Gordon William Mills (15 May 1935 – 29 July 1986) was a London-based music industry manager and songwriter. He was born in Madras, British India in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales. During the 1960s and 1970s, he managed the careers of three highly successful musical artists - Tom Jones, Engelbert Humperdinck and Gilbert O'Sullivan. Mills was also a songwriter, penning hits for Cliff Richard, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Applejacks, Paul Jones, Peter and Gordon, and Tom Jones, most notably co-writing Jones's signature song "It's Not Unusual" with Les Reed.

Biography

Mills's parents met and married in British India when his father was serving in the British Army. They returned to Britain shortly after Gordon's birth.

Mills wrote some songs, with his first "I'll Never Get Over You", recorded by Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, reaching No. 4 in the UK in 1963. In the space of a year he wrote three more hits "Hungry for Love", "Jealous Girl" and "Three Little Words". "I'm the Lonely One" gave Cliff Richard and the Shadows a top 10 success in 1964.

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

Watching a performance by Tommy Scott and the Senators One, one night in Cwmtillery, he saw a new young singer named Tom Woodward. 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 ("Myron & Byron"). The two had already signed the singer to Decca Records, after terminating their previous recording agreement with Joe Meek of RGM Sound Ltd. They retained a 5% interest in Jones, but had to sue Jones and Mills in the High Court for non-fulfilment, finally obtaining a settlement, in 1969, for an undisclosed sum.

Jones' first single "Chills and Fever", originally recorded with Joe Meek, was released in late 1964, but was not a hit. Jones' second attempt was a song turned down by Sandie Shaw. The song was "It's Not Unusual" which propelled him into the top reaches of the chart. Mills then wanted to break Jones into recording film soundtracks but, after the relative failure of the James Bond theme song "Thunderball" (UK No. 35), In 1967, Jones performed in Las Vegas for the first time, at the Flamingo.

In 1965, 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. Between 1967 and 1972, Mills had two of the biggest stars in the music industry under his control and he signed female singer/songwriter Lynsey de Paul who had just scored a huge hit with "Sugar Me", but by the end of 1973 she had left the label. As revealed in his 2015 autobiography, Tom Jones stated "We had Lynsey de Paul, a big star, though she fell out with Gordon (Mills) for wanting to produce her own records" but de Paul was also not happy about decisions on which of her songs were recorded and released too.

Mills cleverly renamed a number of famous singers. Tom Woodward became "Tom Jones" after a suggestion from Godfrey and Glastonbury, who had objected to Decca's plan to call him "Scotty" in 1965. Mills gave other pop music stars their stage names, such as Engelbert Humperdinck, and Gilbert O'Sullivan.

Things turned more sour when O'Sullivan discovered his recording contract with MAM Records greatly favoured the label's owner. O'Sullivan sued his former manager on suspicion of the latter having "cooked the books", failing to pay O'Sullivan all of his duly earned royalties. It was also revealed that former label mate Lynsey de Paul earned a royalty rate of 8% - 3% higher than O'Sullivan. A lawsuit followed, with prolonged argument over how much money his songs had earned and how much of that money he had actually received. Eventually, in May 1982, the court found in O'Sullivan's favour, describing him as a "patently honest and decent man", who had not received a just proportion of the vast income his songs had generated. (1965) (Freddie and the Dreamers, UK No. 26); (Tom Jones)

  • "And I Tell The Sea" (1965) (Tom Jones)
  • "Hide and Seek" (1966) (Tom Jones)
  • "High Time" (1966) (Paul Jones) (UK No. 4)
  • "Hungry for Love"
  • "If I Had You" (1966) (Tom Jones)
  • "I Like The Look of You" (1964) (The Fortunes)
  • "I'll Never Get Over You" (1963) (Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, UK No. 4) (Cliff Richard, 1964, UK No. 8); (1966) (Peter and Gordon, UK No. 14)
  • "Little by Little" (1966) (Tom Jones)
  • "Not Responsible" (1966) (Tom Jones, UK No. 18) (1966) (Engelbert Humperdinck)
  • "Ten Guitars" (1966) (Engelbert Humperdinck)
  • "The Rose" (1965) (Tom Jones)
  • "Things I Wanna Do" (1967) (Tom Jones)
  • "Three Little Words (I Love You)" (1964) (The Applejacks, UK No. 23)
  • "Untrue Unfaithful"