by Richard Skelly » Fri Jul 27, 2018 3:00 am
It’s been a year and six days since Streetheart lead vocalist Kenny Shields passed away.
By most accounts, Under My Thumb was the most successful Streetheart 45. As he later proved with the cover version of the Small Faces’ Little Tin Soldier, Kenny had a way with reinterpreting 1960s British rock. For Under My Thumb, the band used Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton as producer.
Heavily played at the time, and a perennial flashback even today on retro-rock FM, the Streetheart version of the Rolling Stones classic earned a pretty penny for song publisher ABKCO Music. The firm, which controlled all Stones material until about 1970 was officially known as Allen and Betty Klein Music. Allen Klein was a manager of both the Stones and the Beatles (although not at the same time). Betty was his wife. The Kleins also controlled North American recordings of The Animals and Herman’s Hermits.