He was the son of Barbadian politician, Frederick Edward Miller, and Madge Murray, a singer and musical theatre director whose father had founded and conducted the St. Lucia Philharmonic Band.

Using an abbreviated form of his name, as Emile Ford, he first entered show business at the age of 20, and made his first public performance at The Buttery, Kensington.

His TV appearances in 1958 included outings on The Music Shop, the Pearl Carr & Teddy Johnson Show, Oh Boy!

He teamed up in January 1959 with his half-brother, bassist George Sweetnam-Ford (born 1 January 1940, Castries, St. Lucia, British West Indies), electric lead guitarist Ken Street (27 June 1942 – 2 June 1990), sax player Dave Sweetnam-Ford (b. David Sweetnam-Ford, 1939, Castries, St. Lucia, British West Indies) and drummer John Cuffley (born 1939) to form Emile Ford & the Checkmates.

", a song originally recorded by Ada Jones and Billy Murray in 1917, went to number one in the UK Singles Chart at the end of 1959 and stayed there for six weeks.

[10] An article about Emile Ford appears in the November 2004 issue of the UK Synaesthesia Association Newsletter.

Back in London they left Ford to sing backup for Joe Brown who Vicki Haseman was engaged to.

[12] As a sound engineer, Ford was responsible for creating a backing track system for stage shows, first used in 1960, which provided a basis for what became known as karaoke.