Terry Sylvester

Biography
Terry Sylvester Came To International Fame In The Unenviable Position Of Succeeding Graham Nash As A Member Of The Hollies. A Gifted Singer And A Talented Musician He Fared Well In The Group For A Dozen Years During Which They Cut Three Of Their Biggest Hits And Some Of Their Best Albums. Terry Sylvester Was Born On January 8 1947 In Liverpool And Grew Up In The Allerton Section Only A Few Hundred Yards From His Older Contemporary Paul McCartney. Sylvester's Father James Sylvester Introduced Terry To Music At A Very Early Age. By The Early '60s He Had Co-Founded His First Group The Escorts With Schoolmates Mike Gregory And John Kinrade. The Escorts Starting Out Later Than Such Rivals As The Big Three Or The Beatles Worked In Their Shadow To Some Degree Although They Did End Up On The Same Bill With The Beatles At The Cavern Club On Many Occasions Between 1961 And 1963 And Were There When The Beatles Played Their Last Show There. The Group Did Break Out Of Liverpool But Only On A Limited Basis Beyond The Surrounding Area And Some Gigs In Germany Significantly The Escorts Were Booked With The Hollies At The Same Club In Munich Germany When Three Of The Bandmembers Fell Ill And Graham Nash Allan Clarke And Bobby Elliott Of The Hollies Played The Gig In Place Of The Stricken Escorts Members Thus Sharing A Stage With Sylvester Four Years Before He Joined Their Group. He Was By His Own Account Friendly With Nash And Clarke On A Social Level As Well. By The Time Of The Escorts' Final Single "From Head To Toe " Paul McCartney Had Taken An Interest In Their Fate Playing Tambourine On The Record But The Group's Days Were Numbered. The Chance Came In 1966 For Sylvester Along With Mike Gregory To Leave The Escorts And Join The Swinging Blue Jeans Who Needed Two New Members And Were Under The Same Management. The Swinging Blue Jeans Were A Much More Successful Liverpool Outfit Who Although Past Their Biggest Years Had Enjoyed A Pair Of Major International Hits In "Hippy Hippy Shake" And "Good Golly Miss Molly "
He Spent Three Years With The Group. Meanwhile Fate And Graham Nash's Growing Interest In Moving To America And Working With Stephen Stills And David Crosby Took A Hand -- Nash Quit The Hollies Late In 1968 And Terry Sylvester Was The Person The Group Thought Of As A Replacement. He Joined Amid Some Speculation In The British Music Press That The Group Couldn't Continue Without Nash And Proved It All Wrong -- The First Single By The New Hollies Lineup "Sorry Suzanne " Was A Number Three Hit In England Thus Launching The Second Major Phase In The Group's History With A Commercial Bang. He Next Attended A Session Where The Group Dubbed On The Harmony Vocals And Final Instrumental Parts To The Songs For Hollies Sing Dylan Which Had Been Layed Down On Their Basic Form Late In 1968 Without Nash. That Album Although Controversial Served To Introduce Sylvester Formally To The Fans And While Many Dylan Purists May Have Argued About The Arrangements And Orchestral Accompaniments On Some Of The Tracks No One Could Say Anything Against The Quality Of Sylvester's Harmony Singing Which Was Extraordinary Possibly Even More Polished Than Nash's. Sylvester Was Introduced As A Songwriter On Hollies Sing Hollies Issued In America As He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother On Which All Of The Group's Originals Were Eclipsed By The International Hit Title Track He Acquitted Himself Well In Collaboration With Allan Clarke And Tony Hicks And Also Just With Clarke. On Subsequent Records The Hollies' Composing Efforts Went In Separate Directions And Sylvester Contributed Solo Compositions As Well As Joint Works With Clarke. Sylvester Played More Guitar On The Hollies' Records Than Graham Nash Did And Was A Major Contributor To Their Stage Sound During The Biggest And Most Extensive Tours Of Their History. Until Sylvester Joined The Group Tony Hicks Played Virtually All Of The Guitars On-Stage But That Changed As The Band's Sets Got Longer And More Ambitious Sylvester Was More Of An Equal Partner On The Instrumental Side Of The Band Than His Predecessor Had Been. He Seldom Escaped Being Mentioned In Nash's Shadow Especially In America Where Crosby Stills Nash & Young Were Hugely Popular And The Hollies Were Somewhat Less Than Imposing As A Presence Despite A String Of Hits That Ran Into The Early '70s. In 1974 Sylvester Cut His First Solo Album A Self-Titled Work That Was Released By Epic Records In America. A Second Album I Believe Cut With Alan Parsons Co-Producing With Ron Richards The Hollies' Longtime Producer Followed In 1976. He Also Contributed Vocals To The Alan Parson Project's Tales Of Mystery And Imagination Album In 1975. These Activities Were Overshadowed By The Hollies' Touring And Their Mid-'70s Chart Success With Songs Like "The Air That I Breathe" Sylvester's Harmony Singing Was Considered Essential To Their Sound By Then And He Was As Important A Member As Nash Had Ever Been. He Also Became Very Prolific As A Songwriter As The Decade Went On Although As With Most Of The Group's Originals Apart From The Tony Hicks Co-Authored "Long Dark Road" Of The '70s Sylvester's Original Songs Never Loomed Large In The Group's Popular Repertory. Sylvester Split With The Hollies In May Of 1981 In An Incident That Precipitated The Resignation Of Longtime Bassist Bernie Calvert. That Same Year He Recorded Griffin & Sylvester In Collaboration With Ex-Bread Member James Griffin In Memphis. Although Not As Visible As He Was In His Former Group Sylvester Has Remained Active In Music -- He And Griffin Have Concertized Together In America While Sylvester's British Performances Have Usually Been Solo. Needless To Say Many Hollies And Swinging Blue Jeans Songs Appear In His Repertory. ~ Bruce Eder Rovi read less