The Wildcats… by Alan Cocks " Leclaire "

 I had been working with Rory Blackwell along with Tony Belcher (guitarist) and others, when we met up with Vince Eager. Shortly after that work with Rory came to an end and Tony and were offered some work with Vince Eager. It was then that I met Bobby Woodman and Tex Makins. We all got on very well together and were asked if we would like to join Marty Wilde as "The wildcats". Big Jim Sullivan came in on lead guitar and we recorded an album called "Wilde about Marty". I don't remember the titles, but they were standard rock songs of the era

.

We went on a couple of tours of the North of England as well as odd concert dates aound London and nearby. At Bobby's suggestion we all bleached our hair blonde and applied a silver rinse. This was very avant garde for 1958 and caused much comment. However it made us very memorable for the fans. Nowadays it is very commonplace to see men with unusual hair styles or colours, but it certainly caused a stir back in the fifties.

By this time we were working for the Larry Parnes agency who managed Marty and others. We were often moved about, but settled for a while as the backing band for all the Parnes artistes. They included, Marty, Vince Eager, Billy Fury, Dickie Pride, The Viscounts, Duffy Power,
Johnny Gentle, Sally Kelly and probably others that I have forgotten.

……Dickie Pride.…Vince Eager..……Marty Wilde……Duffy Power…… Billy Fury……The Viscounts……………

I left that band during 1959 and subsequently met up with Bobby, Tony Harvey and Johnny Vance in 1960 when we formed
"The Playboys" with Vince Taylor.

Alan Cocks… October 2001

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