Mersey Beat - The Fourmost

The Fourmost

At the age of thirteen, known originally as 'The Two Jays', Brian O'Hara and Joey Bower did a six week tour of the Isle of Mann before they became 'The Four Jays' when joined by Brian Redman and Billy Hatton. They made their debut at The Cavern in March 1961, almost three weeks before 'The Beatles' did and they were to appear many times with them in 1961 & 1962 at The Cavern. They also appeared as special guests on a Beatles Fan Club night on Thursday 5 April 1962 and on a bill with the Beatles at the Tower Ballroom on Thursday 21 June 1962. They became 'The Four Mosts' in 1962, having learnt that a southern group called the 'Four Jays' was managed by London impresario Lou Prager. Under their new name they appeared with the Beatles in 1962 on Sunday the 21st of October, Sunday the 25th of November, Sunday the 9th of December, Wednesday the 12th of December and Sunday the 16th of December.

By the time Brian Epstein signed them on 30 June 1963 their line-up comprised of Brian O'Hara as lead guitarist and singer, Mike Millward as rhythm guitarist, Billy Hatton as bass guitarist and singer Dave Lovelady on drums and ocassionally singing. It was when Brian Epstein took the group into his stable of Liverpool artists they immediately got more bookings as well as recording with George Martin on EMI's Parlophone label. Brian Epstein had shortened their name to 'The Fourmost' at a time when they were considered one of the better Liverpool bands in the early 1960s. According to Dave, they were the second group that Brian approached and asked to turn professional. They turned him down, preferring to remain semi-professional. He made them a management offer three times and it was only after 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' and 'Billy J. Kramer' had their initial chart hits that they decided to sign with NEMS.

This obviously gave them access to 'The Beatles' with their first two singles written by John and Paul. The first, 'Hello Little Girl' was one of Lennon's earliest compositions, written in 1957, and reached No.9 in the charts in 1963. According to Brian O'Hara John informed him that he had written the song while sitting on the toilet! John Lennon had said, "This was one of the first songs I ever finished. I was then about 18 and we gave it to 'The Fourmost'. I think it was the first song of my own that I ever attempted to do with the group."

They appeared in 'The Beatles Christmas Show' at the Finsbury Park Astoria in north London in December 1963, during which they performed 'Hello Little Girl'. They were arguably the very first Beat group to perform impressions. Dave Lovelady was to comment: "We did them long before the 'Barron Knights' and the 'Rockin' Berries'." The Finsbury Park audience were given an opportunity to see this side of the Fourmost as Brian O’Hara sang 'White Christmas', during which he did impressions of Elvis Presley, Gracie Fields, Adam Faith, Dean Martin – and 'The Beatles'.
They followed their first hit with the Lennon-McCartney song 'I'm In Love', which was also released in 1963 and charted at Number 17, the beginning of a string of hits during this golden era of 'Merseybeat'.
They peaked in April of 1964 with the single 'A Little Lovin', written by Russ Alquist, the husband of actress Juliet Mills, which got to Number six in UK charts.  Unfortunately, none of 'The Fourmost' were songwriters, and this left them depending on outside assistance and other sources for songs, which quickly dried up as dozens of rival bands started covering the same material. Also like many of Brian Epstein's artists, they felt that Epstein was spending too much time with 'The Beatles'. "They all felt that," recalls Epstein's press officer, Tony Barrow.

It was at this time that they began introducing more of a comedy aspect into their sets and were covering songs such as 'Why Do Fools Fall in Love'. They did however foolishly turn down `Simon Smith and His Amazing Dancing Bear' because they thought it was unlike anything in the charts. The band appeared in the 1965 film 'Ferry 'Cross The Mersey' and on the soundtrack album of the same name singing 'I Love You Too'.
The group never charted a single after the spring of 1964, despite an attempt in the summer of the 1966 with a cover version of 'The Beatles' song 'Here, There and Everywhere' which was followed by a cover of George Formby's 'Auntie Maggie's Remedy' in November 1966, an indication of their move to a more comedy element.

The death of Mike Millward from leukemia in 1966 doomed the band's prospects, although Paul McCartney was still attempting to assist them as late as 1969 when he discovered a song called 'Rosetta', which he felt would be suitable for the group. Dave Lovelady commented: "Paul liked the way we could mimic instruments with our voices, our 'mouth music' if you like. Brian O’Hara was a trumpet and we were the trombones. We used it on 'Rosetta' and 'The Beatles' did the same thing on 'Lady Madonna'. There were proper instruments on our record as well. I was playing piano at the session, but Brian O'Hara told me to play it badly. I soon found out why as Paul said, "Look, I’ll do the piano bit," and so he ended up playing on our record as well as producing it."
The number was released by CBS on Friday the 21st of February 1969, but failed to reach the charts but by that time they had become residents on the cabaret circuit, and long since forgotten by most of the public.They eventually split in 1978.

see also - http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/12/mersey-beat-rory-storm-hurricanes.html