Biography
Gordon Mills showed an early affinity for music yet built his lasting renown through its commercial side rather than any performing career. Born in India in 1935 to a British soldier and his spouse, he returned with his family to Britain soon after and spent his childhood in Wales. There he sang and mastered the harmonica with unusual clarity and control; at fifteen he entered his first weekend ensemble, appearing in neighborhood pubs. Military service called him up at seventeen and dispatched him to Germany and Malaya, where his chief recreation remained entertaining fellow troops. On demobilization he competed in a Hohner-sponsored harmonica event at the Royal Albert Hall, finishing second, which led to further national representation for England and an invitation to join the Morton Fraser Harmonica Gang. While in that ensemble he joined Ronnie Wells and Don Paul in planning an independent venture; the three departed to establish the Viscounts, who achieved several years of prominence in the early sixties among Britain’s leading vocal acts. During those years Mills began composing, and the Viscounts’ initial success with “I’ll Never Get Over You” convinced him that songwriting offered a far less grueling route to substantial income than constant performance and travel. He therefore left the group in 1963 to concentrate exclusively on writing, securing hits for various artists, among them Cliff Richard’s 1964 recording of “The Lonely One.”
Around the same time Mills encountered Tommy Scott & the Senators while they performed in Wales. He promptly offered his managerial services, convinced Scott to alter both his presentation and his repertoire, and persuaded him to adopt the professional name Tom Jones. Initial resistance from record companies arose because Jones failed to match the prevailing Liverpool-style rock image set by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and comparable ensembles. Once a contract was secured, however, Jones’s second single—a Mills collaboration with Les Reed titled “It’s Not Unusual”—propelled him to international stardom. Mills thereby emerged as one of England’s foremost managers, occupying a distinct adult-contemporary sphere apart from contemporaneous rock developments centered in Liverpool, London, Birmingham, and elsewhere. He also urged his longtime associate Gerry Dorsey to adopt the name Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the earlier composer. Together Jones and Humperdinck—Jones generally regarded as the stronger artist—dominated that segment of the entertainment industry for the ensuing two decades, until Mills’s death in the summer of 1986.
Around the same time Mills encountered Tommy Scott & the Senators while they performed in Wales. He promptly offered his managerial services, convinced Scott to alter both his presentation and his repertoire, and persuaded him to adopt the professional name Tom Jones. Initial resistance from record companies arose because Jones failed to match the prevailing Liverpool-style rock image set by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and comparable ensembles. Once a contract was secured, however, Jones’s second single—a Mills collaboration with Les Reed titled “It’s Not Unusual”—propelled him to international stardom. Mills thereby emerged as one of England’s foremost managers, occupying a distinct adult-contemporary sphere apart from contemporaneous rock developments centered in Liverpool, London, Birmingham, and elsewhere. He also urged his longtime associate Gerry Dorsey to adopt the name Engelbert Humperdinck, borrowed from the earlier composer. Together Jones and Humperdinck—Jones generally regarded as the stronger artist—dominated that segment of the entertainment industry for the ensuing two decades, until Mills’s death in the summer of 1986.