Hendrix, Jagger, Bowie and me: Terry Reid, the British pop outlier adored by the greats

Terry Reid performing in 1973. Photograph: Alan Messer/Shutterstock

‘There are only three things happening in England,” Aretha Franklin announced to the world’s media during a visit to Britain in 1968. “The Rolling Stones, the Beatles and Terry Reid.”

I mention this to Reid and the 74-year old musician laughs. “See, I was playing a club in London,” he says, “and, down front, a young woman was really enjoying herself. I thought, ‘she certainly looks like Aretha Franklin’. But I discounted the possibility that it could be. Well, it was!”