. Preserving his legacy, she believes, also means making sure the stories he carried with him are not lost.
“Our elders are libraries, and when one of them dies, a whole library dies,” Lovejoy said. “Go talk to your elders and get your story and get your family’s history.”
That message has become deeply personal for Lovejoy, who now carries the responsibility of preserving the story of her father, who spent much of his life documenting, encouraging and celebrating others.
“There was never a day in my life where I questioned his love for me. I just feel so blessed to come from a foundation of love,” Lovejoy said, recalling her father once telling her that whenever his time came, he would be at peace with the life he had lived.
Lizzy Nyoike is a Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication student and contributing writer for the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.