Garry Mills (also Gary Mills) (born 13 October 1941 in West Wickham, Kent, England), is a British pop singer.
Gary made his first public appearance at a charity concert in Rotherhithe when he was twelve. Later like many other UK pop singers of the late 50s, he started at London’s 2i’s coffee bar and this led to his signing with Dick Rowe at Top Rank. He covered major US hits such as ‘Running Bear’, ‘Teen Angel’, ‘Hey, Baby’, ‘Seven Little Girls’ and ‘Footsteps’ before charting with the b-side of the last single.
The song ‘Look For A Star’ had been written for the Norman Wisdom film Follow A Star but was actually used in the Hammer movie Circus Of Horrors. The rippling arrangement in Look for a Star sets up Garry Mills’ smooth and easy tenor vocal. Only the flourish at the end of each refrain “someone to love” where the word ‘love’ becomes the lilting, three syllable word ‘luh-uh-uhv’ gives a personal touch to the lyrics.
Look for a Star (Where there’s a friend waiting to guide you) was featured in American International Pictures’ suspense film ‘Circus of Horrors’ and sung as background music during a circus rope ballet. This fascinating record never made it into the top-twenty for original British artist Garry Mills.
A second, nearly identical, version of Look for a Star by similarly-named Garry Miles, and released on London records #HLG9155 or Liberty #55261 on the same date as the Garry Mills version, reached 16th place. Garry Miles was a contrived name for singer/songwriter Buzz Cason who, in 1967, co-wrote the #1 hit Everlasting Love. Both Garry Mills and Garry Miles were ‘one-hit-wonders’ never releasing another successful record.
In America, Gary’s (he dropped one ‘r’ for the USA) original soundtrack version was joined on the charts by three local cover versions, and, although he made the Top 40 in 1960, the biggest hit was by his near namesake Garry Miles (aka Buzz Cason).
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| Garry Mills, Ricky Valance & Ted Heath |
The record was not only Mills’ biggest success; it was also the first hit for composer Mark Anthony, better known as Tony Hatch. Mills, who was backed on the road by the Flee-Rekkers, had two smaller UK hits with the follow-up ‘Top Teen Baby’ and ‘I’ll Step Down’ on Decca in 1961. Mills also appeared in the long-forgotten films London Nights and Treasure Island W.C.2.
In 1964 he recorded one record for the Fontana label as Gary & The Ariels doubtless trying to redefine himself to take advantage of the mid 60s boom in beat groups. The songs were: “Say You Love me” and “Town Girl.”
And that dear readers is all the internet information I can find except that in September 2007 Garry was a guest on Radio Caroline and chatted about his early singing career. Also he performed at the 2 i’s Reunion at The Borderline, London W1, Sunday January 29th 2012. Gary Mills was the nephew of jazz band leader Nat Gonella.
(Edited from AllMusic, 50spopmusic & 45rpm.org)