The Later Days
The hits again tailed away and the long-awaited debut album, featuring the expanded line-up with Vic Cooper on organ/piano duties, was never mastered for release. One step behind The Beatles and losing ground, Kidd abandoned dual-tracking his voice and switched back to R&B, with mixed results. Green left to join Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas to form a twin lead guitar line-up, alongside Mike Maxfield. Eventually the group and singer parted company. The Pirates recorded one single, "Shades of Blue", for Polydor before calling it a day.
Kidd kept recording. His single "It's Got To Be You", and an unreleased version of Otis Redding's "I Can't Turn You Loose", showed that a mix of R&B and soul may have been where Kidd's future lay.
When Kidd was on the verge of a comeback with a promising 'New Pirates' group — Mick Stewart (lead guitar), Nick Simper (bass), Ray Soaper (organ) and Roger Truth (drums) — on returning from a cancelled gig, he was killed in a motor car accident in Bury, Lancashire on 7 October 1966, with companion Nick Simper being injured.
The single "Send For That Girl" was released posthumously in November but failed to chart. This line-up of The Pirates (with John Kerrison replacing Truth) carried on in tribute until mid-1967, although there were no further recordings.
Read more about this topic: Johnny Kidd & The Pirates
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“Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie;
My music shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.”
—George Herbert (1593–1633)