Bobby Hebb – lead vocals
Mick Stewart – guitar/vocals
Nick Simper – bass/vocals
Johnny Goodison – keyboards/vocals
Kenny Slade – drums
In late November 1966, after he’d recuperated from the car crash that had killed Johnny Kidd the previous month, Nick Simper re-joined New Pirates members Mick Stewart and drummer Roger Truth with plans to revive the group’s name.
However, as Nick Simper recounts on his website, the band was first offered a job backing American soul singer Bobby Hebb, who had arrived for a December tour.
Truth, however, dropped out to join Freddie Mack & The Mack Sound before the tour commenced. Simper and Stewart found a new drummer – Kenny Slade, a Sheffield player who’d worked briefly with west London band The Dae-b-Four and also with future rock star Joe Cocker. The line-up was completed with keyboard player Johnny Goodison who’d led his own band, Johnny B Great & The Quotations (backing band for The Walker Brothers).
The band’s tour dates below are from Nick Simper’s website unless otherwise noted:
1 December 1966 – Streatham Locarno Ballroom, Streatham, southwest London
1 December 1966 – Blaises, 121 Queen’s Gate, Kensington, west London (started at 11.30pm)
3 December 1966 – King Mojo, Sheffield, South Yorkshire with The Eyes of Blue, A New Happening and Chapter 5 (Sheffield Star)
4 December 1966 – The Cavern, Liverpool with Lynn Randell, The Beechwoods, the States, The Hideaways, The Avengers, The Prowlers, Chapter Five and The Kids (Phil Thompson’s book “The Best of Cellars – The story of the Cavern club”)
5 December 1966 – Pavilion Ballroom, Bath
9 December 1966 – Gaiety Theatre, Rhyl, north Wales with The Dancing Angels, Johnny Kidd’s Original Pirates (straight from the Cavern), The Signs, The Kids and The Questions (North Wales Weekly News) Bobby Hebb billed as Bobby Hebb & His Orchestra
10 December 1966 – Imperial Ballroom, Nelson, Lancashire
10 December 1966 – Dungeon Club, Nottingham with The Orlons (https://dungeonmods.wordpress.com/)
11 December 1966 – Ram Jam, Brixton, south London (Melody Maker)
13 December 1966 – Palais de Danse, Leicester (Leicester Mercury)
14 December 1966 – Samantha’s, Burlington Street, central London (Melody Maker and London Life magazine)
15 December 1966 – Scotch of St James, Mayfair, central London (Record Mirror)
Before leaving England, Hebb and the band performed at Tiles on Oxford Street in central London
In the new year, Simper and Stewart reformed The New Pirates.