Brian ‘Liquorice’ Locking

When you talk about instrumental groups the first name on most peoples lips is The Shadows, no surprise there, but what is a surprise is that one of it’s pivotal members was actual a local lad born in Bedworth, Warwickshire!

Brian Locking was born at 29 Mount Drive, Bedworth on December 22^nd 1940, delivered by his own Aunty in freezing conditions, and weighing in at a very bouncy ten pounds. Brian family didn’t stay in the town for long and just over a year later his family had settled in Grantham.  It was here that Brian was to witness harmonica legend the Larry Adler on the television and it proved to be the catalyst in his musical development. He was soon to ‘borrow’ his sisters plastic mouth and began to teach himself how to play. Brian teamed up with his friend Roy Clarke and formed a mouth organ duo playing Sunday nights at the Grantham Granada. A third member Roy Taylor joined and they became known as the harmonica Vagabonds, well that was until Lonnie Donegan made skiffle popular and the trio dropped the Harmonica from their name and became a skiffle group. Brian took up the tea-chest bass and the band got to play a residency at the famous 2 ’I’s Coffee bar in London on the strength of coming second in a skiffle competition. Shortly after the residency they got the offer to play a Sunday Night concert at Coventry Theatre by Tommy Steele’s manager, Larry Parnes. Following the concert Parnes offered Roy Taylor a solo deal he soon became Vince Eager and carver out a successful career for himself. I

Brian returned home wondering what the future would hold when he was contacted by Terry Dean and asked to join his backing band as the bass player. It was during this tour Brian would meet a young drummer named Brian Bennett.  After the Terry Dean tour had finished he and Bennett joined forces at the 2’I’s again and they were soon spotted by Vince Taylor they along with guitarist Tony Sheridan became the Vince Taylor’s backing band The Playboys. Brian recalls that time, “We became the Tony Sheridan Trio and then backed Vince Taylor, eventually we became his backing band The Playboys, and then we got onto the TV show “Oh Boy” we used to open the show at times. We cut four records as Vince Taylor and the Playboys, I was on Right Behind You Baby, I Like Love and Brand New Cadillac”.

As Brand New Cadillac was released the band split. Brian Locking and Brian Bennett along with Guitar supreme Big Jim Sullivan and Tony Belcher came together as the backing group for British rock heartthrob Marty Wilde. They became the Wild Cats. I asked Brian about that time, ”We were becoming pretty well known by then”, reveals Brian, “and Larry Parnes who was Marty’s manager and Tommy Steele’s manager everybody else’s manager really, got us to play with Marty and become his Wildcats. So we recorded with Marty like Sea Of Love, Teenager in Love and all of those. Then Billy Fury came along and we backed Billy, then Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent came over from the States and we recorded and toured with them”. When Marty’s popularity began to wane Brian and the band metamorphosised into the instrumental quartet The Krew Kats, and had a number 33 hit with Trambone in 1961. After a tour with Tommy Steele, Brian Bennett joined the Shadows to replace drummer Tony Meehan. Brian Locking was out of work for three months and things looks a little bleak until he got a call in 1962 from Brian Bennett asking if he would like to replace bass player Jet Harris in the Shadows. So the two Brian’s were reunited this time in the chart-topping band Cliff Richard and The Shadows. Brian added a new musical dimension to their sound, being a multi-instrumentalist he often played the harmonica and the clarinet (or the stick of liquorice, where he picked up his nickname).

So how were those days with the Shads I asked? “They were brilliant, awesome really, of course it wasn’t just the Shadows it was Cliff Richard and The Shadows in those days, and for the next two years it was non-stop.  We recorded numbers like, Geronimo, Foot Tapper, Dance On, Atlantis, Guitar Tango and Shazam we toured Africa and we went to Greece to film Summer Holiday.  I did the film, I’m there somewhere and played on all the film songs like It’ll be me Summer Holiday and Bachelor Boy, it was a golden period for the Shadows. We were well received and we did two Royal Variety Performances”. Did you get on well with Cliff and the guys I asked? “No problem at all”, we are all still friends I see them about once a year, we are all doing are individual things now of course”. 

Brian left the Shadows after just under two years to follow his Jehovah’s Witness beliefs; he has often been cited as the man who influenced Cliff Richard and Hank Marvin as far as religion goes. I put this to him? “Well Cliff was already into religion anyway, we used to gather around hotel rooms and have some very nice and interesting discussions about religion. It was on the way back from Greece where we had been filming Summer Holiday, I sat next to Hank on the plane, he opened the conversation not me. We had a great talk all about my beliefs, and I never thought anything would come of it, our people unbeknown to me contacted Hank and he became a Jehovah’s Witness too”.

So does this rock n Roll legend ever get back to Bedworth I asked? “I still have relations in Nuneaton, I have been back a few times, not recently though”.

Brian ‘Liquorice’ Locking trivia

• In January 2000 and again in 2003 the original Vagabonds performed reunion shows at the Guildhall Arts Centre in Grantham. On both occasions the shows were originally booked for two nights but third shows had to be added when the tickets for the first two nights sold out within three hours of the box office opening.

• Brian co wrote the Shadows hit Theme For Young Lovers and his harmonica  based “Detroit” was a Shad’s classic.

• Vince Taylor’s sister married Joe Barbera who became huge in the cartoon world as part of the Hanna/Barbera Company. David Bowie cited Taylor as an inspiration for his Ziggy character and the Clash covered his classic New Cadillac. Although a huge star he ended his working life as a maintenance man for Swiss Airlines, he died in 1991.

• Brian also played stand-up bass on folk-singer Donavan’s first two albums, there included the singles Catch The Wind, Colours and Universal Solider.

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You can hear Pete Chambers’ “Pop Into The Past” on Bob Brolly’s Friday Show every Fortnight from 3.00 p.m. and The “Sound Chamber” on Anita Miah’s Monday 

evening show every Fortnight from 8.00pm on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire.