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HERMAN STAGGERED around apparently stoned out of his mind the night they poured out bottles of bubbly on Granada TV to celebrate his triumphant debut disc arrival at No. 1 with "I'm Into Something Good." It was only afterwards that somebody told him he had, in fact, been boozing on coloured water. And it wasn't the only illusion Herman had to endure at what he thought was the height of his success. A follow-up had to be found and when it was released, his increasing army of enemies danced about delightedly shouting "He's a one-hit wonder" and other unkind insinuations as "Show Me Girl" appeared ignominously at No. 27 in the Disc Chart, crawled reluctantly to No. 20 and then fell out with a hollow flop. "It was shattering," admitted Herman. "Everybody else seemed delighted though. But some people had really resented us making No. 1 and kept on about us having no musical talent at all. "'We're English and we've just been in their charts and look at the receptions the Beatles always get,' I thought, so when we stepped out of our plane at New York, I was expecting about 25,000 adoring fans to be waiting. In fact, there were precisely 12 people there - none of them our fans!" After the champagne farce, the flop follow-up, here was the Big Bringdown. Or so it seemed then. "But obviously, doing a promotional visit proved a vital key to our success, for by the time we were back in Britain, 'Can't You Hear My Heartbeat' had gone to No. 2 in America while in Britain 'Silhouettes' was just as high." This time there were no illusions to follow. Herman had arrived whatever his critics tried to claim to the contrary. He rushed back to the States to top a tour that included all the idols of his paper-selling days back in Manchester. Bobby Vee ... Little Anthony ... Freddie Cannon ... they all had to go on stage before Herman. I remember one night I walked into New York's Copacabana Club and met - on equal terms - Petula Clark. About 12 months previously, I had written five letters a week to petula begging for autographs and the whole bit. I never did get a reply - now I was meeting her as a fellow artist. It was a strange feeling." But they weren't exactly on equal terms. Pet was popping up with the odd American hit - Herman had become the hottest property in the business. |
He had issued an album in America which included a track called "Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter," sung in broad Lancashire accent. The yanks went dotty over this cute, toothy, tiny character with a dialect as pungent as Lancashire hot pot. "Mrs. Brown" was brought out as a single and became the fastest selling single of the sixties, Napoleon and allcomers included. Then "Silhouettes," "Wonderful World," and another rollicking George Formby farce "I'm Henry VIII, I Am" all crashed into the American Top Ten. Back in Britain, the striped-jacket set snorted in their scotch and Cokes. The boutique babes stitched their hems even higher - sighed at the latest soulful "spade" and affected to ignore this interloper on their pop scene. And Herman? He kept hitting in Britain with such tongue-in-cheek titles as "Wonderful World," and "Just A Little Bit Better." "I knew the so-called in crowd didn't want to know me, but we went out on a British tour last Autumn which did great business and confirmed for me that the teenagers themselves were still right behind us here too." But it was the Americans who mainly doted on Herman. Inevitably they lured him to Hollywood to star in his own right in "Hold On," which opened to uncomplimentary reviews in England last month. "I'm not surprised. I thought the script for 'Hold On' was corny and said so, but I always think I'm right, anyway. But they insisted they knew best and, at the time, I thought 'Fair enough. They're the film experts.' "But it is a poor film and I can do much better. The trouble is that the Americans see me as a cute little boy, while I would have liked to have become an Elvis Presley or a Johnny Rivers." Does it matter though? The hits have still poured in on both sides of the Atlantic this year ... "A Must to Avoid" (the one title which allowed the London "in-crowd" to smile) ... "You Won't Be Leaving" and "This door Swings Both Ways" have all swung one way - up. "This Door' chalked up my eleventh consecutive Top 20 hit here in England," beams the Wonder Boy. "Which isn't bad for a one-hit wonder." Bumptious? Big head? Or boldly frank! You take your choice - but Herman gives his opinion on Herman in next week's final installment of the story of the newsboy who became international news himself. |
 HERMAN had a rush flight to America by three planes on Friday after finishing filming "The Canterville Ghost" early that morning. He flew from Rochester to London Airport by private plane, took a jet to Toronto, Canada, and another to Ohio, where he appeared with comedian Bob Hope at the State Fair. Herman also appears on the Ed Sullivan and Hollywood Palace TV shows before returning here in a fortnight. Meanwhile he is looking for a flat to buy in London's Regent Park area and plans to buy his father a house in Switzerland. |