Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone at the Adler Theatre -- April 3.
Wednesday, April 3, 7:30 p.m.
Adler Theatre, 136 East Third Street, Davenport IA
He is Henry the eighth, he is, and on April 3, a pop-rock icon returns with the band that made him famous in the Adler Theatre's hosting of Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone – a night of British-Invasion favorites boasting such radio classics as “I'm Into Something Good,” “Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter,” “Silhouettes,” and, of course, “I'm Henry the VIII, I Am.”
Noone was born in Davyhulme, Lancashire, England in 1947, and went on to study voice and drama at St. Bede's College and at the Manchester School of Music, where he won the Outstanding Young Musician Award. At 15, he became the lead singer, spokesman, and frontman for Herman's Hermits, the pop-rock group that was originally composed of vocalist Noone, Derek “Lek” Leckenby and Keith Hopwood (guitars), Karl Green (bass), and Barry Whitwam (drums). As "Herman", the photogenic Noone appeared on the cover of many international publications, including Time magazine's collage showing new faces in popular music. Known for their jaunty beat sound and Noone's often tongue-in-cheek vocal style, the Hermits charted with numerous transatlantic hits in the U.K. and U.S., where they ranked as one of the most successful acts in the Beatles-led British Invasion. Between March and August of 1965 in the United States, the group logged 24 consecutive weeks in the top 10 of Billboard's Hot 100 with five singles, including the two number-one smashes "Mrs. Brown You've Got a Lovely Daughter" and "I'm Henry VIII, I Am."
Herman's Hermits' other international hits in the 1960s include: "I'm into Something Good" (their sole chart-topper in the United Kingdom); "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat"; the two covers "Silhouettes" and "Wonderful World"; "A Must to Avoid"; "Listen People"; "No Milk Today"; "There's a Kind of Hush"; "I Can Take or Leave Your Loving"; "Something's Happening"; and "My Sentimental Friend", all of which were produced by Mickie Most. Herman's Hermits also appeared in four films, two of which were vehicles for the band. Over the course of their fame, Herman's Hermits sold more than 60 million records and had 14 gold singles and seven gold albums, with the outfit twice named in the U.S. trade paper Cashbox as "Entertainer of the Year."
After Herman's Hermits disbanded in 1971, Noone recorded four singles for UK RAK Records, one single for UK and US Philips, and several singles for the small U.K. record label Bus Stop Records. His first RAK single, "Oh! You Pretty Things," peaked at number 12 in the U.K. Singles Chart and made the top 100 in Australia. But since the 1980s, Noone has performed with new iterations of the ensemble under the stage name Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone, and last year, the group enjoyed an international tour of more than 100 stops in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico, and France.
Herman's Hermits Starring Peter Noone performs in Davenport on April 3, admission to the 7:30 p.m. concert event is $39-79, and tickets are available by calling (800)745-3000 and visiting AdlerTheatre.com.
