So it goes like this . . . 15-year-old Paul McCartney hears a Skiffle group called The Quarrymen play on Saturday 6 July 1957. Along with a police dog…
Browsing: Merseybeat
In 1962, the most popular group on Merseyside amongst the other musicians was possibly not The Beatles but The Big Three, and yet they couldn’t transform…
Billy Kramer (real name William Howard Ashton) was an apprentice fitter for British Rail. He was also the lead singer for a Liverpool group called…
In the halcyon years of the ‘British Invasion’ of America – 1964 and 1965 – who were the two most successful acts? Well The Beatles were obviously…
Merchant seaman Brian Casser returned to Liverpool and formed Cass & the Cassanovas as a trio in May 1959, with singer and guitarist Adrian Barber,…
A foul-smelling, dirty, damp and cramped three-tunnel vaulted cellar beneath a fruit warehouse at 10 Mathew Street in Liverpool city centre had served as a…
The first time I appeared on Juke Box Jury, I wasn’t on the panel. I was in the “Hot Seat” – that famous chair hidden…
Of all the Liverpool bands desperate to escape the long shadow of The Beatles in the 60s, The Clayton Squares (named after a city centre…
The Dennisons were named after a Liverpool street and managed by the parents of drummer (and ex-accountancy student) Clive Hornby – Their lead singer Eddie…
Formed in Liverpool in 1961, the TT’s were originally known as The Tempest Tornadoes and served as the backing group for Faron (Bill Ruffley) before…
A group of schoolboys formed The Escorts in 1961. John Foster (aka ‘Johnny Sticks’) was Ringo Starr’s cousin and the famous relative with the big…
Faron’s Flamingos emerged from a band formed at the Liverpool Mercury Cycling Club (apparently in the winter months they preferred skiffle to cycling!). The group…
This British film about a music contest in Liverpool was created strictly as a showcase for Gerry and The Pacemakers who had a hit with…
The group formed in late 1959 and were originally called The Blue Jays, then The Four Jays and then The Four Mosts. One of the…
Born Gerard Marsden in Liverpool on 24 September 1942, Gerry formed his first group with his brother Freddie. A skiffle outfit, the band were originally called The…
3 January 2021 Gerry and the Pacemakers star Gerry Marsden has died aged 78 after a short illness involving a heart infection. The band had…
For decades, Liverpudlian music lovers would head to Hessy’s Music Centre (known locally simply as “Hessy’s”) to buy their first musical instruments. Founded by Frank…
Saxophonist Howie Casey formed The Seniors in Liverpool in 1959, and they started gigging as Derry & The Seniors, with frontman Derry Wilkie. The group…
Relatively few Britons had heard of a place called Crosby, eight miles from the centre of Liverpool, before the 1981 by-election that swept Shirley Williams…
“We’re more popular than Jesus right now”, John Lennon said in 1966 at the height of The Beatles success. His irreverent remark caused a storm of controversy…