The Herd -

The Herd was an English beat group from London that cut three singles in 1965/66 for Parlophone. After the arrival of teenage guitarist/singer Peter Frampton, they issued multiple 1967/68 pop-psych singles on Fontana, culminating with the album Paradise Lost and the rockier standalone single “Sunshine Cottage.” Frampton soon departed for blues-rockers Humble Pie, formed with ex-Small Faces singer/guitarist Steve Marriott.

Herd bassist/keyboardist Andy Bown joined Judas Jump and recorded four solo albums through 1978, then landed a permanent gig in Status Quo. The Herd’s collective output constitutes The Complete Herd, a two-disc set by archivists Repertoire.

Members: Tony Chapman (drums, 1964-65), Terry Clarke (rhythm guitar, vocals, 1964-66), Lewis Rich (vocals, keyboards, 1964-65, 1971), Steve Carroll (guitar, 1964), Andy Bown (keyboards, bass, vocals, 1964-69), Gary Taylor (bass, guitar, vocals, 1964-69, 1971), Mick Underwood (drums, 1965-66), Louis Cennamo (bass, 1965-67), Andrew Steele (drums, vocals, 1966-69), Peter Frampton (guitar, vocals, 1966-68), Henry Spinetti (drums, 1969)

Background

The Herd formed in June 1964 in London when Preachers singer-guitarist Terry Clark, bassist Andy Bown, and drummer Tony Chapman teamed with guitarist Gary Taylor and singer-organist Lewis Rich. Preachers guitarist Steve Carroll died in a road accident that month, which also injured Chapman, who played earlier with Bill Wyman in The Cliftons and briefly joined the formative Rolling Stones. Bown joined the Preachers in May 1964 and soon added organ to the group.

The Herd used both the Herd and Preachers names through autumn 1964, with Herd bookings at Zig Zag in Hampstead and Coney Hall in West Wickham. The group signed with Parlophone and released “Goodbye Baby Goodbye” in May 1965 (b/w “Here Comes the Fool”).

Chapman left the Herd in June 1965 and revived the Preachers with 15-year-old guitarist-singer Peter Frampton, singer-organist Peter Gosling, bassist Pete Attwood, and saxophonist Ken Leamon. Frampton played beforehand in the Beckenham combos Little Ravens and Trubeats; he already sat in with the Herd at Justin Hall in West Wickham. Wyman produced the Preachers August 1965 single “Hole in My Soul” (b/w “Too Old in the Head”), released on Columbia.

Drummer Mick Underwood replaced Chapman in June after three years with Joe Meek group The Outlaws. Lewis Rich left the lineup, shifting Bown from bass to organ. Former Jimmy Powell & The Five Dimensions bassist Louis Cennamo joined in October. The Herd released the Velvelettes cover “She Was Really Saying Something” that month (b/w “It’s Been a Long Time Baby”) and closed the Parlophone run in February 1966 with “So Much in Love,” a Jagger–Richards composition first recorded by the Mighty Avengers (b/w “This Boy’s Always Been True”).

In September 1966, the Herd on-boarded recent Preachers guitarist-singer Peter Frampton, now a sixteen-year-old attendee of Bromley Technical School. Meanwhile, Underwood departed for Episode Six while Cennamo (en route to Renaissance) joined the Timebox precursor Chicago Line with Mike Patto and subsequent Jody Grind keyboardist Tim Hinkley. The reconfigured Herd placed Taylor in the bassist slot and hired drummer Andrew Steele, whose prior stints included The Muldoons, Johnny Hallyday, and Gary Farr & The T-Bones.

The Herd played recurring autumn 1966 dates at the Marquee Club, where producer Steve Rowland heard the quartet. Rowland introduced the group to songwriters Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley. The Herd replaced manager Billy Gaff with Howard and Blaikley and signed with Fontana. The group released “I Can Fly” in April 1967 (b/w “Diary of a Narcissist”). Howard and Blaikley supplied “From the Underworld,” released in August (b/w “Sweet William”), which reached No. 6 on the UK Singles Chart. They followed in December with “Paradise Lost,” a No. 15 hit (b/w “Come On—Believe Me”). Frampton and Bown contributed five songs to the first LP, which the Herd completed under producer Steve Rowland as Paradise Lost.

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