Eric Haydock, The Hollies original bass player, died Saturday. He was 75 and had been in declining health for several years.
Haydock was heard on the band's earliest U.S. singles "Look Through Any Window," "I Can't Let Go" and "Bus Stop," their first to reach the Top 10.
Co-founder Graham Nash learned the news from his sister Elaine, who still lives in England, and he reached out to us Saturday night, saying, "Eric was a bad-ass bass player and a very funny man."
In a message on the band's British website, drummer Bobby Elliott recalls that "Tony [Hicks], Eric and I were the rhythm section that created the springboard for [Allan] Clarke, Hicks and [Graham] Nash to launch that famous three-way Hollies harmony... Although Eric left the Hollies in 1966, I occasionally listen enthralled by our BBC and Abbey Road recording sessions and dear Eric masterfully playing his six-string bass."
Bernie Calvert took over as bassist on the band's fifth album, Stop, Stop, Stop (known in Britain as For Certain Because), and remained in the lineup through 1981.
When the Hollies were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010, both Haydock and Calvert were listed among the members being honored.