Victor Winston Farrell (born 8 May 1945), best known as Vic Steele, is a British former guitarist. He was the original lead guitarist of
the Hollies
The Hollies are a British pop rock band, formed in 1962. One of the leading British groups of the 1960s and into the mid-1970s, they are known for their distinctive three-part vocal harmony style. Allan Clarke (singer), Allan Clarke and Graham ...
.
Musician
Farrell was born on 8 May 1945 in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England. He played the guitar from early adolescence onward, and was inspired by American
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...
. In 1961 he became the lead guitarist of Manchester-based group the Emperors of Rhythm, which featured
Eric Stewart
Eric Michael Stewart (born 20 January 1945) is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer, best known as a founding member of the rock groups the Mindbenders with whom he played from 1963 to 1968, and likewise of 10 ...
, later of
the Mindbenders
The Mindbenders were an English beat group from Manchester, England. Originally the backing group for Wayne Fontana, they were one of several acts that were successful in the mid-1960s British Invasion of the US charts, achieving major chart ...
and
10cc
10cc are an English rock band formed in Stockport in 1972. The group initially consisted of four musicians – Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme – who had written and recorded together since 1968. The group featured t ...
fame, on rhythm guitar. Farrell was also close friends with Mindbenders frontman
.
After the Emperors of Rhythm disbanded in the summer of 1962, Farrell decided to team up with singer
Allan Clarke, singer/guitarist
Graham Nash
Graham William Nash (born 2 February 1942) is an English musician, singer, songwriter, photographer, and activist. He is known for his light tenor voice and for his contributions as a member of the Hollies and the supergroups Crosby, Stills ...
, bassist
Eric Haydock and drummer Don Rathbone. The group went under several names, first calling themselves "The Hollies" for a December 1962 gig at the Oasis Club in Manchester.
In 2009, Nash wrote, "We called ourselves The Hollies, after Buddy and Christmas."
[2009 Graham Nash Reflections :: Introduction to autobiographical liner/CD booklet]
In January 1963 the Hollies performed at
the Cavern Club
The Cavern Club is a nightclub on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England.
The Cavern Club opened in 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 50s and early 1960s. The club became closely assoc ...
in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, where they were seen by
Parlophone
Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a German–British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 192 ...
assistant producer
Ron Richards, who had been involved in producing the first
Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
session.
Richards offered the Hollies an audition with Parlophone, but Steele did not want to be a "professional" musician and left the band in April 1963.
Tony Hicks
Anthony Christopher Hicks (born 16 December 1945) is an English guitarist and singer who has been a member of the British rock/pop band the Hollies since 1963, and as such was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010. His main rol ...
was brought in to replace him.
References
British male guitarists
Living people
1945 births
Musicians from Manchester
{{UK-guitarist-stub