Mrs Mills

Gladys Mills, née Gladys Jordan (1918 – 24 February 1978), better known as Mrs Mills, was a British popular pianist who was active in the 1960s and who released many records. Her repertoire included many "sing-along" and "party" tunes made popular in the music-hall.

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Early life

Mills' uncle Henry was a harp player and her mother was a main influence in developing her musical ability. She took piano lessons from the age of three and a half until the age of seven.

After working as the superintendent of the typing pool in the office of the Paymaster General in London, in December 1961 she made her first television appearance on The Billy Cotton Show, having been spotted by a talent scout at a Woodford Golf Club dance near her home in Loughton, Essex, where she lived most of her life. She would become a household name by the end of January 1962.

Career

She shot to fame during the same period as her stable-mates The Beatles, with whom she shared space at Abbey Road Studios (as mentioned in the Beatles Anthology DVD bonus materials).

Mills was signed to a management contract by Eric Easton who later went on to manage The Dave Clark Five and The Rolling Stones. After signing to Parlophone, her first release - the "Mrs Mills Medley" single - entered the Top Twenty of the UK Singles Chart, and her career as an entertainer began - a career that would last well into the 1970s. She toured the UK, making many appearances on TV and radio throughout this period. Mrs Mills was also a successful recording artist overseas in territories where there were large numbers of expatriates from the UK including Australia, Canada and Hong Kong.

Her oeuvre consisted of standards (British and international), plus cover versions of contemporary hits. A 2003 release (The Very Best Of Mrs Mills, on EMI Gold) includes such hits as "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", "Hello, Dolly!", "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles" and "Yellow Submarine".

She appeared on two episodes of The Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971 and 1974, where she performed a medley of favourites with the studio orchestra.[1] Another rare example of Mrs Mills' style of performance came in an edition of the BBC TV's The Two Ronnies. The sketch (Family Entertainment - John & Mrs Mills) occupied the end-of-the-show musical slot, with Ronnie Barker as the silk-laden Mrs Mills at piano, and Ronnie Corbett as a uniformed Sir John Mills (who was no relation). They performed a medley of Mills-style classics (on the theme of Mills' character in the 1969 film Oh! What A Lovely War). (NB: The show (series 4; episode 4) was originally broadcast on BBC 2 on 23 January 1975.) In 1973 she appeared in an episode of The Wheeltappers and Shunters Social Club.

In December 1974 she appeared as the subject of This Is Your Life, hosted by Eamonn Andrews, when it was revealed that the first record she had made had been "The Girl In Calico", cut in a make-your-own-record booth on Southend Pier, for a half-crown, with her girlhood pal Lily Dormer.

Little was seen of Mrs Mills on television in her final years. Mrs Mills died on 24 February 1978. Loughton Town Council commissioned a blue plaque to her memory on the house at 43, Barncroft Close, where she lived for many years.[2]

Discography

A Best Of CD was released by the EMI Gold imprint, another CD (The Mrs Mills Collection) appeared on the HMV Easy label, and a list of her UK output (according to a vast - now lost - Parlophone listing from the web) is as follows (catalogue number (month/year of issue) title):

EMI/Parlophone Records - Singles (all mono; *with The Geoff Love Orchestra)

EMI/Parlophone Records - EPs (all mono)

EMI/Parlophone Records - LPs (PMC: mono, PCS: stereo)

EMI/Music For Pleasure Records - LPs (all stereo)

Other Recordings (all stereo)

References

  1. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/oct/07/cabaret-pop-easy-listening-1970s-alexis-petridis
  2. ^ Loughton Town Council : Blue Heritage Plaques at loughton-tc.gov.uk