Gary Miller

Gary Miller (born Neville Williams, 1924, Blackpool, Lancashire) was a British pop singer of the 1950s and 1960s. His career spanned only 13 years before he died of a heart attack in 1968. He released 24 singles and six EPs on the Pye Records label between 1955 and 1967. Pye released a further compilation EP after his death.

Miller had several Top 40 singles early in his career, his debut single Yellow Rose Of Texas reaching #13 on the UK charts. The most successful was Robin Hood (the theme to The Adventures of Robin Hood) which spent 28 weeks in the charts[1] and peaked at #10, his only Top 10 hit.

Miller had a number of small acting roles in the television series The Saint and Gideon's Way, and was a regular panelist on Juke Box Jury. He provided the singing voice for Troy Tempest in the Gerry Anderson series Stingray and recorded Aqua Marina, the end titles theme the series. He also recorded Flying High, the original unused end titles theme for Thunderbirds. Flying High was later used in the episode Ricochet and released on the Thunderbirds 2 compilation album.

Miller appeared on stage in the 1964 production of She Loves Me at the Lyric Theatre and on the cast album of that production.

Gary Miller was a talented individual who could doubtless have made a career in any of several spheres. After completing his service in the Royal Navy after the war, he made the move south from his native Blackpool. It was his ambition to enter the teaching profession and in pursuit of this he enrolled as a student at a London college. However extracarricular activity soon found him singing- a hitherto undiscovered talent that led him away from his studies and towards making it as a professional entertainer.

Gary is a difficult singer to categorise, because he sang such a wide variety of different material. His chart successes indicate that he was most suited to light 'pop', but he also sang a great many romantic ballads. He was the consummate professional, but despite his polished performances he never quite managed to break through into the top flight of British balladeers. The writer of this piece remembers seeing a live performance that Gary gave in March, 1958. Buddy Holly and the Crickets were top of the bill at the same show. Unfortunately, the Crickets were due to appear on the TV show "Sunday Night At The London Palladium" that same evening and had to go on stage first because of the timing of this appointment. Consequently, it was left to Gary to close the show. Despite having to deal with an audience still heady after a legendary performance by one of rock and roll's greatest stars (several people held up lighted matches during the rendition of Gary's latest release, "Put A Light In The Window") he came through the ordeal undaunted and to great applause.

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