The Viscounts
 British group The Viscounts - Gordon Mills, Don Paul and Ronnie
Wells - were a trio of variety entertainers in the tradition of The
Mudlarks, certainly unlikely to ever make the trek to Hamburg
to titillate the Reeperbahn punters.
They went in for cover versions of American hits and 'cash-in's'
(such as Mama's Doin' The Twist). Nevertheless, they
managed two modest entries into the British chart around 1961.
The trio regarded their recorded output as simply an adjunct to
their television and theatre variety careers.
They knocked 'em dead on Thank
Your Lucky Stars and emasculated a mildly choreographed
version of The Beatles' I Saw Her
Standing There on Sunday
Night At The Palladium.
Unfortunately the British Beat Boom eventually did for them,
and by 1964 The Viscounts couldn't get arrested - along with other
once-huge British vocal groups like The Brook Brothers, The
Kestrels and The Checkmates.
One of The Viscounts, Gordon Mills, later had more success as
the manager of Tom Jones and Engelbert
Humperdinck. He also wrote hit songs for Johnny
Kidd & The Pirates and Cliff Richard.
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