Wee Willie Harris

Wee Willie Harris was English rock and roll singer Charles William Harris (born in Bermondsey, London, on 25 March 1933; died 27 April 2023). He is remembered for his energetic stage shows and TV performances starting in the 1950s, when he was known as "Britain's wild man of rock 'n' roll". Named for his 5' 2" height, and in tribute to Little Richard, Harris began performing at The 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho, London, where he was the resident piano player, performing with Tommy Steele, Adam Faith, Screaming Lord Sutch and others. His debut single, the self-penned "Rockin' At the 2 I's", was released on the Decca label in December 1957, and was followed by several others, although none reached the UK Singles Chart. He became a popular performer on TV shows and in live performances, and was known for his unrelenting energy, multicoloured dyed hair (often green, orange or pink), and clothes including "larger-than-life stage jackets that looked like the coat hanger was still inside, tight drainpipe trousers, and a huge polka-dot bow tie". In May 1960, he joined a tour of the UK featuring Conway Twitty, Freddy Cannon and Johnny Preston. He continued to record in the 1960s, for HMV, Polydor and Parlophone, and continued to perform in the UK as well as in Israel, Spain and elsewhere, and on cruise ships. He resurfaced in the late 1970s as a nostalgia act, after Ian Dury mentioned him in the song "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3". Harris later recorded an album dedicated to Dury, Twenty Reasons To Be Cheerful (2000), and his early recordings were released on CD in 1999.