The Mike Flowers Pops

Biography

The Mike Flowers Pops (also known as The Mike Flowers Pops Orchestra) is a British easy listening band fronted by Mike Flowers (real name: Mike Roberts) and supported by the "Sounds Superb Singers" and "Super Stereo Brass". There were between 13 and 14 of them on stage at any time. The band is known for lounge music covers of both older and contemporary pop music. The band became famous in the UK in 1995 when they released a cover version of Oasis' hit song "Wonderwall". Flowers had been recrui...

The Mike Flowers Pops (also known as The Mike Flowers Pops Orchestra) is a British easy listening band fronted by Mike Flowers (real name: Mike Roberts) and supported by the "Sounds Superb Singers" and "Super Stereo Brass". There were between 13 and 14 of them on stage at any time. The band is known for lounge music covers of both older and contemporary pop music.

The band became famous in the UK in 1995 when they released a cover version of Oasis' hit song "Wonderwall". Flowers had been recruited by BBC Radio 1 DJ Kevin Greening to cover the 'Hits of 95' for Greening's Saturday show; "Wonderwall" was his first week's project. Chris Evans heard the song and made it 'single of the week' on his Radio 1 breakfast show, telling listeners that this was the original version of the song. The single, issued by London Records under the name The Mike Flowers Pops, was released while the Oasis original was still in the UK Singles Chart, and itself reached the Top 10. Flowers' version peaked at number 2 in the Christmas 1995 chart, beaten to the number 1 spot by Michael Jackson's "Earth Song". Oasis had previously refused to let other novelty acts parody the song, but were said to have enjoyed Flowers' tape so much that they allowed the group to cut it . The B-side of the single featured the songs "Son of God" and "Theme From Memory Man".

Following the success of "Wonderwall", The Mike Flowers Pops toured festivals in Europe as well as British universities. At the end of 1996 they toured Britain with Gary Glitter on his last 'Who's in the Gang' tour. They played large venues including Wembley Arena and Birmingham NEC. A cover version of The Doors' "Light My Fire" also reached the Top 40 of the UK chart. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.