TONY MILLER FOUR, THE

Lead Vocals: Alan Perry (2)Neville Reason (3)Debbie Jones

Vocals/Guitar: Tony Balmforth

Guitar: Brian Godfrey

Drums/Keys: Rick Balmforth

When Alan Perry joined The Fantoms as front vocalist the band renamed themselves The Tony Miller Four. In May 1971 Alan left and was replaced by Neville Reason previously of local band The Galvanos. At this stage we were the resident band at The Royal Hotel ballroom in Norwich. While were playing there we were signed up as the resident band for the newly built Hotel Norwich ballroom, on the ring road.

Neville left at this stage and was replaced by Debbie Jones, who stayed for two years. Following this we continued as The Tony Miller Sound until retiring gracefully in 1979 to spend time with our growing families. We were lucky enough to appear with or back a number of celebrities over the years, memorably Roy Castle, Craig Douglas, Julie Felix, Billy J Kramer, The Black Abbotts, Leslie Crowther, most of the cast of The Comedians, Mike Read, David Berglas and lots of local acts like Chris North & Jill, Johnny Cleveland, Peachy Mead and many more beside.

One interesting footnote; in 1988 Derek James in the EEN did a ‘Where are they now’ piece. We duly made contact and they ran an update. Brother Rick and I had our estate agency business which was HQ’d in Norwich and Brian had  become Managing Director of Roys of Wroxham. These jobs brought us into contact with plenty of people who remembered the band years so there was always a chance to reminisce. [Submitted by Tony Balmforth]

 The Fantoms <> (Reasom -  The Galvanos)