TERRY REID

Reid, Terry (Huntingtdon) 

Born 13 November 1949, Cambridgeshire the only child to Walter and Grace Reid. The family had originally relocated from Durham. According to his official website his first memories of singing came during the lunch breaks on the farms where his mother would seasonally pick fruit. He would sing  the pop tunes of the day while aloft fruit crates to a captured audience of admiring ladies. Encouraged by his parents Reid entered and won many local talent shows. Primarily missing the Skiffle and Beat booms Reid joins his first band while at St Ivo ?? School Huntingdon. The group itself has been hard to pin down, formation and member wise, but do become a steady fixture in the Youth Clubs and Village Halls of the region. Reid says he was around 12 or 13 when he joined the band and his father drove the group about to gigs

unchecked notes:

Reid has always recalled supporting The Jaywalkers at The Palaise in Peterborough but we haven’t been able to track that performance down although we do have The Redbeats and The Jaywalkers on the same bill at The Gaiety Ballroom, Ramsey on 5 October 1963 

Jay said “We didn’t always get to see the supporting acts but this one night I was getting ready for our slot and heard this massive voice coming from the stage, It almost didn’t fit the music. I went to have a look and it was coming from this skinny lad at the front of the band.”

. were doing ok within the limitations of their school band world when, with Terry aged 15, they shared the bill with Peter Jay and the Jay Walkers at the Palais in Peterborough. Although not in the same league as other bands of the era that stayed the course Peter Jay and the his band were doing alright for themselves. They'd had a minor, Joe Meek produced, hit (Can Can) and had toured with the Beatles in 63. Maybe they lacked a certain something and maybe that's why Peter Jay spotting Terry’s talent encouraged him to take the lead vocal spot in his group. Peter had been moving the band away from mainly instrumental numbers towards early Motown inspired tunes. Terry's voice fitted the bill perfectly.