Charles William Harris (25 March 1933 – 27 April 2023), better known by his stage name of Wee Willie Harris, was an English rock and roll singer. He is best known for his energetic stage shows and TV performances starting in the 1950s, when he was known as "Britain's wild man of rock 'n' roll".
For a fleeting moment in the late 1950s, Wee Willie Harris was one of Britain’s hottest homegrown performers in a still-evolving rock ‘n’ roll scene. He was a genuine dynamo, a 5ft 2″ pink-haired pocket rocket and cheeky with it. By the autumn of 1956, Willie was a regular on the Soho scene where he performed as plain Charlie or sometimes as ‘Finger’ Harris, making the rounds of the innumerable clubs and coffee bars which had sprung up in the area. He briefly fronted an obscure Soho combo called Lo’Don’s Ravin’ Rockers and also hung out at the Nucleus coffee bar in Shaftesbury Avenue where jazzman Diz Dizley taught him a few chords on the guitar.
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| Harris with Shirley Douglas |
He was soon earning enough money singing to pack in his job at the Peek Freans’ factory in Reading where he mixed puddings in the Christmas pudding department. In November 1957, he was picked by TV producer Jack Good to appear in the BBC show Six-Five Special. His appearances on the show led to concerns being expressed in the media about the BBC's role in "promoting teenage decadence" due to Willie calling the stuffy broadcaster Gilbert Harding “Daddy-O”.
His debut single, the self-penned "Rockin' At the 2 I's", was released on the Decca label in December 1957, and was followed by several others, although none reached the UK Singles Chart. He became a popular performer on TV shows and in live performances, and was known for his energy, multi-coloured dyed hair (often green, orange, or pink), and clothes including "larger-than-life stage jackets that looked like the coat hanger was still inside, tight drainpipe trousers, and a huge polka-dot bow tie".
Another critic wrote that: "He gyrates like an exploding Catherine wheel, emitting growls, squeals and what sounds like severe hiccupping". Paul McCartney and John Lennon reportedly queued for his autograph when he played in Liverpool in 1958. According to Harris, the idea for dyeing his hair pink originally came from his manager, professional wrestler and wrestling promoter Paul Lincoln, who was inspired by American wrestler Gorgeous George.
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| Harris with Johnny Duncan & Cliff Richard |
In May 1960, he joined a tour of the UK featuring Conway Twitty, Freddy Cannon, and Johnny Preston. He continued to record in the 1960s, for His Master's Voice, Polydor, and Parlophone, and continued to perform in the UK as well as in Israel, Spain, and on cruise ships. He also became the first Western pop star to tour the Holy Land in 1962. When the story of early British rock’n’roll is told now, it is the more groomed or teen-friendly names who came up behind him and enjoyed real chart success, such as Marty Wilde, Cliff and The Shadows and Billy Fury who get all the accolades.
In the mid 1970s, he lived in Prestwich, near Manchester. He resurfaced in the late 1970s as a nostalgia act, after Ian Dury mentioned him in the song "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3". Harris later recorded an album dedicated to Dury, Twenty Reasons To Be Cheerful (2000), and his early recordings were released on CD in 1999. In 1991, he briefly featured in the music video for Hale & Pace's "The Stonk" contribution to Comic Relief and, in 2003, he released the album Rag Moppin', backed by the Alabama Slammers.
In 2005, Harris appeared as a "mystery guest" on the comedy music quiz programme Never Mind the Buzzcocks, and was easily identified. In 2011, he was interviewed by Melvyn Bragg as part of the series Reel History of Britain, talking about rock and roll in Britain.
Rollercoaster Records published I Go Ape! - The Wee Willie Harris Story by Rob Finnis, a 88 page illustrated biography accompanied by a 30-track CD, featuring the best of Harris's rock and roll recordings, in 2018. Up until the pandemic he was still performing, one of British rock’n’roll’s most unforgettable voices.
Wee Willie Harris died on 27 April 2023, at age 90.
(Edited from Wikipedia & Nostalgia Central)