HERMAN is a hip young Hermit. He likes jazz and he talks frankly and honestly about his feelings and future.

"I hope my new record, 'Silhouettes' does better than the last one," grinned Herman, drinking coffee and smoking heavily, when we met last week.

"It is completely different from my other records. It has more of an arrangement and is a better performance. It's a ballad and it tells a story.

"I have also got a completely different stage act now, ready for my tour with Del Shannon, the Shangri-Las and Wayne Fontana. I am really looking forward to it. I enjoyed my first tour which was the first time I had worked with big groups. I can talk to them better now and feel more on their level.

"But I am jealous of new groups. They come up all the time and make things harder. You know a lot of people say I am a one-hit wonder and that really hurts me like, I would sooner have

"I had a lot of faith in 'Show Me Girl', until I heard it on the radio. I wouldn't like to say about the next one.

"Do you know, I felt sick when I heard my first record. I went flat on one of the notes in the song and I said, 'Let's do it again'. But it meant another four hours in the studio and it stayed.

"I like jazz but I don't know anything about it. So I read the Melody Maker to learn. Jazz is the highest point in music. If you can play jazz you can play classical.

"I haven't got a feeling for jazz though. I'd sooner sing along. Mark Murphy is great, but I prefer the Beatles. That's why I don't like Dionne Warwick - I can't sing in her key!

"Girls like to think of you as an idol, but there is really no such thing as a teenage idol anymore. The Beatles are to blame. They were all back street lads, and all the kids thought, 'Why shouldn't I have a go?'