Gordon Mills born 15 May 1935

Gordon William Mills (15 May 1935 – 29 July 1986) was a successful London-based music industry manager and songwriter. During the 1960s and 70s, he managed the careers of three highly successful musical artists - Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and

Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Mills's was born in Madras, British India, when his father was serving in the British Army. His parents returned to Britain shortly after Gordon's birth where he grew up in Trealaw , the Rhondda Valley, South Wales.  An only child, Mills was taught to play the harmonica by his mother, Lorna. At age 15, Mills joined a group playing in pubs and clubs in the South Wales Valleys. At age 17, he was called up for National Service and served in Germany and Malaya.

                               

Returning to the UK, he competed in a harmonica championship event organised by Hohner at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He came second, qualifying him to represent the UK in the European final which he then won. Invited to join the Morton Fraser Harmonica Gang, he met musicians Don Paul and Ronnie Wells with whom he formed a trio known as The Viscounts. One song "Who Put The Bomp (In The Bomp Bomp

Bomp)" (1961) became a minor hit in the UK Singles Chart. Their cover of "Short'nin' Bread" (1960) also had some earlier success.

Mills wrote some songs, with his first "I'll Never Get Over You", recorded by Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, reaching No. 4 in the UK in 1963. In the space of a year he wrote three more hits "Hungry For Love", "Jealous Girl" and "Three Little Words". "I'm The Lonely One" gave Cliff Richard and The Shadows a Top 10 success in 1964.

At a party given by singer Terry Dene, Mills met model Jo Waring and they married two years later. Their daughter Clair, then three years old, became the subject of the 1972 song Clair by Gilbert O'Sullivan.

One night, Mills was in Cwmtillery, where Tommy Scott and the Senators were performing, featuring a new young singer with the name of Tom Woodward. Mills eventually became Woodward's manager, after signing a management transfer contract with Tom's joint managers Raymond William Godfrey and Raymond John Glastonbury (Myron & Byron), who had already signed the singer to Decca Records, after terminating their previous recording agreement with Joe Meek of RGM Sound Ltd. Godfrey and Glastonbury retained a 5% interest in Jones, but had to sue Jones and Mills in London's High Court for non fulfilment, finally obtaining a settlement in 1969 for an undisclosed sum.

Mills redesigned the singer's image into that of a crooner, He also changed Woodward’s name to Jones who also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the United Kingdom and began hitting the Top 40 again in the United States. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1967, Jones performed in Las Vegas for the first time, at the Flamingo.

In 1965, Mills started working with Gerry Dorsey, a singer who had been around for a long time without major success, changing his name to Engelbert Humperdinck and with television exposure on a Sunday night in 1967 at the London Palladium, a new star was born. Between 1967 and 1972, Mills had two of the biggest stars in the music industry under his control and he signed female singer/songwriter Lynsey de Paul who had just scored a huge hit with Sugar Me, but by the end of 1973 she had left the label.

By 1973 both Jones's and Humperdinck's record sales had dropped dramatically, but Mills had found new talent with Gilbert O'Sullivan who kept MAM's business booming. Mills also produced O'Sullivan first four albums, spawning notable hits such as "Alone Again (Naturally), "Clair" and "Get Down". However, when his success started to fade, there was no replacement. By 1978, Jones was reduced to making country albums for the American-only market, Humperdinck had left Mills and O'Sullivan was no longer commercially successful.

Things turned sourer when Mills was fuelled by a growing gambling streak. His former business partner Tony Cartwright accused Gordon of using Jones' and Humperdinck's wages to pay his debts. At the same time, a seven-year court case with Gilbert over music rights saw the artist awarded £7m in damages - worth more than £22m today.

Mills once owned the biggest private zoo in the world. The previous record holder, millionaire playboy John Aspinall, belonged to the same gentlemen's club as Mills and there was a clear rivalry between them.

In 1986, Mills, known in the tabloids as Mills Man of Music, was diagnosed with stomach cancer. At 51 years old, his death came only days after being taken to hospital in Los Angeles, California. He is buried in Burvale Cemetery, Hersham.  

FOOTNOTE: Well what happened to the other two members of the Viscounts you may ask....Ronnie Wells (born Ronald Kenneth Cresswell, August 25, 1939, Farnborough, Hampshire, England - died 22 September 2013). Ronnie left the music business to become a successful restaurateur. Don Paul (born Donald Paul Fountain, January 2, 1937, Oldham, Lancashire, England) went on to produce Carl Wayne and Julie Covington. Among other vocalists.

(Edited mainly from Wikipedia)