Steel famous

THERE'S more fame than fortune to being a pop legend from the 1960s.

John Steel should know, as drummer for Tyneside's international stars The Animals, the Northumberland-based musician admits: "We got the fame and the manager got the fortune. A lot of people got well ripped off, but the deals that were done were pretty modest compared to those later in the 1960s. I should be a millionaire by now, but it's just one of those sad tales of rock'n'roll, but no-one's crying about it now. I still love what I'm doing and I'm not starving."

To some, the reputation of being Britain's third best band in 1964 might not seem much of an accolade. But when the top two names are The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, then the achievement is indeed as special as hit single The House Of the Rising Sun which ensured the North-East quintet all-time fame.

Despite being stuck in a limo on the M25 somewhere between Gatwick and Brighton, Steel enjoys a chat about remaining in the limelight as one of the original Animals still on the road as the latest line-up celebrates the group's 40th anniversary tour.

He says: "It means I'm still alive and doing our music. But this isn't what I expected to be doing 40 years later. We did have the reputation of being the third best band behind The Rolling Stones and The Beatles, so it's something to be proud of given the company we were in."

Steel and gravel-voiced frontman Eric Burdon met as art students in Newcastle and within months had formed a band.

The drummer says: "Eric's been living in California for a couple of decades and the last time I saw him was last year when he played Newcastle Opera House. I'm 63 now, and Eric will be 63 in May.

"I'm getting near the free bus pass and I could need it because I remember when I used to take my drum kit on the bus. I was 16 or 17 and I'd whip the snare drum, high hat and a few bits and pieces upstairs on the double-decker while the others distracted the conductor.

"Eric was from Walker and I was from Sheriff Hill in Gateshead and a couple of years later I met Alan Price at a dance in Byker. He did all these Jerry Lee Lewis covers and we pounced on him for our band because he could knock the stuffing out of a church piano. Eric, me and Alan were the nucleus of The Animals in 1963 and the line-up which went to London to seek fame and fortune."

There were hopes of a Burdon reunion with the British Animals this year, but Steel adds: "We did contact Eric but he's a real character who likes to keep control of things and after past experiences of reunions he's a little shy of being organised as an equal part of something. I've known him for so long that it's not a question of him bossing the rest of us around."

He remembers the days when the band celebrated into the early hours with a bar owning friend in Belgium and having to dress a pie-eyed Burdon the next day so that the Animals could catch a flight.

"He was doubled over, walking slower and slower and it looked like we'd never catch the plane but we made it and when he went to the loo he discovered that we'd shoved both his legs down one side of his underpants, " laughs Steel.

Alan Price has done a couple of reunions since quitting the band in 1965 but relations between him and other band members remain at a distance following a dispute over ownership of The House Of The Rising Sun. Price has earned royalties for the hit for the best part of 40 years but Steele reaffirms the claim that the rest of the band were involved in turning an uncredited song about a prostitute into the tale of a gambler which touched the hearts of millions.

Steel also kept "fantastic memory joggers" of diaries and memos from the early days of The Animals and has started to compile information for a book about the band.

"Fortunately, my wife Ann and I are still together after 40 years of marriage and I wrote loads of letters to her while I was on the road and she kept them all and it's a fantastic insight."

The current line-up is: Steel, bassist Jim Rodford, singer Peter Barton, Micky Gallagher on keyboards and guitarist Johnnie Williamson. Besides Burdon and Price the missing original members are guitarist Hilton Valentine and the Tyneside bass player famous for launching Newcastle's Arena Chas Chandler.

"Chas died a few years ago now and I went to work with him in 1969 and helped him build up Slade as the monsters of glam rock. He was a really nice bloke and I miss him a lot. The region should put up a plaque to Chas and his partner Nigel Stanger for giving it a venue that it really needed. We owe them both a lot."

The Animals play Billingham Forum on Sunday, May 9, (01642) 552663 and have plans for more dates to include Newcastle later in the year. Eric Burdon released a studio album called My Secret Life last week and is touring Europe from May 25. Alan Price appears at Thirsk Festival on July 3 (01845) 587382 and has released an album called Geordie Boy.

Published: 22/04/2004