Originally a Rock & Roll band, The Pirates’ greatest days were perhaps behind them when the beat boom began.
Formed in 1958 when Rock & Roll was still in its first flush of youth in Britain, they enjoyed several hit records including the classic Shakin’ All Over, which was co-written by Kidd and his manager Gus Robinson, and was a British #1 in 1960.
They managed to sustain a seven-year career without ever releasing an album.
Kidd was a fine R&B singer and one of the few credible British pre-Beatles answers to American rock singers, and in The Pirates, he had one of the toughest-sounding groups in England.
Born Fred Heath, Kidd was an uncompromising rocker from Willesden who avoided covering US hits and scored with original material.
By the late 50’s his skiffle group (at one time called The Five Nutters) had evolved into a Gene Vincent-inspired rock group.
Kidd’s stage act saw him wearing an eye-patch over his right eye and wielding a cutlass while his Pirates sported colourful swashbuckling gear and played in front of a galleon backdrop.
The band endured a couple of barren years between 1960 – 1962 when the music they played was at odds with the public taste for teen ballads but had something of an Indian summer in 1963 as beat music was gaining in popularity.
After the hits dried up, the band continued working – predominantly on the Northern cabaret circuit – with various line-up changes.
Kidd was in fact on his seventh group of Pirates when he was killed in a car accident on the M1 just outside Bury, Lancashire on 7 October 1966. He was only 27.
During the late 70s Pub Rock explosion, The Pirates made a brief comeback without their famed frontman. Bassist Nick Simper went on to join Deep Purple.
Johnny Kidd
Vocals Alan Caddy
Guitar Tony Doherty Guitar Johnny Gordon Bass Ken McKay Drums Brian Gregg
Bass Clem Cattini
Drums Johnny Patto
Guitar Mick Green
Guitar Johnny Spence
Bass
Frank Farley
Drums John Weider
Guitar
Vic Cooper
Organ Jon Morshead Guitar
Mick Stewart Guitar Nick Simper Bass Roger Truth Drums Ray Soaper Keyboards
Related Posts
Dion (& The Belmonts) Born in the Bronx area of New York on 18 July 1939, Dion Dimucci was hailed as one of the…
Guess Who, The From their roots as Chad Allan & The Reflections, The Guess Who rose to become the most popular Canadian rock…
Ray Brown & The Whispers When Ray Brown died in August 1996, Australian rock & roll lost one of its unsung achievers. After bursting onto…
Lords, The German band The Lords formed in 1959 as a Berlin skiffle band. When the British Invasion hit in 1964, they…
Fats Domino He was born Antoine Domino in New Orleans in February 1928, and since his first professional appearance at the age…
Sonics, The A five-piece rock & roll band from Tacoma, Washington (USA), The Sonics combined the classic Northwest-area teen-band raunch with early English…
Johnny & The Hurricanes Although they scored four Top Thirty hits in their native USA, Johnny and the Hurricanes doubled that figure in Britain,…
Van Morrison Van Morrison was born in Belfast, Ireland. At sixteen he began playing tenor sax and started touring with a rock…
