John O'Neill (1926–1999) was a British musician, known as a singer, whistler, and trumpeter.

Biography

Born in

Stanley, County Durham Stanley is a town and civil parish in County Durham (district), County Durham in England. Centred on a hilltop between Chester-le-Street and Consett, Stanley lies south-west of Gateshead. The town's name is derived from the Old English ''stā ...

, England, to Northern Irish parents from

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, Northern Ireland, O'Neill was largely self-taught as a musician, and learned to sight-read music scores. O'Neill had a UK top five hit single with "

I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman "I Was Kaiser Bill's Batman" was a hit single in 1967 composed by British songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. It was a novelty record, performed mostly by whistling. The name Whistling Jack Smith, credited on the most commercially succe ...

" credited as 'Whistling Jack Smith' (a play on "Whispering" Jack Smith). He recorded this as the solo whistler for a set fee and was never acknowledged as its performer, nor paid any royalties. When the track was aired on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', O'Neill and his family were shocked to see an actor appear on stage to mime to the recorded backing track. Some sources attribute the single to British

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

/ Deram producer Noel Walker, as producer and performing artist although the

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

of the single "The British Grin and Bear" is co-attributed to Walker. O'Neill was a member of The Michael Sammes Singers in the United Kingdom.

Mike Sammes Michael William Sammes (19 February 1928 – 19 May 2001) was an English musician and vocal session arranger, performing backing vocals on pop music recorded in the UK from 1955 to the 1970s. Career Born in Reigate, Surrey, Sammes was the so ...

' group were a vocal group, known primarily for their work as session singers providing backing vocals, although the group also recorded seven albums of their own. Johnny O'Neill and the Michael Sammes Singers provided backing vocals on the recording of "

I Am the Walrus "I Am the Walrus" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1967 television film ''Magical Mystery Tour (film), Magical Mystery Tour''. Written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was released as the B-side to ...

" by the

Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

in 1967, which required them to do "all sorts of swoops and phonetic noises" according to

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

: the score

George Martin Sir George Henry Martin (3 January 1926 – 8 March 2016) was an English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, and musician. He was commonly referred to as the "fifth Beatle" because of his extensive involvement in each of the Beatle ...

prepared for them included the chanting of phrases like "ho ho ho, he he he, ha ha ha", "oompah, oompah, stick it up your jumper" and "everybody's got one". They also sang on the Beatles' " Good Night", as well as on their last album, ''

Let It Be Let It Be most commonly refers to: * ''Let It Be'' (album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970 * "Let It Be" (song), the title song from the album Let It Be may also refer to: Film and television * ''Let It Be'' (1970 film), ...

'', at the behest of

Phil Spector Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. S ...

. Sammes also provided the distinctive basso backing vocals on

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British and Australian singer and actress. With over 100 million records sold, Newton-John was one of the List of best-selling music artists#100 million to 119 million record ...

's early

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...

crossover Crossover may refer to: Entertainment Music Albums * ''Cross Over'' (album), a 1987 album by Dan Peek, or the title song * ''Crossover'' (Dirty Rotten Imbeciles album), 1987 * ''Crossover'', an album by Intrigue * ''Crossover'', an album by ...

hits, including "

Banks of the Ohio "Banks of the Ohio" (Roud 157, Laws F5), also known as "Down on the Banks of the Ohio" and "I'll Never Be Yours", is a 19th-century murder ballad, written by unknown authors. The lyrics tell of "Willie" who invites his young lover for a walk during ...

", "

Let Me Be There "Let Me Be There" is a popular song written by John Rostill. It was first recorded by Olivia Newton-John and released in September 1973 as the second single from her studio album of the same name. The country-influenced song was Newton-John's fir ...

" and " If You Love Me (Let Me Know)". The Mike Sammes Singers's one entry in ''

The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of ...

'' is for "

Somewhere My Love "Lara's Theme" is the name given to a leitmotif written for the 1965 film ''Doctor Zhivago (film), Doctor Zhivago'' by composer Maurice Jarre. Soon afterward, the leitmotif became the basis of the song "Somewhere, My Love". Numerous versions, bot ...

" in July 1967.

Ennio Morricone Ennio Morricone ( , ; 10 November 19286 July 2020) was an Italian composer, Orchestration, orchestrator, conductor, trumpeter, and pianist who wrote music in a wide range of styles. With more than 400 film score, scores for cinema and televisi ...

's soundtrack for the film ''

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly ''The Good, the Bad and the Ugly'' (, literally "''The good, the ugly, the bad''") is a 1966 Italian epic spaghetti Western film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood as "the Good", Lee Van Cleef as "the Bad", and Eli Wallach a ...

'' contained whistling by John O'Neill. The main theme, also titled "

", was a hit in 1968 with the soundtrack album on the charts for more than a year, reaching No. 4 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' pop album chart and No. 10 on the black album chart. O'Neill also sang the theme tune to the American TV series ''

Wagon Train ''Wagon Train'' is an American Western television series that aired for eight seasons, first on the NBC television network (1957–1962) and then on ABC (1962–1965). ''Wagon Train'' debuted on September 18, 1957, and reached the top of the ...

'', where he was credited as Johnny O'Neill, and the recordings of traditional Irish songs ''The Gordon Franks Singers And Music With John O'Neill'' was recorded with The Gordon Franks Singers and Music, in which he was the solo tenor. On these recordings, O'Neill sings in an Irish accent, though his actual voice was rather more

Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

/London. Living with his wife for the majority of their life in

Ilford Ilford is a large List of areas of London, town in East London, England, northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Redbridge, Ilford is within the Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county of Greater London. It had a po ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, they raised four daughters and later retired to

Dovercourt Dovercourt is a seaside town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Harwich, in the Tendring district, in the county of Essex, England. It is older than its smaller but better-known neighbour, the port of Harwich. The name is common B ...

, Essex.

References

External links

'When a Whistling Song Became a 1967 Radio Hit'. Best Classic Bands website

SecondHandSongs blog, John O'Neill

SecondHandSongs blog, The Michael Sammes Singers

Discogs website, Mike Sammes Singers, World Record Club – ST-852

The Beatles Bible, 'Recording, mixing: I Am The Walrus, Wednesday 27 September 1967'

The Beatles Bible, 'I Am the Walrus: In the Studio'

AllMusic.com page on the Mike Sammes Singers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, John 1926 births 1999 deaths Musicians from County Durham Deram Records artists British whistlers British trumpeters English tenors English people of Northern Ireland descent 20th-century English singers British novelty song performers 20th-century British male singers

Biography

See also

References

External links