Peter Noone | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Birth name | Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone |
Also known as | Herman |
Born | Davyhulme, Lancashire, England | 5 November 1947
Genres | Rock, pop |
Occupations |
|
Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
Years active | 1962–present |
Labels | RAK, Philips, Bus Stop (UK) Bell, Philips (US) |
Website | Official website |
Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone (born 5 November 1947) [1] is an English singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist and actor. He was the lead singer "Herman" in the 1960s pop group Herman's Hermits.
In 2019, Noone won the “Entertainer of the Year” award at the Casino Entertainment Awards in Las Vegas. [2]
Noone was born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, England, [1] the second of five children, the son of two accountants, [3] and attended English Martyrs (Urmston), Wellacre Primary School (Flixton), Stretford Grammar School, and St Bede's College, Manchester. In an interview, Noone made this comment about his early years: "My parents had zero input in my career other than to teach me to be independent and to always be honest, steadfast and true and I was steadfast often. I was able to have a perfectly normal teen life ..." [3]
Noone studied voice and drama at St. Bede's College and at the Manchester School of Music, [4] where he won the Outstanding Young Musician Award.
Early in his career, he used the stage name Peter Novac. At 15, he became the lead singer, spokesman and frontman of Herman's Hermits, who were discovered by Harvey Lisberg. [5] As "Herman", the photogenic Noone appeared on the cover of many international publications, including Time Magazine's 1965 collage showing new faces in popular music. [6] The Hermits consisted of Noone, Derek “Lek” Leckenby and Keith Hopwood (guitars), Karl Green (bass) and Barry Whitwam (drums).
The band's hits included: "I'm into Something Good", "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat", "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter", "Silhouettes", "Wonderful World", "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" (in the U.S.), "There's a Kind of Hush", "Just a Little Bit Better", "A Must to Avoid", "Listen People", "The End of the World", "Dandy", and "No Milk Today". Herman's Hermits sold more than 60 million records and had 14 gold singles and seven gold albums. The Hermits were twice named in the U.S. trade paper Cashbox as "Entertainer of the Year".
As Herman, Noone performed on hundreds of television programmes and appeared with the Ed Sullivan, Jackie Gleason, Dean Martin and Danny Kaye television programs. He starred in ABC's musical version of The Canterville Ghost, Hallmark Hall of Fame's presentation of the classic Pinocchio (in which he played the title role), and three feature films for MGM: Mrs. Brown, You've Got A Lovely Daughter,Hold On! and When The Boys Meet The Girls.
They were the opening act of the 1970 Royal Variety Performance from the London Palladium performing a medley of their hits to date followed by their rendition of If I Were a Rich Man, Where is Love? and Old Henry's Fish and Chips. They ended with their recent hit There's a Kind of Hush. [7]
After Herman's Hermits disbanded in 1971, Noone recorded four singles for UK RAK Records, one single for UK and US Philips, and several singles for the small UK record label, Bus Stop Records. His first RAK single, "Oh You Pretty Thing", peaked at No.12 in the UK Singles Chart [8] and No. 100 in Australia. [9] It was written by David Bowie, who also played piano on the track. In 1973, Noone made a guest appearance on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour television show.[ citation needed ]
In 1974, Noone scored a No. 15 US AC and No. 33 Canadian AC( [10] ) success with "Meet Me on the Corner Down at Joe's Cafe" on the Casablanca Records label. Earlier in the year, his "(I Think I'm Over) Getting Over You" had reached No. 63 in the Canadian AC charts. [11] In 1989 he had a No. 19 US AC hit with his solo recording of Goffin and King's "I'm into Something Good" from the film The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! . In the 1980s, Noone released a solo album, One of the Glory Boys.
In the 1990s, Noone hosted a television programme, "My Generation", on VH1 (British and Irish TV channel), featuring retro music; the programme lasted four years. [12]
As an actor, Noone played a number of roles on television, including that of Stanley Fairclough in the soap opera Coronation Street , leaving that role in 1961. [3] [13] Noone also starred as Frederick in The Pirates of Penzance on Broadway in the 1980s, and later, at the Drury Lane Theatre in London’s West End. [14] [12] He reprised that role again during a US tour and international touring productions. [15] He also appeared in Romance/Romance as Alfred Von Wilmers in the U.S. National Tour of the Broadway hit. [12]
Noone led a short-lived group called the Tremblers that toured in 1980 and released one album, Twice Nightly. Along with Noone, the members of the band were Greg Inhofer (keyboards), Robert Williams (drums, formerly with the Pop), George Conner (lead guitar), and Mark Browne (bass). According to the liner notes of the album, several musicians provided "licks & tricks," including members of Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, Elton John's backing band, Daryl Dragon, Phil Seymour and Dave Clark. Modern Recording magazine reviewed the album unfavorably, maintaining that the music bogged down in "power pop careening into bubblegum" songs that were not different enough from each other: adolescent lyrics delivered at the same fast tempo, recorded with an uninteresting, barely stereo sound field. [16]
As of January 2023, Noone hosted a weekly, three hour programme of 1960s music and reminiscences on SiriusXM's 60s Gold station titled "Something Good", titled after the hit song, "I'm into Something Good". [17]
Since the 1980s, Noone has performed under the name Herman's Hermits starring Peter Noone. [18] In 2023, the group was scheduled to perform 108 concerts "mostly in the USA, Canada and Mexico. Some UK, some France." [17]
Noone married Mireille Strasser on 5 November 1968, his twenty-first birthday, [19] [20] and has one daughter, Natalie.
Herman's Hermits are an English rock and pop group formed in 1963 in Manchester and fronted by singer Peter Noone. Known for their jaunty beat sound and Noone's often tongue-in-cheek vocal style, the Hermits charted with numerous transatlantic hits in the UK and in America, where they ranked as one of the most successful acts in the Beatles-led British Invasion. Between March and August 1965 in the United States, the group logged twenty-four consecutive weeks in the Top Ten of Billboard's Hot 100 with five singles, including the two number ones "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and "I'm Henry VIII, I Am".
Michael Peter Hayes, known as Mickie Most, was an English record producer behind scores of hit singles for acts such as the Animals, Herman's Hermits, the Nashville Teens, Donovan, Lulu, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate, Arrows, Racey and the Jeff Beck Group, often issued on his own RAK Records label.
Clinton Ford was an English popular singer of the 1950s and 1960s.
"I'm Henery the Eighth, I Am" is a 1910 British music hall song by Fred Murray and R. P. Weston. It was a signature song of the music hall star Harry Champion.
"Wonderful World" is a song by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Released on April 14, 1960, by Keen Records, it had been recorded during an impromptu session the previous year in March 1959, at Sam Cooke's last recording session at Keen. He signed with RCA Victor in 1960 and "Wonderful World", then unreleased, was issued as a single in competition. The song was mainly composed by songwriting team Lou Adler and Herb Alpert, but Cooke revised the lyrics to mention the subject of education more.
"Oh! You Pretty Things" is a song by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie from his 1971 album Hunky Dory. It was the first song he wrote for the album. Bowie recorded the song as a demo before giving it to singer Peter Noone, lead singer of Herman's Hermits, who decided to release it as his debut solo single. Featuring Bowie on piano, Noone's recording was produced by Mickie Most and featured structural and lyrical differences from Bowie's later version. Released by RAK Records in April 1971 under the title "Oh You Pretty Thing", the single peaked at number 12 in the UK, becoming Bowie's biggest success as a songwriter since his own single "Space Oddity" two years earlier.
John Nicholas Shakespeare, known as John Carter, is an English singer, songwriter, and record producer.
"Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" is a popular song written by British actor, screenwriter and songwriter Trevor Peacock. It was originally sung by actor Tom Courtenay in The Lads, an ITV Television Playhouse play of 1963, and released as a single on UK Decca.
Flintlock were a 1970s pop group from Essex, England. Its members were Derek Pascoe (vocals/saxophone), Mike Holoway (drums/percussion), Jamie Stone (bass/vocals), John Summerton (guitar/vocals) and Bill Rice (keyboards).
"Heartbeat" is a rockabilly song originally recorded by Bob Montgomery and credited to Norman Petty. It was recorded most famously by Buddy Holly in 1958. The B-side of the single was "Well... All Right". "Heartbeat" reached the UK top 10 twice: once in 1975 for Showaddywaddy at number seven and again in 1992 for Nick Berry, recorded as the theme to the television series Heartbeat, which reached number two.
Keith Hopwood is an English pop and rock musician, singer-songwriter, composer, businessman and record producer, who served as the rhythm guitarist and backing vocals for the 1960s pop band, Herman's Hermits. Hopwood also served as a keyboardist, singer and guitarist for the post-Peter Noone outfit, Sour Mash, which recorded an unreleased album, A Whale of a Tale for RCA.
"Dandy" is a 1966 song by the Kinks, appearing on their album Face to Face.
Herman's Hermits is the debut album of the band Herman's Hermits, first issued in 1965. As was typical of the time, the album's contents were different on the UK and US releases. UK albums tended not to include singles. The US edition of the album is sometimes called Introducing Herman's Hermits – a title used on the back cover and the record label but not on the front cover.
"Silhouettes" is a song made famous by the doo-wop group the Rays in 1957, peaking at number 3 on the U.S Billboard Hot 100. A competing version by the Diamonds was also successful. In 1965 it was a number 5 hit in the US for Herman's Hermits, and in 1990 it was a number 10 hit in the UK for Cliff Richard.
"The Story of My Life" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. It was published in 1957. It was recorded by Marty Robbins and reached number one on Billboard's country chart in 1958, and it became a number one hit song for Michael Holliday in the UK.
"I'm into Something Good" is a song composed by Gerry Goffin (lyrics) and Carole King (music) and made famous by Herman's Hermits. The song was originally recorded by Cookies member Earl-Jean on Colpix Records in 1964. Her version entered the U.S. Cash Box Top 100 charts in the US on 4 July 1964 and spent eight weeks there, reaching a high of number 42 on 15 August 1964, and number 38 Billboard.
"No Milk Today" is a song that was written by Graham Gouldman and originally recorded by British pop band Herman's Hermits. It was first released as a single by the Mancunian group in the UK in October 1966 and, with the B-side "My Reservation's Been Confirmed", enjoyed chart success, peaking at No. 7 in the UK Singles Chart. Although not released as a single in the US, it was popular enough to become a moderate hit when it was released there as the B-side to "There's a Kind of Hush", reaching No. 35 in 1967. It was also a major hit in many European countries.
Harvey Brian Lisberg is an English talent manager and impresario, best known for discovering Herman's Hermits in 1963. In 1965, he signed songwriter Graham Gouldman, a founder member of 10cc, who Lisberg also managed, along with Godley & Creme, Tony Christie, Barclay James Harvest, Gordon Giltrap, Sad Café, Wax and others.
Into Something Good: The Mickie Most Years 1964–1972 is a 4-CD box set by British pop group Herman's Hermits, released 2008 on EMI.
"The Star" or "(Here Comes) The Star" is a single by Australian pop music singer Ross D. Wyllie, released in September 1969. Written by Johnny Young and produced by Bob Foster for Festival. It reached number one on the Go-Set National Top 40. It was covered by British pop group, Herman's Hermits, as "Here Comes the Star", in November, which reached No. 33 on the UK singles chart.