Johnny Kidd and The Pirates

Artist Name
Johnny Kidd and The Pirates

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4 Male

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London

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Rock & Roll

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Born

born icon 1959

Active
1959 to Present...

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Johnny Kidd & the Pirates were an English rock and roll group led by singer/songwriter Johnny Kidd. They scored numerous hit songs from the late 1950s to the early 1960s, including "Shakin' All Over" and "Please Don't Touch", but their musical influence far outshines their chart performance.
Their stage act was theatrical including wearing full pirate costumes (complete with Kidd wearing an eye-patch and wielding a cutlass) which echoed some of their Rock 'n' Roll contemporaries like Screaming Lord Sutch & the Savages and Nero and the Gladiators. In a way, their approach anticipated and possibly inspired theatrical rockers of the 1970s such as Alice Cooper and David Bowie plus others.
The original group came under the management of Guy Robinson and was signed to HMV in 1959 under the auspices of producer Walter J. Ridley. Their first single was the raw "Please Don't Touch", penned by Kidd and attributed to "Heath/Robinson" (Heath was Kidd's real name). This became a minor hit reaching number 25 on the UK singles charts in 1959. Although only a minor hit the song has been covered many times since, most successfully by the team of Motörhead and Girlschool known as Headgirl.
After this initial success the band was reorganised to streamline the sound and visual appeal. Kidd naturally took centre-stage at the front. Drummer Clem Cattini (drums) sat directly behind. Flanking Kidd on either side would be Alan Caddy (guitar) and Brian Gregg (bass). Kidd would high-kick in time to the beat. In an attempt to re-create the feel of his recordings Kidd employed an echo unit to process his vocals, one of the first instances of a UK rock act attempting this on stage.
When the group appeared on Saturday Club between 1959 and 1961 Mike West and Tom Brown shared the vocals with Kidd.