Johnny Kidd & The Pirates were an English rock 'n' roll group led by singer/songwriter Johnny Kidd. They scored a few hit songs from the late 1950s to the late 1960s, and are remembered for appearing onstage in pirate costumes, complete with eye-patches.
The original group was signed to HMV in 1959 under the auspices of Walter J. Ridley. Their first single was the raw "Please Don't Touch". This became a minor hit reaching number 25 on the UK singles charts in 1959. The song has since been covered many times, most successfully by the team of Motörhead and Girlschool known as Headgirl.
After this initial success the band was reorganised to streamline the sound and visual appeal. Kidd would naturally take centre-stage at the front, but with Clem Cattini (drums) directly behind. Flanking Kidd on either side would be Alan Caddy (guitar) and Brian Gregg (born 31 January 1939, in London) (bass); and Kidd would high-kick in time to the beat. In an attempt to re-create the feel of his recordings Kidd employed the use of an echo unit on his vocals, one of the first UK rock acts to attempt this on stage. When Johny Kidd & the Pirates appeared on Saturday Club between 1959 and 1961,they had two other members who shared the vocals. They were Mike West and Tom Brown.
Kidd and the Pirates' finest moment might have been the powerful song "Shakin' All Over", which features memorable opening guitars and solo from Joe Moretti, (who also featured on the follow up "Restless"), and reached number one in the UK singles charts in 1960. The song and the group's proto-power trio line-up both made a strong impression on The Who, who would cover it in their 1970 album Live at Leeds, whose CD liner notes proclaim the original to be the UK's best pre-Beatles rock single. Music critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler would later write that "Shakin' All Over" was the second-ever genuine British rock classic, following Cliff Richard's "Move It".
The distinctive 'Shakin' effect on the track, was created by Joe Moretti sliding Brian Gregg's cigarette lighter very fast up and down the guitar strings.
Despite some interesting cuts the hits tailed away in the shadow of "Shakin'". The swansong recording of this line-up in 1961, the b-side of "Please Don't Let Me Down" turned out to be a minor UK rock 'n' roll classic. The follow-up "So What" featured a racy piano solo from Thunderclap Jones. Some of The Pirates, namely (Clem Cattini, Alan Caddy and later Brian Gregg) decided to jump ship, and went on to join Joe Meek's The Tornados. Kidd cut a "solo" single backed by a bigger band sound. "Hurry On Back To Love" was more bluesy than anything Kidd had previously attempted and indicated a possible new path for him.
A new Pirate trio was recruited, Johnny Spence (bass) (born John Spencer Holliday, 26 January 1942, in Birmingham, Warwickshire), Frank Farley (drums) (born Frank William Farley, 18 February 1942, in Belgaum, India) and Johnny Patto (guitar), whom had recently backed Cuddly Dudley as "The Redcaps". Patto soon left and was replaced by Mick Green (guitar), who had also backed Dudley. The new line-up's first single with Kidd, "A Shot Of Rhythm And Blues" (coupled with "I Can Tell") was way ahead of the game, but only managed to enter the lower reaches of the charts toward the end of 1962. ~ SOURCE: Wikipedia
PLEASE NOTE: I divided my uploads among multiple channels, Bookmark this link in your browser for instant access to an index with links to all of John1948's oldies classics. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/Channel-Index
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