| Artist: Jet Harris |
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| Discography: Jet Harris |
| Wikipedia: Jet Harris |
| Jet Harris | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Terence Harris |
| Born | 6 July 1939 |
| Origin | Kingsbury, North London, England |
| Occupations | Bassist |
| Instruments | Bass guitar |
| Associated acts | The Shadows, The Vipers Skiffle Group |
Jet Harris (born Terence Harris, 6 July 1939, Honeypot Lane, Kingsbury, North London, England[1]) was the bass guitarist of The Shadows until April 1962, and had subsequent success as a soloist and as a duo with the drummer, Tony Meehan.
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Although he learned to play clarinet as a teenager, he made his own four string double bass to play in a jazz group and later graduated to a professionally made double bass. In 1958, while playing jazz with drummer Tony Crombie, Crombie suggested that Harris should try 'this new guitar'. Thus Harris was possibly the first person in Britain to own an electric bass guitar, and certainly the first to play one in a band.[citation needed] His original instrument was a Framus Star bass imported by Besson & Co from West Germany.
He played in several groups including The Vipers Skiffle Group and The Most Brothers before joining in 1959 with Cliff Richard's backing group The Drifters, who later changed their name to The Shadows at Harris's suggestion. In 1959, after the neck of his Framus was terminally damaged in a dressing room accident, he was presented by the importers a Fender Precision Bass, one of the first to come to Britain from the United States.[citation needed]
Harris also contributed vocally, adding backup harmonies and occasional lead vocals. He had a trademark scream used in the Shadows' "Feeling Fine" and Cliff Richard's "Do You Wanna Dance?"
In 1962, he left the Shadows following disagreements (documented in The Story of The Shadows, written by the group with Mike Read). He released solo instrumental and vocal work with some success and, as part of a duo with former Shadows drummer Tony Meehan, topped the UK Singles Chart in early 1963 with "Diamonds".[2] Harris and Meehan followed this with two further hit singles, "Scarlett O'Hara" and "Applejack".[2] Harris' singles were relatively unusual in that they made prominent use of the bass as a lead instrument, and the best of them — "Diamonds," "The Man With the Golden Arm", and "Man From Nowhere" — had a menacing, shuddering bass reminiscent of the best James Bond soundtracks.[1]
However, a motor car crash later that year (in which singer Billie Davis was also injured), as well as personal problems, meant that this success did not last long.[1] Harris attempted a solo comeback in 1966 and was briefly in the line-up of the Jeff Beck Group in 1967, but somewhat fell out of the music industry.[1] He then worked variously as a labourer, bricklayer, porter in a hospital, bus conductor, and as a seller of cockles on the beach in Jersey.
The BBC reported that it took Harris 30 years of heavy drinking before he finally admitted to being an alcoholic and sought help. For many years Harris made a point in his stage shows of saying how long it had been since he quit drinking, winning applause from audiences who knew how it had wrecked his career in the 60s. But fans noted that from 2007 Harris stopped saying he no longer drank.
Harris still played occasionally, with backing band The Diamonds or as a guest with The Rapiers, and teamed up with Tony Meehan for a support performance in Cliff Richard's 1989 'The Event' concerts.
In 1998 he was awarded a Fender Lifetime Achievement Award for his role in popularising the bass guitar in Britain.
He appears annually in Bruce Welch's 'Shadowmania' and tours each year with The Rapiers (a Shadows tribute band) who are recording artists in their own right.
Harris has recorded continuously since the late 1980s with a variety of collaborators including 'Tangent', Alan Jones (also an ex-Shadows bassist who retired due to a serious car accident), Bobby Graham and The Local Heroes. His previous problems with stage nerves have seemingly disappeared, and 2006 saw Harris' first single release in over 40 years, "San Antonio".[citation needed]
In a December 2008 interview for the Daily Mail, Harris spoke about not having been invited to join The Shadows for their 50th anniversary, at the Royal Variety Performance.[3]
Harris' fan club arranged a 70th birthday party for him on the 5 July 2009 at the Winter Gardens, Weston-Super-Mare.[4]
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