England in November 1949, the Cambridgeshire fens, a picturesque rural area, mainly given over to farms and orchards. The war in Europe has been over four years now, tired old England, still beset by rationing , is adjusting to peacetime and looking forward to a better future, a more hopeful carefree time.  Part of that bright new future was just about to arrive, Terry, born November 13th the only child of  Walter and Grace Reid.
The family was originally from The Durham area with deep northern roots particularly in mining.
No record exists of his first cries and whether they were pitch perfect. Certainly by the time he was walking with his mum to the orchards, where she was engaged in the seasonal occupation of fruit picking,  his pipes were well-developed.

Come docky time (Cambridgeshire slang dock for snack or lunch) he was hoisted on to a fruit crate to sing popular tunes of the day for the entertainment of the other, mostly female, workers
Imagine a small boy surrounded by all those women, singing, gaining their approval winning applause and sweets. An early lesson for Terry, that ladies do love to be sung to.

Clearly aware that their son had a special talent Terry's parents encouraged him to enter local talent shows church hall's holiday camp competitions etc which he was soon winning with the mixture of his charm, youth and preternatural vocal abilities.
In one of the competitions Terry won the top prize of two magnums of champagne and was mortified when told he couldn't have any.
In another, Terry been promised a Roy Rogers outfit if he won, realising that he was not going to win he was far more concerned about the Roy Rogers kit than he was about his place in the competition.  One can't help feeling that even now some 50 years on that when Terry comes off stage part of him is still hoping that there hanging in the dressing-room will be a Roy Rogers outfit.

As Terry grew up like many in his generation he was listening to the new music coming from America and the UK as rock 'n' roll gradually gave way to the burgeoning new beat scene
Like many a young man then and now Terry's head was turning from studies to the more exciting possibilities that were available to the new music stars. 
At around the age of 13 he become the lead vocalist of the school rock group the Redbeats. The band's name giving a clear pointer to their musical inspiration.
They played the local circuit, village halls, youth clubs and so on.
Terry's position already strong with his voice and guitar playing abilities was further cemented due to the fact that his car salesman father owned and drove the van that took the group to and from gigs (there's a tip for budding young rock 'n' roll stars yeah learn an instrument yeah write songs but if you can, get control of the van!)

The Redbeats were doing ok within the limitations of their schoolband world when, with Terry aged 15, they shared the bill with Peter Jay and the Jay Walkers at the Palais in Peterborough. Although not in the same league as other bands of the era that stayed the course Peter Jay and the his band were doing alright for themselves. They'd had a minor,Joe Meek produced, hit ( Can Can ) and had toured with the Beatles in 63. Maybe they lacked a certain something and maybe that's why Peter Jay spotting Terry’s talent encouraged him to take the lead vocal spot in his group.
Peter had been moving the band away from mainly instrumental numbers towards early Motown inspired tunes. Terry's voice fiited the bill perfectly.

As it happens, Terry had been weighing up the pros and cons of going to the local college, taking up a trade etc or further pursuing a somewhat riskier career in music.
With such an offer on the table from Peter and reassuring words to his parents the decision was taken, the college would have an extra place available. 
Pretty soon he was off travelling with the new band, entering a world most of his peers could only dream of. They embarked on a round of almost constant gigging in small venues, clubs, concert halls etc doing what small bands did then and still do now.
With Terry belting out the vocals the group attained a more powerful and distinctive stage prescence.
It was common practice in those days for promoters to assemble a package of varied artists and tour them around. A brilliant way for networking and opening doors for thrusting new talents but no doubt somewhat scary and demoralising for group leaders etc as they watched their leading band members being enticed away. On these tours the band shared  the bill with a whole host of familiar 60s British groups amongst others the Hollies at the Cambridge Corn exchange and a first meeting with Graham Nash who gave the young singer his encouragement.
Graham's benign interest in him would continue and have a significant bearing on the course of Terry's career.

The band's profile was sufficiently raised that in 1966, with Terry aged just 16, they were included on  the Rolling Stones UK tour along with Ike and Tina Turner and the Yardbirds. The tour included a gig at the Albert Hall.
The Yardbirds were debuting their twin lead guitarists Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page, reportedly these two had their guitars amplified way above what the Stones were planning on (knob turned all the way up to 11) and consequently stole the show with a combination of electrifying skill and sheer volume.
I don't doubt Terry was watching in the wings and taking notes!
Apart from the kudos of simply being on the tour Terry made some connections crucial to his future.
There was embryonic guitar hero Jimmy Page in the Yardbirds, Keith in the Stones and one Lee Miles, bassist with the Ikettes. Not bad for one night.
LIkewise Terry met the Beach Boys when he toured with them in spring 67 beginning a friendship that would last for decades.

As well as the personal connections, being on such a high profile tour brought the band to the attention of EMI who arranged for them to have time in a studio and record some tunes, late 66 and into 67.

The tracks were produced by EMI intern John Burgess who'd already had some success with, amongst others, Manfred Mann. The sound he'd helped them achieve is evident in the early Terry tracks to the extent that, on first hearing I'd have plumped for Paul Jones as the singer. That in itself an accomplishment with Terry only 17 and Paul a seasoned veteran.
These soul and R&B influenced recordings, have thankfully been released recently on the EMI Superlungs ( UK version) compilation and whatever your taste in music there's no denying  Terry's vocal power and range.
From the recordings a single was released "The Hand Don't Fit The Glove" sadly it was no great success but check out the B side , "This Time" co written by Terry and Peter Jay a clear pointer to what was in store and the kind of stuff playing in Terry's head.
They should have flipped the single, " This Time " being every bit as good as charting singles of the time, blue eyed white boy soul at it's best, eat your heart out Paul Weller.
So no breakthrough there and not enough of a hook to keep Terry in the band.
It was 1967, Cream released Disraeli gears, the Beatles Sgt Pepper, Jimi Hendrix was setting the world and his guitar alight, close your eyes and imagine for a moment !
Terry was not quite 18, he wanted some of that, can you blame him. So no surprise that he agreed an amicable split with Peter to form his first band with Eric Leese on keyboards and Keith Webb on drums.
The TerryReid group MK1 was born.