OBITUARYTERENCE
JAMES WILD 1945-2006  The
very sad news is that on Sunday, 20th August 2006, Terry Wild died of a sudden heart attack. This happened on the front lawn of his home at 147 Alvaston Street, Alvaston, Derby. He was chatting to Mick Plimmer [an old friend and one of the many drummers that played in the bands that Terry performed with in the 1960s] when he said that he felt faint and collapsed. I
first met Terry when he joined The Heralds Beat Group in the late spring/early summer of 1960. He replaced Kevin Lawless as the lead singer in the band. His first booking with the Heralds was at Ashbourne Town Hall. On this gig we all boarded a 30-seater coach that had been hired by the people that had booked the band. It had to be that way as no one had a car and none of us could drive anyway! As the band was a clone of Cliff Richard and the Shadows at the time, Terry fitted in perfectly. He’d been brought up on a strict diet of good old rock ’n’ roll and just loved Elvis. In
1964 the band had a change of direction and brought in a tenor sax player by the name of ‘Kip’ Wilks. It gave Terry a chance to break free of the Cliff material and prove that he could handle a far greater choice of songs. This lead to the band expanding its vocal- harmony talents and, once again, Terry rose to the challenge. A couple of years later the band changed its name to Six Across [with Terry still out there as the front man]. That band continued through into the early 1970s. I left them in 1970 and Terry did some months later. I moved on to another local band, The Statesmen, and, following a change of lead singer, Terry joined me in what was to become Waffle. We stayed together in Waffle until it folded after a couple of years. It
was in 2002 that our musical paths crossed again when Terry called me to say that a reunion was on the cards. Musicians from Six Across met up in the Moon Hotel, Spondon in Derby to discuss the project. It was all about getting together as many Derby groups from the 60s as possible to raise cash for BBC Radio Derby’s Money Mountain charity. Terry was on the committee that organized the event. It was held at McCluskey’s in Babington Lane, Derby on Wednesday, 9th October 2002. The significance of this choice of venue was that it was a Mecca dance hall, formerly known as The Locarno. This was a mecca for the bands in the 60s with, on occasions, upwards of ten bands performing in one night. These specials were run on a Friday night, maybe a couple a year, for a short while. I’ll bet there wasn’t a band in Derby that didn’t play there around that time! Terry
stayed as lead singer throughout the remaining time from 2002 - 2005. The last gig that he did was at the Vernon Arms, Spondon on Friday 23rd December 2005. Terry suffered health problems in the last few months and it was pretty obvious that he wasn’t up to performing with the band anymore. The mind was willing, but&ldots; Throughout
all of the time that his fellow musicians knew him, all would agree that the first impression of Terry was his sense of humour. Each of us has a fond memory of his wit and could tell a tale or two. He always used to refer to himself on and off stage [tongue very much in his cheek] as The Fabulous Terry Wild. Well, you know, he might just have been right. Six
AcrosS - 1968
The Heralds : Six Across (1959 – 1970). The Heralds were formed in 1959 from the Blue Dominoes Skiffle Group. The line up was to change over the years and was as follows :-
Lead vocalists : Kev Lawless (1959-1960) Terry Wild (1960 – 1970). |
Bass Guitar : Dick Clarke (1959 – 1970). |
Rhythm Guitar : Graham Newton (1959 – 1970). |
Lead Guitarists : Tony Bryan (1959 – 1967) Keith Gillard : Mick Payne. |
Drummers : Pat Price ; Mick Lancashire) ; Nicky Gabb ; Ken Radford ; Mick Plimmer Mick Lancashire ; Bob Bentley ; Dave Thompson ; Ray Marshall. |
Sax / Clarinet / Flute / Harmonicas / Conga Drum / Nose Flute : Kip Wilks. |
Trumpet : Jim Marsden (1969-1970) |
In 1967 The Heralds changed their name to Six Across : There then followed several successful years touring the U.K. until 1970 when the group disbanded. Kip Wilkes, Mick Payne and Jim Marsden joined Whichwhat for a while, Ray Marshall played drums with Cisco and The Eric Pembleton Big Band , and Graham Newton and Terry Wild formed Waffle who enjoyed some success touring clubs in the Midlands and the North of England. The
Groups musical influences were Cliff and the Shadows ; Beatles ; Hollies ; The Move ; Beach Boys ; Ken Dodd and Jethro Tull. |
bravenet.com