The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Shadows bassist Brian ‘Licorice’ Locking, 81
Musician Brian Locking, wh o p layed bass guitar with The Shadows in the 1960s, has died at the age of 81.
Locking died in a hospice in Wales on Thursday after being diagnosed with bladder cancer.
Born in Warwickshire in December 1938, Locking began playing double bass in several bands, notably with the Lincolnshirebased rocker Vince Eager.
But he soon switched to bass guitar and joined The Wildcats, a backing group for rock and roll singer Marty Wilde.
Locking also p l ay e d several other instruments including the harmonica and clarinet, also known as the ‘ licorice stick’, which earned Locking the nickname ‘Licorice’ which stuck for the rest of his career.
When Ma r t y Wi l d e parted from The Wildcats, they changed their name to “the Kr e w Kats” and recorded instrumentals with modest success before fellow band member Brian Bennett then left to join The Shadows. In April 1962, Locking was himself invited to join The Shadows to replace Jet Harris.
Locking played on some of their best known tracks, including Dance On, Foot Tapper and Atlantis. He also played the harmonica in live shows and on his signature album track, Dakota.
Locking also appeared in the 1963 Cliff Richard film, Summer Holiday, and left The Shadows after only 18 months for the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
He briefly played with The Shadows again five years later while his successor John Rostill was in hospital.
In later life Locking was regular guest playing at a
Shadows fan clubs across the UK and abroad. He was also frequently invited to perform with various Shadows-style bands.
He reprised his role in The Wildcats at Marty Wilde’s 50th Anniversary Concert, and appeared on stage with all the surviving Shadows members.
Locking’s sister Barbara Wilson told their local newspaper that her brother had suffered Bell’s palsy and had been registered blind towards the end of his life, before being transferred to a hospice with an aggressive tumour on his bladder.