#9: I’m Into Something Good by Herman’s Hermits

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CFRA
Peak Month: November 1964
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #1
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #10
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #13
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Swedish Singles chart  #5
Peak Position on New Zealand Singles chart ~ #7
YouTube: “I’m Into Something Good”
Lyrics: “I’m Into Something Good”

Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone was born in a suburb of Manchester, England, in 1947. Keith Hopwood was born in 1946, in the same suburb of Davyhulme. Karl Anthony Green was born in 1947, also in Davyhulme. Derek “Lek” Leckenby was born in Leeds in 1943. Jan Barry Whitwam was born in 1946 in Manchester. Both Leckenby and Whitwam were members of a band called the Wailers who played covers by Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and other early rock recording artists. Peter Noone originally was in an amateur band called the Cyclones. He moved on to the Heartbeats in 1961, a Buddy Holly cover band. Just after he turned 14, Noone debuted on Coronation Street, playing the role of Stanley Fairclough starting in December 1961. In the fall of 1962 Herman’s Hermits was formed. Peter Noone was the lead vocalist. Karl Green played bass guitar. Keith Hopwood played rhythm guitar. “Lek” Leckenby played lead guitar and Barry Whitwam played drums.

In 1964 the group had a number one hit in the UK with “I’m Into Something Good”.

“I’m Into Something Good” was written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, and originally recorded by Earl-Jean McCrea. She had been a member of a girl group called The Cookies who had hits with “Don’t Say Nothing Bad About My Baby” and “Chains”, that later covered by The Beatles. The song is about meeting someone new and falling into puppy love: “I walked her home and she held my hand, I knew it couldn’t be just a one night stand. So I asked to see her next week, and she told me I could.”

Carole King was born Carol Joan Klein in 1942 in Manhattan and raised in Brooklyn. Her parents were Jewish. From the age of three, her mother taught her how to play piano. At age four her parents discovered she had perfect pitch, and was able to sing each note on target. Of her piano lessons King later said in an interview, “My mother never forced me to practice. She didn’t have to. I wanted so much to master the popular songs that poured out of the radio.” In 1957 Carole Klein formed a group called the Co-sines, and changed her surname from Klein to King. At the time she dated Neil Sedaka. She and fellow student Paul Simon recorded demo records for $25 a disc.

Carole King met Gerry Goffin (born in New York City in 1939) at a lounge at Queens College. He was working on a musical about beatniks, and was looking for someone to compose the music. King was looking for a partner to provide thoughtful lyrics for her infectious rock melodies. They quickly decided to form a songwriting partnership and were hired on at Aldon Music. The couple got married in August 1959 when Carole King was 17.

In 1960 King and Goffin co-wrote “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” by the Shirelles. The song climbed to number-one on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 30, 1961. The success of the record allowed King and Goffin to focus their attention on songwriting as a career, no longer needing to work other part-time jobs. And in 1961 they wrote a song recorded by Bobby Vee titled “Take Good Care Of My Baby”, which was a number-one hit on the Hot 100 for three weeks in September ’61. That year Goffin co-wrote “Who Put The Bomp (In the Bomp, Bomp, Bomp)” with Barry Mann (who recorded the Top Ten hit). He also had a #2 hit for Bobby Vee with “Run To Him”.

Other hits for the songwriting duo followed. Among these, in 1961 there was “Every Breath I Take” by Gene Pitney (#9 in Vancouver/#42 on the Hot 100). Their 1962 hits included “Her Royal Majesty” by James Darren in 1962; and the number-one hit “The Loco-motion” by Little Eva. Meanwhile, Carole King had a #3 hit on the UK singles chart with “It Might As Well Rain Until September”.

In January 1963, King and Goffin saw “Up On The Roof” by the Drifters climbed to #5 on the Hot 100, while “Go Away Little Girl” by Steve Lawrence became a number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 on January 1963. Other Top Ten hits on the Billboard Hot 100 Goffin and King wrote in 1963 include “Hey Girl” by Freddie Scott, “I Can’t Stay Mad At You” by Skeeter Davis, “One Fine Day” for the Chiffons, and “Don’t Say Nothin’ Bad (About My Baby) by the Cookies. One of the members of the Cookies was Earl-Jean Reavis (nee McRae). While the Cookies were on tour in the fall of 1963, Reavis became pregnant. Gerry Goffin was named as the father. The baby, Dawn Reavis, was born in July 1964.

Another hit for Goffin and King in ’64 was “He’s In Town” which became a #3 hit for the Rockin’ Berries in the UK. As their marital relationship became more turbulent, Goffin and King had fewer successes with hit records. However, between 1965 and 1968, their notable songwriting efforts include “Just Once In My Life” by the Righteous Brothers, “Don’t Bring Me Down” by the Animals, “Pleasant Valley Sunday” by the Monkees and “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman” by Aretha Franklin. The couple got divorced in 1968, and she moved to Laurel Canyon in California.

In 1971 Carole King released what became an iconic recording of music from the 1970s, Tapestry. The album topped the Billboard 200 album chart for 15 weeks from June 19 to September 25, 1971. Tapestry remained on the Billboard album chart for 313 weeks. The album earned Carole King Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance – Female, Record of the Year for “It’s Too Late”, and Song of the Year for “You’ve Got A Friend”. From the album, “It’s Too Late” topped the Billboard Hot 100 from June 19 to July 17, 1971. “You’ve Got A Friend”, was recorded by James Taylor. His cover became the number-one record on the Hot 100 the week of July 31, 1971. King’s second release in North America from Tapestry was “So Far Away“. Carole King released more albums in the 1970s which resulted in more hit singles: “Sweet Seasons” from Music in 1972; “Been To Canaan” from Rhymes and Reasons in 1972; And “Jazzman” and “Nightingale” from Wrap Around Joy in 1974.

While Carole King was in the spotlight, Gerry Goffin cowrote more hits. These include “I’ll Meet You Halfway” for the Partridge Family (#9 in 1971); “I’ve Got To Use My Imagination” for Gladys Knight & the Pips (#4 in 1973); “Theme From Mahogany (Do You Know Where You’re Going To)” for Diana Ross (#1 in 1975); “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love” for Roberta Flack & Beabo Bryson (#16 in the USA and #2 in the UK in 1983); and “Nothing’s Gonna Change My Love For You” for Glenn Medieros (#1 in Canada, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK, and #2 Belgium, Iceland, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, and Sweden in 1987-88).

In 2013 a jukebox musical of Carole King’s career from the late 50s to to release of her album Tapestry, was premiered. The musical followed King’s professional and personal relationship with Gerry Goffin, and colleagues Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. The musical was titled Beautiful: The Carole King Musical. In 2014 the musical received seven Tony Award nominations, winning in the categories Best Leading Actress in a Musical, and Best Sound Design; And a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.

Carole King published a memoir in 2010 titled A Natural Woman. In it she revealed that Gerry Goffin suffered from mental illness following ingestion of LSD, eventually undergoing treatment with lithium and electroshock therapy, and was diagnosed with manic depression. His drug use affected his health, and he was hospitalized for a time. Goffin died in 2014 at the age of 75.

“I’m Into Something Good” climbed to #1 in Ottawa, and Los Angeles, San Bernardino (CA), Kansas City (MO), Chicago, New Haven (CT), Troy (NY), Fresno (CA), San Diego, El Cajon (CA), #2 in Gaithersburg (MD), Erie (PA), Monroe (LA), and Rockville (MD), #3 in Milwaukee (WI), Syracuse (NY), Lansing (MI), Harrisburg (PA), and Albany (NY), #4 in Denver, Tucson (AZ), and Wilmington (DL), #5 in Buffalo, Wausau (WI), Reading (PA), Salem (OR), York (PA), Washington DC, South Bend (IN), Duluth (MN), and Arlington (VA), #6 in Philadelphia, Corpus Christi (TX), Sacramento (CA), and Endicott (NY), #7 in New York City, Lancaster (PA), Hartford (CT), Miami, Richmond (VA), and Babylon (NY), #8 in Wilkes-Barre (PA), and Evansville (IN), #9 in Davenport (IA), Omaha (NE), and Las Vegas, #10 in Cedar Rapids (IA), Cleveland, Medford (OR), and Honolulu.

Internationally, “I’m Into Something Good” topped the pop charts in Ireland and the UK, it reached #5 in Sweden, #7 in Canada and New Zealand, #11 in Australia, and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100.

They had four number one hit singles in 1965 with “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat”, “Mrs. Brown You’ve Got A Lovely Daughter”, “Silhouettes” and “I’m Henry The VIII, I Am”. In addition, 1965 saw Herman’s Hermits had more hits with “Wonderful World”, “The End Of The World” and “Just A Little Bit Better”.

Herman’s Hermits appeared in a few films in the mid-60s. In 1965, they appeared along with Connie Francis, Louis Armstrong and Sam the Sham & The Pharaohs in When the Boys Meet the Girls. In the film Herman’s Hermits sang “Listen People” which in 1966 became a Top Ten hit in Canada, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Sweden. In 1966 Herman’s Hermits appeared along with Shelley Fabares in the musical film Hold On! The film included their hits “A Must To Avoid” and “Leaning On The Lamp Post”. In 1968 the band appeared in their final film, Mrs. Brown, You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter. The film starred Stanley Holloway along with Herman’s Hermits. In the film they sang the title track and “There’s A Kind Of Hush”.

The band also appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jackie Gleason Show and The Dean Martin Show. In 1966 they charted five more songs into the Top Ten in Vancouver (BC): “A Must To Avoid”, “Listen People”, “Leaning On The Lamp Post”, “This Door Swings Both Ways” and “Dandy”. While Herman’s Hermits were regularly appearing on the pop charts, they toured extensively in North America, the UK and Europe. They also went on tour to Australia, Japan and Brazil.

In 1967, they had one last international hit with “There’s A Kind Of Hush”. The B-side was “No Milk Today”. Herman’s Hermits next single release was “Don’t Go Out Into The Rain (You’re Going To Melt)”.

In late December ’67, Herman’s Hermits recorded “I Can Take Or Leave Your Loving“.

In 1968 Hopwood and Leckenby created Pluto Music, used by The Clash to record their 1980 album Sandinista! Herman’s Hermits had a few more hit singles in the UK, New Zealand and Australia, including “Sunshine Girl”.

The following singles, “Something’s Happening”, “My Sentimental Friend” and “Years May Come, Years May Go” all made the Top Ten in the UK between 1968 and 1970. Several of these were also Top Ten hits in South Africa, New Zealand, Australia and Norway. Herman’s Hermits last charting hit single in the UK and New Zealand in 1970 titled “Lady Barbara”. They split up in 1971.

Leckenby, Hopwood and Whitwam carried on under the Herman’s Hermits billing, adding a few other musicians and doing oldies tours. In 1986 they were they went on a 146-concert-date reunion tour of the USA with the Monkees, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and the Grass Roots. Hal Carter managed the new iteration of the Hermits. (He was also the manager of the Swinging Blues Jeans). Carter said in 1994 that Herman’s Hermits  “supported the Monkees on their revival tour and they were playing to audiences of 15,000. Their show consisted of all the famous hits. On one big pop package with bands like Slade, the Equals and Suzie Quatro in Germany last year, they played to 25,000 people a day.”

“Lek” Leckenby died of 1994 after battling non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Karl Green remained with the reformed Herman’s Hermits until 1980, after which he left the music business. However, he returned to the stage in 2014 with the Karl Green Band. The band has released two albums. Barry Whitwam has remained with Herman’s Hermits since 1964, and with the post-1971 split iteration along with Leckenby and Green.

Keith Hopwood sang the theme song to the 1973-1974 Cosgrove Hall children’s stop-motion series Sally And Jake. He has written theme songs for an animated adaptation of The Wind in the Willows (1984), The BFG (1989), and a TV adaptation of the 1994 book Soul Music (1997). Other animated TV shows Hopwood has written songs for include Discworld (1983), Alias the Jester (1985), Creepy Crawlies (1987, 1989), Foxbusters (1999), Preston Pig (2000), Albie (2002-2004), and Bob the Builder (1999 to 2011). Keith Hopwood released his first solo album, Never Too Late, in 2021. He has released three more studio albums as part of the Freedom Calls project. In 2024, Hopwood released a memoir titled A Hermit’s Tale.

After Herman’s Hermits disbanded in 1971, Peter Noone pursued a solo career. This included recording a song David Bowie wrote titled “Oh! You Pretty Things”. Bowie also was a session musician for the single which climbed to #12 in the UK in 1973. Noone pursued an acting career in the USA. He also formed Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone. He performed during Expo ’86 in Vancouver on June 8th. Noone returned for a concert at the Red Robinson Theatre in the Vancouver suburb of Coquitlam on October 5, 2013. Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone were back at the venue – now renamed the Hard Rock Casino – in Coquitlam on March 4, 2016. In 2019 the Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone performed over 150 concert dates. Noone hosts a radio show on Sirus XM satellite radio.

November 21, 2025
Ray McGinnis

References:
“Obituary: Derek Leckenby,” Independent, June 9, 1994.
“20th Anniversary Reunion Tour,” Monkees Live Almanac.com.
Kent Kotal, “Forgotten Hits Interviews Peter Noone,” Forgotten Hits.com, 2005-06.
Bill Young, “Legendary Herman’s Hermits frontman, Peter Noone, talks music, the 60s and about ‘having fun’,” Tellyspotting.kera.org, August 10, 2019.
Robert Peacock, “Peter Noone: The Herman’s Hermits hitmaker talks about starring with the ever-popular Solid Silver 60s Show,” The Week Review, Glasgow, Scotland, March 7, 2019.
“Keith Hopwood – About,” keithhopwood.com.
Gary James,”Barry Whitwam Interview,” Classic Bands.com, 2014.
James E. Perone, The Words and Music of Carole King, (Praeger, 2006).
Troy Brownfield, “Carole King Finally Went Solo 50 Years Ago,” Saturday Evening Post, May 15, 2020.
Carole King, A Natural Woman, (Grand Central Publishing, 2010).
Robert Gluck, “Carole King: Famous, Yet ‘Haimische’,” Jerusalem Post, November 24, 2012.
Meridith Blake, “Gerry Goffin, Songwriting Partner of Carole King, Dies at 75,” Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2014.

CFRA 580-AM Ottawa Top Ten | November 14, 1964