Biography
Histories of ska and bluebeat frequently cite Millie Small for her role as an innovator via the 1964 multi-million-selling “My Boy Lollipop,” yet another breakthrough single appeared in England that year under the title “Mockin’ Bird Hill.” Issued the same week as Small’s release, the track never matched her sales but became the first bluebeat recording by a white band to reach the English Top Ten.
No rock-and-roll lineup looked less conventional, let alone one performing bluebeat or ska, than the Migil Five. All members were already in their mid- to late twenties and appeared a decade older than most contemporaries; moreover, their playing and stage presence recalled jazz musicians more than typical rock performers, which in fact they largely were.
The ensemble first assembled in 1960 as the backing unit for blind vocalist Lennie Peters during pub engagements across north London, with Lenny Blanche on bass and Gil Lucas on piano. Drummers rotated according to availability and ability, among them the promising jazz player Charlie Watts, nephew of Peters; Mike Felix, whose background encompassed both jazz and R&B, later settled into the drum chair permanently.
Originally billed as Lennie Peters & the Le Migils—a name formed from “Le” (Blanche), “Mi” (Felix), and “gil” (Lucas)—the quartet thrived on the club circuit until Peters departed for solo work. The remaining musicians then rebuilt the act around Felix’s vocals, recruited guitarist Red Lambert, a veteran of London clubs, and adopted the name Migil Four. Their blend of jazz, R&B, and pop won favor on the cabaret circuit and at holiday camps.
Fortune intervened when trad-jazz leader Kenny Ball discovered them at a gig, joined them onstage, and soon served as an informal mentor. Ball steered the group to his own label, Pye Records, where their debut single, the blues-styled “Maybe,” failed to chart. Before that outcome was clear, tenor saxophonist Alan “Earl” Watson, formerly of Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames, joined, expanding the lineup to the Migil Five and sharpening their appeal for younger listeners.
On the early-1960s London scene the quintet remained an anomaly: five men already in their late twenties, steeped in jazz, R&B, blues, folk, and pop, with Lambert balding and bearded while the others resembled trad-jazz veterans. Watson’s harder R&B edge helped attract teenagers, yet they still projected the image of music instructors rather than rock-and-rollers. In 1963 their profile rose sharply after they succeeded the Dave Clark Five for a residency at the Tottenham Royal; regular exposure to youthful crowds prompted them to emphasize R&B and bluebeat numbers.
For their second single they chose a bluebeat arrangement of the Les Paul–Mary Ford hit “Mockin’ Bird Hill.” As bluebeat—later known as ska—began reaching beyond the West Indian community in spring 1964, the record found immediate favor with Tottenham fans, earned praise on Juke Box Jury, and gained airplay on the BBC’s Saturday Club. It climbed into the Top Ten and remained on the English charts for three months, selling strongly within the West Indian community and even in black clubs despite being overshadowed abroad by Millie Small’s “My Boy Lollipop.”
The group moved from cabaret dates to television appearances on Ready Steady Go alongside Dusty Springfield and Carl Perkins, secured a weekly slot with Associated British Television, and filled tour dates with the Animals and the Nashville Teens that had been booked prior to the single’s success. They also appeared in the featurettes Swinging U.K. and U.K. Swings Again (later compiled as Go Go Big Beat), performing “Mockin’ Bird Hill” and “Long Tall Sally” alongside Millie Small, the Hollies, the Merseybeats, and the Animals, projecting a distinctly professional demeanor amid flashier peers.
A follow-up single, “Near You,” entered the charts in June 1964, prompting the release of the Mockin’ Bird Hill LP, which drew from their live repertoire numbers such as “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Long Tall Sally” plus additional bluebeat treatments. Momentum faded after the album’s mid-1964 release; the next single, “Boys and Girls,” went unnoticed, as did the EP Meet the Migil Five issued that autumn. Although large-scale record sales ceased by 1965, the band stayed active, continuing cabaret work and serving as house band on the radio program Easy Beat, backing guests including Sonny & Cher. They enjoyed particular popularity in Ireland, where “Mockin’ Bird Hill” had reached number one and subsequent releases sold briskly throughout 1965.
Further attempts at ballads and R&B yielded no chart returns. During this period they crossed paths with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, later known as the Bonzo Dog Band, whom Felix and his manager represented in its early days. Felix exited in 1966, Watson assumed lead vocals, and the revised lineup cut one Pye single before being dropped. Subsequent releases appeared on EMI’s Columbia and Jayboy (“If I Had My Way”) before the group disbanded in late 1968.
Felix later pursued a career as a comedian in the 1970s and continued performing and speaking into the late 1990s. The remaining members—with the exception of Gil Lucas, who died in the 1990s—pursued lives outside music. In the United States the Migil Five were chiefly known through the mid-1980s Rhino Video edition of Go Go Big Beat. “Mockin’ Bird Hill” surfaced occasionally on 1960s British hits anthologies; a 1991 compact-disc reissue of their Pye album added bonus tracks from their Migil Four period, and in 1998 Sequel Records issued the 30-track compilation Mockin’ Bird Hill, encompassing their Pye output through the post-Felix single “Pencil and Paper.”
No rock-and-roll lineup looked less conventional, let alone one performing bluebeat or ska, than the Migil Five. All members were already in their mid- to late twenties and appeared a decade older than most contemporaries; moreover, their playing and stage presence recalled jazz musicians more than typical rock performers, which in fact they largely were.
The ensemble first assembled in 1960 as the backing unit for blind vocalist Lennie Peters during pub engagements across north London, with Lenny Blanche on bass and Gil Lucas on piano. Drummers rotated according to availability and ability, among them the promising jazz player Charlie Watts, nephew of Peters; Mike Felix, whose background encompassed both jazz and R&B, later settled into the drum chair permanently.
Originally billed as Lennie Peters & the Le Migils—a name formed from “Le” (Blanche), “Mi” (Felix), and “gil” (Lucas)—the quartet thrived on the club circuit until Peters departed for solo work. The remaining musicians then rebuilt the act around Felix’s vocals, recruited guitarist Red Lambert, a veteran of London clubs, and adopted the name Migil Four. Their blend of jazz, R&B, and pop won favor on the cabaret circuit and at holiday camps.
Fortune intervened when trad-jazz leader Kenny Ball discovered them at a gig, joined them onstage, and soon served as an informal mentor. Ball steered the group to his own label, Pye Records, where their debut single, the blues-styled “Maybe,” failed to chart. Before that outcome was clear, tenor saxophonist Alan “Earl” Watson, formerly of Georgie Fame’s Blue Flames, joined, expanding the lineup to the Migil Five and sharpening their appeal for younger listeners.
On the early-1960s London scene the quintet remained an anomaly: five men already in their late twenties, steeped in jazz, R&B, blues, folk, and pop, with Lambert balding and bearded while the others resembled trad-jazz veterans. Watson’s harder R&B edge helped attract teenagers, yet they still projected the image of music instructors rather than rock-and-rollers. In 1963 their profile rose sharply after they succeeded the Dave Clark Five for a residency at the Tottenham Royal; regular exposure to youthful crowds prompted them to emphasize R&B and bluebeat numbers.
For their second single they chose a bluebeat arrangement of the Les Paul–Mary Ford hit “Mockin’ Bird Hill.” As bluebeat—later known as ska—began reaching beyond the West Indian community in spring 1964, the record found immediate favor with Tottenham fans, earned praise on Juke Box Jury, and gained airplay on the BBC’s Saturday Club. It climbed into the Top Ten and remained on the English charts for three months, selling strongly within the West Indian community and even in black clubs despite being overshadowed abroad by Millie Small’s “My Boy Lollipop.”
The group moved from cabaret dates to television appearances on Ready Steady Go alongside Dusty Springfield and Carl Perkins, secured a weekly slot with Associated British Television, and filled tour dates with the Animals and the Nashville Teens that had been booked prior to the single’s success. They also appeared in the featurettes Swinging U.K. and U.K. Swings Again (later compiled as Go Go Big Beat), performing “Mockin’ Bird Hill” and “Long Tall Sally” alongside Millie Small, the Hollies, the Merseybeats, and the Animals, projecting a distinctly professional demeanor amid flashier peers.
A follow-up single, “Near You,” entered the charts in June 1964, prompting the release of the Mockin’ Bird Hill LP, which drew from their live repertoire numbers such as “Your Cheatin’ Heart” and “Long Tall Sally” plus additional bluebeat treatments. Momentum faded after the album’s mid-1964 release; the next single, “Boys and Girls,” went unnoticed, as did the EP Meet the Migil Five issued that autumn. Although large-scale record sales ceased by 1965, the band stayed active, continuing cabaret work and serving as house band on the radio program Easy Beat, backing guests including Sonny & Cher. They enjoyed particular popularity in Ireland, where “Mockin’ Bird Hill” had reached number one and subsequent releases sold briskly throughout 1965.
Further attempts at ballads and R&B yielded no chart returns. During this period they crossed paths with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, later known as the Bonzo Dog Band, whom Felix and his manager represented in its early days. Felix exited in 1966, Watson assumed lead vocals, and the revised lineup cut one Pye single before being dropped. Subsequent releases appeared on EMI’s Columbia and Jayboy (“If I Had My Way”) before the group disbanded in late 1968.
Felix later pursued a career as a comedian in the 1970s and continued performing and speaking into the late 1990s. The remaining members—with the exception of Gil Lucas, who died in the 1990s—pursued lives outside music. In the United States the Migil Five were chiefly known through the mid-1980s Rhino Video edition of Go Go Big Beat. “Mockin’ Bird Hill” surfaced occasionally on 1960s British hits anthologies; a 1991 compact-disc reissue of their Pye album added bonus tracks from their Migil Four period, and in 1998 Sequel Records issued the 30-track compilation Mockin’ Bird Hill, encompassing their Pye output through the post-Felix single “Pencil and Paper.”
Albums
Singles