Herman's Hermits

Herman's Hermits were fronted by the photogenic Peter Noone, who was not just a teen idol but a genuine teenager. Though remembered as one of the more lightweight bands of the time, Herman's Hermits actually hit with a wide variety of material, from novelty to more progressive. Noone already had some success as a child actor before forming the group in 1964; the founding lineup (guitarist Derek Lekenby, bassist Karl Green, drummer Barry Whitwam and rhythm guitarist Keith Hopwood) would go unchanged during the group's heyday. Noone was 16 when the band formed and saw himself less as a rock & roller than an all-round entertainer; commercially-minded record producer Mickie Most also aimed the group for wide mainstream appeal. The first hit, "I'm Into Something Good," came from songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King, who'd previously cut an unsuccessful version with singer Earl-Jean. The Hermits' version went Number One in the UK and broke the group in America; the first of 14 top-20 hits they'd have in the US over the next three years. Their most English-sounding material proved the biggest in America; their 1965 version of an old Cockney music-hall song, "I'm Henry VIII, I Am," was big enough to knock the Rolling Stones' "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" out of Number One. A similarly-styled original, "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter," was another US chart-topper the same year, and was the title track of the group's movie (in which "Mrs. Brown" was a pregnant greyhound). But despite their wholesome image the band recorded some more adventurous material later its career, including the Ray Davies song "Dandy" (borrowed from the Kinks' Face to Face album) and Donovan's "Museum" (which appeared on the Hermits' own borderline-psych album, Blaze). Most surprising of all, Noone cut a version of David Bowie's "Oh! You Pretty Things" in 1971 with Bowie playing piano; this appeared a few months before Bowie's own version on Hunky Dory. Noone left the group that year and the Hermits continued working in various configurations. Noone emigrated to Santa Barbara, California and toured regularly with an American version of the group.