The Hollies originated as a duo formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash, who were best friends from primary school and began performing together during the skiffle craze of the late 1950s.[2] Eventually Clarke and Nash became a vocal and guitar duo modelled on the Everly Brothers under the names Ricky and Dane Young.[2] Under this name, they teamed up with a local band, the Fourtones, consisting of [ Pete Bocking guitar, John Butch Mepham bass guitar, Keith Bates drums and Derek Quinn guitar ( who left to join Freddie and the Dreamers in 1962 They first called themselves the Hollies for a September 1962 gig at the Oasis Club in Manchester.[2] It has been suggested that Haydock named the group in relation to a Christmas holly garland, though in a 2009 interview, Graham Nash said that the group decided just prior to a performance to call themselves the Hollies because of their admiration for Buddy Holly.[3] In 2009, Nash wrote, We called ourselves the Hollies, after Buddy and Christmas.[4] In January 1963, the Hollies performed at the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where they were seen by Parlophone assistant producer Ron Richards, who had been involved in producing the first Beatles session.[2] Richards offered them an audition with Parlophone, but Steele did not want to be a professional musician and left the band in May 1963.[2] For the audition, they replaced Steele with Tony Hicks, who played in a Nelson band called the Dolphins, which also featured Bobby Elliott on drums and Bernie Calvert on bass.[2] Not only were they signed by Richards, who would continue to produce the band until 1976, and once more in 1979, but a song from the audition, a cover of the Coasters 1961 single (Aint That) Just Like Me, was released as their debut single in May 1963, and hit No.25 on the UK Singles Chart. 1960s Their second single, another cover of the Coasters, this time 1957s Searchin, hit No.12. At this point, after recording only eight songs for Parlophone, Rathbone also decided to leave the band, and Hicks was able to arrange for his Dolphins bandmate Bobby Elliott to replace him as the Hollies new drummer in August 1963.[2] They then scored their first British Top 10 hit in early 1964 with a cover of Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs Stay, which reached No.8 in the UK. It was lifted from the bands Parlophone debut album, Stay with the Hollies, released on 1 January 1964, which went to No.2 on the UK album chart. A version of the album was released in the US as Here I Go Again, on the Hollies US label of the time, Imperial. The Hollies were known for their bright vocal harmonies. Though initially known for doing cover versions, the band moved towards songs provided to them by such writers as Graham Gouldman. Soon after, the groups in-house songwriting trio of Clarke, Hicks and Nash began providing hits. They followed up with Just One Look (February 1964, UK No.2), a song that had already had some success in the US for Doris Troy, and the hits continued with Here I Go Again (May 1964, UK No.4). At this point, there was some North American interest in the group, and versions of Stay With the Hollies; with these two singles added, were issued in both Canada by Capitol Records and the US by Imperial Records, with the title changed to Here I Go Again. Like their Parlophone labelmates the Beatles, the Hollies albums released in North America would remain very different from their UK counterparts. Although the Hollies singles had only limited impact in North America, their British hits continued with the groups first self-penned hit Were Through (Sep. 1964, UK No.7); (credited to a pseudonym, L. Ransford; the name of Graham Nashs grandfather, as were all their early compositions). This was followed by Yes I Will (Jan. 1965, UK No.9); and finally the Clint Ballard, Jr.-penned Im Alive (May 1965, the bands first UK No.1, US No.103, Canada No.11). As with most British groups during this period, the Hollies US releases usually featured different track listings from their original UK albums. Their second album, In The Hollies Style (1964), did not chart (in the BBC top ten album chart, although it did chart in the New Musical Express album chart making the top ten) and none of its tracks were released in the US, although a version was released in Canada with the addition of the British singles. Finally, Look Through Any Window (Sept. 1965, UK No.4), co-written by future 10CC member Graham Gouldman, broke the Hollies into the US Top 40 (No.32, Jan. 1966) and into the Canadian top 10 (No. 3, Jan. 1966), both for the first time. However If I Needed Someone (Dec. 1965), the George Harrison song originally recorded by the Beatles on Rubber Soul, charted significantly lower, only reaching No.20 in the UK, and was not released in North America. Their third album, simply called Hollies, hit No. 8 in the UK in 1965, but failed to chart in the US under the name Hear! Here!, despite its inclusion of Look Through Any Window and Im Alive. The Hollies then returned to the UK Top 10 with I Cant Let Go (Feb. 1966, UK No.2, US No.42); their fourth album, Would You Believe?, which included the hit, made it to No. 16 in 1966. Released in the US as Beat Group!, it also failed to crack the US top 100. At this point, a dispute between the Hollies and their management broke out over what bassist Eric Haydock contended were excessive fees being charged to the group by management. As a result, Haydock decided to take a leave of absence from the group. While he was gone, the group recorded two singles with fill-ins on bass: the Burt Bacharach-Hal David song After the Fox (Sep. 1966), which featured Peter Sellers on vocals, Jack Bruce on electric bass and Burt Bacharach himself on keyboards, and was the theme song from the Sellers film of the same name (which failed to chart), and Bus Stop (UK No.5, US No.5, June 1966), another Gouldman song, which featured Bernie Calvert, a former bandmate of Hicks and Elliott in the Dolphins, on bass. Bus Stop gave the Hollies their first US top ten single. As a result, a US/Canadian Bus Stop album made of the single mixed with unreleased songs from earlier in the bands career climbed to No. 75, the groups first US album to enter the Top 100. Although Haydock ultimately proved to be correct about the fee dispute, he was sacked in favour of Calvert after Bus Stop became a huge hit. At the time of Haydocks departure, Clarke, Hicks and Nash participated (along with session guitarist Jimmy Page) in the recording of the Everly Brothers 1966 album Two Yanks in England, which consisted largely of covers of L. Ransford compositions. After the Everly Brothers album, the Hollies stopped publishing original songs under a pseudonym, and from this point until Nashs last single with the Hollies in 1968, all of their single A-sides were original compositions, except the final Nash era single Listen To Me (1968) which was written by Tony Hazzard. In October 1966, the groups fifth album, For Certain Because (UK No.23, 1966), became their first album consisting entirely of original compositions by Clarke, Hicks and Nash. Released in the US as Stop! Stop! Stop! it reached No.91 there and spawned a US release-only single, Pay You Back with Interest, which was a modest hit, peaking at No.28. Another track, Tell Me to My Face, was a moderate hit by Mercury artist Keith, and would also be covered a decade later by Dan Fogelberg and Tim Weisberg on their Twin Sons of Different Mothers album. Meanwhile, the Hollies continued to release a steady stream of international hit singles: Stop Stop Stop (Oct. 1966, UK No.2, US No.7) from For Certain Because, known for its distinctive banjo arrangement; On a Carousel (Feb. 1967; UK No.4, 1967, US No.11, Australia No.14)[5]); Carrie Anne (May 1967, UK No.3, US No.9, Australia No.7[6]). Their next album Evolution was released on 1 June 1967, the same day as the Beatles Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was also their first album for their new US label Epic. It reached UK No.13 and US No.43. The US version included the single Carrie Anne. In addition, The Searchers and Paul and Barry Ryan each had a minor UK Chart hit covering the Evolution song Have You Ever Loved Somebody in 1967. However, Nashs attempt to expand the bands range with a more ambitious composition, King Midas in Reverse, only reached No.18 in the UK charts. The Hollies then released the ambitious, psychedelic album Butterfly, retitled for the US market as King Midas in Reverse/Dear Eloise, but it failed to chart. In response, Clarke and Nash wrote an almost bubblegum song Jennifer Eccles (named after their wives) (Mar. 1968, UK No.7, US No.40, Australia No.13[7]), which was a hit. The Hollies donated a Clarke-Nash song, Wings, to No Ones Gonna Change Our World, a charity album in aid of the World Wildlife Fund, in 1969.
Posted on: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 19:27:29 +0000
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