Marty Wilde

During the closing years of the 1950s, Britain produced a number of rock and roll performers. Cliff Richard attained the greatest prominence and remained active into 2004, nearly five decades later, receiving a knighthood in addition to his other distinctions, while the late Billy Fury continues to be held in esteem by those familiar with the period's music. Chronologically situated between these two artists is Marty Wilde. Born Reginald Leonard Smith in Blackheath on April 15, 1939, he spent his childhood in Greenwich in southeast London. As the son of a professional soldier, he resided in multiple regions across England during his early years before settling in London as he entered his mid-teens. At that time Lonnie Donegan, performing within a jazz ensemble directed by Chris Barber, ignited the skiffle movement through the release of "Rock Island Line," which in turn helped launch a rock and roll surge in England. An aspiring vocalist already skilled on the ukulele, Smith transitioned naturally to guitar. Following Tommy Steele's rapid ascent to fame, by 1957 London teemed with aspiring rock and rollers, among them the seventeen-year-old Smith, who performed at the Condor Club in Soho for a pound per night plus a meal. There he was noticed by Larry Parnes, the leading manager in London's emerging rock and roll circuit, renowned for assigning memorable stage names to his acts. Having already achieved success with Tommy Steele (formerly Tommy Hicks), Vince Eager, and Duffy Power, Parnes signed Reg Smith, rechristened him Marty Wilde, and secured his place on a package tour that proved so popular it led directly to television appearances and a contract with Philips Records. The debut single "Honeycomb" failed to register on the charts, yet "Endless Sleep" from the summer of 1958 brought initial success, climbing into the U.K. Top Five at roughly the same moment Cliff Richard issued his first recording. Wilde became a regular presence on early British rock and roll television programs such as Oh Boy! and Boy Meets Girl and later performed at a Royal Variety Performance. For more than a year, from the middle of 1958 through the first months of 1960, he stood as Cliff Richard's principal rival. Both commanded powerful voices, yet Wilde possessed a distinct timbre and aura marked by a dark, brooding intensity that surfaced in his rock and roll ballads. One could not envision Marty Wilde performing Cliff Richard's light pop ballad "Living Doll," though it was simple to picture him delivering Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula," or especially "Woman Love." After going without hits for the remainder of 1958, the next year brought four successive chart entries: a cover of Ritchie Valens' "Donna," a version of "A Teenager in Love" that surpassed Dion's original, and "Sea of Love," each reaching Number Three. He concluded the year with his signature release, the self-penned "Bad Boy," a dark, threatening ballad that conveyed menace and mystery by the standards of its era and became his most successful single, even entering the lower reaches of the American charts when issued by Epic Records under its licensing arrangement with Philips, both as a single and on an album. His band the Wild Cats possessed sufficient standing that they were enlisted to accompany Eddie Cochran and Gene Vincent on their English tour, resulting in joint appearances with the two American rock and roll figures. The Wild Cats themselves formed a distinct narrative; assembled in 1958, the initial roster featured Big Jim Sullivan on lead guitar, Tex Makins on bass, Tony Belcher on rhythm guitar, Alan LeClair at the piano, and Bobby Woodman on drums. They gained notice for an exuberant, extravagant stage presentation that lasted several months before personnel changes occurred. Eventually, with Sullivan and Belcher staying on, Brian "Licorice" Locking joined on bass and Brian Bennett took over drums, forming the most celebrated incarnation of the group and the lineup that supported Vincent and Cochran. While still at the height of his popularity, Wilde was approached in 1959 during a performance in Birkenhead by a Liverpool singer-guitarist-songwriter named Ronald Wycherley, who sought to present original songs for consideration by Wilde and Parnes. Impressed by the material, the performance, and the young man's appealing appearance together with his sincere, unaffected manner, Parnes helped transform Wycherley into Billy Fury, who would appear on the British charts for the next four years. Late that same year Wilde married Joyce Barker of the vocal group the Vernons Girls, and they welcomed their first child, Kim, the following year. He issued two albums, Wilde About Marty and Showcase, in 1959 and 1960 respectively. By the close of 1960 the spotlight had shifted toward Fury, even as Wilde retained public interest. Unable to duplicate the achievement of "Bad Boy," he nevertheless returned to the Top Ten once more in 1961 with the lively pop-rock novelty "Rubber Ball" and reached Number 20 in 1962 with the pop standard "Jezebel." He continued to lead a high-caliber ensemble that at one point included a young guitarist named Justin Hayward, later of the Moody Blues, who later credited Wilde with imparting valuable musical knowledge that benefited him over subsequent decades. Sufficiently prominent to appear in the London production of Bye Bye Birdie, by 1963 and the arrival of the Liverpool sound Wilde was viewed as belonging to an earlier era. His later recordings attracted little attention, though he found ongoing success as a songwriter with such hits as "Ice in the Sun" by Status Quo, "Jesamine" by the Casuals, and Lulu's version of "I'm a Tiger." In an unexpected turn, he charted once more in America with "Abergavenny," released under the pseudonym Shannon on the Heritage label. Long after his own chart period had ended, "Bad Boy" received covers from artists as varied as Robert Gordon and Nirvana. In the early 1980s his daughter Kim Wilde rose to prominence as a vocalist in the emerging new wave style and sustained two decades of success. Wilde himself never fully abandoned performing, and during the 1990s experienced renewed attention in England as audiences reassessed surviving figures from that era. In 2003 and 2004, then in his mid-sixties and supported by the current lineup of the Wild Cats, he maintained an active touring schedule for half the year, more than forty years after his final chart single.