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was born in Manchester. His father was a semi-pro musician and keen that his son should follow in his footsteps, so Peter was sent to study singing and acting at the Manchester School of Music and Drama. He was something of a childhood star, playing Len Fairclough's son in the soap opera Coronation Street as well as in the lesser-known Knight Errant and Family Solicitor. He combined this with local stage appearances, too. An acting career seemed inevitable but instead of becoming a film star he soon became a pop star. In 1963, he joined a Manchester beat group, The Heartbeats, after their vocalist failed to show for a gig. He used the name Peter Kovak. The change to Herman came after the band remarked on Peter's resemblance to the character Sherman in the TV cartoon 'The Bullwinkle Show', although he misheard the name as Herman. So the group, who by now were a popular dance hall and youth club attraction, and managed by Harvey Lisberg and Charlie Silverman, changed their name to Herman and The Hermits, although it soon became abbreviated to Herman's Hermits. The band were soon signed by Mickie Most, who got them a deal with EMI's Columbia label. Most thought that Peter Noone resembled a young John F. Kennedy and resolved to make him the focus of the group. Most arranged for them to record a Gerry Goffin/Carole King number, which had recently been a minor hit in the States for Earl-Jean (the Cookies' vocalist). The song, I'm Into Something Good, shot up the charts and spent two weeks at No 1 in September 1964. The British public rapidly took Peter Noone into their hearts as the safe face of beat music, and the band soon became a household name. Delighted by the success of their earlier song, Goffin and King offered the band a follow-up. The group jumped at the chance, but in retrospect, Show Me Girl, had the bounce but lacked the appeal of their debut disc, proved a poor choice and only just squeezed into the Top 20. | |||
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