Rock around the Bay: Cliff Richard in Plymouth

In the mid to late 1950's, most of the rock and roll music in the British charts was dominated by American artists such as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry and Little Richard to name a few.

Two of the earliest British chart toppers in 1958/9  were Tommy Steele ( real surname Hicks ) and Cliff Richard and the Shadows.  Both started and were discovered at the 2'i's coffee bar in London. 

Neither of these artists appeared in Torbay but I did get to meet and spend time with Tommy Steele when he appeared  at the Taunton Gaumount in 1958.  Tommy's first hit record was called 'Rock With the Cavemen' and in 1957 he got a number one with the song 'Singing the Blues'.

On stage Tommy was a live wire jumping around whilst playing his guitar, but little did his fans know that his solo's were being played by Big Jim Sullivan sitting just off stage with his guitar lead plugged into the main PA system which gave the impression it was Tommy playing the solos.

Tommy was a Londoner like myself and we got on fine.

Tommy's younger brother Colin Hicks kept his true name as a performer, and appeared in Torquay with his band 'The Cabin Boys ' at the Torquay Town Hall in 1959.

You can see the likeness to him with his brother in the picture of myself and him taken at the town hall.  The Cabin Boys Drummer was Jimmy Nickle.  A Liverpool lad who later in 1964 was the drummer with the Beatles for 13 days when Ringo Starr was taken ill on their would tour.

I met up with Cliff Richard in Plymouth in 1959 at the Plymouth Odeon when Cliff and The Shadows were touring after his number 2 hit Move It...Note in the photograph of cliff holding the famous Fender Stratocaster with Paul Destiny that his manager had ordered from America and was possibly the first of its kind in the UK.  He later gave it Bruce Walsh.

The photograph of Cliff with Chris Hutching, Chris was local lad and a junior reporter with the Herald Express and would send articles to the New Musical Express ( NME ) in London, he later went to work for them and eventually becoming the editor of NME.

He then later became the PR man for the Beatles and arranged the meeting between them and Elvis Presley at Elvis California home in August 1965.

In my next Rock around the Bay I will be taking about some of the early stars that appeared at the Town Hall.

Long live Rock'n'roll.