Evergreen Hollies keep on growing!

By Eddie McIlwaine

The name? "Well, it was a little bit of Christmas and a lot of Buddy Holly."

He’s 56 now and recognised as the band’s historian  (picture above, at the back with the hat). And with a band like the Hollies you need a historian. EMI required a lot of facts and figures in a hurry when it included the band in its centenary celebrations as an interactive music centre model on which fans could play their own arrangement of He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother.

"That one has become our anthem and what EMI did in its anniversary exhibition, which is still touring, was quite a compliment.

"Naturally our name and how it came about crops up all the time. I actually read in a tabloid that we borrowed it from a school in south Manchester. Rubbish.

"We were full of dreams and Buddy was our hero. We looked up to him and played all his tunes. It was so obvious to call ourselves The Hollies.

"When we were recording our contribution to a memorial album in Nashville, his family gave us a tape of him singing Peggy Sue Got Married, and we arranged it so he was performing the song with us as his support band. In fact, we use the Buddy tape in our stage show and it is dramatic."

The Hollies will be back in Belfast at the Waterfront Hall on April 16 - and Elliott hints that perhaps old boy Graham Nash will drop in.

"He lives in LA and he indicated he would be in the UK during our tour. He said he would like a reunion. Perhaps it will be Belfast.

"It’s a city we all enjoy. Tell you a funny story. On tour in Durban and passing the city hall, Allan Clarke says to me that wasn’t that building familiar! I took a long hard look and then the penny dropped - it’s an exact replica of City Hall, Belfast. Did you know that?"

In the years since playing Belfast in 1966, The Hollies have grown; three of the original hitmakers remain, singer Allan Clarke, guitarist Tony Hicks and Elliott.

"We added Ray Stiles years ago and then along came Ian Parker with his keyboards and accordion," explains the drummer. "He gives us all the big sounds we used to get when we toured with an orchestra and I waved the baton."

Still in his role of historian, Elliott straightens out one myth about He Ain’t Heavy He’s My Brother.

"Yes, Neil Diamond recorded it, but we were first, and the song was written by two Americans called Bobby Scott and Bobby Russell. Some people actually believe Diamond wrote it. Never."

The Waterfront Hall audience will be treated to a two-hour trip down memory lane with the evergreen Hollies, Elliott promises.

"We have no fillers and no guests. We tell an anecdote or two about the days when we were young. And we aren’t proud - we do other people’s stuff too.

"The way we do Purple Rain and Light My Fire will suit this new Waterfront place. We hear it is special."

Thursday 16th April.

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