The next rock and roll 50th anniversary coming up will be The Hollies. Founding member Bobby Elliott tells Noise11 that he counts the 50th from the first date The Hollies stepped foot in Abbey Road Studios.
“If the 50th anniversary is counted as the first day at Abbey Road Studio that will make it March, 2013,” Bobby told Noise11.
After 50 years The Hollies still features two original members. Drummer Bobby Elliott is now 71 years old. Guitarist and singer Tony Hicks is 67.
Bobby recalls the lead-up to how the band came to record at EMI’s famed Abbey Road Studio. “The Beatles had hit and George Martin’s side-kick Ron Martin had come up to see The Hollies at The Cavern in Liverpool. The Beatles had moved out and The Hollies had moved in,” he tells Noise11. “We would do a lunchtime session and an evening session. Ron liked what he saw and he invited us down to Abbey Road Studios to do an audition, of all things. So we auditioned and started making records and the rest is history, I suppose”.
He also remembers the first song The Hollies ever recorded. “‘Ain’t That Just Like Me’ which became our first single,” he says. “It was a minor hit. It was in the Top 30. Then we did another cover called ‘Searching’. Then another cover which was ‘Stay’ and then we had a number two record with a song called ‘Just One Look’, then ‘Here I Go Again’, ‘Yes I Will’. I think the Guinness Book of Records said we had more hits than The Beatles in the 60s and 70s. We were churning them out”.
The Hollies will mark their 50th anniversary on the road which leads them to New Zealand and then Australia in a few weeks.
The Hollies 50th Anniversary Tour dates are:
New Zealand
January 30, Palmerston North, Regent Theatre
February 1, Dunedin, Forsythh Barr Stadium
February 3, Napier, Church Road Winery
February 4, Hamilton, Claudelands Arena
February 5, Auckland, Ascension Estate
Australia
February 7, Sydney, State Theatre
February 8, Brisbane, QPAC
February 9, Melbourne, Hamer Hall
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