13 Facts About Gordon Mills

Gordon William Mills was a successful London-based music industry manager and songwriter.

Gordon Mills was born in Madras, British India and grew up in Trealaw in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales.

An only child, Gordon Mills was taught to play the harmonica by his mother, Lorna.

At age 15, Gordon Mills joined a group playing in pubs and clubs in the South Wales Valleys.

Gordon Mills came second, qualifying him to represent the UK in the European final which he then won.

At a party given by singer Terry Dene, Gordon Mills met model Jo Waring and they married two years later.

Gordon Mills eventually became the manager of Woodward, whom he renamed "Tom Jones," after signing a management transfer contract with Woodward's joint managers Raymond William Godfrey and Raymond John Glastonbury.

Gordon Mills then wanted to break Jones into recording film soundtracks but, after the relative failure of the James Bond theme song "Thunderball", another approach was needed.

Gordon Mills redesigned the singer's image into that of a crooner.

In 1965, Gordon Mills started working with Gerry Dorsey, a singer who had been around for a long time without major success, changing his name to Engelbert Humperdinck and with television exposure on a Sunday night in 1967 at the London Palladium, a new star was born.

Gordon Mills gave other pop music stars their stage names, such as Engelbert Humperdinck, and Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Gordon Mills died of stomach cancer in 1986, at the age of 51 and is buried in Burvale Cemetery, Hersham.

Gordon Mills' namesake son found some success with Strange Nature, and is a record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist session musician.