supplied by Peter Millington
Peter Millington… (photo 1) Anyone who watched part 1 of the Sky Arts programme about Queen recently would have seen Paul Watts of EMI talking about Queen from the record producers point of view. Here is a picture of Paul singing with the Confederates in July 1963 at the Grove School Summer Dance with Peter Millington in the background (with the mandatory Hank Hornrims). Paul was a founder member of The Confederates with Peter Millington on Bass, Lucian LeCoix-Lead Guitar and Dave Saunders-Drums. Record Collector in 1998 says… Justifiably proud, Paul Watts, then General Manager of EMI’s International Division, decided to commemorate the award(The Queen’s Award To Industry For Export Achievement) with the release of a special single. The choice of artist was easy: “The award represented the way in which Queen were so much a part of the fabric of the company,” he recalled. “They were central to what EMI was doing”. “Bohemian Rhapsody” seemed the natural choice for the record, as it was such a milestone and had been the single that had catapulted Queen into international superstardom.
To read more about the formative years of the Confederates/SPYKE/JINKS have a read and chuckle here –
https://pet842.wixsite.com/confeds-to-jinks
(photo 2) THE CONFEDERATES playing at the Observer Christmas Dance at the White Rock Theatre – December 1965 – Posted by Peter Millington – Photo supplied by Margaret Ross
(photo 3) An early picture of THE CONFEDERATES from 1964. Playing in Broadstairs – L-R Tony Goodman, Dave Saunders, Johnny Conroy, Trevor Spears, Peter Millington.