Terry Sylvester
(born Terence Sylvester
, 8 January 1945, [1] Allerton, Liverpool, Lancashire), was the guitarist/singer with The Escorts, The Swinging Blue Jeans (1966-69) and The Hollies. In the latter guise, he replaced Graham Nash who left the band in December 1968.
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TERRY SYLVESTER TICKETS
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Life and career
Sylvester grew up in the Allerton, Liverpool, only a few hundred yards from his older contemporary,
Paul McCartney. Sylvester's father, James Sylvester, was a
jazz trombonist in his spare time, who had played in
big bands. With his father's encouragement, Sylvester gravitated toward
music, beginning with
Dean Martin — whose "
Volare" was the first
record he ever bought — and then moving on to
Elvis Presley's "
Hound Dog" b/w "
Don't Be Cruel". It was
The Everly Brothers, Sylvester revealed in an interview with Jud Cost in 1997, who pulled him completely into
rock and roll, however, with their
harmony singing.
By the early 1960s, he had co-founded his first group, the Escorts, with schoolmates Mike Gregory and John Kinrade. The Escorts appeared with
The Beatles at the
Cavern Club on many occasions between 1961 and 1963, and were there when the Beatles played their last
show.
The Escorts always seemed poised to break out of Liverpool, but never quite made it. They were booked with the Hollies at the same club in
Munich,
Germany, when three of the bandmembers fell ill, and
Graham Nash,
Allan Clarke, and Bobby Elliott of the Hollies played the gig in place of the stricken Escorts members, thus sharing a stage with Sylvester four years before he joined their group.
The chance came in 1966 for Sylvester (along with Mike Gregory) to leave the Escorts and join the Swinging Blue Jeans, and he spent three years with the group. This was the first of two breaks for Sylvester, to join an established band with hits.
However, his joining of the Hollies, in 1969, outweighed all previous bands, as an internationally recognised band that did not focus solely on touring already established hits. His first
album with the Hollies was
Hollies Sing Dylan
. He immediately had a hit with the band in 1969 with "Sorry Suzanne" which reached number 3 in the
UK Singles Chart. "Sorry Suzanne", was followed by "
He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (1970), which Sylvester today calls his favourite Hollies song as it cemented his place in the band. However, Sylvester seldom escaped being mentioned in Nash's shadow, especially in
America, where
Crosby, Stills & Nash were more popular.
By the time he joined The Hollies he was introduced as a
songwriter on
Hollies Sing Hollies
, and he continued to contribute to songs, under "Clarke-Hicks-Sylvester". Additionally, Sylvester wrote the songs for
b-sides on some singles including "Indian Girl".
In 1974, Sylvester cut his first
solo album, a self-titled work that was released by
Epic Records in the United States.
He also
recorded a second solo album,
I Believe
, recorded at
Abbey Road Studios, and
produced by
Alan Parsons and the Hollies long time producer Ron Richards.
He also contributed vocals to the Alan Parson Project's
Tales of Mystery and Imagination
album in 1975.
Sylvester split with the Hollies in May 1981, in an incident that precipitated the resignation of longtime
bassist Bernie Calvert. That same year, he recorded
Griffin & Sylvester
in collaboration with ex-
Bread member
Jimmy Griffin in
Memphis, Tennessee.
After leaving The Hollies, Sylvester worked for a period in the mid 1980s as an
estate agent in
North London.
Sylvester, now relocated to
Toronto,
Ontario,
Canada, has remained active in music, touring mainly in
North America either alone or with other 1960s era musicians such as
Billy J. Kramer,
Peter Noone and
Gerry Marsden. Sylvester has been awarded five
platinum, nine gold, and six silver discs in his career.
References
- Hollies.co.uk - accessed August 2009