IT’S TOO LATE TO STOP STOP STOP NOW

Hot on the heels of belated international recognition, THE HOLLIES are nudging towards a half-century of harmony-laden pop genius. TERRY STAUNTON spoke to veteran members TONY HICKS and BOBBY ELLIOTT, still riding along on a carousel

A Hollies reunion of sorts took place in New York earlier this month, with the long overdue induction of a group of Manchester’s most famous sons into the US Rock’n’Roll Hall Of Fame. Founder – but former – members Allan Clarke and Graham Nash were on hand to accept the plaudits of their peers, though the line-up still treading the boards after 47 years was otherwise engaged.

Instead of soaking up the applause in the main ballroom of Manhattan’s swanky Waldorf Astoria Hotel, and being the toast of the town for days before and after, long-serving guitarist Tony Hicks and drummer Bobby Elliott had other fish to fry, at the London Palladium, and the arguably less salubrious environs of Wolverhampton Civic Hall and The Swan Theatre in High Wycombe.

“Our tour was booked about a year in advance, and if we’d known we were gonna be inducted we could have left a gap there,” says Elliott. “It wasn’t just the one night, either. I spoke to the organisers and they wanted us there for a few days, cocktail receptions and all that, but I said, ‘Sorry, mate, we can’t let our fans down.’”

Hicks is in full agreement, if a little saddened by the calendar clash: “Allan and Graham did us proud, but I was gutted that we couldn’t get along to perform with them one more …

by Terry Staunton
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