Gyp Mills

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Gyp Mills (also known as Gypsy Dave) real name David John Mills is a sculptor and songwriter. Born in Peckham Rye , London in 1946. He was first in the public eye as the companion to the singer-songwriter Donovan. He also a well known sculptor with studios in Greece and Thailand.


Contents

[edit] Early years

From London Gyp's family moved to Hertfordshire . In his early days in Hertfordshire he became friends with many art students including Dave Richards , Julian McAllister and Donovan. In 1963 a pivotal journey to St. Ives with Donovan was to become the stuff of legend [1][2] . He lost touch with Donovan and moved around the UK including Manchester and Nottingham. In late 1964 Donovan had been signed up to a record label and asked Gyp to accompany him on his first tour with his other friends Mac MacLeod and John Lock. Donovan wrote "To Try for the Sun" and "Hey Gyp" about his time with Gyp. Gyp was to be tour manager for Donovan for many years and appeared alongside Donovan in the TV film 'A Boy Called Donovan' . In 1968 they both journey to Rishikesh in India and met up with the Beatles and studied in the ashram of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Gyp wrote a few songs which appeared on Donovan's album The Hurdy Gurdy Man. The uncredited tracks "A Sunny Day" and "The River Song" according to BMI records were collaborations with Donovan but the song "Tangier" was written solely by Gyp Mills under its original title of "In Tangier Down a Windy Street". [3]. Altogether he has 20 songs registered at BMI.com[4] under David J. Mills.

[edit] Sculpture and Beyond

From 1968-1971 Gyp studied sculpture including personal tuition with David Wynne O.B.E , at this time he moved away from his music business connections towards the visual arts. In the years that followed he restored a farm house and set up a studio , both on the Greek Island of Paros. His works appeared in Gordons Gallery, Wimbledon; The Fulham Gallery, Fulham Rd.; Doves Gallery, Norwich; The Welsh House Gallery, N. Wales. In 1979 he wrote a children's book entitled Sandy Lea which Rita Schmeiser provided the illustrations for. The 1986 film Castaway with Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe used his song Tangier extensively [5]. By 1997 Gyp turned his attention back to sculpture and became a well respected artist and writer in Greece.[6][7][8]

[edit] Student To Teacher

In 2006 Gyp married his partner Punnee in Thailand and finished building a school of sculpture and an artist's retreat. He has completed his autobiography and a few of his early adventures are to be found in Donovan's book 'The Hurdy Gurdy Man'. Before the release of his book Donovan stated in an interview in musicohm.com "So I've been doing this book for quite a long while! It's almost complete, I've got it in my bag, I'm doing the last corrections. Gypsy Dave my road buddy has been helping too. In Greece last year we spent quite a lot of time working on it." [9]

"Gyp was Donovan's right hand man and a great job he did of it too" Mac MacLeod talking about Donovan's first tour in 1965 from KFOK radio interview June 14, 2005.

[edit] References

  1. ^ Donovan | interviews | musicOMH.com
  2. ^ Donovan Discs - Links
  3. ^ Donovan
  4. ^ BMI.com
  5. ^ Castaway (1986) - Soundtracks
  6. ^ Aegean Center for the Fine Arts
  7. ^ Paros Life - A Few Words on Global Warming - by Gyp Mills, November 1998
  8. ^ Paros Life - Three Unique Musketeers - by Silvia Lubitz-Skaramagkas, August 2005
  9. ^ Donovan | interviews | musicOMH.com

[edit] External links