Mr Waxy

Comment: Mr Waxy started out in a room at the back of The Record Scene shop in Sunbury Cross, run by Mick (I can't remember his surname - sorry). I bought a lot of records there in late 1970s including reggae and when I left school I had the choice of going to Kingston art college or taking up the offer of a job in that very shop... I chose college and left a year later 1979/80... I sometimes think I would have been better off taking the job... Anyway, a few years later Mick moved the Mr Waxy shop to the bottom end of Chertsey (High Street? anyway, the main road) where I continued to buy from him - my girlfriend's family were local to there. He was a really friendly and helpful bloke with a massive stash of vinyl that was not out in the shop - if I asked for a rare Zappa album or psych single I was after he'd usually have it for me next time I visited - same with reggae - lot of Lee Perry, Yabby You etc. He moved again further up towards the top of that street but a short while after that move he was taken ill and died - I think something was misdiagnosed - anyway, gone too young and a tragedy. His wife Gloria continued to run the shop for a while but it eventually closed down - a flood in a cellar as far as I know damaged/wiped out a lot of his off-shop stock but there were still incredible records being put out when Gloria ran it. I found two copies of Leroy Sibbles' Garden of Life 12" in there on the same day once... He really was one of the sweetest people I've ever encountered selling vinyl in all my years hunting it down so RIP Mick/Mr Waxy. A while ago I googled Mr Waxy out of nostalgia and found a song by a Chertsey singer songwriter about him and the shop - so not just me touched by this guy!

Name: Phil Enthucol
Comment: Remember hearing about this shop from collector friends in the 1970s/early 1980s, but never got there.
(2018)

Name: Kevin Ball
Comment: I used to go to see Mick every Friday at the Record Scene Sunbury on the way home from work after being paid, spent many happy hours at the shop looking through stacks of records and buying some to add to my collection, also like most people followed him to his shop in Chertsey and carried on chatting and buying records until his untimely death, think I would still be going to the shop had he not have died, great guy with a knowledge of music like nobody else I have ever met.
The strangest thing is that shop is now a barbers, guess where I get my hair cut?
(2020)

Name: Rob Crowe
Comment: I used to shop at KMK when I was a kid (around 1978 or so) and I remember Glen, and the manager was Bob. I used to stop into the shop as I had to change over from the 227 bus to the 166 bus on my way home from school. Good times.
(2020)

Name: Eddie Fawcett
Comment: I actually attended the funeral. He was amazing. Managed to get me so much Marillion, Genesis, Talking Heads and Yes material. Was so knowledgeable about so many genres.
(2020)

Name: John Simmons
Comment: I remember that he had a room at the back of The Record Scene shop at Sunbury Cross in the early 1970s although I never ventured in there at the time as I had little interest in old stuff at the age of 11. I finally got to know Mick in 1987 as I was working for a jukebox rental company and used to take boxes of ex-jukebox singles down to him every month or so, I can recall the difficulty in finding somewhere to stand while he served the customers before me due to boxes being on the tiny shop floor. Just like the other comments he always had a lot of time to talk about music and what he had got in and had an incredible memory for what you were looking for, I can't recall him ever writing down a request at all but it was usually there next time I visited. I was usually visiting late in the day and we were still there chatting and listening to music well past closing time although closing time sometimes seemed a variable thing to Mick. I kept in touch with his wife and continued to supply singles after he passed away and have the sad honour (if that's the right word) of being his last customer before he was suddenly taken into hospital later that evening. A friendly and knowledgeable man with a genuine passion for music and collecting.

Name: Alan
Comment: Used to run errands for Mick when I was a kid, nicest man I ever met and Gloria was a treat to talk to. Fozzie no gel and Dave who loved The Pretenders - good memories.
(1 February 2015)

Name: Alan
Comment: Mick was a lovely man. I spent many hours just chatting to him when the shop was quiet. My old dad used to collect jazz 78s and to save him popping in every time he passed by, Mick used a secret sign. If he had got hold of some he would place an empty sleeve in the bottom corner of the window. My dad would dive in and there'd be much oohing and aahing as he went through the assortment. He'd invariably take the lot home for peanuts. Happy days.
(1 February 2014)

Name: Mark Lacey
Comment: I knew him as a regular customer and friend over many years. He started out with a market stall in Portabello Market in London and I only know this because he told me. I first met him when he was at The Record Scene and continued buying records from him after he moved to Chertsey, right up to the time he died. He was such a lovely guy and everybody liked him. He had a wife and a son, but separated from his wife and lived with his girlfriend Gloria. I never met his wife, but I did meet Gloria who often made cups of tea or coffee when she was in the shop. A lot of people lost a real good friend when he died, he really was a special person to so many. Greatly missed.
(20 November 2013)

Name: Tony
Comment: Mick's Mr Waxy shop was simply a great vinyl record shop. Mick's knowledge was super-wide and we all loved it. Tons of Northern soul, jazz and reggae for the discernable junkie. much missed.
(26 May 2013)

Name: Tony
Comment: I can only endorse what has been said about Mick and his incredible shop.  I bought many gems from there: soul, reggae, tons of things. It was a true vinyl heaven and that's where Mick - Mr Waxy - is now. RIP, mate.
(20 April 2013)

Name: Paul
Comment: Well this had to be one of the best record shops and all praise to the amazing knowledge Mick had! I was in there every Saturday with friends Johnnie Walker and Jasper The Vinyl Junkie and the gems we walked out with! We would sit there all day with a bag of chips from next door while he would pull out bullet after bullet! I got tonnes of JB productions/Gloria Scott LPs and masses of amazing reggae! I would also like to mention the superb Musicwise in Egham... got crazy LPs from there also! Never forgotten, RIP!
(18 April 2013)

Name: Jon
Comment: Thanks for filling us in on what happened to Mick. I was a regular customer when I lived in the area as a student on my Industrial Year, in 1976/77. If I still had money in my pocket after buying that week's punk and new wave singles from the main shop, I would pop into Mr Waxy's and see if he had any recommended records. As a result, I ended up with ace records by The Misunderstood, Sharon Tandy, The Bo Street Runners, The Falling Leaves... Happy times!
(23 February 2013)

Name: Alex
Comment: I went in to the Chertsey shop in the late 1980s and said, 'Do you know what this is?', whistled a few notes and straight away he said, 'Bert Kaempfert' and fished out a Best of... from the back of the shop. I was impressed.
(16 January 2013)

Name: Peter
Comment: His name was Mick Scott. He and his friend started selling under the Westway Flyover in Portobello Road on Saturdays in late 1973 I think. His friend carried on running it for a while when Mick ran the shop at Sunbury.
(4 August 2012)

Name: Mick Collins
Comment: A nicer bloke you could not have wished to meet. I got so many Northern Soul records from him. His knowledge and patience was second to none.
(30 May 2012)

Name: Paul Simkin
Comment: I remember Mr Waxy doing a radio call-in on Radio 210 in the 1970s and he had a terrific memory and could actually quote record label numbers from his head. It was a great show.
(17 May 2016)

Name: Kate O
Comment: I remember Mr Waxy with fond memories. My friend and I would often pop in for a chat as well as to buy records. His knowledge about records was amazing. You could go in with a vague idea or a snippet of a tune you had heard and he would know what it was. He and his wife Gloria were such a cool couple. Good memories.

Name: Si Shims
Comment: I lived on Guildford Street in Chertsey only for about a year in the late 1990s. I couldn't believe my luck when I discovered his shop, somewhere behind Sainsbury's was it? Always regretted not making a trip back down south for a shopping spree. A real loss to the Vinyl Community.
(2018)

Name: Malc Lane
Comment: I remember having a conversation with Mike Reid the Radio 1 DJ, who used to go there.
(2021)

Name: Matthew St Higgins
Comment: Ahh, Mick Scott, what a great guy! Every Friday night, after finishing work near Chertsey Bridge, I’d pop in to spend the lot in Mr Waxy’s. I’ve still got all my purchases from Mick, mainly late 1960s Psych Rock. Sadly Gloria died, someone told me of heroin, but I don’t know for sure. I did once see her fleetingly at Chertsey train station just before she died. Archive Records (Addlestone) owner, Steve, used to work for Mick years ago and remembers fondly their times together. As do I, the man was a local legend and fascinating too. Even now I still miss him. So much so, that my Instagram account is named in his honour: @mr_waxys_rare_vinyl - or Facebook: The Analogue Collectors Forum.
See ya there!
​(2022)

Name: Tricia Maessen
Comment: Mr Waxy, Mick Scott, was my first boyfriend when I was 13 at Ashford Grammar School and the person I dreamed to marry. My brother David became his good friend, being also fanatical about records. I lived in The Netherlands when my Mum called to tell me about Mick's passing at a much too early age. Mick lived his life to the full and filled his life with music and knowledge about records. A loss to the world. Love to all his children, Tricia in Antwerp.
(2022)

Name: Oily Phillips
Comment: I remember a vinyl record shop in Chertsey, it was run by a fella named Clive opposite the walk through to Sainsbury's. If anyone knows of his whereabouts I'd like to know if he's still in the business! This would have been in the 2000s. Ta.
(2023)