Gyp Mills
Encyclopedia
Gyp Mills (born David John Mills, 19 July 1946, in Peckham Rye
, South East
London
) is a sculptor and songwriter
. He was first in the public eye as the companion to the singer-songwriter
, Donovan
. He was also a well known sculptor with studio
s in Greece
and Thailand
.
. In his early days in Hertfordshire he became friends with many art
student
s including Dave Richards, Julian McAllister and Donovan. In 1963 a pivotal journey to St. Ives
, Cornwall
with Donovan was to become the stuff of legend. He lost touch with Donovan and moved around the UK
including Manchester
and Nottingham
. In late 1964 Donovan had been signed up to a record label
and asked Mills to accompany him on his first tour with his other friends Mac MacLeod
and John Lock. Donovan wrote "To Try for the Sun
" and "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)
" about his time with Mills. Mills was tour manager
for Donovan for many years, and appeared alongside Donovan in the TV film
, A Boy Called Donovan. In 1968 they both journeyed to be with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
and The Beatles at Rishikesh, India
. Mills wrote a few songs which appeared on Donovan's album
, The Hurdy Gurdy Man
. The uncredited tracks "A Sunny Day" and "The River Song" according to BMI
records were collaborations with Donovan, but the song "Tangier" was written solely by Mills under its original title of "In Tangier Down a Windy Street". Altogether he has 20 songs registered at BMI.com under his real name of David J. Mills.
including personal tuition with David Wynne
, at this time he moved away from his music industry connections towards the visual arts
. In the years that followed he restored a farm house and set up a studio on the Greek island of Paros
. His works were exhibited in Gordons Gallery, Wimbledon
; The Fulham Gallery, Fulham Road
, London; Doves Gallery, Norwich
, and The Welsh House Gallery, North Wales
. In 1979 he wrote a children's book entitled Sandy Lea for which Rita Schmeiser provided the illustrations. The 1986 film Castaway
with Oliver Reed
and Amanda Donohoe
used his song "Tangier" extensively. By 1997 Mills turned his attention back to sculpture, and became a well-respected artist and writer in Greece.
his partner Pannee in Thailand
, and finished building a school of sculpture and an artist's retreat. He is finishing his autobiography
and a few of his early adventures are to be found in Donovan's book The Hurdy Gurdy Man. Before the release of his book Donovan stated in an interview in musicohm.com "So I've been doing this book for quite a long while! It's almost complete, I've got it in my bag, I'm doing the last corrections. Gypsy Dave my road buddy has been helping too. In Greece last year we spent quite a lot of time working on it."
"Gyp was Donovan's right hand man and a great job he did of it too" - Mac MacLeod
talking about Donovan's first tour in 1965 from KFOK-LP
radio
interview on 14 June 2005.
Some chapters from Gyp Mills Biography 'Knights Of The Road' are available to download from his newly updated website http://www.gypmillssculptures.com/autobiography.php
Peckham Rye
For the rail station of the same name see Peckham Rye Railway StationPeckham Rye is an open space and road in the London Borough of Southwark in London, England....
, South East
SE postcode area
The SE postcode area, also known as the London SE postcode area, is the part of the London post town covering part of south east London, England...
London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
) is a sculptor and songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
. He was first in the public eye as the companion to the singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
, Donovan
Donovan
Donovan Donovan Donovan (born Donovan Philips Leitch (born 10 May 1946) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Emerging from the British folk scene, he developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelia, and world music...
. He was also a well known sculptor with studio
Studio
A studio is an artist's or worker's workroom, or the catchall term for an artist and his or her employees who work within that studio. This can be for the purpose of architecture, painting, pottery , sculpture, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, radio or television...
s in Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
and Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
.
Early years
From London Mills' family moved to HertfordshireHertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. In his early days in Hertfordshire he became friends with many art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
student
Student
A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...
s including Dave Richards, Julian McAllister and Donovan. In 1963 a pivotal journey to St. Ives
St Ives, Cornwall
St Ives is a seaside town, civil parish and port in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town lies north of Penzance and west of Camborne on the coast of the Celtic Sea. In former times it was commercially dependent on fishing. The decline in fishing, however, caused a shift in commercial...
, Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
with Donovan was to become the stuff of legend. He lost touch with Donovan and moved around the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
including Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
and Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
. In late 1964 Donovan had been signed up to a record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
and asked Mills to accompany him on his first tour with his other friends Mac MacLeod
Mac MacLeod
Mac MacLeod is an English musician who was a part of the Hertfordshire folk and blues scene from 1959 onwards. He played in St Albans alongside Mick Softley, Maddy Prior and toured with John Renbourn...
and John Lock. Donovan wrote "To Try for the Sun
To Try for the Sun
"To Try for the Sun" is a song written and recorded by Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. The "To Try for the Sun" single was backed with "Turquoise" and released in the United States in January 1966 through Hickory Records ....
" and "Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)
Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness)
"Hey Gyp " is a song by Donovan. The name "Gyp" refers to his friend Gyp Mills. It has been covered by Eric Burdon and The Animals and The Soul Survivors. It has also been covered by The Belfast Gypsies, Keith Shields, and the Truth....
" about his time with Mills. Mills was tour manager
Tour Manager
A tour manager is the person who helps to organize the administration for a schedule of appearances of a musical group or artist at a sequence of venues .-Background:...
for Donovan for many years, and appeared alongside Donovan in the TV film
Television movie
A television film is a feature film that is a television program produced for and originally distributed by a television network, in contrast to...
, A Boy Called Donovan. In 1968 they both journeyed to be with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
and The Beatles at Rishikesh, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. Mills wrote a few songs which appeared on Donovan's album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, The Hurdy Gurdy Man
The Hurdy Gurdy Man
The Hurdy Gurdy Man is the sixth studio album and seventh album overall from Scottish singer-songwriter Donovan. It was released in the United States in October 1968 , but was not released in the UK because of a continuing contractual dispute that also prevented Sunshine Superman and Mellow Yellow...
. The uncredited tracks "A Sunny Day" and "The River Song" according to BMI
Broadcast Music Incorporated
Broadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
records were collaborations with Donovan, but the song "Tangier" was written solely by Mills under its original title of "In Tangier Down a Windy Street". Altogether he has 20 songs registered at BMI.com under his real name of David J. Mills.
Sculpture and beyond
From 1968 to 1971 Mills studied sculptureSculpture
Sculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
including personal tuition with David Wynne
David Wynne (sculptor)
David Wynne, OBE is a British sculptor of figures, animals, and portraits.Born in Lyndhurst, Hampshire, son of Comdr Charles Edward Wynne and Millicent , he married Gillian Grant, daughter of the writer Joan Grant, in 1959 and had two sons, Ed and Roly Wynne of Ozric Tentacles.He was awarded the...
, at this time he moved away from his music industry connections towards the visual arts
Visual arts
The visual arts are art forms that create works which are primarily visual in nature, such as ceramics, drawing, painting, sculpture, printmaking, design, crafts, and often modern visual arts and architecture...
. In the years that followed he restored a farm house and set up a studio on the Greek island of Paros
Paros
Paros is an island of Greece in the central Aegean Sea. One of the Cyclades island group, it lies to the west of Naxos, from which it is separated by a channel about wide. It lies approximately south-east of Piraeus. The Municipality of Paros includes numerous uninhabited offshore islets...
. His works were exhibited in Gordons Gallery, Wimbledon
Wimbledon, London
Wimbledon is a district in the south west area of London, England, located south of Wandsworth, and east of Kingston upon Thames. It is situated within Greater London. It is home to the Wimbledon Tennis Championships and New Wimbledon Theatre, and contains Wimbledon Common, one of the largest areas...
; The Fulham Gallery, Fulham Road
Fulham Road
Fulham Road is a street in London, England, that runs from the A219 road in right in the centre of Fulham, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, through Chelsea to Brompton Road Knightsbridge and the A4 in Brompton, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea.Fulham Road runs parallel...
, London; Doves Gallery, Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
, and The Welsh House Gallery, North Wales
North Wales
North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...
. In 1979 he wrote a children's book entitled Sandy Lea for which Rita Schmeiser provided the illustrations. The 1986 film Castaway
Castaway (film)
Castaway is a 1986 film starring Amanda Donohoe and Oliver Reed, and directed by Nicolas Roeg. It was adapted from the 1984 book of the same name by Lucy Irvine, telling of her experiences of staying for a year with writer Gerald Kingsland on the isolated island of Tuin, between New Guinea and...
with Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed
Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...
and Amanda Donohoe
Amanda Donohoe
Amanda Donohoe is an English film and television actress. She is known for her 1980s relationship with popstar Adam Ant and her later work on television — including L.A. Law and Emmerdale — and her roles in successful movies including Liar, Liar.-Early life:Donohoe was born in London, the daughter...
used his song "Tangier" extensively. By 1997 Mills turned his attention back to sculpture, and became a well-respected artist and writer in Greece.
Student to teacher
In 2006 Mills marriedMarriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
his partner Pannee in Thailand
Thailand
Thailand , officially the Kingdom of Thailand , formerly known as Siam , is a country located at the centre of the Indochina peninsula and Southeast Asia. It is bordered to the north by Burma and Laos, to the east by Laos and Cambodia, to the south by the Gulf of Thailand and Malaysia, and to the...
, and finished building a school of sculpture and an artist's retreat. He is finishing his autobiography
Autobiography
An autobiography is a book about the life of a person, written by that person.-Origin of the term:...
and a few of his early adventures are to be found in Donovan's book The Hurdy Gurdy Man. Before the release of his book Donovan stated in an interview in musicohm.com "So I've been doing this book for quite a long while! It's almost complete, I've got it in my bag, I'm doing the last corrections. Gypsy Dave my road buddy has been helping too. In Greece last year we spent quite a lot of time working on it."
"Gyp was Donovan's right hand man and a great job he did of it too" - Mac MacLeod
Mac MacLeod
Mac MacLeod is an English musician who was a part of the Hertfordshire folk and blues scene from 1959 onwards. He played in St Albans alongside Mick Softley, Maddy Prior and toured with John Renbourn...
talking about Donovan's first tour in 1965 from KFOK-LP
KFOK-LP
KFOK-LP is a radio station licensed to Georgetown, California, USA. The station is currently owned by American River Folk Society....
radio
Radio station
Radio broadcasting is a one-way wireless transmission over radio waves intended to reach a wide audience. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast a common radio format, either in broadcast syndication or simulcast or both...
interview on 14 June 2005.
Some chapters from Gyp Mills Biography 'Knights Of The Road' are available to download from his newly updated website http://www.gypmillssculptures.com/autobiography.php