Peter Noone was a member of the popular 1960s band Herman’s Hermits.
With his thick hair and boyish charm, he could easily be compared to Justin Bieber or Harry Styles of today.
However, there is one significant difference between this former teen idol and modern stars…
Singer Peter Noone of the English beat rock band Herman’s Hermits, November 1964. (Photo: Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)
With his charming face and equally charming voice, Peter Noone rose to fame as a teenager as the frontman of Herman’s Hermits. The band toured both America and the UK and became a cult favourite.
In 1964, the band scored their first number one hit in England with the song “I’m Into Something Good”.
‘I didn’t know what I was doing: on stage, I was a shy boy, which was basically true to my nature.
Noon and the other members of his band released more than 20 hit records and even outsold The Beatles in 1965. Among their biggest hits were ‘I’m Into Something Good,’ ‘No Milk Today’ and ‘There’s A Kind of Hush (All Over the World).’
By the age of 17, the band had signed a million-dollar record deal, and one of the highlights of Noon’s career was when Elvis Presley performed one of their hits, ‘I’m Henry the Eighth, I Am,’ on stage in 1965.
‘He laughed at me, but what did it matter?’ says Nuna. ‘It was Elvis!’
Even at such a young age, Nuun led a typical rock “n” roll lifestyle.
‘Although without drugs,’ he insists. ‘That was never my thing.’
But when asked about all the other typical habits of rock “n” rollers?
‘Of course. We were 16, 17, and we could easily stay up all night, cause trouble, and then get up the next morning to do interviews and go to concerts. It was a wonderful time.’
At 64, Noon is back on tour with the British Solid Silver 60s Show. His fellow veterans from the Hermits won’t be joining him, but other music stars from that era will be — Brian Poole of The Tremeloes (‘Do You Love Me’ and ‘Twist And Shout’) and Brian Hyland (‘Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini’).
‘You never get tired of the excitement of touring,’ says Noon, ‘and it’s nice to know that we can still draw a crowd. People come up to me and sing all the old songs right in my face, although I never know how to react to that.’
Noon has lived in California since the 1970s and quickly embraced the healthy lifestyle typical of the state.
‘Few survived the excesses of the 1960s,’ he says, “so I consider myself lucky and try to take care of myself. When I went to Micky Most’s funeral nine years ago [Most was the band’s producer and a participant in the television talent show New Faces], there weren’t that many people there. It makes you think.”
‘I remember going to the house of one of the Moody Blues, which was considered a real den of iniquity,’ he says. “None of the girls smoked weed, so I often hung out with them. I was like a fly on the wall.
‘I loved to drink — I often went out with Richard Harris and tried to drink more than him,’ laughs Noon.
“I loved the Beatles and the Stones and always wanted to hang out with them, even though they were about seven years older than me.
We used to go to the Ad Lib club in London, and John Lennon would buy me drinks because he knew I was only 16 and wouldn’t get drunk and try to beat anyone up.”
Noon, who grew up in Manchester, admitted that one of the main reasons he drank was to fit in with the crowd, as he didn’t consider himself ‘interesting.’
At the age of 19, the musician decided to attend his first Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with his father, who was also a heavy drinker.
“I wouldn’t call myself an alcoholic, but you have to be sensitive to people’s feelings and be able to do your job on stage, so after that I decided to cut down on my alcohol consumption. I had to do it for myself, and I haven’t touched alcohol in about 16 years.
I insist that my wife continue to drink if she wants to — I don’t forbid other people around me from doing so.”
The multi-talented artist has been married to his wife Miriel for 43 years. They met when Nununu was 20 and still spending time with different women.
‘I think it was love at first sight with Mireille,’ he admits. “Then I discovered how sweet she was, and it turned into love.
She kept turning me down, but one day she was holidaying in Ibiza with her mother, and I rented a flat next door to them. Her mother loved me because I was respectful. I wore Mireille down.”
The couple married in 1968, had a daughter (Nicole), and Noon left the band in 1971 at the age of 24.
‘Although we were all close in the band at the beginning, by the end we had spent so much time together that we wanted to do different things.’
His attempt at a solo career stalled, and in the 1980s he moved on to a new phase, appearing in the Broadway production of The Pirates of Penzance and as the host of the American television music show My Generation.
Just a few years ago, he appeared as a mentor and vocal coach on American Idol.
Appearing on the show, he said, “If The Beatles had entered a television competition, they probably would have lost. Simon Cowell seems like a very nice guy, but to be honest, I think he’s a second-rate Mickey Most.”
Speaking again about the current tour, Noon explained: “I would probably have become a clerk at the local NatWest. How lucky am I to still be doing this at 64? Now I know what I’m doing. I’m not that shy little boy anymore.”
Peter is still charismatic and charming, regardless of his age!
At 77, he looks simply FANTASTIC and still has a magnificent voice.
