Description
How Eric Haddock from Portwood became a member of The Hollies, one of the most successful groups of the 1960’s.
Eric Haddock grew up on Victory Street, Portwood, a street of back-to-back terraces in the shadow of Vernon Mill, his mother Vina was the landlady of The Queen’s Head pub on Little Underbank. Eric’s love for music was instilled in him by his step-father Mike and despite winning many trophies for athletics’ prowess at Vernon Park school, Eric found his life-long passion upon discovering an ornamental Spanish guitar hanging on the wall of his friend Alan’s house. Eric played it so much when he went round that Alan’s Mum eventually sold it to him for “ten bob” (or 50p in today’s money).
Eric left school aged 15 in 1958 and went to work at Needham’s Iron Foundry, a tool-making factory on Carrington Road. He took a variety of extra jobs including being a rat-catcher to save up to buy a guitar which “cost almost as much as a terraced house in Manchester”. He soon changed this to a bass guitar so he could jam along with other local musicians.
Eric teamed up with guitarist friend Johnny Murphy for rehearsals in the family’s front room and at the Farmers Arms in Brinnington. Adopting the stage name of Haydock, he played in numerous Manchester groups – The Dolphins (with future Hollies bandmate Tony Hicks), Kirk Daniels and The Deltas and their alter ego Fred and The Flintstones, where they would play the same songs but dressed up as cavemen.
One night in 1962, while walking past La Ronde Club in North Manchester, Eric was lured inside by “the nearest thing I’ve ever heard to the Everly Brothers!” The harmonising voices belonged to future Hollies Allan Clarke and Graham Nash who were performing together as ‘Ricky and Dane Young’. Eric approached them and in a matter of days Clarke and Nash had joined forces with Deltas’ drummer Don Rathbone, rhythm guitarist Vic Steele and the original line-up of The Hollies was born.
In his early Hollies days, Eric played a prototype 12-string bass built by guitar pioneer Jim Burns and was one of the first musicians in the country to play a six-string Fender VI. One of the best bassists on the early British beat scene, Eric and drummer Bobby Elliott (who replaced Don Rathbone after a couple of recordings), were one of the tightest, hardest rhythm sections in British music of the period.
The trademark of The Hollies’ sound was Clarke, Nash and Hicks’ melodic three-part harmonies but Haydock and Elliot made it rock. From their debut hit single ‘(Ain’t That) Just Like Me’ in May 1963 right up to ‘I Can’t Let Go’ in February 1966, Eric laid down a solid foundation to one of the most distinctive sounds in British rock & roll.
Eric was renowned for being a practical joker, including one memorable instance when he admittedly cut the power cords to the amplifiers being used by The Dave Clark Five, who were on an exhaustive 43-day tour with The Hollies in 1964. While his bandmates often enjoyed his playful tricks on other bands, it was rather less appreciated when directed on themselves.
Having played on over 50 Hollies songs including 11 chart hits and a No.1 with ‘I’m Alive’ clocking up a total of 133 weeks in the UK charts, in 1966 Eric Haydock parted ways with The Hollies following stints of absence due to his disillusionment with the band’s management.
After his marriage to Pamela Dore in 1965, Eric had grown tired of the group’s gruelling touring schedule which kept him away from home for long periods. Later that year, he formed the short-lived Haydock’s Rockhouse who released a couple of singles ‘Cupid’ and ‘Loving You’/‘Mix A Fix’ recorded at Abbey Road. Although he was no longer a Hollie, the group remained dear to his heart over the years ahead.
On 15 March 2010, Eric, along with fellow Hollies members, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He always stayed local managing the music shop ‘Rhythm House’ on Middle Hillgate and patronising the nearby Red Bull pub. Following his death in January 2019, Eric’s partner in rhythm, Bobby Elliot, honoured him as “one of the finest bass players on the planet”.
