The 27’s – Dickie Pride 1941-1969

Part 6 in a series on “The 27’s” – notable musicians who have passed away in their 27th year.

Dickie Pride was born Richard Charles Knellar and discovered by promoter and manager Larry Parnes while singing in a pub at the age of sixteen.  Parnes signed the young boy and immediately gave him his stage name, Dickie Pride.  His first concert was at the Kilburn Gaumont State Cinema, at the time the biggest cinema in the UK.  The music magazine Record Mirror wrote of his performance that "he ripped it up from the start" and he so shook up the theatre that he became known as ‘The sheik of shake'.

In March 1959 Dickie released his first single, a cover of the Little Richard song “Slippin' and Slidin” and August 1959 the television producer, Jack Good saw Dickie perform at 'The Big Beat Show' a show produced by Parnes.   In April 1960 ABC-TV screened the first edition of Good's new weekly rock and roll TV show, Wham! which featured Dickie.

Dickie had an obvious talent for singing live but it never transferred successfully to recordings.  After his 1961 album “Pride Without Prejudice” sold very badly he was dropped by Parnes.  Dickie began to suffer from mental illness and soon fell under the influence of drugs.  His musical career began to decline and in 1967 he entered a psychiatric clinic where a lobotomy was performed.

On 26 March 1969, Pride was found dead in his bed due to an overdose of sleeping pills.  Many of Parnes' artists including Billy Fury and Joe Brown were devastated, claiming that out of all of them, Pride had been the most talented and the best singer.