Happy life rock star's last laugh
Doug Robinson
He doesn't drink or smoke.
He's been married to the same woman for 40 years.
He never did drugs.
"That stuff never was an attraction for me," he says.
At the age of 60, this guy still has a boyish, youthful face framed by a mane of blond hair.
No way he's a rocker from the "if-it-feels-good-do-it" era.
It turns out that Noone has survived the pitfalls of rock, fame, fortune, and the '60s and '70s nicely, thank you, and this week he will return to Utah. Noone will perform Friday in Draper City Park for the annual Draper Days celebration — one of many performances he has given in Utah and Idaho.
"We're a good clean band, so we fit in most of those situations," he says. "Everyone thought we were uncool in the '60s because we were clean and didn't do drugs. Then we sold 18 million records."
He was 15 when he recorded his first song with his older band mates, and he's been performing ever since. His songs were happy and unapologetically pop. He rose to fame singing "I'm Into Something Good," "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter," "There's a Kind of Hush," "Henry the VIII."
"I am able to laugh at the fact that any of this is taken seriously and (I) didn't have to cut off an ear to get noticed," he once said, taking a shot at the likes of Madonna, Janet Jackson, Britney, etc., who sold their souls with outrageous behavior to win attention.
"The music has to stand alone," Noone says.
Noone took his share of abuse from his peers for refusing to participate in the drug and alcohol scene, but, as he likes to say, "I have had the last laugh; my revenge is that I have had a wonderful, happy life."
As a 15-year-old he found himself as the front man for Herman's Hermits, and suddenly he was rubbing shoulders with the Beatles and Rolling Stones and the rest of the rockers of that era.
"Misbehaving was celebrated then — sex and drugs and not a lot of rock 'n' roll," he says. "People thought it was part of the package. I was overeducated for my position. I was smarter than the rest of those guys and much younger."
Hanging out with rockers who were five to seven years older than he was, Noone was awestruck by the company he was keeping, but determined not to repeat their mistakes. He took his role with the band seriously and treated himself like an athlete, getting to bed on time so he was ready to perform.
Recent comments
Thank you for this engaging article. As a Herman's Hermits fan...
Susan DeStefano | July 24, 2008 at 11:03 a.m.
Thanks Doug.
I enjoyed that article.
My family...
Gary (CA) | July 20, 2008 at 8:51 p.m.
Doug, excellent article!! I am one of Peter Noone's younger fans...
Lisa (Florida) | July 16, 2008 at 1:31 p.m.
