Owen Money was born Lynn Mittell in Merthyr Tydfil and grew up in the South Wales
valleys. He started his career in show-business as a bass guitarist and lead singer
with the local Merthyr band ‘Crescendo’ who merged with another local band ‘The Rebels’
to form 'The Bystanders' in 1963, when their line-up was Jeff Jones, (drums), Micky
Jones, (guitar) Clive John (aka Clint Space), (keyboards), Ray Williams, (bass) and
Lynn who was now known as Gerry Braden on vocals. The band signed to welsh label
Pylot records in 1963, and their first release being “That's The End”, with “This
Time” as the ‘B' side. They were then signed to Pye Records, where they released
the double-sided cover single "98.6" (backed with Marvin Gaye's "Stubborn Kind Of
Fellow"), which went to number 45 in the national Top 50 chart on 9th February 1967
Gerry Braden left The Bystanders in 1967 to be replaced by Vic Oakley from The Meteorites.
In the 70s Lynn formed comedy show band 'Tomfoolery' who quickly rose to become one
of the UK's most successful comedy show bands, they later included Brian Conley in
the line up and often topped the bill at Blackpool South Pier. He appeared in his
first pantomime in "Robinson Crusoe" at Swansea Grand Theatre in 1979/80 as part
of Tomfoolery, which by now also included in their line up Brian Conley. In 1980
Lynn left to pursue a solo career as Owen Money, And soon went on to win the Club
Land 'Comedian of the Year' award, performing alongside Shirley Bassey and Tom Jones!
He has appeared in eight Pantomimes at Swansea Grand Theatre. In the 1990/91 pantomime
“Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs” he appeared in his own right alongside Neil Morrisey.
This was followed by “Cinderella” in 1991/92 with Bobby Davro. “Robinson Crusoe”
in 1992/93, “Aladdin” in 1994/95, “Jack and the Beanstalk” in 1995/96, “Peter Pan”
in 1997/98 and finally “Cinderella” again in 1998/99He made his debut on the radio
with the weekly programme 'Money For Nothing’. The Programme's popularity steadily
increased and by 1997 he had won two prestigious Sony Gold Awards, one for 'Regional
Broadcaster of the Year', and the other for 'Best Music Sequence Programme of Year’.Always
busy and with a policy of promoting talented newcomers The Owen Money Theatre Company
Ltd was created in 2000 with the objective of producing high quality, dynamic and
affordable productions of family orientated Pantomimes during the winter months between
November and March. Owen heads the company as its managing director and ‘star of
the show’. The first production "Aladdin" was filmed and broadcast on BBC ONE Wales,
achieving an astonishing audience figure of 45% when it was broadcast on New Years
Day 2002 and was repeated the following year. Since then the productions have been
enthusiastically received by audiences and the company now appears at 9 south Wales
venues.As an entertainer, comedian, broadcaster and entrepreneur Owen Money has delighted
audiences with a mixture of hilarious stories and his slant on Welsh life on radio,
television and as an after dinner speaker. Owen Money is extremely proud that his
services to entertainment were recognised with an MBE in the 2007 New Years Honours
List. He has been a leading presenter on BBC Radio Wales for over 20 years, winning
two Sony Gold awards; one for regional broadcaster of the year and the other for
best music sequence programme. He became firm friends with one of the UK’s most
popular entertainers, Rob Brydon, whilst broadcasting on Radio Wales and in 2007
they appeared together in Annually Retentive on BBC Three.2008 has been a very busy
year with Owen producing a new children’s drama Humpty Dumpty and the Magic Bus,
staged at the Congress, Cwmbran in October. Look out for Humpty Dumpty at your local
venue in 2009.
