Terry Sylvester
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| Terry Sylvester | |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Terence Sylvester |
| Born | 8 January 1947 |
| Origin | Liverpool, England |
| Genre(s) | Pop music |
| Instrument(s) | guitar, vocals |
| Years active | 1960s- present |
| Associated acts | The Escorts, The Swinging Blue Jeans (1966-69) and The Hollies |
| Website | terrysylvester.com |
Terry Sylvester (born Terence Sylvester, 8 January 1946, Allerton, Liverpool), was the guitarist/singer with The Escorts, The Swinging Blue Jeans (1966-69) and The Hollies: He replaced Graham Nash who left the band in December 1968.
[edit] 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 "big 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 the Hollies Sing Dylan album. 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 the mega-hit ballad "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" (1970), which Sylvester today calls his favourite Hollies song since 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 America. 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 of 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 James Griffin in Memphis, Tennessee.
Sylvester, now relocated to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, has remained active in music, touring mainly in North America either alone or with other 60s-era musicians such as Billy J. Kramer, Peter Noone, and Gerry Marsden. Needless to say, many Hollies and Swinging Blue Jeans songs appear in his repertoire.
Sylvester has been awarded five Platinum, nine Gold, and six Silver Discs in his career.
[edit] External links
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