Johnny
Kidd death location (23rd December 1935 to 7th October 1966)
Johnny (real name Frederick
Albert Heath) was the lead vocalist for the rock and roll band Johnny Kidd
& the Pirates. Before the Beatles came along he was one of the rare rockers
to achieve worldwide fame (their big hit was Shakin' All Over.) Here I am at a junction on the A58 near Radcliffe at the
spot where he died in a head-on car crash aged 30 years old.
He was born in North London and was twenty years
old when he started playing guitar in a skiffle band
The Frantic Four. He wrote thirty songs before a commercial one that propelled
them to a contract with HMV. The band name changed to Johnny Kidd & the
Pirates and the charismatic singer sang as himself rather than imitating Elvis.
In his mid-twenties he wrote Shakin' All Over
which was a Number one in the UK charts (later covered by The Who and used over
a Hugo Boss television advert.) The band had more successes and toured Europe
with the hunk always donning an eye-patch to hide a bad squint that got worse
as the night progressed. The band would dress in pirate regalia to live up to
their name “The Pirates.”
Who knows how big the band would have grown. Sadly
the band was cut short and Johnny’s life was wiped out. Aged 30 he was only
just getting into second gear. What happened? The band were booked to play “up
North” at Bolton on Friday 7th October. Johnny was with his wife
Jean and their young daughter Cilla who was to see
her dad perform onstage for the first time. The gig didn't happen. In 1966 the
motorway network wasn’t advanced and most of the entourage arrived late at the
venue. The doors were open and there was still time to set up the equipment but
the manager took the late arrival as a breach of contract and cancelled the
show. The band (minus Johnny’s wife) drove an hour north to The Imperial
Ballroom in Nelson. They knew the manager there and hoped to generate some
bookings. Driving back to Bolton at about 2am there was a head-on collision
with a Mini and Johnny was in a bad way. The oncoming Mini was being driven by
trainee accountant Peter Metcalfe whose was driving home from a 21st
birthday party. In the passenger seat was his 17-year-old girlfriend who also
died.
Ambulances arrived from Radcliffe and Bolton but
were forced to wait until the Fire Service arrived to cut the cars open. Traffic
had to be diverted while the injured were cut from the mangled metal. Johhny was probably close to dead at this point. The band
were rushed to Bolton Royal Infirmary Hospital with head and back injuries plus
a badly smashed-up arm. Johnny was dead on arrival. He was cremated at Golders
Green Crematorium in London.
I found the junction where the crash happened and
sat in the car having some cheese sandwiches and a coffee. The A58 is the main vein
between Bury and Bolton and at night you could easily speed along it. There
aren't road accidents; somebody's been drinking, speeding, veering into the
wrong lane, lost their concentration. What happened? Was anyone drunk? Did one
of the drivers fall asleep? The collision happened near where I'm stood. There's
a partially blind junction - did the Mini pull right out of here into the wrong
laneWe'll never know. There are memorials to Eddie
Cochran and Marc Bolan who've died in car crashes but there doesn't seem to be
one here. I did a salute and left.
