Michael William "Mike" Sammes (19 February 1928 – 19 May 2001) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
and
vocalThe human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary sound source...
sessionSession musicians are instrumental performers or vocalists who are available for hire for live performances or recording sessions, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical ensemble or who have acquired fame in their own right as bandleaders...
arrangerIn music, an arrangement is either a rewriting of a piece of existing music with additional new material or a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch, such as a lead sheet...
, performing
backing vocalsA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
on pop music recorded in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
from 1955 to the 1970s.
Born in
ReigateReigate is a historic market town in Surrey, England at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. It is one of the main constituents of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. Reigate and the adjacent town of Redhill form a single urban area....
,
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
, Sammes was the son of pioneer
photographerA photographer is a person who takes photographs using a camera. A professional photographer uses photography to make a living whilst an amateur photographer does not earn a living and typically takes photographs for pleasure and to record an event, place or person for future enjoyment.A...
and film-maker Rowland Sammes. He began his interest in
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
by learning the
celloThe cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra...
and played in the school
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
at
Reigate Grammar SchoolReigate Grammar School is an independent co-educational day school located in the Surrey town of Reigate. Intake is from 11 to 18, with the majority of its pupils entering at the age of 11, and others entering at 13 and 16.- History :...
. He then worked briefly for the music publisher,
Chappell & Co.Chappell & Co. was an English company that published music and manufactured pianos.-History:It was founded in 1810 by Samuel Chappell in partnership with music professors Francis Tatton Latour and Johann Baptist Cramer. Cramer was also a well-known London composer, teacher and pianist...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
.
Michael William "Mike" Sammes (19 February 1928 – 19 May 2001) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
musicianA musician is a person who performs or writes music. Musicians can be classified by their roles in creating or performing music:* An instrumentalist plays a musical instrument.* A singer uses his or her voice as an instrument....
and
vocalThe human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal folds for talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, etc. Human voice is specifically that part of human sound production in which the vocal folds are the primary sound source...
sessionSession musicians are instrumental performers or vocalists who are available for hire for live performances or recording sessions, as opposed to musicians who are either permanent members of a musical ensemble or who have acquired fame in their own right as bandleaders...
arrangerIn music, an arrangement is either a rewriting of a piece of existing music with additional new material or a fleshing-out of a compositional sketch, such as a lead sheet...
, performing
backing vocalsA backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...
on pop music recorded in the
UKThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
from 1955 to the 1970s.
Career
Born in
ReigateReigate is a historic market town in Surrey, England at the foot of the North Downs, and in the London commuter belt. It is one of the main constituents of the Borough of Reigate and Banstead. Reigate and the adjacent town of Redhill form a single urban area....
,
SurreySurrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire, and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford...
, Sammes was the son of pioneer
photographerA photographer is a person who takes photographs using a camera. A professional photographer uses photography to make a living whilst an amateur photographer does not earn a living and typically takes photographs for pleasure and to record an event, place or person for future enjoyment.A...
and film-maker Rowland Sammes. He began his interest in
musicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound. Common elements of music are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
by learning the
celloThe cello is a bowed string instrument. The word derives from the Italian violoncello. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra...
and played in the school
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
at
Reigate Grammar SchoolReigate Grammar School is an independent co-educational day school located in the Surrey town of Reigate. Intake is from 11 to 18, with the majority of its pupils entering at the age of 11, and others entering at 13 and 16.- History :...
. He then worked briefly for the music publisher,
Chappell & Co.Chappell & Co. was an English company that published music and manufactured pianos.-History:It was founded in 1810 by Samuel Chappell in partnership with music professors Francis Tatton Latour and Johann Baptist Cramer. Cramer was also a well-known London composer, teacher and pianist...
in
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
. After
national serviceNational service is a common name for mandatory or voluntary government service programs . National service was common in the 20th century, and many young people spent one or more years in such programs...
in the
RAFThe Royal Air Force is the United Kingdom's air force, the oldest independent air force in the world. Formed on 1 April 1918, the RAF has taken a significant role in British military history ever since, playing a large part in World War II and in more recent conflicts.The RAF operates almost 1,109...
in the late 1940s, he worked a variety of jobs until a fellow musician, Bill Shepherd, convinced him to form a
groupIn music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform songs. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band* Dansband* Fife and drum...
called The Coronets. This male vocal group recorded some
coversIn popular music, a cover version, or simply cover, is a new rendition of a previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of current
hitsA hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
for
Columbia RecordsColumbia Records is an American record label founded in 1888.Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in pre-recorded sound, being the first record company to produce pre-recorded records as opposed to blank cylinders. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of notable singers,...
and did some back-up work for the Big Ben Banjo Band, but Shepherd lost interest.
Sammes, however, was greatly interested in the work and saw the business opportunities it provided. After bringing together the core group of singers in 1955, the ensemble was soon working four sessions a day, six days a week. They did back-ups for all the major and minor British singers,
soundtrackA soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized...
and
radioRadio is the transmission of signals by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
work, and thousands of
radioRadio broadcasting is an audio broadcasting service, broadcast through the air as radio waves from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Stations can be linked in radio networks to broadcast common programming, either in syndication or simulcast or both...
jingleA jingle is a memorable slogan, set to an engaging melody, mainly broadcast on radio and sometimes on television commercials.- History :The jingle had no definitive debut: its infiltration of the radio was more of an evolutionary process than a sudden innovation...
s.
Under the name of 'The Mike Sammes Singers' they recorded seven
albumAn album or record album is a collection of related audio or music tracks distributed to the public. The most common way is through commercial distribution, although smaller artists will often distribute directly to the public by selling their albums at live concerts or on their websites.-...
s between 1962 and 1988. In addition, they performed on numerous albums for
Disneyland RecordsDisneyland Records is the original name of the Walt Disney Company's record company.The label was established in 1956 under the name Disneyland Records; its first release was A Child's Garden of Verses. The company changed its name to Walt Disney Records in 1989...
. Among the many hit singles featuring the Mike Sammes Singers are "
No Other Love"No Other Love" is a show tune from the 1953 Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Me and Juliet.Richard Rodgers originally composed this tune for the television series Victory at Sea...
" (
Ronnie HiltonRonnie Hilton was an English singer and radio presenter. According to his obituary in the The Guardian newspaper, "Hilton was one of those 1950s vocalists whose career coincided with rock and roll's 1956 onslaught on the ballad dominated hit parade...
), "A Handful of Songs" (
Tommy SteeleTommy Steele OBE is an English entertainer. Steele is widely regarded as Britain's first teen idol and rock 'n' roll star...
), "Why?" and "
Strawberry FairStrawberry Fair is an English folk song .The song was collected by H. Fleetwood Sheppard in Broadstone, Devon in 1891. The text may have been re-written by Sabine Baring Gould and Fleetwood Sheppard.-Lyrics:...
" (
Anthony NewleyAnthony George Newley , was an English actor, singer and songwriter.-Career:Anthony Newley was an actor, singer, and composer with an international following, equally adept and prodigious in all three fields...
), "
Walkin' Back to HappinessWalkin' Back to Happiness is a 1961 single by Helen Shapiro, first UK number one hit. The song was written by John Schroeder and Michael Edwin Hawker and was released in the United Kingdom on the Columbia label on 29 September, 1961. It hit UK #1 for three weeks beginning 19 October, but only...
" (
Helen ShapiroHelen Shapiro is an English singer and actress. She is best known for her 1960s UK chart-toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness."-Early life:...
), "
The Last Waltz"The Last Waltz" is a song written by Barry Mason. It was one of Engelbert Humperdinck's biggest hits, spending five weeks at number one on the British charts in September and October 1967...
" (
Engelbert HumperdinckEngelbert Humperdinck is a well-known British popular music singer who became famous internationally during the 1960s and 1970s, after adopting the name of the famous German opera composer Engelbert Humperdinck as his own stage name.-Early years:He was one of ten children of British Army officer...
), "
Green Green Grass of Home"Green Green Grass of Home", written by Claude "Curly" Putman Jr., is a country song originally made popular by Porter Wagoner in 1964 and Bobby Bare in 1965. It was sung later by Tom Jones in 1966 when it reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 1 December staying there for a total of seven...
" and "
Delilah"Delilah" was a song written by Les Reed and Barry Mason and recorded by Tom Jones in 1968.-Success:It reached No 1 in the charts of several countries including Germany and Switzerland. It reached No 2 in the British charts in March 1968 and was the sixth best selling single of that year...
" (
Tom JonesSir Thomas Jones Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer. Since 1965, Jones has sold over 100 million records.-Early life:...
) and "
Tears"Tears" is a song written by lyricist Frank Capano and composer Billy Uhr in the 1930s. It was recorded as a single by Ken Dodd, which was released in 1965. It became a #1 hit in the UK Singles Chart and the biggest selling single of 1965....
" by
Ken DoddKenneth Arthur Dodd OBE is an English comedian and singer songwriter, famous for his buck teeth, frizzy hair, feather duster , and his catchphrases, often playing on the 'tickled' motif, ex: "How tickled I am!"...
.
Barry GrayBarry Gray was a British musician and composer who is best known for his work for Gerry Anderson.-Life:...
used them on the
title themesTheme music is a piece that is often written specifically for a radio program, television program, video game or movie, and usually played during the title sequence and/or end credits...
for three of
Gerry AndersonGerry Anderson MBE, born , is a British producer, director and writer, famous for his futuristic television programmes, particularly those involving specially modified marionettes, a process called "Supermarionation"....
's shows,
SupercarSupercar was a children's TV show produced by Gerry Anderson and Arthur Provis's AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment. 39 episodes were produced between 1961 and 1962, and it was Anderson's first half-hour series. In the UK it was seen on ITV and in the US in syndication...
,
StingrayStingray is a children's marionette television show, created by Gerry and Sylvia Anderson and produced by AP Films for ATV and ITC Entertainment from 1964-65. Its 39 half-hour episodes were originally screened on ITV in the UK and in syndication in the USA...
, and
The Secret Service* This article is about the television series. For the form of government policing, see secret service.The Secret Service is the title of a British children's Spy-fi series produced by Gerry Anderson and Lord Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions company for ITC Entertainment in 1969 and broadcast on...
. They helped out
The BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 who became one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music...
on the songs "
I Am the Walrus"I Am the Walrus" is a 1967 song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. Lennon claimed he wrote the first two lines on separate acid trips...
" and "
Good Night"Good Night" is the final song by The Beatles on their 1968 album The Beatles . It is sung by Ringo Starr, the only Beatle to appear on the song...
"; as well as on their last album,
Let It BeLet It Be is the 12th and final studio album released by the English rock band The Beatles. It was released on 8 May 1970, by the band's Apple Records label shortly after the group's announced breakup....
, at the behest of
Phil SpectorHarvey Philip "Phil" Spector is an American pioneering record producer and songwriter who was convicted of murder in 2009....
. Sammes also provided the distinctive basso backing vocals on Olivia Newton John's early
countryCountry music is a blend of popular musical forms originally found in the Southern United States and the Appalachian Mountains...
crossoverCrossover is a term applied to musical works or performers appearing on two or more of the record charts which track differing musical tastes, or genres...
hits, including "
Banks of the Ohio"Banks of the Ohio" is a 19th century murder ballad, written by unknown authors, in which "Willie" invites his young lover for a walk during which she rejects his marriage proposal. Once they are alone on the river bank, he murders the young woman....
", "
Let Me Be There"Let Me Be There" is a popular song written by John Rostill. It was first recorded by Olivia Newton-John in 1973 and included on her album of the same title. The song was Newton-John's first Top 10 single in the U.S., peaking at No. 6, and also won her a Grammy Award for Best Female Country Vocalist...
" and "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)." However, his group, the Mike Sammes Singers, have only one entry in
The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles, for "
Somewhere My Love"Lara's Theme" is the generic name given to a leitmotif written for the film Doctor Zhivago by composer Maurice Jarre. Soon afterward, it became the basis of the song "Somewhere My Love."- Original composition :...
" in July 1967.
Sammes rewrote the song, "
Marianne"Marianne" was the Italian entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968, performed in Italian by Sergio Endrigo.The song is a ballad, with Endrigo expressing his love for the tititular character. He sings, however, that she never stays with him, and he wonders about what she is doing...
", with Bill Owen to provide
Cliff RichardSir Cliff Richard OBE is a British singer-songwriter and entrepreneur.With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts...
with a minor hit in September 1968.
The Mike Sammes Singers remained very busy into the 1970s, doing recordings for
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
(The Secret Service) and appearing on the small screen (
The Val Doonican ShowVal Doonican is an Irish singer. From 1964 to 1986 he was a regular fixture on the BBC Television's schedule with The Val Doonican Show, which featured his own singing performances and a variety of guest artists.-Early life:Doonican was the youngest of eight children...
, 1971).
By the mid 1970s, though, the demand for backing vocals had faded considerably, due to the introduction of multi-tracking and
synthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument that is capable of producing a variety of sounds by generating and combining signals of different frequencies...
s.
Sammes died at the age of 73 in May 2001, from a bad fall the previous winter from which he had never really recovered.
External links