The Hollies
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| The Hollies | |
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Manchester, England |
| Genre(s) | Beat music Psychedelic rock |
| Years active | 1962–present |
| Label(s) | Parlophone |
| Website | hollies.co.uk |
| Members | |
| Tony Hicks Bobby Elliott Ray Stiles Steve Lauri Ian Parker Peter Howarth |
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| Former members | |
| Graham Nash Allan Clarke Terry Sylvester Eric Haydock Allen Coates Vic Steele Don Rathbone Bernie Calvert Mikael Rickfors Carl Wayne |
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The Hollies are an English pop group from Manchester formed in the early 1960s. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style (which influenced many other groups) they became one of the leading British groups of the era, and they enjoyed considerable popularity in many other countries although they did not achieve major US chart success until 1966. Like the Rolling Stones and Steeleye Span, they are also notable as one of the few British pop groups of the 1960s that has never officially broken up and which continues to record and perform to the present.
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[edit] History
[edit] Formation
Member Graham Nash told Public Radio International (Bob Edwards show; February 15, 2009) that the group decided just prior to a performance to call themselves the Hollies because of their admiration for Buddy Holly. The original lineup included Allan Clarke as lead vocalist, Graham Nash as guitarist and vocalist, Vic Steele (real name Vic Farrell) on guitar, with Eric Haydock and Don Rathbone rounding out the group on bass and drums. Steele left in May 1963 shortly before they signed to Parlophone in 1963 as label-mates of the Beatles. The group released their first album in the United States in 1964 as part of the first wave of British Invasion releases. They are commonly associated with Manchester, as some of the original Hollies grew up in the city. Tony Hicks then Bobby Elliot who both played in a Nelson-based band, the Dolphins, joined the band in quick succession in 1963. Bernie Calvert who replaced Haydock in 1966 was also a Dolphin member.
[edit] 1960s
The Hollies had a squeaky-clean image, and were known for their bright vocal harmonies. Their EMI debut single "Ain't That Just Like Me," released May 1, 1963, hit #25 on the UK Singles Chart. Their second single, a cover of The Coasters' "Searchin," hit #12.
They scored their first British Top 10 hit in early 1964 with a cover of Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs' "Stay", which reached #8 in the UK. It was lifted from the band's Parlophone debut album "Stay With The Hollies", released on 1 January 1964, which went to #2 on the UK album chart. A version of the album was released in the U.S. as Here I Go Again, on The Hollies' Big Hairy Balls then-U.S. label Imperial. They followed up with a cover of Doris Troy's "Just One Look." During the mid-1960s the cover versions were supplanted first by written-to-order songs provided to them by such writers as Graham Gouldman and then by songs written by the group's in-house songwriting trio of Clarke, Hicks and Nash, who soon began providing the hits.
By one measure, The Hollies were the third most successful British 'singles' group of the 1960s, scoring twenty UK Top 40 placings between 1963 and 1969. This would place The Hollies behind only The Shadows (24 UK hits from 1960, not counting their appearances backing Cliff Richard), and The Beatles (21 UK hits, 1962-1969, counting double A-sides as one hit).
However, despite their numerous chart placings, The Hollies scored only one #1 UK hit in the 1960s (1965's "I'm Alive"), placing them well behind consistently chart-topping acts such as The Beatles (17 number ones) and The Shadows (5 number ones) in terms of successful British chart groups. Other "British Invasion" acts such as The Rolling Stones (15 chart entries, 8 number ones), The Kinks (18 chart entries, 3 number ones) and Manfred Mann (17 chart entries, 3 number ones) also lead The Hollies in terms of #1 hits. The Hollies had considerable chart success in Europe and also scored numerous hits in Australia through the Sixties and into the early 1970s[1], but they were only moderately successful in North America.
Still, by most commercial measures, The Hollies were certainly one of the top dozen or so UK bands of the 1960s and they scored a remarkable run of success in their home country -- of the 29 Hollies singles released between 1963 and 1974 only one failed to make the UK charts. [2].
The hits continued with "Here I Go Again" (May 1964, UK #4); the group's first self-penned hit "We're Through" (Sep. 1964, UK #7); "Yes I Will" (Jan. 1965, UK #9); their only British #1 single, the Clint Ballard, Jr. penned "I'm Alive" (May 1965, UK#1, US #103) but "If I Needed Someone" (Dec. 1965), the George Harrison song originally recorded by the Beatles on Rubber Soul, charted significantly lower, only reaching #20 in the UK.
They returned to the UK Top 10 with "Bus Stop" (UK #2, US #5, 1966) (written by future 10CC member Graham Gouldman) and "I Can't Let Go" (Feb. 1966, UK #2, US #42). Their only non-charting single in this period was the Burt Bacharach-Hal David song "After The Fox" (Sep. 1966), the theme song from the Peter Sellers comedy film of the same name, which was issued on the United Artists label.
From this point until Nash's departure, the single A-sides were all Clarke-Hicks-Nash collaborations; "Stop Stop Stop" (Oct. 1966, UK #2, US #7), known for its distinctive banjo arrangement; "On a Carousel" (Feb. 1967; UK #4, 1967, US #11, Australia #14,[3]), "Carrie Anne" (May 1967, UK #3, US #9, Australia #7[4]) (the song from which actress Carrie-Anne Moss got her name, having been born when the song was on the charts). The last Hollies single of the '60s to feature Graham Nash was "Jennifer Eccles" (Mar. 1968, UK #7, US #40, Aust. #13[5]).
The rhythm section included drummer Bobby Elliot and bass guitarist Eric Haydock. Bernie Calvert replaced Eric Haydock in 1966.
Some of their songs had folk rock elements (e.g., Would You Believe?), but psychedelic influences were clearly evident by the time of the albums Evolution and Butterfly. "King Midas in Reverse" (Sep. 1967, UK #18), another Clarke-Hicks-Nash song, was influenced by prevailing trends in psychedelia, and backed with a lavish orchestral arrangement by John Scott featuring strings, brass and flutes.
Like most British groups' during this period, The Hollies' U.S. releases almost always featured different track listings from their original UK albums. The Hollies second album "In The Hollies Style" (1964) did not chart and none of its tracks were released in the U.S. The Hollies third album simply called Hollies hit number 8 in the UK in 1965. Their fourth Would You Believe made it to #16 in 1966. Released in the U.S. as Hear Here and Beat Group, they failed to crack the top 100. Meanwhile a U.S. Imperial Bus Stop album made of songs clipped from earlier albums climbed to #75, the group's first U.S. album to enter the Top 100.
While all their albums included original compositions, these were usually listed under the pseudonym "L. Ransford". Released in October 1966, For Certain Because (UK #23, 1966) was the group's fifth album, their first album consisting entirely of original compositions by Clarke, Hicks and Nash. Released in the U.S. as Stop! Stop! Stop! it reached U.S. #91 and spawned a U.S. release only single "Pay You Back With Interest" which was a modest hit reaching U.S. #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.
Their next album Evolution was released on 1 June 1967, the same day as The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was also their first album for their new U.S. label Epic. It reached UK #13 and U.S. #43. The U.S. version included the single "Carrie Anne". The Hollies' psychedelic sound experiments continued through their next album Butterfly, released in the U.S. as Dear Eloise/King Midas In Reverse but neither version charted. It would be the last album that featured Graham Nash until the 1980s. A Parlophone collection of some of the group's earliest singles was released as The Hollies Greatest and went to #1 on the UK charts in 1968. An Imperial Hollies Greatest Hits was a #11 hit in the U.S. a year earlier.
[edit] Graham Nash's departure
When Nash left in 1968 due to creative differences, in particular over the plan to record a full album of Bob Dylan songs, he relocated to Los Angeles, where he joined forces with former Buffalo Springfield guitarist Stephen Stills and ex-Byrds singer David Crosby to form one of the first supergroups, Crosby, Stills & Nash. He was replaced by guitarist-singer Terry Sylvester, formerly of The Swinging Blue Jeans. This lineup had a hit in 1969 with "Sorry, Suzanne", which reached #3 in the UK. In time, too, Sylvester proved a capable substitution for Nash as part of the group's songwriting team.
Their next single after Nash's departure was the Tony Hazzard-penned "Listen To Me" (Sep. 1968, UK #11, which was backed by "Do The Best you Can", the last original Nash-Clarke-Hicks song to appear on a single. Their next album was Hollies Sing Dylan which soared to the #3 position on the UK chart while the U.S. version Words And Music By Bob Dylan was ignored. The next album Hollies Sing Hollies did not chart in the UK, but the U.S. version called He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother included the hit single by the same name and reached U.S. #32.
Nash's departure saw The Hollies again turn to outside writers for their single A-sides, but the group's British chart fortunes rallied during 1969-70 and they scored four consecutive UK Top 20 hits (including two consecutive Top 5 placings) in this period, beginning with the Geoff Stephens / Tony Macaulay song "Sorry Suzanne" (Feb. 1969) which reached #3 in the UK.
[edit] 1970s
The group hit #3 in the UK in 1970 with the emotional civil rights themed ballad "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", which featured the piano playing of Elton John, as did their next single, "I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top" (Apr. 1970, UK #11). The UK hits continued with "Gasoline Alley Bred" (Sep. 1970, UK #14, Australia #20[6]) and the hard edged rocker" Hey Willy" (UK #22 1971).
Group member Allan Clarke left the group in 1971 for a solo career. With the end of their EMI/Parlophone contract they signed with Polydor and Swedish singer Mikael Rickfors sang lead on the single "The Baby" (UK #26, 1972). Meanwhile EMI lifted a track from their album Distant Light, which had Clarke on lead vocal and lead guitar, the Creedence Clearwater Revival-inspired song, "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress"; EMI released it as a rival single, and although it fared relatively poorly in the UK (#32) it reached #2 in the US and #1 in Australia[7]. Clarke rejoined in 1973 and they returned to the UK Top 30 with another swamp rock-style song penned by Clarke, "The Day That Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee" (UK #24, 1973).
In 1974 they scored what was to be their last major hit with the love song "The Air That I Breathe" (previously recorded by Phil Everly on one of his solo albums) which reached #2 in the UK and Australia[8] and made the Top 10 in the US. It was their last UK hit for over a decade and subsequent singles like "Son of a Rotten Gambler", "I'm Down", "Boulder to Birmingham" and "Sandy" failed to chart in the UK.
[edit] 1980s–2000s and beyond
In 1980 the Hollies returned to the UK charts with the stirring single "Soldier's Song" which was a mild hit in 1980 reaching number 58 in the UK. They also released an album of Buddy Holly covers aptly named "Buddy Holly". In 1981 Calvert and Sylvester left. The Hollies released "Holliedaze", a medley edited together from their hit records, which returned them to the UK Top 30. Nash and Haydock briefly rejoined to promote the record on Top of the Pops. They continued to record and tour throughout the mid-1980s, last hitting the US Top 40 with a remake of The Supremes' "Stop in the Name of Love", which reached No. 29 in 1983, from the album What Goes Around. A live album featuring the Clarke-Hicks-Elliott-Nash re-grouping, Reunion, followed that same year.
After its use in a TV beer commercial (for Miller Lite lager) in the summer of 1988, "He Ain't Heavy" was reissued in the UK and reached No. 1, thus establishing a new record for the length of time between chart-topping singles for one artist of 23 years. By this time bassist Ray Stiles, formerly a member of 1970s chart-topping glam rock group Mud, had joined the permanent lineup. A re-issue early in 1989 of "The Air That I Breathe" only made No. 60. During the same year, the group wrote and recorded the title song to the ITV charity series Find a Family; the single (named "Find Me a Family") peaked at No. 79. In 1993 another new single, "The Woman I Love", written by Nik Kershaw, reached No. 42 in the UK.
The Hollies still tour with two original members, Hicks and Elliott. After Clarke's retirement in 1999, he was replaced by Carl Wayne, former lead singer of The Move. Wayne only recorded one song with them, "How Do I Survive?", the last (and only new) track on the 2003 Greatest Hits. After his death from cancer in August 2004, he was replaced by Peter Howarth. The Hollies' first new studio album since 1983, Staying Power was released in 2006.
The group released their new album Then, Now, Always, in late March 2009. The album featured 11 brand new tracks, featuring Peter Howarth on lead vocals on all but the title track, where Tony Hicks sang, and "Coming Home" which was sung by Steve Lauri.
[edit] Band members
[edit] 1962-1973
[edit] 1973-1986
[edit] 1986-present
[edit] Discography
[edit] Notes
- ^ Go-Set Charts site search, accessed 19 July 2009
- ^ The Hollies Official Website
- ^ Go-Set national Top 40, 12 Apr. 1967
- ^ Go-Set national chart, 9 Aug. 1967
- ^ Go-Set national Top 40, 8 May 1968
- ^ Go-Set national chart, 20 Feb. 1970
- ^ Go-Set National Top 40, 20 September 1972
- ^ Go-Set national Top 40, 1 June 1974
[edit] References
- Artist Profile. (2004). The Hollies. Retrieved September 1, 2006, from Rockphiles Web site: www.rockphiles.com
- Rock and Roll Biographies. (2000). The Hollies. Retrieved August 31, 2006, from Classicbands Web site: http://www.classicbands.com/hollies.html
[edit] External links
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