Viscounts, The

Three members of Morton Fraser’s Harmonica Gang – Gordon Mills, Don Paul (born Donald Paul Fountain) and Ronnie Wells (born Ronald Cresswell) – decided to form a breakaway trio in 1958 and were signed to Pye and managed by Larry Parnes.

The Viscounts were a variety group in the tradition of The Mudlarks, certainly unlikely to ever make the trek to Hamburg to titillate the Reeperbahn punters.

They went in for cover versions of American hits and ‘cash-ins’ (such as Mama’s Doin’ The Twist). Nevertheless, they managed two modest entries into the British chart around 1961.

Their cover of Barry Mann’s US single Who Put The Bomp (In the Bomp Bomp Bomp) gave them a modest hit with a ten-week chart run and a chance to tour Britain with Gene Vincent and Eddie Cochran. They even shared a stage with The Beatles in 1963.

The trio regarded their recorded output as simply an adjunct to their television and theatre variety careers.

They knocked ’em dead on Thank Your Lucky Stars and emasculated a mildly choreographed version of The Beatles’ I Saw Her Standing There on Sunday Night At The Palladium.

Unfortunately, the British Beat Boom eventually did for them, and by 1964, The Viscounts couldn’t get arrested – along with other once-huge British vocal groups like The Brook Brothers, The Kestrels and The Checkmates.

One of The Viscounts, Gordon Mills, later had more success as the manager of Tom Jones (for whom he wrote It’s Not Unusual) and Engelbert Humperdinck. He also wrote hit songs for Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and Cliff Richard.

Mills died on 29 July 1986 in Los Angeles. Ronnie Wells died on 22 September 2013.

Gordon Mills
Vocals
Don Paul
Vocals
Ronnie Wells
Vocals