Dickie Pride

Dickie Pride (21 October 1941 — 26 March 1969), born Richard Charles Kneller, was a British rock and roll singer. He was one of Larry Parnes' stable of pop music stars, who did not enjoy as successful a career as most of his contemporaries.

Pride was born at 74 Parchmore Road, Thornton Heath, Surrey. He attended John Newnham Secondary school [Addington] before he visited the School of Church Music in Croydon, where a career as an opera singer was suggested. Later on, Pride was a member of a skiffle group, the Semi-Tones.

He had several poorly paid jobs. Russ Conway heard him performing at the Castle public house in Tooting, South London. Conway recommended him to Larry Parnes, who immediately signed him. Parnes gave him his stage name, Dickie Pride. At 16, he gave his first concert, as Dickie Pride at the Kilburn Gaumont State Cinema, which was then the biggest cinema in the United Kingdom. The music magazine Record Mirror stated that "he ripped it up from the start" and that the theatre shook so much during his performance that he should be known "The sheik of shake".

This was followed by tours, television and, in March 1959, the first single "Slippin' and Slidin'" (a cover of the song made famous by Little Richard). He also performed in 'The Big Beat Show' at Southend with Marty Wilde, Billy Fury, Terry Dene, Johnny Gentle, Duffy Power and Sally Kelly. Despite his live performances, with most of his subsequent recordings, commercially Pride was far below expectations. The only single of Pride's that ever made it into the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart - "Primrose Lane" appeared in October 1959 for only one week in 28th place.

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