Sylvester to sing British Invasion songs

MANILA, Philippines - The Liverpool vocalist who sang the harmony on the UK No. 1 hit He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother by the Hollies will relive the British Invasion sound of the ‘60s in a first-ever Manila solo concert at the Hard Rock Café on Oct. 19.

Terry Sylvester is also booked to perform as the front act for the Cascades at the PAGCOR Grand Theater on Oct. 17. He arrives on Oct. 13 from Jacksonville, Florida, via Detroit and Narita.

Known as Graham Nash’s replacement with the Hollies, Sylvester gained a solid reputation in music circles as a composer, guitarist and vocalist with an extremely high range. He is in his fifth decade as a performing artist.

At the Waldorf Astoria in New York last March, Sylvester was inducted into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame with Nash, Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks, Bobby Elliott, Bernie Calvert and Eric Haydock as members of the Hollies, a British band that compiled 31 chart busters — more than the Beatles — from 1964 to 1975. Sylvester joined the Hollies in 1969 and left in 1981 after 12 studio albums and five platinum, nine gold and six silver discs.

In his long-overdue Manila performance, Sylvester will sing the Hollies’ hits Bus Stop, Carrie Anne, Just One Look, Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress, He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight and The Air That I Breathe, the Beatles’ Til There Was You, the Swinging Blue Jeans’ Hippy Hippy Shake and Gerry and the Pacemakers’ Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying. His repertoire will also include Bread’s Make It With You to honor the late vocalist James Griffin with whom he recorded an album.

Concert promoter Steve O’Neal said Sylvester’s show will pay tribute to some of the Mersey city’s greatest hits of the ‘60s. Sylvester is one of only five Liverpudlians to be enshrined in the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame. The other four are the Beatles.

“I was very proud to go into the Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Fame, also very humble, when you see the list of musicians who are not in it,” Sylvester told The STAR. “Tony and Bobby couldn’t make it but that didn’t matter. Allan never even said hello to me and I have no idea why and I don’t really care. Graham acted a little aloof, again I have no idea why and I don’t really care.”

Sylvester left the Hollies after the Buddy Holly tribute album in 1981. His first single with the group Sorry Suzanne climbed to UK No. 3 and first album Hollies Sing Dylan to UK No. 3. He sang harmony on such Hollies’ favorites as The Air That I Breathe (UK No. 2 in 1974), I Can’t Tell The Bottom From The Top (UK No. 7 in 1970), Long Cool Woman In A Black Dress (US No. 2 in 1972) and He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother (UK No. 3 in 1969, US No. 7 in 1970 and UK No. 1 in 1988).

“My first hit with the Hollies Sorry Suzanne was the high point,” he said. “I’d waited a long time to get into the charts. I think our first tour of Australia in 1970 was my most memorable. It was the first time the Hollies had ever been there and I was with them. My favorite hit is He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother with Elton John playing piano.”

Sylvester said he joined the Hollies without an audition.

“They knew what I could do,” he said. “We’d sung together before but we did go into the studio to see how are voices matched on tape. Not sure if there was anybody else in mind. Bobby once told me I was the first person they thought of when Graham left. I sang a lot more lead vocals with the Swinging Blue Jeans and also played a lot of lead guitar.”

Sylvester, 63, said music saved Liverpool from the ravages of World War II.

“It was a very depressed city in the ‘50s after the war and music is what cheered us all up,” he said. “My dad was a jazz trombone player and used to play Glenn Miller music all the time. When the Beatles made it, it opened a lot of doors for the Liverpool groups. The Searchers made some great records. My first group, the Escorts, were very good but we couldn’t get a hit.”

Nash’s departure to form a “supergroup” with Stephen Stills and David Crosby, later to be joined by Neil Young, was a jolt to the Hollies. But Sylvester stepped in to fill the void, keeping the band in the charts for 19 more years.

Alan Clayson, in his book Call Up The Groups, said Sylvester’s transfer was “important enough to merit a front page splash in Record Mirror.”

“I don’t know too much about the Philippines,” said Sylvester. “But I’m really looking forward to finding out. I don’t really remember too much about the Beatles being here in 1966. As for my set list, all I can promise is the fans will know every song.”

Sylvester, who was once tapped to sing in an Alan Parsons Project album, has a mesmerizing rendition of the song I Believe (When I Fall In Love, It Will Be Forever). The song is actually his anthem and title of his only solo album. Filipino fans are hoping that Sylvester sings the song at the PAGCOR Grand Theater and the Hard Rock Café.

(For reservations to Sylvester’s 8 p.m. solo concert at the Hard Rock Café on Oct. 19, call 893-4661 to 64.)