#24: Jennifer Eccles by the Hollies

City: Edmonton, AB
Radio Station: CHED
Peak Month: April 1968
Peak Position in Edmonton: #4
Peak position in Vancouver ~ did not chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #40
YouTube: “Jennifer Eccles”
Lyrics: “Jennifer Eccles”

The Hollies are an English rock group formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in the early 1960’s. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the 1960s and early 1970s. They enjoyed considerable popularity in many countries, although they did not achieve major US chart success until 1966. Nash left the group in 1968, and then formed Crosby, Stills and Nash. The Hollies had 30 charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, and 21 on the Billboard Hot 100. Their hits included “Bus Stop”, “I Can’t Let Go”, “On A Carousel”, “Stop, Stop, Stop” and “Carrie Anne” in the mid-60s.

The Hollies originated as a duo formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash, who were best friends from primary school and began performing together during the UK skiffle craze of the late 1950s. Eventually Clarke and Nash became a vocal and guitar duo modelled on the Everly Brothers and were billed as Ricky and Dane Young. In 1962 they joined a Manchester band named the Deltas. By the end of the year The Deltas called themselves The Hollies. This first occurred at a December 1962 gig at the Oasis Club in Manchester. In a 2009 interview, Graham Nash said that the group decided just prior to a performance to call themselves The Hollies because of their admiration for Buddy Holly. In 1963 lineup changes brought in Bernie Calvert on bass, Bobby Elliott on drums and Tony Hicks on lead guitar.

The Hollies initially got into the Top 20 and then the Top Ten in the UK with cover versions of hits by recording artists from America. These were the Coasters 1957 hit “Searchin’,” Doris Troy’s 1963 hit “Just One Look” and Maurice Williams And The Zodiacs #1 hit from 1960, “Stay.” The Hollies cover versions took them to #12, #4 and #2 respectively, into 1964. But it was their recording of “I’m Alive” that took them to #1 in 1965 on the UK pop charts. (The band wouldn’t  climb into the #1 spot again in the UK until they re-released “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”, in 1988).

In 1966 The Hollies cracked the American Top 40 with “Look Through Any Window”, which climbed to #11 in Vancouver. Generally, The Hollies and had even better success north of the border in Vancouver through 1966-67 with “I Can’t Let Go” (#16), “Bus Stop” (#5), “Stop, Stop, Stop!” (#2), “On A Carousel” (#2) and “Carrie Anne” (#4). In the midst of this string of hits, The Hollies released their fifth album in the UK, For Certain Because. This was the first Hollies album in which all the songs were written by members Allan Clarke, Graham Nash, and Tony Hicks. It was retitled Stop! Stop! Stop! for the American and Canadian record markets and issued with a different, full-color cover image of the group. The album spawned three single releases. “Stop, Stop, Stop,” “What’s Wrong With the Way I Live,” which failed to chart, and a third single titled “Pay You Back with Interest.”

Meanwhile, in Vancouver The Hollies had “On A Carousel” climb to #2 on March 31, 1967. The song remained on the Vancouver pop charts, the same week CKLG began to playlist “Pay You Back With Interest”. Next, the the Hollies began to chart “Carrie Anne“. Next out, “King Midas In Reverse”, written by Graham Nash, was not a hit.  “Dear Eloise” was a Top Ten hit in West Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sweden. The next release in 1968 was “Jennifer Eccles”.

“Jennifer Eccles” is a breezy tune about an innocent childhood romance: “White chalk written on red brick. Our love told in a heart.” The name, Jennifer Eccles, was constructed from the first name of lead singer Allan Clarke’s wife (Jennifer Bowstead), and the maiden name of guitarist Graham Nash’s wife (Rose Eccles). Several months after this became a hit, Graham Nash of the Hollies contributed some backing vocals to The Scaffold’s UK chart-topper “Lily The Pink.” One of the lines in “Lily the Pink” is “Jennifer Eccles had terrible freckles,” alluding to the Hollies song.

“Jennifer Eccles” peaked at #1 in Denver, #2 in Lansing (MI), Vernon (BC), Vancouver (WA), and Buffalo, #3 in Canton (OH), #4 in Edmonton (AB), Dayton (OH), Madison (WI), and Sarasota (FL), #5 in Akron (OH), Des Moines (IA), Oklahoma City, Salt Lake City, #6 in Geneva (NY), Winnipeg (MB), and Fort Wayne (IN), #7 in Phoenix, and Springfield (MA), #8 in Hartford (CT), Dallas, Roseburg (OR), Minneapolis/St. Paul, and Seattle, #9 in Orlando (FL), Grand Rapids (MI), Ogden (UT), Ottawa,  and Logan (UT), and #10 in Boise (ID).

“Jennifer Eccles” peaked internationally at #5 in Austria and Norway, #6 in Sweden, #7 in Ireland, South Africa and the UK, #8 in West Germany, and Top 20 in Australia, Canada and the Netherlands.

The album, Butterfly, was not commercially successful. When the band wasn’t interested in recording another tune by Nash called “Marrekesh Express”, Nash left the band and became a member of Crosby, Stills and Nash. It wasn’t until January 1970, The Hollies appeared again on the Vancouver pop charts with “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother”. In the 1970’s they had several more hits that included “Long Cool Woman” and “The Air That I Breathe”.

The Hollies have charted 6 singles into the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100, while they charted 21 singles into the Top Ten in the UK. Calvert, Elliott and Hicks have remained with The Hollies since 1963. For over five decades they’ve toured, including with the current lineup. In 2017 The Hollies gave concerts across Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Norway and the United Kingdom. As of October, 2017, The Hollies have 21 concert dates in 2018 in the UK and eight more concerts booked in Holland and Germany in May, 2018. Graham Nash, has been a solo act for many years and has 19 upcoming concerts in February and March, 2018.

July 27, 2024
Ray McGinnis

References:
The Hollies – Biography, The Great Rock Bible.com.
The Hollies Tour Dates 2018, Hollies.co.uk
Should you sacrifice love for work?, CNN, Atlanta, GA, October 22, 2009.
A Brief History of Interest, Monetary.org.
Graham Nash – Tour Dates, Graham Nash.com.