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In 1959,
Tez, with his school friends Mick Gillen Mike Sweeney (also known
as Toddy) and local boy, Jim Green, formed a band they called
Teenage Crickets in suitable tribute to their hero, Buddy
Holly. They did a regular gig at St Andrew’s Church Hall in
Stourton, Leeds and went on to make a record of Buddy numbers at
their own expense. After a while, Mick left to join another band
and in 1961 it was Tez’s idea with Jim and Toddy to form another
band they called The Cherokees, doing a few gigs at church and
other local halls. A regular venue was the Hunslet Boys’ Club where
they noticed a young guy who watched their playing avidly and one
evening he approached Mike Sweeney to ask about joining the band as
rhythm guitar.
Sweeney
discussed this with Tez whose first question was, “Can he play?”
Sweeney said he wasn’t sure but his dad had a van. That
clinched it and Dave Bower was “in”. Another boy’s club member
joined as singer but thankfully, Don Harding’s parents had far
better things in mind for their son and this enabled Tez and Jim to
approach a guy already very well known around Leeds whose brilliant
voice was being chased by a number of bands in the area. In
April 1962, John Kirby Woollard joined The Cherokees and Tez
persuaded the others with roadie Jeff Hale, to pack in their jobs,
“turn professional” and head for London.
On the
first of October 1962, the boys, their gear, a few personal
possessions and the cup they won as  Mecca’s “Best Yorkshire
Band 1962”, hit the road in John’s dad’s Bedford van known as the
Striped Wonder of Woodhouse. It took them three days to reach
London! It didn’t take Dick Turpin that long and he was
on Black Bess (who rumour has it, was a barmaid at the Crown
& Anchor!)!
In the
months from April to October the boys had been saving to finance
their adventure. They had become very well known around Leeds
but even so, the bank was rather light and despite camping in the
van by the time they hit “The Smoke”, they were desperately
in need of a gig.....
©Tez Stokes 2010
Cherokees
NYPL
Jim
Green
John
Woollard
Star
Club Hamburg |
