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Michael Cox
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As Michael Cox, he had a top ten hit on the United Kingdom singles chart in 1960 with "Angela Jones", produced by Joe Meek. He later worked as an actor, and in television in New Zealand, using both his full name and the name Michael James. After his four younger sisters wrote to American Broadcasting Company television demanding that he be given a chance to audition for the popular show Oh Boy!, he was quickly signed up by producer Jack Good, and made his first appearance on the show in April 1959 singing Ricky Nelson"s "Never Be Anyone Else But You".
However, neither it nor its follow-up "Too Hot To Handle" were hits.
Cox continued to appear on television, in Good"s new show Boy Meets Girls, and Good recommended him to record producer Joe Meek, who at the time was setting up his own label, Triumph. His first record for Triumph was "Angela Jones", a song written by John Doctorate. Loudermilk which was a hit in the United States for Johnny Ferguson.
Cox"s version of the song, produced by Meek, rose to #7 on the United Kingdom singles chart in June 1960, but its sales were reportedly hampered by the inability of Meek"s small and newly formed record company to meet demand for lieutenant The Triumph label collapsed, and Cox"s follow-up, the similar-sounding "Along Came Caroline", also produced by Meek and co-written by Cox under the pseudonym Michael Steele, was released by the HMV label.
lieutenant reached #41 on the chart and was Cox"s only other hit.
Cox successfully toured in Denmark and Sweden with a backing band, as well as in the United Kingdom, and continued to record under Meek"s direction for several years. He released singles on the HMV, Pye and Parlophone labels, many of which featured leading session musicians such as guitarist Big Jim Sullivan. However, his later recordings were not hits and he gave up his recording career to attend drama school in the mid-1960s.
In 1966, credited as Michael James Cox, he appeared in the movie Where the Bullets Fly, and he also acted in television plays and commercials.
In 1976, he appeared in the filmed version of the musical written by Roger Glover, The Butterfly Balliol In the late 1970s, he began working on cruise ships, where he met his New Zealand-born wife.
He started making appearances in the United States, eventually emigrating there, before moving on to live in New Zealand. There, he continued to work on television, credited as Michael James.
Compilations of Cox"s recordings, many of which are still highly regarded as examples of early 1960s popular music, were issued on Civil Defense by Zircon Records in 1999, and Sequel Records in 2003.
