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JUST three months together - and Herman's Hermits fair crash into the spotlight of the charts. A first-time hit for them . . . and the third leg of a hat-trick for disc producer Mickie Most, who started his chart-happy ways with the Animals, then the Nashville Teens.
Mickie, formerly one of the Most Brothers in Britain's early beat era and then a solo hit maker in South Africa, met Herman's Hermits in Manchester. He said: "I liked them from the start . . . they looked good and sounded good. And it was obvious that they had a huge following through Lancashire - hundreds of fans wearing T-shirts with "Hermania" blazoned across them." Herman himself is only 16, says: "Manchester is my home town and not so long ago I used to go to classical singing lessons at Manchester School of Music. I like singing but for a while I was more enthusiastic about acting. So I took drama lessons and got myself parts in television shows like 'Coronation Street' and 'Knight Errant.' "Why Herman for a name? Well, the boys liked a TV cartoon show called "The Bullwinkle Show" and there was a character in it named Sherman. They thought their "leader" looked like this pen-and-ink hero . . . so Herman he became. The "Hermit" bit followed on automatically. Naturally knocked out at the success of "I'm Into Something Good," a Goffin-King composition, the boys are now in the throes of a series of boosting TV and radio appearances. They've got a big fan-club already organised in the Manchester area and find they're getting great receptions now they're travelling further afield. The group? Certainly one of the youngest on the crowded scene. Bassist is 17-year-old Karl Green, then comes drummer Barry Whitwam (18), Keith Hopwood (17), on lead and rhythm guitars, and Derek "Lek" Leckenby (21), who also alternates lead and rhythm. Used to be called the Heartbeats - that was before Peter "Herman" Noone first got up to sing with them at a youth club. Said Herman: "What's shaken us is the speed at which things are happening. Mickie Most pointed a lot of faults to us, but signed us, recorded us - and had the disc released - in just three weeks. Then there it is in the charts a wee while after that. Fantastic!" |