Allan Clarke – My Real Name Is ‘arold(1972)

Biography
Harold Allan Clarke  is a retired English pop rock singer, who was one of the founding members and the original lead singer of The Hollies.Harold Allan Clarke and his childhood friend, Graham Nash, began singing together in Manchester while still at school. They formed The Hollies in December 1962 with Vic Steele (lead guitar) and Eric Haydock (bass guitar). In April 1963, they added Tony Hicks (replacing Steele on lead guitar) and Bobby Elliott (replacing Don Rathbone on drums). In 1966, Bernie Calvert replaced Haydock as bass guitarist. Clarke was The Hollies’ original lead singer, but also played occasional guitar and harmonica. In the UK, they enjoyed 30 chart singles, plus two further chart entries with re-releases, 17 of which made the Top 10, with two – “I’m Alive” (1965) and “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” (1988 re-issue) – reaching No. 1. He also performed guest vocals on the 1977 album I Robot by The Alan Parsons Project (most notably, lead vocals on “Breakdown”. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Clarke

Album & Cover

This is Allan Clarke’s first solo album.

After Allan Clarke left the Hollies he approached Hipgnosis to design a cover for his first solo album. He wanted to change his image and show who he really was as a person and not the pop star cultivate din the Hollies. The cover shows him discarding his clothes to reveal the real ‘arold Clarke.

Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Photography – A. Powell/S. Thorgerson. Cover Design – Hipgnosis
Label: Epic KE31757(US), RCA Victor SF 8283(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Arranged By [Brass And Strings] – Richard Hewson
Engineer – Alan Harris
Engineer [Assistant] – Nigel Jones 
Vocals [Lead], Producer – Allan Clarke

Notes
UK version came with lyric insert