5 / 10
In 1963, The Heartbeats were one of several dozen gigging beat
bands working the clubs and dance halls of Northern England.
With the addition of vocalist Peter Noone, this combo became
professionally known as Pete Novak And The Heartbeats. The
charismatic Noone was fresh from his appearances in the
British soap opera, ‘Coronation Street’ (in 1961 and 1962), and
at the ripe old age of fifteen, was something of a show business
veteran.
Adopting managers Harvey Lisberg and Charlie Silverman, the
group changed their collective name to Herman And The Her-
mits (Herman being short for Sherman of ‘Bullwinkle’ fame).
Trivia aside, Lisberg and Silverman were not only managers,
but also a songwriting team with aspirations to make records.
In the Hermits they found a talented commodity to hawk their
songs to an unsuspecting public.
“That was my idea originally,”
explains Lisberg.
“I wrote some
songs and I said to my friend, ‘Charlie, let’s get them to The
Beatles,’ because we thought [our songs] were brilliant. Well,
they weren’t. We had mad ideas.”
Truth be told, their songs
were pretty good and their symbiotic relationship with the Her-
mits took on new life when they attracted the interest of some
established record producers.
“We thought Herman And The
Hermits was the greatest band in the world,”
proclaims Lis-
berg.
“So, I was very positive (laughs). Reality didn’t have any
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50th ANNIVERSARY ANTHOLOGY
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HERMAN’S HERMITS