THE JET HARRIS STORY
by Dave Dixon
Visit his web site on http://www.mcr26.freeserve.co.uk
THE BEST site in the world for information on Jet and the Shadows
Terence Harris, born 6th July 1939 in Kingsbury Middlesex is the oldest of the original Shadows. His distinctive style on bass was an essential ingredient of "the Shadows sound". Indeed, when the group had to change their name because of confusion with the US group The Drifters, it was Jet who came up with the name Shadows.
The nickname 'Jet' came about at school because of his running ability. When he was fifteen, he set up a record for the 100 yards sprint that earned him his new nickname - by which he has been known ever since.
When he left school, he worked for two years as a sheet metal worker, making milk churns. It was at this time that he first became interested in music; his particular enthusiasm being for jazz and, after a brief flirtation with the clarinet, he took up the double bass and began playing in jazz clubs.
His first professional appearance was playing for Terry Dene on stage at Middlesborough. A week later he was playing at the Astor Club in London, whilst a week after that, the contract was finished and he was unemployed! For the next few months, he sold coffee and cokes at the 2I's, practising his bass in the cellar and emerging to do the occasional week at a variety theatre here and there.
His first big break came when he was booked to play with Tony Crombie's Rockets, backing Wee Willie Harris on a variety tour lasting six months. It was during this tour, that he switched from double bass to bass guitar. Jet is reputed to have been one of the first musicians in the UK to play a bass guitar. The tour must have been a great success as he was then asked to join Wally Whyton's Vipers for a spell (during his stay, the line up included on occasions both Hank and Tony). The Vipers were a popular act at that time, but the skiffle era was on the wane and there followed a six months period which brought him only four weeks work.Probably the biggest breakthrough came in October 1958 when whilst on tour with the Most brothers on the same tour as Cliff and the Drifters for whom he guested during the tour. At the end of the tour, Jet joined Cliff Richard and the Drifters permanently as bass guitarist, replacing Ian Samwell. His recording debut with the group was on Cliff's 3rd single 'Livin' Lovin' Doll'. He stayed with them until April 1962, when he was replaced by Brian Locking. During this time, the group enjoyed some of their biggest hits including Apache, Man of Mystery, Kon-Tiki etc.
A glance at Jet's discography will show you just how many of (Cliff Richard and) the Shadows' greatest hits came during his stay with them. They were also the first British group to be presented with a gold disc (for Apache), The presentation, on TV's "Thank Your Lucky Stars" was made on 13th April 1962. Two weeks later, on 27th April, Jet signed as a solo singer/guitarist with Decca records.
His first solo single, released in May, featured Jet playing a Fender Bass VI. The A-side was Besame Mucho, a Latin standard which he has recently (May 2000) begun to feature again in his stage act. B-side was the vocal "Chills and Fever". The record was moderately successful, selling around 50,000 copies and (according to the notes in "Diamonds and Other Gems") spent 7 weeks in the UK charts, peaking at number 22. The follow up, again featuring the Fender VI was Elmer Bernstein's "Main Title Theme" from "The Man With The Golden Arm". A number which has now become the trademark introduction to Jet's stage act (aptly summed up by Rob Bradford as "the six string thunder thrill"), This enjoyed similar success to Besame - this time spending 11 weeks in the chart and reaching its highest spot at number 12. The B-side was another vocal, a cover of the theme from the British film "Some People".
When asked nowadays, Jet is rather dismissive of his vocals but, in my opinion anyway, this is a much better version that the (Valerie Mountain with the Eagles) version in the film. If you can find a copy of the 1990 fan club cassette "Fistful Of Strings", you can hear Jet discussing the making of (his best?) vocal track "Real Wild Child". This track was originally only released on an EP, which is now difficult to find, however it can be heard on the CD compilation "Diamonds and Other Gems".
To promote the release of "Main Title Theme", Jet appeared on TV's "Spot the Tune"with a backing group (The Jetblacks) featuring two saxophones. Later that month, they made their first stage appearance playing a six-number set which according to George Geddes (Record Collector No 74, October 1985) included Peter Gunn, Moanin, and Bony Moronie but no Shadows material. Indeed, the sax-led sound was far removed from that of his former group. The band toured until October 20th of that year. Jet even managed to fit in an appearance in the film "Just for Fun".
Fellow ex-Shadow Tony Meehan was working for Decca as an A&R man and had played drums on both of Jet's solo singles, so it wasn't much of a surprise when they teamed up to record together as a duo. Their first recording, Jerry Lordan's "Diamonds" is surely a classic of the instrumental genre. For this recording, Jet changed to a new Fender Jaguar guitar tuned one tone lower than normal guitar pitch. Diamonds took Jet and Tony back to the number one spot in the charts (ironically displacing the Shads' Dance On). The follow up, another Jerry Lordan composition "Scarlett O'Hara" reached number 2 (only the Beatles "From Me To You" prevented them from achieving a second successive number one) and the duo's third single "Applejack" made the number 4 spot. All three singles were also released in the USA, but (as with the Shadows singles) they were given little promotion and didn't break into the charts.
The Harris/Meehan combination seemed destined for a very big future; just how big, we shall never know. In September 1963, just a few days after the release of Applejack, a chauffeur-driven limousine in which Jet was travelling with his girlfriend Billie Davis, was in collision with a Midland Red bus as they travelled back from one of Billie's shows in Evesham. The bus was written off in the accident and it was almost fatal for Jet too. Billie, who suffered a broken jaw in the accident, pulled the unconscious Jet from the wreckage of their car. Jet suffered serious head injuries requiring 34 stitches in the wound. With the single high in the charts, there was a lot of pressure on Jet to resume playing before he was physically and mentally recovered sufficiently to do so. Early in 1964, posters announced "the Return of Jet Harris" as the "All Stars '64" package began touring the UK. The series of one-night shows also featured John Leyton, Mike Sarne, The Rolling Stones, Mike Berry, Billie Davis and the Innocents. "The return of Jet Harris" was, however, less than successful. Jet's final single for Decca, "Big Bad Bass", was released in February but failed to sell in large numbers. Shortly afterwards, Jet backed by the Innocents, appeared at the New Musical Express annual Poll-Winners Concert at Wembley, performing Diamonds and Big Bad Bass.
When the court case from the car crash was finally settled, in December 1966, Mr Justice Donaldson recognised that while Jet "was no Beatle and possibly no Cliff Richard, he was nevertheless at the top of his profession". Jet was awarded compensation of £11,150 - not much by today's standards but a not inconsiderable sum in 1966.
There have been rumours that Rolling Stones manager Andrew Oldham was organising a session where Jet would record a Brian Jones song, but Jet says that this never happened. Jet's only comeback attempt in this period was the release in July 1966 of "My Lady" which was written by Reg Presley of the Troggs and produced by Tony Meehan. The single was Jet's only release on the Fontana label and, as it was not from Decca, has so far escaped being transferred to CD.
The next few years saw Jet working in various jobs including labourer, bricklayer, hospital porter, bus driver and cockle seller (for some time in the early 70s, he lived in Jersey searching for cockles on the beach during the day and selling them and playing bass in a hotel during the evenings). In 1974, he was contacted by Roger LaVern former organist with the Tornados. Lavern arranged for Jet to record a session for the SRT label including the appropriately titled "Theme for a Fallen Idol" (later re-titled simply "Theme". Other titles released were "This Sportin' Life" and "The Guitar Man". No others have surfaced so we can only assume that these were the only titles recorded. A pity, as they are fine tunes and although a re-recording of "Theme" appeared on the 1988 "Anniversary Album", the others have not been issued on CD.
By the spring of 1977, Jet was working with a new band, "The Diamonds", playing mostly Shadows material including some numbers which had been made after Jet had left the group. One of their concerts (at Gloucester Prison) in April 1977 was taped and subsequently released on LP (and later CD). He later joined the established revival band Vintage for a spell before settling down working as a photographer.
During the eighties, Jet worked with the Strangers (a cassette of a 1985 concert was released by his fan club). In 1988, a compilation LP and CD - "The Anniversary Album" featured re-recordings of Jet's major hits. Later he worked with Bristol group Tangent (appearing with them both on CD and video) and joined Cliff Richard at Wembley for the Event (guesting with Tony on Move It).
During the latter part of the 90s, Jet's career has blossomed again following his marriage to Janet in 1997
He appeared with the Diamonds in a series of concerts around the Poole/Bournemouth area and at the same time, he was honoured by Fender Guitars who presented him with a well-deserved award, recognising his contribution to the development of electric bass guitar music.
A proposed tour "Back to Bassics" in 1998 failed to materialise because of "contractual difficulties" but he has since earned several rave reviews after joining up with The Rapiers and Cliff Hall for gigs in 1999 and 2000. He has also appeared at all of Bruce's Shadowmanias and is a regular attendee at fan club meetings in the UK and Europe.
Jet's fans have remained loyal for more than 40 years, and in 1999, they were rewarded with the release of his CD "The Phoenix Rises" which included mostly new material together with new arrangements of Diamonds and Scarlett O'Hara. Later that year, he was reunited on stage once more with Hank Marvin at the Music Live show.
