Imagine 350 ravers going nuts for "roll out the barrel" and you're half way there - this is something you need to check out - it's unlike almost anything you're unlikely to see. The piano, with a characteristic out-of-tune honky-tonk sound, has remained in use at Abbey Road for over 50 years and was used in countless recordings made there, including some by The Beatles. My late mother, God bless her, was an avid fan of Mrs Mills, hence I grew up listening to Gladys ‘tinkling the ivories’– and all these years later, I still enjoy listening! Mrs Mills was discovered while working as the superintendent of the typing pool in the Paymaster General’s office in London in the early 60s.

Mrs Mills, pub party pianist extraordinaire – we salute you! - Urban75 Mrs Mills, pub party pianist extraordinaire – we salute you! -

The song reached number 18 in the charts and was the first piano medley to bother the Top 20 since Russ Conway’s Christmas ivory-tinkler in 1959. At the age of 43, in December 1961, she made her first television appearance on The Billy Cotton Show. By the end of January 1962, she would be a household name, rising to fame during the same period as her stable-mates The Beatles, with whom she had shared space at Abbey Road Studios (as mentioned in the Beatles Anthology DVD bonus materials). A Best of CD was released by the EMI Gold imprint and another CD ( The Mrs Mills Collection) appeared on the HMV Easy label. Accompanying the Mrs Mills Experience on selected songs onstage were a trio of ukulele players from the Dulwich Ukulele Club [ see photos].

The first live band to ever play at the popular Nocturne event, the Mrs Mills Experience provided musical accompaniment to the exciting Penny Farthing bike races [ see photos] and were featured on Channel 4's coverage. Her music harked back to music halls, communal singalongs, the wartime spirit and evenings by a roaring fire in smoky, boozy pubs. Gladys settles down for an exceptionally large feast on the cover of Party Pieces from November 1968. There's a curiously similar photo for the cover of 'My Mother The Ragtime Piano Player,' a US release of 'Mrs Mills Plays the Roaring Twenties'.

Mrs Mills Yurts and Luxurious Glampervans Home - Mrs Mills Yurts and Luxurious Glampervans

Her catchy piano style and jolly, happy-go-lucky personality won over a talent scout who saw her performing at a Woodford Golf Club dance near her Essex home in Loughton in December 1961. Mills appeared on two episodes of The Morecambe and Wise Show in 1971 and 1974, where she performed a medley of favourites with the studio orchestra.The Mrs Mills Experience tries to recreate something of the party atmosphere of the late, great Mrs Mills shows - if you like the sound of us, please like us on Facebook and look out for our forthcoming shows! On Sat 9th June, the band played their first festival show on the main stage of the London Nocturne 2012 at Smithfield Market, Farringdon. Her first single –“Mrs Mills Medley”– entered the UK Top Twenty, and was a piano medley of the songs, “I Want to Be Happy,”“The Sheik of Araby,”“Baby Face,”“Somebody Stole My Gal,”“Ma He’s Making Eyes at Me,”“Swanee,”“Ain’t She Sweet,” and “California Here I Come. Rolling out a barrel of irony-untroubled, hipster-free, good time entertainment, the Mrs Mills Experience is made up of an unlikely combination of Brixton-based dance DJs and punk musicians, united by their improbable love of piano-thumper extraordinaire, Mrs Gladys Mills.

Mrs Mills - Wikipedia Mrs Mills - Wikipedia

She married Bert Mills in 1947; [3] they settled in Loughton, Essex, where she lived for most of her life.Such was the buzz behind this new outfit that a prestigious Saturday night slot at this year's Vintage Festival was secured - without the band even recording a demo! Playing to a packed crowd, the band roused the crowd to sing along to music hall classics, while party hats were handed out to get folks in the mood. In December 1974, she appeared as the subject of This Is Your Life, hosted by Eamonn Andrews, when it was revealed that the first record she had recorded was " A Gal in Calico", cut in a make-your-own-record booth on Southend Pier for a half-crown, with her girlhood pal Lily Dormer.