Biography
Viv Prince anchored the Pretty Things’ rhythm section as one of British rock’s earliest hell-raisers, his unrestrained percussion approach leaving a clear mark on a teenage Keith Moon who caught the band’s shows during the Who’s earliest days. The same loose, explosive drive powered many of the Pretty Things’ mid-1960s tracks, some of the most frantic British R&B and rock performances of the period. From the group’s first release, the single “Rosalyn” backed with “Big Boss Man,” Prince shaped both the sound and the public image, standing out as the most unruly figure in an already notorious lineup during its wildest years.
He had already spent several seasons working as a professional drummer before entering the Pretty Things. Immediately prior to that move he had kept time for Carter-Lewis & the Southerners, whose songwriting core of John Carter and Ken Lewis supplied Herman’s Hermits with “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” and the Music Explosion with “Little Bit o’ Soul.” Jimmy Page also passed briefly through the same lineup, and a photograph of the ensemble containing both Prince and Page appears on the anthology The Carter-Lewis Story. Although Viv Andrews had been the original Pretty Things drummer, co-manager Jimmy Duncan recommended Prince as his replacement.
Despite possessing far more road experience than his bandmates, Prince proved the least reliable member of a group that celebrated excess. His erratic conduct reached its peak during a notorious New Zealand tour in summer 1965, ending when he was removed from the flight returning the band to England just before departure. His actions helped secure the Pretty Things a permanent ban from the country, and reports also circulate that he became the first British rock musician arrested on drug charges, though precise details remain scarce. He continued performing with the group and testing its patience with further missed engagements and disorderly behavior until his final departure in November 1965.
That exit did not end his musical activity, though he never regained a prominent position. Fittingly, he stood in for an ailing Keith Moon during a handful of Who dates in December 1965. The following year he issued the unsuccessful instrumental solo single “Light of the Charge Brigade,” a drum-focused effort co-produced by his former colleague John Carter and later collected on Measure for Measure: The John Carter Anthology 1961-1977. Also in 1966 he assembled the Bunch of Fives, whose single “Go Home Baby” backed with “At the Station” offered a milder British Invasion-R&B style than the Pretty Things had favored.
Early in 1967 Prince attended rehearsals for an early incarnation of the Jeff Beck Group, yet that configuration never reached the stage. He subsequently joined the Denny Laine String Band, fronted by the Moody Blues’ original lead singer and future Wings guitarist, which released a pair of singles in the late 1960s. A brief period with Vamp followed, yielding two Atlantic singles in 1968-1969, one of them the psychedelic track “Floatin’.” Toward the end of the decade he played with Kate, which issued several singles on CBS. None of these later ventures achieved longevity or commercial traction. According to lore, his most notable post-1960s distinction came when the Hell’s Angels expelled him in the early 1970s for unacceptable conduct. He eventually raised Alsatians in Portugal while living amid an orange grove. The Pretty Things acknowledged their former drummer with the track “Vivian Prince” on their 1999 album Rage...Before Beauty.
He had already spent several seasons working as a professional drummer before entering the Pretty Things. Immediately prior to that move he had kept time for Carter-Lewis & the Southerners, whose songwriting core of John Carter and Ken Lewis supplied Herman’s Hermits with “Can’t You Hear My Heartbeat” and the Music Explosion with “Little Bit o’ Soul.” Jimmy Page also passed briefly through the same lineup, and a photograph of the ensemble containing both Prince and Page appears on the anthology The Carter-Lewis Story. Although Viv Andrews had been the original Pretty Things drummer, co-manager Jimmy Duncan recommended Prince as his replacement.
Despite possessing far more road experience than his bandmates, Prince proved the least reliable member of a group that celebrated excess. His erratic conduct reached its peak during a notorious New Zealand tour in summer 1965, ending when he was removed from the flight returning the band to England just before departure. His actions helped secure the Pretty Things a permanent ban from the country, and reports also circulate that he became the first British rock musician arrested on drug charges, though precise details remain scarce. He continued performing with the group and testing its patience with further missed engagements and disorderly behavior until his final departure in November 1965.
That exit did not end his musical activity, though he never regained a prominent position. Fittingly, he stood in for an ailing Keith Moon during a handful of Who dates in December 1965. The following year he issued the unsuccessful instrumental solo single “Light of the Charge Brigade,” a drum-focused effort co-produced by his former colleague John Carter and later collected on Measure for Measure: The John Carter Anthology 1961-1977. Also in 1966 he assembled the Bunch of Fives, whose single “Go Home Baby” backed with “At the Station” offered a milder British Invasion-R&B style than the Pretty Things had favored.
Early in 1967 Prince attended rehearsals for an early incarnation of the Jeff Beck Group, yet that configuration never reached the stage. He subsequently joined the Denny Laine String Band, fronted by the Moody Blues’ original lead singer and future Wings guitarist, which released a pair of singles in the late 1960s. A brief period with Vamp followed, yielding two Atlantic singles in 1968-1969, one of them the psychedelic track “Floatin’.” Toward the end of the decade he played with Kate, which issued several singles on CBS. None of these later ventures achieved longevity or commercial traction. According to lore, his most notable post-1960s distinction came when the Hell’s Angels expelled him in the early 1970s for unacceptable conduct. He eventually raised Alsatians in Portugal while living amid an orange grove. The Pretty Things acknowledged their former drummer with the track “Vivian Prince” on their 1999 album Rage...Before Beauty.