Mrs Mills - Piano Favourites

Gladys Mills (1918- 1978), better known as Mrs Mills, was a pianist who was popular in the 1960s and released many records.



She shot to fame during the same period as her stable-mates The Beatles, with whom she shared space at Abbey Road Studios (as mentioned in the Beatles Anthology DVD bonus materials). After previously working as the superintendent of the typing pool in the Paymaster General's office in London in December 1961, she would become a household name by the end of January 1962, having been spotted by a talent scout at a Woodford Golf Club dance near her home in Loughton, Essex. Glad Mills was signed to a management contract by Eric Easton who later went on to manage the Dave Clark Five and the Rolling Stones among others. After signing to Parlophone Records, her very first release - the Mrs Mills Medley single - entered the Top Twenty, and her career as an entertainer began - a career that would last well into the 1970s. She toured the UK, made many appearances on TV and radio throughout this period. Mrs Mills was also a successful recording artist overseas in territories where there were large numbers of ex-pats from the U.K. including Australia, Canada and Hong Kong.



Her oeuvre consisted of standards (British and international), plus versions of contemporary hits. A 2003 release (The Very Best Of Mrs Mills, on EMI Gold) includes such hits as "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend", "Hello, Dolly!", "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", "Yellow Submarine", and many others in a similar vein.



Her albums are still frequently available in charity shops. Singles are far rarer, and possibly of lesser aesthetic value being sold in generic Parlophone sleeves, akin to those of the UK-issued Beatles singles. They displayed none of her glorious grandeur, as seen on LP covers for Look Mum, no Hands! (1967) (Glad on horseback), or I'm Mighty Glad' (1966) (Glad as a sailor), Your One And Only Mrs Mills (1967) (Glad as a housemaid complete with feather duster) and the hallucinatory post-Sgt Pepper cover of Party Sing Along(1970) (with a kaleidoscopic image not far removed from the contemporary debut of fellow EMI artists Pink Floyd - Piper At The Gates Of Dawn).



Apart from album covers, little has been seen on television of Mrs Mills since her heyday. One rare example - albeit a recreation - of Mrs Mills' style of performance came in an edition of the BBC's The Two Ronnies. The sketch (Family Entertainment - John & Mrs Mills) occupied the end-of-the-show musical slot, with Ronnie Barker as the silk-laden Mrs Mills at piano, and Ronnie Corbett as a uniformed Sir John Mills (who was no relation). They performed a medley of Mills-style classics (on the theme of Mills' character in the 1969 film Oh! What A Lovely War). (NB: The show (series 4; episode 4) was originally broadcast on BBC2, 23/01/75.



Mrs Mills died in February 1978.







01 Put your arms around me honey

02 I'm in the mood for love

03 Yes sir, that's my baby

04 Moonlight and roses

05 Oh, Johnny! Oh Johnny! Oh!

06 Give me the moonlight, Give me the girl

07 Winchester Cathederal

08 Gree green grass of home

09 I'm nobody's baby

10 The the good old summertime

11 Tiptoe through the tulips

12 You are my sunshine

13 April showers

14 Down at the old Bull and Bush

15 Cruising down the river

16 Shine on harvest moon

17 I do like to be beside the seaside

18 Out of town

19 Let's all sing like the birdies sing

20 Good morning

21 Me and my shadow

22 My melancholy baby

23 Second hand rose

24 There's a bridge round my heart, Virginia

25 Let him go, let him tarry

26 I belong to Glasgow

27 Over the rainbow

28 Get out and get under the moon