The Hollies have announced the end of their touring career after 63 years, bringing one of British pop’s longest-running bands to a close.
The news was confirmed in a statement yesterday (August 20), which explained that guitarist Tony Hicks was stepping away from touring for health reasons. Drummer Bobby Elliott, the other long-running member still with the group, added that he was also retiring in solidarity with his bandmate.
“After more than six decades, The Hollies’ touring career will come to a close with immense gratitude to the fans who have supported them around the world,” the statement read.
The Hollies were formed in Manchester in 1962 by childhood friends Allan Clarke and Graham Nash. Hicks joined in February 1963 ahead of the band’s successful audition for Parlophone at Abbey Road, while Hicks’ former bandmate in The Dolphins, Elliott, followed that August, with bassist Eric Haydock completing the classic line-up.
They became known for their distinctive three-part harmonies and became one of the defining bands of the British Invasion, with hits including ‘I’m Alive’, ‘Bus Stop’, ‘He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother’, ‘Stop Stop Stop’ and ‘The Air That I Breathe’.
Nash left the group in December 1968 and went on to form Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, with Terry Sylvester replacing him in The Hollies the following year. Clarke retired from the performing with the band in 2000.
Hicks and Elliott remained in the band throughout, being joined in the last two decades by singer Peter Howarth, guitarist Steve Lauri, bassist Ray Stiles and keyboardist Ian Parker. Their most recent album was ‘Then, Now, Always’ in 2009.
They were inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2010, although Hicks and Elliott did not attend the ceremony as The Hollies had a previously booked concert that night.
In 2017, the late Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins named ‘The Air That I Breathe’ as one of the five songs he wished he had written, and that song also famously influenced Radiohead’s ‘Creep’, with songwriters Albert Hammond and Mike Hazlewood eventually receiving credits on the song.
‘He’s Not Heavy, He’s My Brother’ was a UK Number One single on re-release in 1988, and The Hollies sold over 60million records worldwide across their career.
