Herman's Hermits

Peter Noone: vocal, piano, guitar b. 5 November 1947, Manchester Karl Green: bass, hamonica b. 31 July 1947, Salford Keith Hopwood: guitar b. 26 October 1946, Manchester Derek "Lek" Leckenby: guitar b. 14 May 1945, Leeds d. 4 June 1995 Barry Whitmam: drums b. 21 July 1946, Manchester   Noone, the son of a semi-professional musician, studied at Manchester School of Music and Drama and made his first national appearances as a child actor on the British TV soap opera, Coronation Street.

1963 [PN: age 15-16]

Peter Noone joined the Manchester beat boom when a local band, the Heartbeats, found themselves with a gig, but without a singer. Noone (a child actor) took on a new persona — Herman — after friends suggested he bore a resemblance to the cartoon character "Sherman" in the "Mr. Peabody" segments of The Rocky and Bulwinkle Show. The band eventually changed its name to Herman and His Hermits and soon, to Herman's Hermits. The band also gained management when Harvey Lisberg and Charlie Silverman heard them in performance and convinced them that they could find them a piece of the Beatlemania pie.

1964 [PN: age 16-17]

Herman's Hermits were one of the first groups ever produced by the young Mickie Most, who had little difficulty securing them a contract with group hungry EMI-Columbia. Soon, Noone's crooked-toothed grin became the subject of many a young teenage girl's wall of magazine clippings.

Their earliest recordings were covers of American rhythm and blues artists, which they converted into the beat-group guitars-and-drums format, although often also featuring a piano (probably Reg Guest). Although the material would change, their general sound would not. One of the reasons was the use of seasoned session musicians to provide a consistent and reliable sound. Most: Their manager sent me a photograph of Herman’s Hermits at Piccadilly Station in Manchester and Peter Noone looked like a young Kennedy. I thought this face was saleable, especially in the United States. All I need to do is find cute songs to go with it. [Spencer Leigh] 20 August. "I'm Into Something Good" (King and Goffin) charts; reaches UK#1.

19 November. "Show Me Girl" charts; reaches UK#19.

1965 [PN: age 17-18]

18 February. "Silhouettes" (Slay and Crew). Charts; Reaches UK#3 and US#2

29 April. "Wonderful World" [UK#7]

As the band's popularity grew amongst young Americans (particularly females), Herman's Hermits and their management began to build on their "English" identity.

Herman's Hermits performing in Philadelphia

April 1965. "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" (Treavor Peacock). [US only release.] Released in the USA as a single, "Mrs. Brown" reached US#1 during the first week of May. Most did not release it as a single in the UK. This song has a music-hall style and banjo-sound from a damped guitar; however, Treavor Peacock originally composed the song for a British television play (Bronson 1985:173). Mickey Most included the song on Herman's Hermits first album where a US disc jockey found it and gave it airplay. MGM in the US decided to release it as a single. Mickie Most probably felt the song to be too dated to release in Britain. Its success in the US underscores the American appetite for anything that even sounded remotely British. 7 August. "I'm Henry the VIII, I Am" (Murray and Weston). [Reaches US#1; no UK release.] 2 September. "Just a Little Bit Better" [UK#15]

23 December. "A Must to Avoid" [UK#6]

Other releases/covers. "I Understand" (cover of the Four Tunes, 1954), "Sea Cruise" (cover of Frankie Ford), and "Mother-in-Law" (cover of Ernie K-Doe)

Manchester	Schedule	Northerners
	15-feb-12