Herman's Hermits | Biography & History | AllMusic google+ Artist Biography by Bruce Eder Herman's Hermits were one of those odd 1960's groups that accumulated millions of fans, but precious little respect. Indeed, their status is remarkably similar to that of the Monkees and it's not a coincidence that both groups' music was intended to appeal to younger teenagers. The difference is that as early as 1976, the Monkees began to be considered cool by people who really knew music; it has taken 35 years for Herman's Hermits to begin receiving higher regard for their work. Of course, that lack of respect had no relevance to their success: 20 singles lofted into the Top 40 in England and America between 1964 and 1970, 16 of them in the Top 20, and most of those Top Ten as well. Artistically, they were rated far lower than the Hollies , the Searchers , or Gerry & the Pacemakers , but commercially, the Hermits were only a couple of rungs below the Beatles and the Rolling Stones . The magnitude of their success seemed highly improbable, based on their modest beginnings.

Guitarist/singer Keith Hopwood (born October 26, 1946), bassist/singer Karl Green (born July 31, 1947), guitarist/singer Derek "Lek" Leckenby (born May 14, 1945), and drummer Barry Whitwam (born July 21, 1946) were among the younger musicians on the Manchester band scene in 1963, when they started playing together as the Heartbeats. The city was home to many dozens of promising bands, most notable among them the Hollies , the Mockingbirds , and Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders . Later that year, the Heartbeats got a new member in 16-year-old Peter Noone (born November 5, 1947), who filled in one night when their regular vocalist failed to turn up for a gig. Noone was already a veteran actor, trained at the Manchester School of Music and Drama; he had been a child star on television in the late '50s, on the television series Coronation Street, but he also had musical aspirations.

As a vocalist with the Heartbeats, he initially worked under the name Peter Novak. The quintet followed the same path that any other struggling band did, playing shows at youth clubs and local dances, hoping to get noticed, and they picked up a pair of managers, Harvey Lisberg and Charlie Silverman. Accounts vary as to the origins of the name they ultimately adopted -- some say that their managers remarked on the facial resemblance between Noone and the character of Sherman in the Jay Ward cartoon show "Mr. Peabody & Sherman"; others credit Karl Green with mentioning it. In any case, "Sherman" became "Herman" and the group, in search of a more distinct name, became Herman & His Hermits and then Herman's Hermits. They played a pleasing, melodic brand of rock & roll, mostly standards of the late '50s and early '60s, with Noone's attractive vocals at the fore. Their big break came in 1964 when producer Mickie Most was invited by Lisberg and Silverman to a show in Manchester.

He was impressed with their wholesome, clean-cut image, and with Noone's singing and pleasant, non-threatening stage presence, and he agreed to produce them, arranging a recording contract for the group with the EMI-Columbia label in England; their American releases were licensed to MGM Records. Herman's Hermits' debut single, a Carole King / Gerry Goffin song called "I'm Into Something Good," released in the summer of 1964, hit number one in England and number 13 in America. Ironically, considering the direction of many of their future releases, the group displayed anything but an English sound on "I'm Into Something Good." Instead, it had a transatlantic feel, smooth and easy-going with a kind of vaguely identifiable California sound. Of course, that statement assumed that the group had much to do with the record -- as it turned out, they didn't.

In a manner typical of the majority of the acts that Most produced, the Hermits didn't play on most of their own records; Mickie Most, as was typical of producers in the era before the Beatles ' emergence, saw no reason to make a less-than-perfect record, or spend expensive studio time working with a band to perfect its sound -- as long as Peter Noone 's voice was on the record and the backing wasn't something that the group absolutely couldn't reproduce on stage, everyone seemed happy, including the fans. Conversely, the group didn't have too much control over the choice of material that they recorded or released. On their singles in particular, "Herman's Hermits" were mostly Peter Noone 's vocals in front of whatever session musicians Most had engaged, which included such future luminaries as Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones , with the other members relegated to background vocals, if that. The group was grateful for the hit records that they chalked up, the revenue that those generated, and the gigs that resulted.

They charted six Top 20 hits each in the years 1965 and 1966 and were a major attraction in concert, usually in a package tour situation, with the Hermits at or near the very top of whatever bill they were on. Their records were smooth, pleasant pop/rock, roughly the British invasion equivalent of easy listening, which set them apart from most of the rival acts of the period. Their cover of Sam Cooke 's "Wonderful World" (which reached number four in America) and remake of the Rays ' 1950s hit "Silhouettes" were good representations of the group's releases; on their EPs and early LPs, they also threw in covers of old rock & roll numbers like Frankie Ford 's "Sea Cruise." They were purveyors of romantic pop/rock just at a time when the Beatles were starting to become influenced by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones , the Yardbirds , and the Who were redefining the British beat sound with higher volume, greater complexity, and harder sounds. Most recognized that those acts were leaving behind a huge number of listeners who would still buy songs resembling simple, relatively innocent sounds of 1964 or even earlier.

Just how far back he and the group could reach was revealed to them by accident, following the release of Introducing Herman's Hermits on MGM Records in the United States during 1965, coinciding with their first U.S. tour. An American disc jockey heard the song "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" on that album and convinced the label to issue it as a single. The song had been done almost as a joke by the group, its guitar/banjo sound and Noone's vocal performance -- Mancunian accented and laced with a vulnerable, wide-eyed innocence -- deliberately reminiscent of George Formby , the immensely popular ukelele-strumming British music hall entertainer of the 1930s and 1940s. In England, that record would never have been considered for release by an image-conscious rock & roll group; the parents and grandparents of their audience would have loved it, but it would also have destroyed their credibility.

In America, however, it was considered just another piece of British Invasion pop/rock and a pleasant, innocuous, and eminently hummable one at that -- and it shot to number one on the charts, earning a gold record in the process. It seemed to slot in with Americans' image of England's past in a comfortable, cheerful way, evoking a kind of "theme park" cockney image that easily adjoined the contemporary vision of "Swinging London." In the end, "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" sold 14 million copies around the world, making their first film appearance (in the movie When the Boys Meet the Girls), which came off of that same U.S. tour, seem almost an after-thought. In England, however, "Mrs. Brown" was never issued as a single. After that, a formula was established. Mickie Most got the group to record more songs in the same vein, including the actual Edwardian-era music hall number "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am," specifically for release as singles in America.

The latter record reportedly made the group members cringe over what it would do to their image in England, but in America it hit number one and chalked up yet another gold record award. Amid all of this American chart action with novelty tunes and albums that easily rose into the Top 30 in the U.S.A., the group's British releases were a whole other story. The Hermits continued to issue current romantic pop/rock, which sold well and kept up their image as a respectable if somewhat soft rock group. At the same time, their British album sales were virtually negligible, only their debut LP ever charting (at number 16).

This was unfortunate, as the British version of their second album, Both Sides of Herman's Hermits , was a perfectly respectable pop/rock LP with some very hard, loud sounds (and one "period" standard, "Leaning on a Lamp Post"), mostly solid Brit-beat numbers like "Little Boy Sad," "Story of My Life," and "My Reservation's Been Confirmed," as well as a stripped-down, straight-ahead version of Graham Gouldman 's "Bus Stop." That album and its 1967 follow-ups, There's a Kind of Hush All Over the World and Blaze (which never even came out in England), were excellent representations of the full range of the group's sound, including hard rock, psychedelia, and pop/rock, featuring very respectable originals written by Green, Hopwood, and Leckenby. While their record sales remained healthy in America well into 1966, their British singles gradually slackened in sales until the group recorded Graham Gouldman 's "No Milk Today," which put them back in the U.K. Top 10; in America, the same song was also a hit paired off with "Dandy," a poppish cover of the Kinks song.

The group made their second film appearance, this time in a starring role in the comedy Hold On! (1966), which mixed Herman's Hermits in a story about space flight. By the end of that year, however, the stage was set for the gradual decline in the group's fortunes, even in America. Producers Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, in conjunction with NBC and Columbia Pictures Television, had devised a television series that touched upon a formula for success very similar to what Mickie Most had found with Herman's Hermits: The Monkees -- all about a fun-loving pop/rock group created specifically for the series. The program debuted in late 1966 and by that winter, the Monkees were selling millions of singles and LPs to the very same young teen audience that Herman's Hermits had cultivated. The presence of English actor/singer Davy Jones in their lineup, as the principal vocalist on their records and the romantic heartthrob of the group, only heightened the resemblance between the two acts.

By 1967, Davy Jones and the Monkees were selling millions of copies of "Daydream Believer," a song that surely would have gone to the Hermits had it been written at any time earlier. "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)," a bright, upbeat pop number, put the Hermits back at number seven in England and number four in America; but an attempt at latching on to the folk-rock and psychedelic booms with a recording of Donovan 's song "Museum" never charted in England and reached only number 37 in America before disappearing. They made the American Top 20 just once more with "Don't Go out Into the Rain," after which everyone seemed to recognize the inevitable. The group made one more feature film, entitled Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter -- the song, which had rocketed them to fame in America, served the group one last time, yielding a movie about dog racing that gave Noone a lead acting role and which was a decent box office success in 1968.

During this period, Noone co-produced a good LP for songwriter/singer Graham Gouldman (with whom he later went into partnership) that never sold well, despite some very interesting sounds. The Hermits, as a group, hewed closer to the pop market after "Museum" and enjoyed another two years worth of hits in England before Peter Noone decided to leave in 1970. The group soldiered on for another three years, cutting singles for RCA in America that were duly ignored and Noone returned briefly to the fold in 1973 to capitalize on the rock & roll revival boom and made an appearance hosting NBC's The Midnight Special, in an installment devoted to the sounds of the British Invasion, that became one of the most collectable shows in that program's run. Thereafter, Noone tried re-entering the rock & roll arena fronting a new band, the Tremblers , in 1980, without much success. He fared much better on stage in The Pirates of Penzance on London's West End, which was a huge hit in the mid-'80s.

Both he and the latter-day Herman's Hermits have turned up on the oldies circuit at different times, usually working in the context of a revival of the British Invasion sound. Derek Leckerby passed away in 1994 at the age of 48, but drummer Barry Whitwam was leading a group of Herman's Hermits at the opening of the 21st century. Noone has resumed performing regularly and also became a star VJ on MTV's VH1 channel. In the year 2000, Repertoire Records began the long-overdue exhumation of Herman's Hermits album catalog, issuing state-of-the-art CD editions with bonus tracks that show off the full range of the group's music. Just as Rhino Records had previously done with the Monkees catalog, it seems like Herman's Hermits may finally be getting the recognition they deserved.

Herman's Hermits, A Band That Was In It For The Hits And The Kicks : NPR Herman's Hermits, A Band That Was In It For The Hits And The Kicks Embed Embed Herman's Hermits, A Band That Was In It For The Hits And The Kicks Herman's Hermits, A Band That Was In It For The Hits And The Kicks Embed Embed Herman's Hermits hit the American pop charts 22 times in the 1960s and early '70s. Now, a new anthology compiles 66 of the Hermits' tracks. Rock historian Ed Ward considers how the music has held up. DAVID BIANCULLI, HOST: This is FRESH AIR. The Beatles overwhelmed America when they led the British invasion in 1964. But within a few months, many other bands were vying for attention. Most of them managed a hit or two. But Herman's Hermits hit the American pop charts a total of 22 times. Bear Family Records has released a 66 track compilation record of their work called the "Best Of Herman's Hermits." Rock historian Ed Ward has this review.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "WALKING WITH MY ANGEL") HERMAN'S HERMITS: (Singing) Ain't no guy in town who would ever try to put me down when I'm walking, walking with my angel. Yeah, 'cause every guy... ED WARD: Hey, girls, who's your favorite Herman? Only one answer to that question, of course. It had to be Herman. The other four guys - who knew their names? If you were really up on things, you knew Herman's real name was Peter Noone. But unless you were British, you probably didn't know that he began his show business career in 1961 under the name Peter Novak, playing a recurring character in the British soap opera "Coronation Street." He was all of 13 at the time and only 15 when he joined the Heartbeats, a Manchester quartet looking to make it on the coattails of bands from that city's rival, Liverpool. With Noone's arrival, the band changed its name to Herman and the Hermits and acquired two managers, Harvey Lisberg and Charlie Silverman who also wrote songs.

Noting the band's popularity at home, Lisberg and Silverman bundled them down to London where they recorded two of their songs with producer Ron Richards who was working with another Manchester band, the Hollies. (SOUNDBITE OF UNIDENTIFIED SONG) HERMAN'S HERMITS: (Singing) Only just last night I thought about you. And I know I just can't live without you. You, yes, you are on my mind. And I know that your loving... WARD: Mickie Most, a hotshot young producer currently working with the Animals heard the demo and told the managers that if they replaced the rhythm section, he'd take a chance with them. And the new guitarist Derek Leckenby said he thought the name Herman's Hermits would be better. So they changed it. In July 1964, Most finished producing the Animals and took the Hermits on for his next production, a recent hit for an American singer, Earl-Jean written by the dynamic duo of Carole King and Gerry Goffin. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M INTO SOMETHING GOOD") HERMAN'S HERMITS: (Singing) Woke up this morning feeling fine.

There's something special on my mind. Last night I met a new girl in the neighborhood. Oh, yeah. Something tells me I'm into something good. Something tells me I'm into something good. She's the kind of girl... WARD: Copying the original in everything but gender, the record soared to the top of the British charts and scored an American deal with MGM, which had already signed the Animals. It only got to number 13 in the states, but the follow-up hit number two and Hermania - as they were calling it in England - was born. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CAN'T YOU HEAR MY HEARTBEAT") HERMAN'S HERMITS: (Singing) Every time I see you looking my way. Baby, baby, can't you hear my heartbeat? In the car or walking down the highway, baby, baby, can't you hear my heartbeat? When you move up closer to me. I get a feeling that's oh-wee. Can't you hear the pounding of my heartbeat? 'Cause you're the one I love. You're the one I love.

WARD: Their next record, an uninspired cover of the vocal group Classic Silhouettes was a top ten hit. And next, they grabbed a song from a recent British musical TV production and hit the jackpot. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MRS. BROWN, YOU'VE GOT A LOVELY DAUGHTER") HERMAN'S HERMITS: (Singing) Mrs. Brown, you've got a lovely daughter. Girls as sharp as her are something rare. But it's sad. She doesn't love me now. She's made it clear enough. It ain't no good to pine. She wants to... WARD: A canny move. It sounded like nothing on the radio. Noone emphasized his Mancunian accent when he said enough, and Herman's Hermits became the band to watch in 1965. Mickie Most wasn't fond of the song and only agreed to release it stateside if MGM had a million advance orders which came soon enough. They signed onto Dick Clark's Caravan of Stars, a major American group tour and were tapped to appear in a quickie film "When The Boys Meet The Girls" for which they recorded a song that MGM wanted out immediately.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LISTEN PEOPLE") HERMAN'S HERMITS: (Singing) Listen people. Do what I say. I say everybody's got to have their day, and don't you know that everybody's got to love somebody? WARD: The British record company didn't like it and released an old music hall tune, "I'm Henry The VIII, I Am" instead. Most didn't want that out in America. But MGM came up with its million preorders again, so he caved. After it had hit number one, they released "Listen People" which hit number three in early 1966. But the Hermits had a problem besides the fact that they had no identity. They were totally dependent for most of their career on outside songwriters. Neither the band nor Noone wrote early on, so they went to Mickie Most's extensive network of writers - not only Goffin and King, but Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Steve Barri and P.F.

Sloan and other Tin Pan Alley songwriters and in Britain, Graham Gouldman, who later went on to 10cc, Ray Davies, who wrote "Dandy" for them and recorded it himself with the Kinks and a young folk rocker Most was grooming for stardom, Donovan. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MUSEUM") HERMAN'S HERMITS: (Singing) I drink sweet wine for breakfast. I slept but an hour or so. I smiled a little in the silence deciding on where to go. Meet me under the whale at the Natural History Museum. I think that's what she said a little bit sad about having to leave them. Yawning in the sun. It's like a child I run. Don't do it if... WARD: By the time "Museum" came out in the summer of 1967, Herman's Hermits were over in America. Noone cheerfully admits that they weren't in it to make grand statements or break creative boundaries. They were in it for the kicks, the hits, the tours, the fun.

After their run of hits evaporated, they continued to tour in places like the Philippines, Japan and Australia, but made their last single in 1970 after which Noone started a solo career. The Hermits tried to make a go without him, but it failed. Oh, and their names? Karl Green, bass; Barry Whitwam, drums; Keith Hopwood, guitar; and Derek Leckenby, guitar. Well done, lads. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I'M HENRY VIII, I AM") HERMAN'S HERMITS: (Singing) I'm Henry the eighth, I am. Henry the eighth, I am. I got married to the widow next door. She's been married seven times before. And every one was a Henry. She wouldn't have a Willy or a Sam. I'm her eighth old man, I'm Henry. Henry the eighth, I am. Second verse, same as the first.

BIANCULLI: Ed Ward is the author of the upcoming book "The History of Rock & Roll, Volume 1: 1920-1963." The music he played today is from "Herman's Hermits: The Best Of Herman's Hermits" on Bear Family Records. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) BIANCULLI: Monday on FRESH AIR, we talk with Scott Rudin. The Tony Awards are June 12 and five shows on which he was lead producer are nominated for Tonys. He's also a movie producer and has done films with the Coen Brothers, Wes Anderson, Paul Thomas Anderson and David Fincher. Hope you can join us. FRESH AIR's executive producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham with additional engineering support from Joyce Lieberman and Julian Herzfeld. Our associate producer for online media is Molly Seavy-Nesper. John Sheehan directed the show. For Terry Gross, I'm David Bianculli. Copyright © 2016 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at for further information. NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc.

, an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. Products Page | Ed Sullivan Show Herman's Hermits Herman's Hermits In the hearts of teenage girls in the mid 1960’s, Herman’s Hermits were second only to The Beatles . However in 1965, Herman’s Hermits were second to none as they were the top selling pop act in the US. That same year the group made their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Artist Biography The quintet from Manchester, England was made up of Peter Noone, Derek Leckenby, Keith Hopwood, Karl Green and Barry Whitwam. The group’s sound was styled similarly to the America surf rock they enjoyed listening to. Lead vocalist Peter Noone, who was only 15 years old when the group got together, took the nickname “Herman” after the character Sherman in the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons.

Following their first hugely successful 1964 release in the UK “I’m Into Something Good,” the young, clean-cut group went on to play a pivotal role in British Invasion. After their song “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” reached number one on the U.S. Billboard charts in the summer of 1965, Herman’s Hermits was set to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show. Noone recalls “They played us because we were British. But Ed Sullivan liked Herman's Hermits which was very good for us. And he gave us great introductions, but he always got everybody's name in the band wrong.” On June 6th 1965, Hermania, a younger rival to Beatlemania, infected The Ed Sullivan Show. It was evident in the screams of the studio audience as Ed Sullivan introduced the group. Herman’s Hermits opened with their hit, “Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” on a set that resembled an English street. Throughout the song a young, innocent looking Peter Noone made coy facial expressions and shot playful glances to the crowd.

It was clear he knew what he was doing as he later stated, “On stage I make myself look as young as possible and then all the girls in the audience go ‘aahh, isn’t he nice’.” Noone got the desired effect as teenage girls screamed throughout the whole performance. The band followed with the British music hall song “I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am,” and Sam Cooke’s “Wonderful World.” During the performance of “I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am,” Peter really exaggerated his Manchester accent for the American audience. Following that evening’s performance, the song really took off and by August it was number one. Herman’s Hermits returned to The Ed Sullivan Show on June 19, 1966. During the commercial break before they took the stage, the teenage girls in the audience were screaming and getting all worked up. Ed jokingly remarked, “Oh to be young.” After the break, the boys, with matching suits and shaggy hairdos, performed “Isn’t That Just a Little Bit Better” and “Jezebel.” Peter Noone picked up right where he left off with his charming smirks and waves to the crowd.

At the end of the second song, the lights cut out and there was a collective groan from the audience who had hoped the band would do one more song. Herman’s Hermits returned to The Ed Sullivan Show one last time on September 18, 1966. They took the stage with each member dressed in different colored pinstripe suit. The suits worked perfectly with the bright and colorful set, which looked like something straight out of Swinging London. The band opened with their newest hit “Dandy,” with an upbeat Peter walking around the stage singing a few lines with each band mate. Then the lights faded out for “L’Autre Jour”, which Noone sang in French and English. Herman’s Hermits closed out their final Sullivan show with “My Reservation’s Been Confirmed” before taking a bow to the screams of their adoring fans. By the late 1960’s, with the rise of similar acts such as Davy Jones and the Monkees, Herman’s Hermits popularity was on the decline and the group decided to split.

While the span of Herman’s Hermits run didn’t last as long The Beatles or The Rolling Stones , their eleven top ten hits makes them one of the most successful groups of The British Invasion. Original Hermits Original Hermits Original Herman's Hermits Band Members Full Real Name: Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone. Birthplace & Date: Born November 5, 1947, in Manchester, England. Family Info: Father, Denis; mother, Joan. Schools Attended: St. Bede's College and Stetford Grammar School. Entered Show Business: Made his debut when he was 11 years old in Granada-TV's Knight Errant in 1959. Instruments Played: Piano and rhythm guitar. Also is vocalist. Full Real Name: Keith Hopwood. Birthplace & Date: Born October 26, 1946, in Manchester, England. Family Info: Father, John; mother, Lyllian. Schools Attended: Urmston Grammar School. Entered Show Business: Made his debut when he was ? years old at the Plaza Ballroom in Manchester. Instruments Played: Rhythm guitar. Full Real Name: Karl Anthony Green.

Birthplace & Date: Born July 31, 1947, in Salford, England. Family Info: Father, David; mother, Olivia. Schools Attended: Wellacre School and Flixton School. Entered Show Business: Made his debut when he was 11 years old and played at the Broadway Cinema. Instruments Played: Bass guitar and harmonica Full Real Name: Jan Barry Whitwam. Birthplace & Date: Born July 21, 1946, in Manchester, England. Family Info: Father, George Vincent; mother, Elsie. Schools Attended: Ladybarn School. Entered Show Business: Made his debut when he was ? years old and played at the Mouth Club. Instruments Played: Drums. Full Real Name: Derek Leckenby. Birthplace & Date: Born May 14, 1945, in Leeds, England. Family Info: Father, Clifford; mother, Ellen. Schools Attended: William Hulme's Grammar School and Manchester University. Entered Show Business: Made his debut when he was 17 years old and played at the Oasis Club in Manchester.

Instruments Played: Lead guitar Contact Peter Hermans Hermits were one of the most interesting of the original wave of British Invasion groups. Unlike the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, the Hermits didnt threaten authority figures with a longhaired look and loud guitar rock. In fact, they were a pleasant, polite group of chaps who sang pleasant, music hall-styled ditties that people of all ages could enjoy. In the process, they scored eleven Top-10 hits on this side of the Atlantic. The Hermits were originally called the Heartbeats until they got a new lead singer, former child actor Peter Noone. Someone thought Peter looked like the Sherman from The Bullwinkle Show, but instead called him 'Herman' due to mishearing the name. The band renamed themselves Hermans Hermits and began to perform in their native Manchester. They quickly gained a local following, a pair of managers, and the attention of pop producer Mickie Most. Most saw a potential superstar in Peter Noone and quickly went to work in the studio. However, only Noone performed on the early recordings: the band was replaced with pro session musicians, including future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones.

The Hermits first single was Im Into Something Good, a cover of an old pop tune propelled by Noones exuberant, high-pitched vocal and a bouncy arrangement. It shot to #1 in the U.K. and broke the band in U.S. by going to #13 at the end of 1964. Hermans Hermits began to tour the U.S. in 1965. The touring paid off, making Noone a pin-up in teen magazines and setting the stage for a string of smash hits. Cant You Hear My Heartbeat went to #2. The follow-up, the wistful ballad Mrs. Brown Youve Got A Lovely Daughter, went to #1 and stayed there for three weeks. Next up was a #4 cover of the Sam Cooke song Wonderful World, followed by the boisterous music hall classic Im Henry the Eighth, I Am. Henry gave them their second #1 and was followed by an another Top-10 hit in Just A Little Bit Better. 1966 was another year of Top-10 hits for the Hermits, starting with A Must To Avoid in January.

Other hits from this year included the gentle Listen People and another music-hall oldie, Leaning On A Lamp Post. The next year, they continued to storm the charts with songs like Theres A Kind Of Hush. In 1968, the Hermits got their own feature film in the form of Mrs. Brown Youve Got A Lovely Daughter. Noone also played the title role in a television production of Pinocchio. Hermans Hermits continued to record until their split-up in 1970. Noone went on to a solo career in England and divided his time between recording and acting. He and his former bandmates have done periodic reunion tours throughout the years. Their music still has the same timeless, effervescent charm it always has and continues to entertain pop music fans of all stripes today. Herman's Hermits | British Invasion Bands Herman’s Hermits, 1964 By the time he joined the band that would become Herman’s Hermits, 15-year-old Peter Noone already was a veteran entertainer. He studied at the Manchester School of Music and Drama and starred on the British television soap opera Coronation Street. But Noone wanted to become a singer .

He got the chance, one night in 1963, when he filled-in for the regular vocalist in a group called the Heartbeats. Before long, the Manchester band had a management team, a record contract and a new name. The story is told that the managers saw a resemblance between Noone and a cartoon character named Sherman who appeared in a segment of the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show. Sherman became Herman… and the band became the Hermits. Soon after the name change, they came to the attention of producer Mickie Most, who was impressed by the group’s clean-cut image and their bouncy, pop/rock repertoire. Their first record, “I’m Into Something Good,” which was written by the veteran American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King, was released in the summer of 1964 and rocketed to No. 1 in the UK and No.13 in the US. While they would never top the British charts again, Herman’s Hermits had two No. 1 hits in the States, “Mrs.

Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter” and “I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am.” Ironically, the groups two most “British-sounding” records were never released in the UK, and it’s said that the Hermits didn’t care for either one. “Mrs. Brown” was recorded in two takes with two microphones. Guitarist Keith Hopwood created the song’s distinctive, banjo-like sound by muting the strings with a cloth, and Noone sang the lyrics with an exaggerated Manchester accent. While the Hermits were scoring hits, there was some question about the extent to which band members actually played on their records. Mickie Most was known to bring in the best studio musicians for most of the sessions he produced, and it was rumored that Herman’s Hermits didn’t add much to the backing tracks. But in later years, Most and the band members revealed that the Hermits did play on all of their major hits; and a listen to tapes of their live performances indicates that the entire band — Hopwood, lead guitarist Derek “Lek” Leckenby, drummer Barry Whitwam and bass player Karl Green — were more than competent musicians. What was true was the Herman’s Hermits’ lack of control over their material.

After “Mrs. Brown,” Most began to have them record novelty-type British tunes, like “Henry the Eighth” and “Leaning On A Lamp Post” in deference to their large American audience. It wasn’t until the Hermits released “No Milk Today” that they reached the UK’s Top Ten again. And while their American audience was adoring, it proved to be less than loyal. In late 1966, NBC premiered “The Monkees,” a comedy series featuring a band that looked and sounded very much like Herman’s Hermits. The show became wildly popular with young teenagers — the Hermits’ own fan base — and by 1967, their US record sales began a steep decline. A more recent look at the Hermits, led by Barry Whitwam None left the group in 1971. Since then, the Herman’s Hermits name has been assumed by a few different combinations of the original band, creating more than a little confusion. For much of the last 30 years, drummer Whitwam has been associated with the Hermits, as was Lekenby until his death in 1994. Where Are They Now?

After leaving the Hermits, Peter Noone starred in ABC’s The Canterville Ghost and played Pinocchio in the Hallmark Hall Of Fame version of that story. He’s also appeared in many television series, including Married With Children, Quantum Leap, My Two Dads, Dave’s World, Too Close For Comfort, Laverne & Shirley and Easy Street. Noone also gained a great deal of exposure as host of VH1’s My Generation. And in March 2007, he appeared on American Idol. As a singer he had a hit with David Bowie’s, “Oh, You Pretty Things” and recorded an album for Beach Boy Bruce Johnston’s label, as well as an album fronting the new wave band “The Tremblers.” Noone, who lives in Santa Barbara, CA, now has a program on SiriusXM radio. His daughter Natalie is an accomplished singer songwriter. Keith Hopwood started his own music company, Pluto Music, which produces commercial and animation soundtracks. The studio has provided services to many top acts including The Clash. Hopwood has released solo and band recordings. Derek Leckenby died of cancer in 1994.

He was a member of band “Sour Mash,” which recorded a country/rock album featuring his guitar and Dobro playing. Leckenby’s daughter Kara plays lead guitar for the band “Red Vinyl Fur.” Barry Whitwam has continued touring in Europe as Herman’s Hermits starring Barry Whitwam. He continued to tour with Herman’s Hermits, joined by new musicians. As of December 2011, these included Geoff Foot, who has been associated with the band since Noone’s departure, as lead singer and bass guitarist, Kevan Lingard on keyboards and vocals, and Paul Cornwell on guitar and vocals. Noone eventually returned to touring and continues to play billed as “Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone”. Legal disputes between Whitwam and Noone have forced Whitwam to rename the band “Herman’s Hermits starring Barry Whitwam” when they tour in North America, but they remain billed as “Herman’s Hermits” in the rest of the world. In 2014, Karl Green started touring again for the first time in 34 years, playing the music of Herman’s Hermits.

His band included veteran musicians such as Bob Abrams formerly of The Buckinghams, Mike Bruccoleri, formerly of Herman’s Hermits Starring Peter Noone, and Gina Knight of The Blooze Brothers. In March 2015, the German label “Bear Family” released a 2-CD 50th Anniversary set containing 66 Herman’s Hermits recordings, 59 of them are in first-time-ever stereo. One of the few videos of Herman’s Hermits performing live — “No Milk Today,” from 1966: Here’s Peter Noone and his version of the Hermits performing live in California in 2014: Herman’s Hermits Discography Title | UK Charts | Release Date | US Charts “I’m Into Something Good” #13 August 1964 #1 “Show Me Girl” – November 1964 #19 “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat?” #2 January 1965 – “Silhouettes” #5 January 1965 #3 “Mrs.

Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter” #1 March 1965 – “Wonderful World” #4 April 1965 #7 “I’m Henry VIII, I Am” #1 June 1965 – “Just a Little Bit Better” #7 August 1965 #15 “A Must To Avoid” #8 December 1965 #6 “Listen People” #3 February 1966 – “You Won’t Be Leaving” – February 1966 #20 “Leaning on A Lamp Post” #7 April 1966 – “This Door Swings Both Ways” #12 June 1966 #18 “Dandy” #3 October 1966 – “No Milk Today” #35 October 1966 #7 “East West” #27 December 1966 #37 “There’s a Kind of Hush” #4 February 1967 #7 “Don’t Go Out Into the Rain (You’re Going to Melt)” #18 May 1967 – “Museum” #37 September 1967 –

 “I Can’t Take Or Leave Your Loving” #22 January 1968 #11 “Sleepy Joe” #61 March 1968 #12 “Sunshine Girl” – July 1968 #8 “Something’s Happening” – December 1968 #6 “My Sentimental Friend” – April 1969 #2 “Here Comes the Star” – November 1969 #33 “Years May Come, Years May Go” – February 1970 #7 “Bet Yer Life I Do” – May 1970 #22 “Lady Barbara” – November 1970 #13 Herman's Hermits Bio | Herman's Hermits Career | MTV Classic Rock Herman's Hermits were one of those odd 1960's groups that accumulated millions of fans, but precious little respect.

Indeed, their status is remarkably similar to that of the Monkees and it's not a coincidence that both groups' music was intended to appeal to younger teenagers. The difference is that as early as 1976, the Monkees began to be considered cool by people who really knew music; it has taken 35 years for Herman's Hermits to begin receiving higher regard for their work. Of course, that lack of respect had no relevance to their success: 20 singles lofted into the Top 40 in England and America between 1964 and 1970, 16 of them in the Top 20, and most of those Top Ten as well. Artistically, they were rated far lower than the Hollies, the Searchers, or Gerry & the Pacemakers, but commercially, the Hermits were only a couple of rungs below the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. The magnitude of their success seemed highly improbable, based on their modest beginnings.

Guitarist/singer Keith Hopwood (born October 26, 1946), bassist/singer Karl Green (born July 31, 1947), guitarist/singer Derek "Lek" Leckenby (born May 14, 1945), and drummer Barry Whitwam (born July 21, 1946) were among the younger musicians on the Manchester band scene in 1963, when they started playing together as the Heartbeats. The city was home to many dozens of promising bands, most notable among them the Hollies, the Mockingbirds, and Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders. Later that year, the Heartbeats got a new member in 16-year-old Peter Noone (born November 5, 1947), who filled in one night when their regular vocalist failed to turn up for a gig. Noone was already a veteran actor, trained at the Manchester School of Music and Drama; he had been a child star on television in the late '50s, on the television series Coronation Street, but he also had musical aspirations.

As a vocalist with the Heartbeats, he initially worked under the name Peter Novak. The quintet followed the same path that any other struggling band did, playing shows at youth clubs and local dances, hoping to get noticed, and they picked up a pair of managers, Harvey Lisberg and Charlie Silverman. Accounts vary as to the origins of the name they ultimately adopted -- some say that their managers remarked on the facial resemblance between Noone and the character of Sherman in the Jay Ward cartoon show "Mr. Peabody & Sherman"; others credit Karl Green with mentioning it. In any case, "Sherman" became "Herman" and the group, in search of a more distinct name, became Herman & His Hermits and then Herman's Hermits. They played a pleasing, melodic brand of rock & roll, mostly standards of the late '50s and early '60s, with Noone's attractive vocals at the fore. Their big break came in 1964 when producer Mickie Most was invited by Lisberg and Silverman to a show in Manchester.

He was impressed with their wholesome, clean-cut image, and with Noone's singing and pleasant, non-threatening stage presence, and he agreed to produce them, arranging a recording contract for the group with the EMI-Columbia label in England; their American releases were licensed to MGM Records. Herman's Hermits' debut single, a Carole King/Gerry Goffin song called "I'm Into Something Good," released in the summer of 1964, hit number one in England and number 13 in America. Ironically, considering the direction of many of their future releases, the group displayed anything but an English sound on "I'm Into Something Good." Instead, it had a transatlantic feel, smooth and easy-going with a kind of vaguely identifiable California sound. Of course, that statement assumed that the group had much to do with the record -- as it turned out, they didn't.

In a manner typical of the majority of the acts that Most produced, the Hermits didn't play on most of their own records; Mickie Most, as was typical of producers in the era before the Beatles' emergence, saw no reason to make a less-than-perfect record, or spend expensive studio time working with a band to perfect its sound -- as long as Peter Noone's voice was on the record and the backing wasn't something that the group absolutely couldn't reproduce on stage, everyone seemed happy, including the fans. Conversely, the group didn't have too much control over the choice of material that they recorded or released. On their singles in particular, "Herman's Hermits" were mostly Peter Noone's vocals in front of whatever session musicians Most had engaged, which included such future luminaries as Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, with the other members relegated to background vocals, if that. The group was grateful for the hit records that they chalked up, the revenue that those generated, and the gigs that resulted.

They charted six Top 20 hits each in the years 1965 and 1966 and were a major attraction in concert, usually in a package tour situation, with the Hermits at or near the very top of whatever bill they were on. Their records were smooth, pleasant pop/rock, roughly the British invasion equivalent of easy listening, which set them apart from most of the rival acts of the period. Their cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World" (which reached number four in America) and remake of the Rays' 1950s hit "Silhouettes" were good representations of the group's releases; on their EPs and early LPs, they also threw in covers of old rock & roll numbers like Frankie Ford's "Sea Cruise." They were purveyors of romantic pop/rock just at a time when the Beatles were starting to become influenced by Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, the Yardbirds, and the Who were redefining the British beat sound with higher volume, greater complexity, and harder sounds. Most recognized that those acts were leaving behind a huge number of listeners who would still buy songs resembling simple, relatively innocent sounds of 1964 or even earlier.

Just how far back he and the group could reach was revealed to them by accident, following the release of Introducing Herman's Hermits on MGM Records in the United States during 1965, coinciding with their first U.S. tour. An American disc jockey heard the song "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" on that album and convinced the label to issue it as a single. The song had been done almost as a joke by the group, its guitar/banjo sound and Noone's vocal performance -- Mancunian accented and laced with a vulnerable, wide-eyed innocence -- deliberately reminiscent of George Formby, the immensely popular ukelele-strumming British music hall entertainer of the 1930s and 1940s. In England, that record would never have been considered for release by an image-conscious rock & roll group; the parents and grandparents of their audience would have loved it, but it would also have destroyed their credibility.

In America, however, it was considered just another piece of British Invasion pop/rock and a pleasant, innocuous, and eminently hummable one at that -- and it shot to number one on the charts, earning a gold record in the process. It seemed to slot in with Americans' image of England's past in a comfortable, cheerful way, evoking a kind of "theme park" cockney image that easily adjoined the contemporary vision of "Swinging London." In the end, "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" sold 14 million copies around the world, making their first film appearance (in the movie When the Boys Meet the Girls), which came off of that same U.S. tour, seem almost an after-thought. In England, however, "Mrs. Brown" was never issued as a single. After that, a formula was established. Mickie Most got the group to record more songs in the same vein, including the actual Edwardian-era music hall number "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am," specifically for release as singles in America.

The latter record reportedly made the group members cringe over what it would do to their image in England, but in America it hit number one and chalked up yet another gold record award. Amid all of this American chart action with novelty tunes and albums that easily rose into the Top 30 in the U.S.A., the group's British releases were a whole other story. The Hermits continued to issue current romantic pop/rock, which sold well and kept up their image as a respectable if somewhat soft rock group. At the same time, their British album sales were virtually negligible, only their debut LP ever charting (at number 16).

This was unfortunate, as the British version of their second album, Both Sides of Herman's Hermits, was a perfectly respectable pop/rock LP with some very hard, loud sounds (and one "period" standard, "Leaning on a Lamp Post"), mostly solid Brit-beat numbers like "Little Boy Sad," "Story of My Life," and "My Reservation's Been Confirmed," as well as a stripped-down, straight-ahead version of Graham Gouldman's "Bus Stop." That album and its 1967 follow-ups, There's a Kind of Hush All Over the World and Blaze (which never even came out in England), were excellent representations of the full range of the group's sound, including hard rock, psychedelia, and pop/rock, featuring very respectable originals written by Green, Hopwood, and Leckenby. While their record sales remained healthy in America well into 1966, their British singles gradually slackened in sales until the group recorded Graham Gouldman's "No Milk Today," which put them back in the U.K. Top 10; in America, the same song was also a hit paired off with "Dandy," a poppish cover of the Kinks song.

The group made their second film appearance, this time in a starring role in the comedy Hold On! (1966), which mixed Herman's Hermits in a story about space flight. By the end of that year, however, the stage was set for the gradual decline in the group's fortunes, even in America. Producers Bert Schneider and Bob Rafelson, in conjunction with NBC and Columbia Pictures Television, had devised a television series that touched upon a formula for success very similar to what Mickie Most had found with Herman's Hermits: The Monkees -- all about a fun-loving pop/rock group created specifically for the series. The program debuted in late 1966 and by that winter, the Monkees were selling millions of singles and LPs to the very same young teen audience that Herman's Hermits had cultivated. The presence of English actor/singer Davy Jones in their lineup, as the principal vocalist on their records and the romantic heartthrob of the group, only heightened the resemblance between the two acts.

By 1967, Davy Jones and the Monkees were selling millions of copies of "Daydream Believer," a song that surely would have gone to the Hermits had it been written at any time earlier. "There's a Kind of Hush (All Over the World)," a bright, upbeat pop number, put the Hermits back at number seven in England and number four in America; but an attempt at latching on to the folk-rock and psychedelic booms with a recording of Donovan's song "Museum" never charted in England and reached only number 37 in America before disappearing. They made the American Top 20 just once more with "Don't Go out Into the Rain," after which everyone seemed to recognize the inevitable. The group made one more feature film, entitled Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter -- the song, which had rocketed them to fame in America, served the group one last time, yielding a movie about dog racing that gave Noone a lead acting role and which was a decent box office success in 1968.

During this period, Noone co-produced a good LP for songwriter/singer Graham Gouldman (with whom he later went into partnership) that never sold well, despite some very interesting sounds. The Hermits, as a group, hewed closer to the pop market after "Museum" and enjoyed another two years worth of hits in England before Peter Noone decided to leave in 1970. The group soldiered on for another three years, cutting singles for RCA in America that were duly ignored and Noone returned briefly to the fold in 1973 to capitalize on the rock & roll revival boom and made an appearance hosting NBC's The Midnight Special, in an installment devoted to the sounds of the British Invasion, that became one of the most collectable shows in that program's run. Thereafter, Noone tried re-entering the rock & roll arena fronting a new band, the Tremblers, in 1980, without much success. He fared much better on stage in The Pirates of Penzance on London's West End, which was a huge hit in the mid-'80s.

Both he and the latter-day Herman's Hermits have turned up on the oldies circuit at different times, usually working in the context of a revival of the British Invasion sound. Derek Leckerby passed away in 1994 at the age of 48, but drummer Barry Whitwam was leading a group of Herman's Hermits at the opening of the 21st century. Noone has resumed performing regularly and also became a star VJ on MTV's VH1 channel. In the year 2000, Repertoire Records began the long-overdue exhumation of Herman's Hermits album catalog, issuing state-of-the-art CD editions with bonus tracks that show off the full range of the group's music. Just as Rhino Records had previously done with the Monkees catalog, it seems like Herman's Hermits may finally be getting the recognition they deserved. ~ Bruce Eder, Rovi

Question: What was the real name of Herman, from the pop group Herman’s Hermits?
Answer: PETER NOONE