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Home , Brian Bennett, Hank Marvin, Jet Harris, Tony Meehan

A Life ’s propensity for showing up late for performances worried him greatly. During the Blackpool season, and after frequent rows, the 18-yea r-old quit the group (the usual ‘musical differences’ reason was c ited) and went to work as an A&R man for Decca. He was quick ly replaced by , former house drummer at the 2I’s and member of ’s Wildcats. Jet was likewise beginning to cause Bruce serious concern. Although he could be great fun (for example, when the fans screamed for Cliff outside a thea tre, Jet would jokingly shout out of a dressing room window: ‘Cliff’s queer and he hates his fans!’), his drinking and erratic behaviour were rapidly becoming a liability. On one occasion, th e Shadows were performing at Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club doing their synchronised ‘walk’ when Jet fell into the audience. Bruce attempted to explain that their bass player wasn’t well, but people in the audience shouted back: ‘He’s pissed!’ In Steve Turner’s , The Bachelor Boy, Ron King (variously Cliff’s bus driver, tour manager and personal assistant) recalled that Jet a nd Bruce were always quarrelling because Bruce couldn’t stand Jet’s drinking, and that Sam Curtis, their roadie, had had to look after Jet more than the others because he needed it. In the same book, stated that Jet, who saw himself as a James Dean character, could be mean and moody, as well as a lot of fun. ‘Moody’ s eems to come up a lot when people have described Jet. Given the direction his life would later take, Royston Ellis’s portrait of Jet in 1961's The Big Beat Scene was also prophetically accurate: ‘ Undoubtedly is the Shadow with the most sex appeal. His hungry look, dark, su nken eyes and fiery performance help him to coax screams from an audience with just a smile. Offstage he is little di fferent from the image his fans love. He is an exhibitionist and must always have an a udience to draw him out. ‘In that slim body of his burns a fantastic energy, which leaves an impression on all who meet him. Coming from an

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The new Shadows line-up. Left to right: Brian Bennett, Bruce, Jet and Hank. ordinary home background hims elf, he loves the unusual, the offbeat, the kinky people who, he reckons, are the most interesting in the world. Studying them, he likes to discover what made them tick, adopting their interesti ng characteristics for himself. ‘One of his favourite London characters is the poetess Iris Orton, known around Soho for her experiments with poetry and music. Jet himself has been i nvolved with similar experiments with poetry and music. In 1959, he composed the pop music backing to poems that were performed by th e Shadows on television with the author of this book. ‘In pursuit of enjoyment and knowledge, Jet leads a pretty hectic life. His 21st birthday in 1960 was celebrated in a riotous fashion. With a friend to drive his car, armed with a bottle of strong wine, Jet set off for a prowl around London’s coffee bars after his evening’s stint at the Palladium. Picking up friends

45 A Life en route, the evening developed into a party on wheels. Jet flaked out in his flat about five the next morning. ‘Jet is a rare personality to fi nd in show business. Not only is he a talented musician, he is a genuine person with a sense of justice and a strong loyalty to his friends. He is able to ferret out the best in everyone and encourage it. Occasionally, he has a wildness about him bordering on i mmaturity. His bouts of erratic behaviour make his position as a star name very difficult. Unable to appreciate responsibilities, he lik es a steady person at his side to keep an eye on him. ‘On the scene they say that Jet Harris will not live beyond 30. Whenever he dies, Jet will have experienced more in life than the average person. An d he will long be re membered as a legend in the sometimes sordid world of musicians, poets and offbeats he likes so much.’

I quit! On 15 October 1961, the day af ter his 21st bi rthday, Cliff and the new Shadows line-up set off on a to ur of Singapore, Australia (where they played Sydney, Melbour ne, Perth and Adelaide) and New Zealand. Meanwh ile the hits continued to flow. Cliff’s ‘When The Girl In Your Heart Is The Girl In Your Arms’ made the Top 5 later that month, while ’ latest, ‘The Savage’, made the Top 10 in November. Their performance of ‘The Savage’ was also one of the most memorable moments of The Young Ones film, released on 19 December to rave reviews. Within a week, the soundtrack album was in the charts heading for No.1. At the end of 1961, the Shadows – without Cliff this time – paid a return visit to Stockton’s Globe Theatre to play ‘the Broker’s Men’ in the pantomime Dick Whittington, starring comedian Ken Platt as Idle Jack and Frank Ifield as Dick. The panto ran from Christmas Day – wh ich fell on a Monday that year – for three weeks, a nd was well received. 1962 got off to a good start, with Cliff’s ‘Young Ones’ single shooting to No.1 in Janu ary, and the Shadows’ latest, ‘’ repeating the performance in March. At this

46 A Life point in their career, Cliff and the Shadows were truly on top of their game. On 15 April, they appeared at the prestigious NME Poll Winners Concert at Wembley’s Empire Pool, as they’d won in three categories: Cliff had been selected best ‘British Male Singer’ with 18,006 votes; the Shadows had topped the ‘British Small Group’ poll with a massive 45,951 votes; and Jet had won ‘Solo Instrumentalist’ with 20,955 vote s (interestingly, Hank Marvin, who to many was the solo instrumentalist, didn’t even make the top three: Acker Bilk claimed second spot with 13,911 votes and romped in to third position with 9,087!). The Shadows were also presented, so mewhat belatedly, with a gold disc for sales of ‘’. Jet did the show and then walked out. says he was sack ed, while Jet claimed that he resigned. The exact truth may never be known, but it would certainly have been legally difficult for one or two founder members to sack a third. What is evident, is that Jet was drinking heavily and in an emotional st ate – so whether his sudden departure was planned or spontaneous is debatable. Most likely it is something he had been thinking about for a while, then did on the spur of the moment. But, if showbiz management were encouraging him to jump ship , then they were not acting responsibly to a young man whose emotional and alcohol problems, which would have been well known to them by that time, were already too much for him to cope with.

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