British group The Viscounts – Gordon Mills, Don Paul and Ronnie Wells – were a trio of variety entertainers 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-in’s’ (such as Mama’s Doin’ The Twist). Nevertheless, they managed two modest entries into the British chart around 1961.
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 and Engelbert Humperdinck. He also wrote hit songs for Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and Cliff Richard.
Gordon Mills
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Don Paul
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Ronnie Wells
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