Graham Gouldman - Early Life and 1960s Pop Career: 1946–1968

Early Life and 1960s Pop Career: 1946–1968

Gouldman was born in Broughton, Salford, Lancashire, England. He played in a number of Manchester bands from 1963, including The High Spots, The Crevattes, The Planets and The Whirlwinds, which became a house band at his local Jewish Lads' Brigade. The Whirlwinds – comprising Gouldman (vocals, guitar), Bernard Basso (bass), Stephen Jacobson (guitar, bongos), Malcolm Wagner, Maurice Spering and Phil Cohen – secured a recording contract with HMV, releasing a recording of the Buddy Holly song "Look At Me", backed with "Baby Not Like You", written by Lol Creme, in June 1964.

In late 1964 Gouldman dissolved The Whirlwinds and in February 1965 formed The Mockingbirds with Jacobson and Basso and a former member of fellow Manchester band The Sabres, Kevin Godley (drums). The Mockingbirds signed with the Columbia label, which rejected Gouldman’s first offering as a single – "For Your Love" (later a major hit for The Yardbirds) – and issued two singles, "That’s How (It’s Gonna Stay)" (February 1965, also issued in the US on ABC Paramount) and "I Can Feel We're Parting" (May 1965). The band switched to the Immediate label for "You Stole My Love" (October 1965) and Decca for "One By One" (July 1966) and "How to Find a Lover" (October 1966)

The band also began a regular warm-up spot for BBC TV’s Top of the Pops, transmitted from Manchester. He recalled: "There was one strange moment when The Yardbirds appeared on the show doing 'For Your Love', which was a song that I'd written. Everyone clamoured around them – and there I was just part of an anonymous group. I felt strange that night, hearing them play my song."

In 1966–67 Gouldman recorded singles with two other bands, High Society and The Manchester Mob, both of which featured singer Peter Cowap. In March 1968 he stepped in as a temporary replacement for bassist Bob Lang in The Mindbenders, writing two of the band’s final singles, "Schoolgirl" and "Uncle Joe, the Ice Cream Man". The band dissolved eight months later. Gouldman said his time with the band was depressing: "They were sliding down, they were pretty well finished by the time I joined them."

From 1965, while working by day in a men's outfitters shop and playing by night with his semi-professional band, he wrote a string of million-selling hit songs: as well as "For Your Love" he penned "Heart Full of Soul" and "Evil Hearted You" for The Yardbirds, "Bus Stop" and "Look Through Any Window" for The Hollies, "No Milk Today" and "Listen People" for Herman's Hermits, "Pamela, Pamela" for Wayne Fontana, "Behind the Door" for The St. Louis Union and Cher, "Tallyman" for Jeff Beck and "Going Home", which was a 1967 Australian hit for Normie Rowe.

He wrote briefly for publishing house Robbins Music and producer Mickie Most in 1967, and then shifted base to the Kennedy Street Enterprises show business management offices in Manchester. He remained there for four years, recalling: "It was like an office. I used to go in there every morning at 10 o'clock and stay there, working on my songs, until I finished every evening at six o'clock. It was self-discipline and I need that."

A year later he released three singles as a solo artist before recording his debut solo album, The Graham Gouldman Thing.