Mike Sammes Singers doing "The Swingle Singers"......I like all the titles to the tracks very cool and witty..some great arrangements on this one classic lovers will hate it !!
Michael William Sammes (19 February 1928 – 19 May 2001) was an English musician and vocal session arranger, performing backing vocals on pop music recorded in the UK from 1955 to the 1970s......The Michael Sammes Singers members included: Mike Sammes, John O'Neill, Irene King, Enid Hurd (Enid Heard), Mike Redway, Ross Gilmour, Valerie Bain, Marion Gay and Mel Todd......By 1957, he had assembled the core group that would form the Mike Sammes Singers, finding them soon steadily employed, for singers, soundtrack and radio jingles, working sometimes as many as four sessions in a day and up to six days a week.
The Mike Sammes Singers performed the title themes for three of Gerry Anderson's shows, Supercar, Stingray, and The Secret Service. The group recorded seven albums between 1962 and 1988. In addition, they performed on numerous albums for Disneyland Records. Among the many hit singles featuring the Mike Sammes Singers are "No Other Love" (Ronnie Hilton), "A Handful of Songs" (Tommy Steele), "Why?" and "Strawberry Fair" (Anthony Newley), "Walkin' Back to Happiness" (Helen Shapiro), "The Last Waltz" (Engelbert Humperdinck), "Green Green Grass of Home" and "Delilah" (Tom Jones) and "Tears" by Ken Dodd.
( Info Edited From Wikipedia).
( Info Edited From Wikipedia).
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ReplyDeleteHello.
ReplyDeleteI know about Michael Sammes, but do you please know the resulting history of the other members ?
Thanks very much.
Hi Unknown...here's what I Found....
ReplyDeleteThe Michael Sammes Singers members included: Mike Sammes, John O'Neill, Irene King, Enid Hurd (Enid Heard), Mike Redway, Ross Gilmour, Valerie Bain, Marion Gay and Mel Todd.
The Mike Sammes Singers remained very busy into the 1970s, doing recordings for television (The Secret Service) and appearing on the small screen (the Val Doonican Show, 1971). By the mid-1970s, though, the demand for backing vocals had faded considerably, due to the introduction of multi-tracking and synthesizers. On "The Last of the Summer Wine", the Mike Sammes Singers contributed the "Summer Wine" song over the opening credits of the Christmas 1983 episode "Getting Sam Home".
The group also had its own BBC program, Sammes Songs. The group and several of its members intersected with the Beatles on two key recordings -- that was the Mike Sammes Singers backing up the band on their recording of "I Am the Walrus," and they would also turn up singing the choral backing on "Good Night." The Mike Sammes Singers remained very busy into the '70s, doing recordings for television (Secret Service) and appearing on the small screen (The Val Doonican Show, 1971). They worked on sessions with Olivia Newton-John and were still doing studio recordings into the next decade and beyond.
Sammes died at the age of 73 in May 2001, several months after a fall from which he never fully recovered. Jonny Trunk, of Trunk Records, was able to recover a number of reel-to-reel tapes from Sammes' house (despite it having been ransacked by house clearance), which he went on to compile as Music for Biscuits, so-named because it featured 1960s/1970s advertising jingles for Tuc biscuits, etc.
Sammes died at the age of 73 in May 2001 and the Mike Sammes Singers died with him.
Which is a pity they were a great group of singers...hope that answers some of your thoughts about them...cheers...Brody