John O'Neill (musician)
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John O'Neill (1926 — 1999) was a professional musician born in County Durham, England to Irish parents. He was famous for his whistling abilities and was also an accomplished trumpeter.
O'Neill began his musical career as a member of Val Doonican's band. In the 1960s he became a regular on the Black and White Minstrel Show. He also worked as a session singer on many television programs, such as Monty Python's Flying Circus and the Morecambe and Wise Show.
He is widely believed to have been had a hit single with I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman credited as Whistling Jack Smith (a play on "Whispering" Jack Smith) however the exact nature of who Jack Smith was is unsure; certainly in TV appearances an actor lip-synced whistling to a backing track.
His best known achievement however, was the whistling on the theme tune to the Spaghetti Western film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly; although this is also sometimes accredited to Alessandro Alessandroni.
In his later life O'Neill settled in Dovercourt, Essex.
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