IN 1965 Peter Noone, the lead singer of Herman’s Hermits, was singing I’m into Something Good and as far as he is concerned he still is today.
When he sang this song he was 17 and as he approaches 65 he is still producing the magic for his audience.
For those who don’t know, Herman’s Hermits sold 60 million records charting with songs such as No Milk Today, Silhouettes, Mrs Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter, There’s a Kind of Hush and I’m Henry the Eighth I Am.
Peter, who lives in America, will be back in the UK for two months as he tours with The Solid Silver 60s show.
Peter Noone
He will be appearing alongside Chris Montez, Brian Hyland, Brian Poole and Vanity Fare.
Peter will arrive in Northampton for one night next month but it is not his first visit to the town as he came here in the 1960s with Herman’s Hermits appearing at one of the town’s cinemas for a concert.
Telling how he still reproduces the singing he did when he was 17, Peter said: “I am optimistic and I used the Stanislavsky method whereby I try to believe I am 17 years old again when I am singing songs like I’m into Something Good.
“I have to sing in the same key I did then for them to resemble the records we made in the studio.
“I remember the excitement I had when my mum heard our songs on the radio.
“Every time I sing them I try to perform them better than I did the night before.
“I don’t want to disappoint people who have turned up.
“Now I am older I have to be like an opera singer and do warm-up vocal exercises.
“I do jump around like a 17-year-old but it tends to hurt the next day.
“In some respects I am a slave to my obligations and want people to feel they have had the full experience and not to feel cheated.”
When Herman’s Hermits first went to America in 1965 it was an eye-opener for Peter.
It was a period in American history when segregation of black and white people was still enforced in the southern states.
It is something he will not forget for the wrong reasons just as much he remembers meeting his rock ‘n’ roll heroes for the right reasons.
Speaking from Westport, near New York, Peter said: “I spoke to Elvis when I was a teenager.
“Everybody in the other bands was older than me.
“When I first went to America I wanted to meet, and did meet, all my heroes like Johnny Cash, Jackie Wilson and the Everly Brothers and of course Elvis Presley.
“Having set it up I went along to meet him and he was a really charming guy.
“He was very friendly and he looked and talked just like he did in the movies – I could not believe it.
“He was 100 per cent charisma.”
After Peter secured the interview he called his sister and asked her what questions he should ask Elvis and she told him to ask if he dyed his hair!
He said being a pop star in the 1960s was a full on job, adding: “In 1961 we were travelling around in a van with five of us in the back.
“We learnt how to deal with men and once we became famous we had to deal with the girls.
“We used to have to play two gigs a day one in Liverpool and one in
Manchester.
“I am not talking about 20 minutes a gig, I am talking about two hours at a time. This was how we learnt to play.”
Tickets for The Solid Silver 60s which is on Thursday, March 29 at 7.30pm cost £24.50.
To book call the box office on 01604 624811 or visit www.royalandderngate.co.uk
