Steve Milliner is a keyboard player based in Keynsham. He is normally to be seen on stage alongside his wife Sammi singing vocals. He first stepped in on keyboards with The Wurzels in 2017 after accordionist Tommy Banner had injured his hand and their resident player at the time, Louie Nicastro, was on tour with The Stranglers. He has stood in on keyboards many times since then and continues to do so when he gets the call!
Steve Milliner is married to Sammi who played a crucial role in bringing Steve into the Wurzel world!
Sammi appeared on 'Opportunity Knocks' in 1964 and became well known around the music scene in Bristol. She first met Pete Budd (Pete Budd & The Rebels) at the Bristol Rovers True Blue club, a popular venue for local bands, at the age of 13. She joined The Cougars, Rod Owen's band, who'd had a small hit, and regularly found herself on the same bill as The Rebels.
In 1967 a group called The Rainbow People came to Bristol to open Tiffany's on the Downs; they were two members short, so they contacted John Miles (who also happened to be Adge Cutler's manager) and he recommended Pete Budd, but they still needed a girl singer. Pete suggested Sammi who auditioned and got the gig. The group went through three years of records, TV and touring, but after many difficulties with London agents and management they split up.
Pete and Sammi worked with local bands for a couple of years and then ended up in Eddie King's band at the Grand Spa. When their keyboard player left then Steve Milliner turned up to replace him. After a few years playing together Pete left the group to join Chantilly Lace, soon after moving on to The Wurzels.
Following the sad death of Adge Cutler the remaining Wurzels carried on, at one point being sponsored by St Ivel, who bought them a van and put them on billboards all over the country. Sammi went on to do some adverts for St Ivel arranged by Wurzel Tommy Banner. The Wurzels then went on to have their chart successes, but by then Steve and Sammi had a young family to look after and lost touch with Pete and Tommy for a few years.
After returning from living in Spain for two years, the Milliners were contacted by Wurzel Tony Baylis about a regular jazz gig and on meeting up he came into contact with their drummer - no other than the late John Morgan ..... and so the connection continued!When in 2017 Wurzel Tommy Banner injured his hand Pete Budd called upon his old friend Steve to step in and help The Wurzels out on stage.....Left: Steve and Sammi on stage together