Mike Vernon MBE 1944-2026

Mike was a magazine editor, record producer, label and studio owner, latter-day artist and all-round good guy. His accomplishments were many and his work was justly recognised when he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music.

Starting off like so many of us listening to the classic rock'n'roll of Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley, Mike was introduced to the Chicago blues of Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Little Walter and John Lee Hooker by Neil Slaven, a fellow Purley County Grammar School student.   

I first met Mike at his parent’s home in Purley, just after he launched R&B Monthly in February 1964 with brother Richard and Slaven. At the time, I was already writing for Blues Unlimited. While there were subtle differences in the magazine titles, it didn’t matter since we were essentially covering the same music and the same expanding market. In a way we were competitors but in the friendliest way. We were passionate advocates of American blues that sparked the British blues boom.

Already bitten by the record industry bug, Mike learned his trade by working as an assistant to the head of A&R at Decca Records after dropping out of art college. In 1965, with brother Richard, he formed Blue Horizon Records. At their home on a portable tape recorder, Mike cut Hubert Sumlin, Howlin’ Wolf’s guitarist, while on tour; it was Slaven who played second guitar. Those were the days when if you only pressed 99 copies there was no purchase tax payable. Soon there were similar limited pressings of recordings by Woodrow Adams, Little George Smith, Drifting Slim and Houston Boines from the Modern catalogue. Then came the ‘Let Me Tell You About The Blues Vol. 1’ LP.

Meanwhile, Vernon became a fully-fledged producer at Decca, notably with ‘The Larry Williams Show’ featuring Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson (1965), John Mayall’s Blues Breakers with Eric Clapton (a No. 6 chart hit in 1966) and David Bowie’s debut album for Deram (1967). Mike even compiled Brit comedy albums for Decca by Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, Benny Hill and Spike Milligan. Not surprisingly, the publication of R&B Monthly had been suspended in early 1966 due to “pressure of work.” Mike still found time to interview Fats Domino’s sideman in a revelatory series of interviews for Jazz Monthly in 1967.

In the same year, Mike and Richard made a distribution deal for Blue Horizon with CBS and soon hit the big time with the mesmeric instrumental ‘Albatross’ by Fleetwood Mac (a No. 1 U.K. hit in 1968). Mike produced some of the top British blues bands at the time, including Chicken Shack with Christine McVie and Stan Webb, Jellybread, Savoy Brown and Ten Years After. All the while Vernon was producing U.S. bluesmen such as Eddie Boyd, Champion Jack Dupree and Otis Spann.

Blue Horizon’s ‘Post War Masters’ proved to be a popular reissue series. Among the releases were B.B. King LPs licensed from Modern and an Excello license for the great swamp blues of Slim Harpo, Lightnin’ Slim, Lazy Lester, Lonesome Sundown and Silas Hogan. This Excello deal led Mike to producing new recordings for Excello, notably the ‘Swamp Blues’ double album and Lightnin’ Slim’s ‘London Gumbo’. Vernon even dabbled with soul with the Olympic Runners and Bloodstone. Mike and Richard opened the Chipping Norton studio in the beguiling Cotswolds in 1971 and continued recording until 1999.

In the 1980s, a distribution deal was made with Ace for new Blue Horizon recordings by such as Lazy Lester and Dana Gillespie (for whom Mike produced four albums over the decades). The producer’s time as Eric Rondo with Rocky Sharpe and the Replays is vividly recalled here by Jan Podsiadly. Then came Vernon’s relocation in the new millennium to a home in the mountains near Málaga, Spain, where he became inspired to start up as a group leader with the Mighty Combo and Cat Squirrel blues bands.  

My last interaction with Mike was only last year when he wrote the introduction to the upcoming Ace 8-CD box set, ‘Modern Records: Blues, R&B, and Vocal Groups 1945-1959’. He was in his usual sparkling form as he recalled his early years with R&B Monthly, the launch of Blue Horizon with those Modern releases and the development of his revered label in relation to Modern. It is tragic he will not see this final flourish in what was a truly remarkable career.

John Broven

Mike Vernon (Eric Rondo) Obituary

Mike Vernon is without doubt a legend of the music industry, with career defining highlights identified by a host of admirers across the music spectrum. But I can’t just pay tribute to Mike, who was seminal to my own musical success with Rocky Sharpe and the Replays. I must also mourn the loss of Eric Rondo, who delighted our international audiences on record and with live performances with a sense of humour and fun that we shared as a group. While the Blues comes from the soul of misfortune and sadness, Doo Wop was perhaps the antithesis, a more optimistic view of life. That was Eric and Eric changed lives.

When Mike was slated as a possible producer it didn’t take many seconds to agree, although we were in awe at the possibility. Meeting Mike left us in no doubt about his enthusiasm for what we were doing. The relationship kicked off with Rama Lama Ding Dong, which not only made the UK Top 20 but became an International hit and inspired a generation of Spanish youths to “Look for an Echo”, which even today they celebrate with a Doo Wop Festival every year.

Naturally this success led to a continuing relationship with Mike that produced four albums and an EP, generating further international hits. But it was the follow-up single, Imagination, that revealed Eric Rondo. Erstwhile attempts at finding a suitable bass vocalist opened the door for Mike to step up. In keeping with the Replays’ tradition, he took on the stage name and alter ego of Eric Rondo. Eric was spontaneously eccentric on stage and loved performing with a licence to fool around. He was the antithesis of the serious and conscientious music producer and record executive.

I sat for many hours at the control desk with Mike while he meticulously shaped the recordings. But my time came when Eric Rondo stepped up to the mic. We would always record him as close to first thing in the morning to give greater tonal depth. Bass vocal intros are usually linguistic gibberish. This is where Eric’s reputation for playing the idiot became fully formed. He often required some coaching on what the exact words might be and sometimes took a while to master them. But when you consider, “Yip, yip, yip, yip, werp a werp, werp, doum na noum noum, baab a ba  ba, doum na noum noum Heartaches!” You might get the picture.

There was always a shared sense of humour. Mike frequently quoted from The Goons, Bonzos and primarily Monty Python. He also did a great impression of Field Marshall Montgomery, and, of course, Winston Churchill.

I say, of course, because in his early days at Decca Mike was required to edit the re-recorded speeches of Churchill, cutting out the pops, mouth noises and throat clearings. To see Mike’s expertise with a razor and sticky tape on those massive recording tapes must have been something to behold. He must have known those speeches off by heart.

We performed on the continent quite frequently, usually lip-sync, as was the custom then. Before going on stage, we always had a last-minute question. “What could go wrong?”  At a beauty pageant in Tenerife we had provided the required tape and were waiting for our cue when we asked the question. Mike casually said that they could put the tape in back to front. One look at each other and Mike shot off to check. The convention was to provide a tape ‘tail out’, which would require rewinding before playing. Sure enough, it hadn’t been rewound. We would have been performing to a backwards, upside-down track.

What I love most about Mike’s incredible contribution to the Replays, besides his time as Eric Rondo, was the sensitivity he put into the backing tracks. Over time he selected a roster of incredible musicians and balanced them to sound like a band playing live in the room. I really don’t think that we could have asked for a better producer. It remains a joy to listen to some exceptional backing tracks. He gave to us heart and soul, and I don’t just mean the song I sang lead on.

But while Mike’s legendary status is well documented, sadly Eric’s is less so. However, Eric remains much loved by Replays’ fans across the world and I know that Mike fully appreciated that love, despite considering Eric a bit of an idiot.

RIP Mike Vernon/Eric Rondo

Jan Podsiadly / Johnny Stud