The Mike Sammes Singers

Born in Reigate, Surrey, Michael Sammes trained in cello, vocal technique, and arrangement before taking a post at a music publisher, where he launched the Mike Sammes Singers in the mid-1950s. This adaptable vocal unit, whose roster frequently splintered into smaller units for hire, maintained a packed calendar from the outset that encompassed regular BBC broadcasts, stage spots on variety bills at the London Palladium, television guest shots, and session vocals for assorted soloists. Their early forays into skiffle and rock & roll included backup singing for the Vipers Skiffle Group. On 24 July 1958 several members joined Cliff Richard & The Shadows for the band’s debut session, supplying harmonies on “Schoolboy Crush,” the original A-side of their first single before it was supplanted by the more driving Ian Samwell composition “Move It.” Workloads stayed heavy throughout the 1960s, chiefly in pop, though the singers also furnished choral support for a widely praised studio-cast version of the Wright/Forrest musical Kismet that Mantovani conducted for Decca/London’s Phase 4 imprint with Robert Merrill as featured soloist. A later Fontana Records agreement yielded a recording of Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Mikado led by conductor John Gregory, and the ensemble hosted its own BBC series, Sammes Songs. Two landmark Beatles tracks further documented their involvement: the Mike Sammes Singers supplied backing vocals on “I Am the Walrus,” while additional members contributed choral textures to “Good Night.” Engagements remained plentiful into the 1970s, encompassing television soundtrack sessions such as Secret Service and on-screen appearances on The Val Doonican Show in 1971, followed by studio dates with Olivia Newton-John that extended well into the following decades and beyond.