The Herd (UK Band) - Biography

Biography

The Herd were founded in 1965 in South London. The group recorded three unsuccessful singles with the record label Parlophone. In 1966 three members in succession (Terry Clark, Louis Cennamo and Mick Underwood) quit the group and the group got the line-up that made it famous. The singer, Peter Frampton, was 16 when he joined the group in 1966 and had just left school. The other members were a few years older. Parlophone did not want to go on with them, but Fontana was willing to give them a try. They also sent their manager Billy Gaff away and took the songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley instead. This couple had been largely responsible for a string of hits by Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich.

Howard and Blaikley orchestrated for them a unique blend of pop and flower power. After a UK Singles Chart near-miss with "I Can Fly" (1967), the haunting "From the Underworld", based on the legend of Orpheus and Eurydice, reached Number 6 later that year with help from copious plays on pirate radio. It was a hit in other countries too. In the Netherlands the song reached Number 3. "From the Underworld" was followed by "Paradise Lost", which made it up to Number 15 in 1968.

Their greatest success came with "I Don't Want Our Loving to Die", a Number 5 UK hit single (also in 1968).

The Herd appeared at The Savile Theatre, London on Sunday 8th October 1967 supporting The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Also on the bill were The Crazy World of Arthur Brown and Eire Apparent.

With his boyish photogenic looks, Frampton was dubbed "The Face of ’68" by teen magazine Rave.

The last months of 1968 were tempestuous times for the group. Steele left the group, to be replaced by Spinetti. The group dumped their managers Howard and Blaikley. Most songs on their first and only album Paradise Lost were written by Peter Frampton and Andy Bown, just like their next single, "Sunshine Cottage".

Dissatisfied with mere teen idol status, and disappointed with the failure of "Sunshine Cottage", Frampton left by the end of 1968 to form Humble Pie with Steve Marriott. Somewhere there must be a box with recordings for a complete second Herd album that has never been released.

The remaining Bown, Spinetti and Taylor made another flop single, "The Game", then minus Taylor, formed the short-lived Judas Jump with Allan Jones, saxophonist from Amen Corner, and Welsh vocalist Adrian Williams. Taylor, who became a disc jockey, and Steele, reunited briefly for a one-off single "You've Got Me Hangin' From Your Lovin' Tree" in June 1971, to almost universal lack of interest.

By the late 1970s, after a stint back with a pre-"Frampton Comes Alive" Peter Frampton band from 1973-1975, Bown had become a member of the UK rockers, Status Quo.