Johnny Sandon was born William Francis Beck on 27 May 1941 ın Liverpool. He began singing at the age of 12 and in 1958 he entered…
Browsing: Merseybeat
Formed in Kirkby, Liverpool, in 1960 (originally under the name The Tuxedos and later, The Panthers), this Merseyside group were accidentally introduced by Cavern Club…
Possibly the least-known of Brian Epstein’s post-Beatles charges from the Merseybeat era, The Koobas formed in 1962 and broke up in 1968. Their story read like virtually every other…
Peter Flannery became Lee Curtis by reversing the name of the American singer Curtis Lee. He was managed by his brother Joe, and there was a…
One of the very few Merseybeat bands with female members and possibly the first ‘girl group’ of all time, The Liver Birds formed in 1963. The band…
Let’s get one thing clear before we begin: The Beatles did not create Merseybeat – it created them. And although they are by far the most…
The Merseybeats formed in 1961 as The Mavericks. After a short period as The Pacifics, they finally settled on The Merseybeats (at the suggestion of…
Billed as “The Liverpool Yardbirds”, The Mojos had in Stu James (real name Stuart Slater) a rich stockpile of original songs into which other acts, such…
Inspired equally by show tunes, music hall and rock ‘n’ roll, the young James Paul McCartney (whose first guitar, incidentally, was a Rosetti Lucky 7…
The Remo Four had the connections (guitarist Colin Manley and bassist Don Andrew were classmates of Paul McCartney at Liverpool Institute) but were destined to stay bridesmaids…
Richard Starkey was born in the Dingle area of Liverpool on 7 July 1940. While John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best sweated through their musical apprenticeship…
Born plain Alan Caldwell and growing up with a speech impediment, ‘Rory Storm’ was an accomplished swimmer – once covering the length of Lake Windermere…
One of the premier groups from the mid-60s Merseybeat explosion had previously backed Liverpool singer Johnny Sandon, before breaking away and taking their new name from…
Although they are only remembered today for their 1964 hit Hippy Hippy Shake, The Swinging Blue Jeans were actually one of the strongest of the Liverpool…
Why, when the rest of Britain in the late ’50s and early “60s was back-pedalling away from solid rock & roll into a goo of…