Biography
Emerging from Manchester, England, Peter Cowap ranked among its more accomplished guitarist-songwriters. Born in Middleton, he entered his teens precisely when rock & roll began captivating British youth, and by age 15 he already felt prepared to go professional. He subsequently toured in support of Marty Wilde and Joe Brown while also performing with the Manchester-based Tremors and Jimmy Justice’s band. Early in the 1960s Cowap formed the Country Gentlemen, an R&B-rooted trio completed by Nick Duval on bass and Leo Larty on drums. The group proved strong enough to tour Germany and secured a late-1963 contract with Decca Records, which issued their single “Greensleeves” b/w “Baby Jean.” Cowap supplied the arrangement for the A-side, recasting the Tudor-era melody as a rock & roll number. Although songwriting and arranging would later dominate his work from the mid-’60s onward, his guitar playing—frequently characterized as a fusion of Buddy Holly’s and Chet Atkins’ styles—drew growing attention at the time. The lineup eventually expanded to a quartet with the addition of guitarist Terry Morton, and future Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders bassist Rod Clare also passed through before the Country Gentlemen disbanded in the mid-’60s. By then Cowap had begun writing songs and working as an arranger, launching a lengthy collaboration with Graham Gouldman of the Mockingbirds, who had already launched a highly successful songwriting career. Cowap’s compositions, created solo or with Gouldman and others, soon appeared on releases by the Measles, the Downliners Sect, ex-Searchers lead singer/bassist Tony Jackson, and Wayne Fontana in England, while also supplying the A-side “Rumpelstiltzkin” for the debut recording by the New York-based pop-soul-folk group the Pop Art. When Gouldman exited the Mockingbirds in 1966 he assembled High Society, which included Cowap; after one unsuccessful single the band dissolved, and Gouldman and Cowap next surfaced in the Manchester Mob, a more rock & roll-oriented unit whose sound was bolstered by Clem Cattini on drums and John Paul Jones on bass. Cowap had already played and sung on Herman’s Hermits recordings from 1965 onward, and his songwriting credits appeared on the pair of tracks “Last Bus Home” and “Ace, King, Queen, Jack” from Blaze, the group’s most ambitious album. In 1970 he signed a solo contract and recorded for the Pye label, beginning with the August 1970 single “Crickets.” He issued three Pye singles, none of which charted, before his career shifted again in 1971 when he was recruited to replace Herman’s Hermits lead singer Peter Noone after Noone’s departure. The move produced new recordings at Strawberry Studios under Eric Stewart, including a full album of original material that prominently featured Cowap’s songs. He departed the Hermits nearly two years later, formed the short-lived band Grumble, and from the mid-’70s onward pursued a solo path. Cowap died in 1997 yet continues to attract devoted listeners among those drawn to the wider Manchester output associated with Graham Gouldman and 10cc, as well as Herman’s Hermits.