Mersey Beat - Rory Storm & The Hurricanes

Notice Ringo here on guitar during 'Starr Time'

Born in Stoneycroft, Liverpool on the 7th of January 1938, Alan Caldwell, a former cotton salesman, formed a skiffle group and called them 'Al Caldwell's Texans'. Alan suffered from a stutter, very noticeable when he spoke, but never when on stage performing. He opened the Morgue Skiffle Club in the basement at Balgownie, 25 Oakhill Road, Broadgreen on March the 13th, 1958. It was a large Victorian house, formerly a home for retired nurses and could accommodate a hundred people. Groups began playing from 7.30pm on opening night, including his own band (now called Al Caldwell's Texans) and 'The Quarrymen'. The police came down on the 1st of April and the club was forced to close on April the 22nd.
Incidentally, it was at the Morgue that George Harrison 'auditioned' for the Quarry Men and then became a member.
In early 1959 he changed the group's name to 'The Raving Texans' and brought in Ritchie Starkey on drums, who he had met at a talent contest called '6.5 Special', just in time for their first appearance at the Mardi Gras club in Liverpool City Centre on the 29th of March 1959. Numerous name changes to the group were made until by the end of 1959 they were known as 'Rory Storm and the Hurricanes'. They entered a competition, managed by Carrol Levis, called "Search for Stars" at the Empire Theatre, Liverpool on the 11th of October 1959, where they reached second place ahead of 150 acts.

 

Outside Duncan the Tailor's shop in Liverpool

In line with most Merseyside skiffle groups they changed to rock 'n' roll which caused trouble at The Cavern club, at the time still a jazz club whose management had banned rock 'n' roll. When appearing on the bill with 'The Bluegenes' (still a trad jazz band), Rory opened their slot singing 'Cumberland Gap', a typical skiffle number, then switched to rock 'n' roll singing 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On'. The jazz fans started throwing coins at them and drowned out the remainder of their slot by booing. Ray McFall the club owner was furious with them and 'fined' them part of their fee. He also made them pick up all the coins from the stage, which more than covered the cost of the 'fine'!!

They were considered at that time the 'Kings of Merseybeat' and Rory Storm was one of the greatest showmen ever witnessed in a Liverpool dance hall known as 'the Golden Boy' and 'Mr Showmanship'. No surprise then that he and the Hurricanes were the first choice of Alan Williams, a Liverpool club owner, for a booking at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, Germany but due to their commitment of a season's booking at Butlins, Alan sent 'Derry Wilkie and the Seniors' instead.
Through Rory's love of Western's he was to change their stage names and their line-up was - Rory Storm on vocals, Johnny Byrne (Johnny Guitar) on rhythm guitar, Charles O’Brien (Ty) on lead guitar, Wally Eymond (Lou Walters) on bass guitar/vocals and Ritchie Starkey (Ringo) on drums. It would remain that way until August 1962 when Ritchie became a member of 'The Beatles'.

They appeared on the bill at the Liverpool Stadium on May the 3rd, 1960 with Gene Vincent. This is the show that aroused Larry Parnes' interest in Liverpool groups and led to the Wyvern Club auditions. Rory actually turned up at the auditions, not to perform, but just to have his photo taken with Billy Fury!

When the Butlins season was over, they replaced 'Derry and the Seniors' in Hamburg and were billed as the main group above 'The Beatles' who had been sent out as a support band. It was here that music history was to take place although it is not widely known. 'Hurricanes bassist' Lou wanted to cut some tracks in the recording studio and three songs were laid down, 'Summertime', 'Fever' and 'September Song' but it is the musicians Lou used to back him for this session which is worth noting. For the first time ever together in the recording studio were John, Paul, George and Ringo! Pete Best was buying drum sticks in Hamburg, Stu Sutcliffe was elsewhere, and why no other 'Hurricane' member bar Ringo was present remains a mystery as does sadly the whereabouts of the four discs that were cut that day.

During their second season at Butlins, 'Kingsize Taylor' offered Ringo £20 a week to join 'The Dominoes' as replacement for Dave Lovelady who was leaving to complete his studies. Ringo agreed but was then offered £25 a week by John Lennon and Paul McCartney who, Johnny Guitar remembers, turned up at ten o'clock one morning and knocked on their caravan door, saying they wanted Ringo to join them.to replace Pete Best.

At 'Stormsville'

 

Alan had changed his name to Rory Storm by deed poll and christened the family home in Broadgreen, 'Stormsville', where his Mum would supply bacon butties and cups of tea to his impromptu visitors, sometimes until the early hours.
Rory was a superb athlete, running for Pembroke Harriers, he also captained the Mersey Beat magazine soccer team, skated, played golf and was also an exceptional swimmer (once he swam the 12 ½ mile length of Lake Windermere).
In 1963, as the London A & R men started taking an increased interest in Liverpool looking for another group like 'The Beatles', 'Rory and the Hurricanes' recorded for both Oriole's 'This Is Mersey Beat' albums, while Oriole also released 'Dr Feelgood/ I Can Tell' as a single. The recording was made on a mobile unit at the Rialto Ballroom, Liverpool, not a perfect recording it didn't make the charts, resulting in them missing the opportunity of recording in a 'proper studio'.
It seemed that their luck had changed in 1964, when Rory met Epstein at the Blue Angel club one evening and Epstein agreed to personally record the group. This was a coup and they traveled to London, where Brian produced their record at IBC Studios. They selected the number 'America' from the musical 'West Side Story'. It was released by Parlophone on December the 20th, 1964, but that didn't reach the charts either. Rory never bothered much after that and his sister Iris said, "He was happy to be the 'King of Liverpool', he was never keen on touring, he didn't want to give up running for the Pembroke Harriers…and he'd never miss a Liverpool football match!" Rory had a big picture in his house of him training with the team at Melwood.

Rory's sister Iris Caldwell with George Harrison.

 

Iris was both George Harrison's very young 'girlfriend' and also Paul McCartney's girlfriend for a while, both 'pre' and 'post' 'The Beatles' success, before she married Shane Fenton, a.k.a. Alvin Stardust. She was Paul's last Liverpool girlfriend, and even after their break-up, Paul kept in touch regularly with Rory's mother, Violet Caldwell.
In 1967, during a performance, Charles 'Ty' O’Brien collapsed on stage and was taken to hospital. A short time later he died due to complications after an operation, he was only 26. After Ty's death the group broke up. After this Rory became a disc jockey in Benidorm, where he also acted as a water-skiing instructor, in Jersey and Amsterdam and also acted as a D.J. at the Silver Blades Ice Rink in Liverpool. It was while in Amsterdam that Rory received the news that his father had died. He returned to Liverpool to console his mother, Vi, but neither recovered from the shock and on the 28th of September 1972 both Rory and his mother were found dead at their home. Their deaths remain a mystery.
'Rory Storm & the Hurricanes' were to become Liverpool icons, affectionately remembered on Merseyside but virtually unknown outside the area. They were the classic group who didn't make it.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2016/12/mersey-beat-tommy-quickly.html