LOVING every minute in the music business, Brian Poole comes to City Hall with The Tremeloes on May 2.
They are part of The Solid Silver 60s Show, a double-decker bus of a tour featuring Chris Farlowe, Chris Montez, Wayne Fontana and Vanity Fare.
Barking boy Poole founded the group that would become The Tremeloes with fellow teenagers Alan Blakely and Dave Munden, and in the 1960s.
The group enjoyed several big hits.
He says the high point in his career was their first chart number one with Do You Love Me?
He said: “We were in Liverpool, a place that has always been great for us, and we were walking through Lime Street station when we looked at the papers on the stand and they all said ‘Beatles toppled by Brian Poole and The Tremeloes’. Couldn’t be better, could it?”
After further hits with Twist and Shout, I Can Dance, Candy Man and Someone Someone, Poole branched out as a solo artist, but only enjoyed a modicum of success.
The remaining Tremeloes continued to chart with big hits such as Silence is Golden and Even the Bad Times are Good. Among their personnel changes was the recruitment of Len Hawkes, the father of 1990s singer Chesney.
Poole says he loves being back with Munden and old pals Joe Gillingham and Jeff Brown.
He said: “I’m 72 - and what 72- year-old wouldn’t want to go out in front of a lot of people and do something you love and get a bit of adulation?”
Poole grew up in east London where his father was a successful butcher.
He said the three original founders of The Tremeloes all had encouragement from their parents.
They started sending letters to Norman Petty, the manager of Buddy Holly and The Crickets ,and he sent them songs including what was to be a massive hit, Someone Someone.
Poole said: “It was remarkable.
He was our idol. We used to play little restaurant-type places to start with.
“There were only three of us with acoustic instruments.
“When we had success it just meant we played bigger places and people tried to rip your clothes off.
“But it was exactly what we wanted to do when we were kids.”
Poole has been married to Pam for 48 years and they have two daughters, Karen and Shelly, who in the 1990s were the successful pop duo Alisha’s Attic and have written hits for the likes of Kylie Minogue, Mark Ronson and Atomic Kitten.
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