Mersey Beat - The Tuxedos

Alan Crowley with Frankie Connor & Billy Kinsley

Alan Crowley formed the original group 'The Tuxedos' with three friends in 1960. Alan and bass guitarist John O'Brien left after a couple of years but Alan was soon to form a new group 'The Cherrypickers' along with Billy Butler, a local personality who at the time was appearing weekly as a panelist on the pop show, 'Thank Your Lucky Stars', made by ABC Television and broadcast on ITV. Billy appeared on stage at The Cavern Club with 'The Tuxedos' in 1961 and 1963. In April 1962,'The Merseybeats' made their debut at the Cavern and were soon gaining a following around Merseyside. Billy Butler had started out as a group singer, and, now a DJ on Radio City, often sat in with them as a front line vocalist for about 3 months.

Billy Butler with 'The Merseybeats'

Although the original group did not last long, Alan was to reform 'The Tuxedos' with Billy Butler on vocals, Alan Crowley on bass guitar, John O’Brien on rhythm guitar, Les Williams on lead guitar, ( to be replaced by Dave Percival ) and Ronnie Myers on drums, ( to be replaced by Geoff Craven ). They played an all night session at The Cavern on Saturday the 22nd of May 1965 with 'The Roadrunners', 'The Johnny Gus Set',' The Hideaways', 'Amos Bonny & The TTs', 'The St Louis Checks', 'The Richmond Group', 'The Experts' and 'The Blues Pentagon'. They would reform for a Bob Wooler Tribute night in 2002 with a line-up of Billy Butler on vocals, Alan Crowley on rhythm guitar, Les Williams on lead guitar, Frank Reid on bass guitar and Arty Davies on drums. Billy Butler has put the group back together several other times including Billy Kinsley on bass guitar and Kenny Parry on lead guitar. 

Billy Butler then left them when Bob Wooler offered him a place at the Cavern as his new DJ after he had become very popular with The Cavern patrons. 

Billy, also with Chris Wharton, took over the running of the Mardi Gras in Mount Pleasant in 1969 and was the DJ who featured all the Top Soul acts from the USA until the demand for them tailed off. They then turned to Rock, as its popularity grew, and presented many of the top names of that genre and were the primary venue in Liverpool to present top Rock artistes.
The group played locally for three years and Alan spent a lot of his time writing songs for other local artists. As Alan says, "Our assault on world domination failed but we had a damn good laugh anyway, meeting and playing with some great guys, some who are sadly no longer with us."
The band disbanded in late 1964 upset that the world had fallen for 'The Beatles' instead of them.
Billy Butler remembers those days, "We didn’t have great success with 'The Tuxedos' but boy we had a GREAT time. So many laughs —Topping the bill at the Cavern to the smallest crowd ever ( 'The Beatles' homecoming night !!)."

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/11/mersey-beat-carrolls.html