Insights into … Herman’s Hermits
[19 Billboard Hot 100 singles, 1964 – 68, and three RIAA-certified
gold singles]
Most American teenagers who were British Invasion fans in the mid-1960s likely are unaware that the group known initially as Herman and the Hermits had dissolved long before reaching the shores of America.
The Hermits originated in Manchester, England, as an outgrowth of a group called the Heartbeats, which originally was named the Cyclones and consisted of guitarists Karl Green and Alan Chadwick, bassist Alan Wrigley, and drummer Steve Titterington. When the group’s vocalist failed to show up for a gig, 15-year-old Peter Noone filled in and joined in 1963 using the name Peter Novak. The Heartbeats became Pete Novak and the Heartbeats until Peter changed his stage name to Herman after band members said he resembled Sherman in the “Mr. Peabody” segment of the TV cartoon The Bullwinkle Show. He misheard the name as Herman and adopted it.
The band broke up within the year, but its manager, Harvey Lisberg, decided to salvage the group by consolidating it with another band. He sought out a group called the Wailers, which included members Barry Whitwam and Derek Leckenby. Herman and the Hermits stabilized in the spring of 1964 with lead vocalist Peter Noone, lead guitarist Derek “Lek” Leckenby (who died of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in June, 1994), rhythm guitarist Keith Hopwood, Karl Green on bass, and drummer Barry “Bean” Whitwam.
Lisberg then booked some time for the reconstituted
band in a recording studio. He sent a demo of the recording to Mickie Most,
producer of hits for the Animals and the Nashville Teens. Most had previously
auditioned the prior version of the Hermits and was unimpressed, but he was
interested in recording the new group. “Mickie liked the new sound,” said
Whitwam. “It was a lot better musically.”
In July, 1964, Most brought the band into the studio
to record “I’m Into Something Good.” In September, the song spent two weeks at
No. 1 on the British charts ... and by October of ’64, after its release in the
States on MGM, “I’m Into Something Good” earned the No. 13 spot in America on
the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart,
which was already crowded with “British Invasion” acts. And the band
streamlined its name to Herman’s Hermits.
While many British groups were striving to sound like
Buddy Holly, the Everly Brothers, Muddy Waters, Bo Diddley and other American
recording artists, for five years Herman’s Hermits turned out hit after hit,
with a repertoire that included early 1900s music-hall flavored ditties,
capitalizing on their Manchester dialect.
Their extensive catalog ranged from their take on prior
American hits (including the 1957 Rays’ hit “Silhouettes,” Frankie Ford’s 1959 tune
“Sea Cruise,” Sam Cooke’s 1960 single “Wonderful World” and Ernie K-Doe’s 1961
hit “Mother-In-Law”), to contemporary pop hits (“Just a Little Bit Better,” “This
Door Swings Both Ways” and “Museum”) to melodious and sophisticated ballads —
notably, “Listen People,” “East West” and one of their signature songs,
“There’s a Kind of Hush All Over the World.”
Herman’s Hermits have made an enduring imprint on popular
music.
How the Hermits differed
“Herman’s Hermits was different from all the other
groups. Nobody was doing songs with English accents like ‘Mrs. Brown, You’ve
Got A Lovely Daughter.’ We went to a place where no one else wanted to go. So
the perception might be that we were just one of those bands from the ’60s.
Well, we were, but the reason that we sold 50 million records is because we
didn’t attempt to compete with the Beatles, or the Stones, or anybody else. We
made our own style.”
— Peter Noone, lead singer
The mayhem of concerts
“We’d rehearse and try to play well, and then we’d go
on stage and no one could hear a damn thing we were playing. And the PA systems
were rubbish. We didn’t have things like monitors in those days, so you
couldn’t even hear what you were singing. We must have been singing out of tune
because we could only hear the screaming and the mayhem out there.”
— Karl Green, bass guitarist
The boredom of life on the road
“The thing that was difficult in those days was we
were not sort of just holed up in L.A. or New York with people running around
after us, or doing three months here and six months there. We were just on the
road, which is fairly boring, just workaday stuff. And it’s more the boredom
that gets to you. It’s difficult to cope with because you’ve got all the booze
that you can drink and all the rest of it. I suppose the saving grace for most
of us, we were young enough to actually get through it and write it off. So
it’s not the easiest thing to get thrown on you if you’re 18, but for whatever
reason, I don’t know, we seem to have come out the other side in reasonable
shape.”
— Keith Hopwood, rhythm guitarist
How stardom affects friendships
“Stardom really doesn’t affect you individually. It
affects your friends more than anything. You go back into the local bar and
have a drink and your friends all seem to be saying ‘you’ve changed’ because
you can afford to buy a drink and they expect you to buy them one. Your friends
sort of disappeared slowly. And you really didn’t make any, because you were
always on the road. You’d make friends with other bands, then, who were in the
same situation.”
— Barry Whitwam, drummer
Herman’s Hermits in 1965
From left to right: Keith Hopwood, Derek Leckenby, Peter Noone, Karl Green and Barry Whitwam
*****
The narrative and quotations in this article are excerpted from the book Where Have All the Pop Stars Gone? — Volume 1, by Marti Smiley Childs and Jeff March. This material is copyrighted © 2011 by EditPros LLC and may not be reproduced or redistributed without written permission.
Order your copy here: https://www.editpros.com/WHATPSG_Vol_1.html
I have spent a fair amount of time talking with Peter Noone over the past twenty years ... and he has shared quite a few stories with our Forgotten Hits Readers.
An early interview we did with him in 2005 - 2006 was picked up by the British Music Magazine "The Beat" ... you can find some of the highlights and excerpts here: Forgotten Hits - Forgotten Hits Interviews Peter Noone
The Herman's Hermits Hit List:
1964 - I'm Into Something Good (USA - #7 Cash Box / #13 Billboard / UK - #1)
1965 - Can't You Hear My Heartbeat (USA - #1 Cash Box / #2 Billboard / did not chart in Great Britain)
1965 - Silhouettes (USA - #4 Record World / #5 Billboard / UK - #3)
1965 - Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter (USA - #1 in all three trade publications / Incredibly, this song was NOT released as a single in Great Britain!!!)
1965 - Wonderful World (USA - #4 / UK - #7)
1965 - I'm Henry The VIII, I am (USA - #1 in all three trade publications / Incredibly THIS song was not released as a single in Great Britain either!!! BOTH of Herman's Hermits' biggest US hits failed to chart back home in Jolly Ol' England)
1965 - Just A Little Bit Better (USA - #6 Record World / #7 Billboard / UK - #15)
1966 - A Must To Avoid (USA - #6 Cash Box / #8 Billboard / UK - 6)
1966 - Listen People (USA - #3 in all three trade publications / UK - did not chart in Great Britain)
1966 - You Won't Be Leaving (Did not chart in the USA / UK - #20)
1966 - Leaning On The Lamp Post (USA - #7 Record World / #9 Billboard / UK - did not chart in Great Britain)
1966 - This Door Swings Both Ways (USA - #8 Record World / #12 Billboard / UK - #18)
1966 - Dandy (USA - #5 / UK - did not chart in Great Britain)
1967 - East, West (USA - #12 Record World / #27 Billboard / UK - #37)
1967 - There's A Kind Of Hush (USA - #3 Cash Box and Record World / #4 Billboard / UK - #7)
1967 - No Milk Today (USA - #29 Record World / #35 Billboard / UK - #7)
1967 - Don't Go Out Into The Rain (USA - #13 Cash Box / #18 Billboard / UK - did not chart in Great Britain)
1967 - Museum (USA - #21 Cash Box / #39 Billboard / UK - did not chart in Great Britain)
1968 - I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving (USA - #20 Record World / #22 Billboard / UK - #11)
1968 - Sleepy Joe (USA - #51 Record World / #61 Billboard / UK - #12)
1968 - Sunshine Girl (USA - #66 Record World / #101 Billboard / UK - $8)
1969 - Something's Happening (USA - #102 Record World / #130 Billboard / UK - #6)
1969 - My Sentimental Friend (USA - #105 Record World / did not chart in Billboard / UK - #2)
1969- Here Comes The Star (did not chart in the USA / UK - #33)
1970 - Years May Come, Years May Go (did not chart in the USA / UK - #7)
1970 - Bet Yer Life (did not chart in the USA / UK - #22)
1970 - Lady Barbara (did not chart in the USA / UK - #13)*
*Note: This release was billed as Peter Noone and Herman's Hermits, an issue that became a bit of a stickler point legally a couple of decades later
