Mersey Beat - Gerry and the Pacemakers

L to R - Les McGuire, Freddie Marsden, Les Chadwick & Gerry

Born Gerard Marsden in Toxteth, Liverpool on the 24th of September 1942, he lived in Menzies Street, close to where Ringo Starr was brought up. He left school at 15, initially working as a coalman, then for a short spell in the Kardomah tea factory before becoming a railway delivery boy. After his father bought him an acoustic guitar he decided to form a skiffle group with his elder brother Fred on drums, Tommy Ryan and Dixie Dean on washboard, Jimmy Tobin on tea-chest bass and Marty Summers on guitar. Brian O’Hara was also to join as a guitarist. Known simply as 'Gerry Marsden’s Skiffle Group', they made their debut at the Peel Street Labour Party Club in 1958.
Their next line-up comprised Gerry, Freddie, Jimmy Tobin on bass, Dixie Dean on washboard and Arthur MacMahon on piano and they joined a youth club band called the 'Red Mountain Boys'. Gerry then bought his first electric guitar, a Futurama, at Frank Hessy’s for £40. Now 16, Gerry named his group 'Gerry & The Mars Bars' and his father, who was managing the group at the time, wrote to the confectionery company Mars for permission to use the name. They refused, so Gerry, after watching an athletics programme on TV in which the commentator mentioned a ‘pacemaker’, decided to call the group 'The Pacemakers'.
Bookings around this time included a week at the Pavilion in a 'Dublin To Dingle' show, three weeks in Variety at the Empire, and appearances at the Hope Hall, now the home of the Everyman Theatre. When Dixie and Jim left, Les Chadwick joined on bass guitar and later Arthur McMahon, who was replaced in 1961 on piano by Les Maguire, and they often rehearsed at Cammell Lairds shipping yard in Birkenhead. They were in fact a bigger Liverpool name than 'The Beatles' at the time when Allan Williams booked them on the Liverpool Stadium bill with Gene Vincent on Tuesday 3rd May 1960. They also auditioned with the 'Silver Beatles' for Larry Parnes at the Wyvern Club. When Gerry was approached in 1961 to appear at Peter Eckhorn’s Top Ten Club in Hamburg he agreed and the group turned professional. The trip was a success and 'The Pacemakers' returned to Germany on 29th July 1961, enjoying a three-month season at the Top Ten, also taking local singer Faron with them as a second vocalist.

Gerry & Cilla at The Cavern

Gerry getting ready, " 1-2, 1-2 "

       









 

 

 

In October 1961 both were appearing at Litherland Town Hall and during the evening it was suggested that 'The Beatles' and 'The Pacemakers' join together on stage to become 'The Beatmakers'. George Harrison played lead guitar, Paul McCartney was on rhythm guitar, Pete Best and Freddy Marsden both played Best's drum kit, Les Maguire was on saxophone, Les Chadwick played bass guitar, John Lennon played piano and Gerry Marsden was on lead guitar and vocals.

Gerry's high guitar style

Gerry tended to hold his guitar high, as did John Lennon, as it seems that when he took over playing lead, he needed to see the fretboard more clearly while he was playing more complicated licks. He found that by having his left hand higher he could see it more easily. They were the second group to join the Brian Epstein stable when he signed them up with Columbia Records, under the direction of George Martin, which was an EMI sister label to Parlophone who 'The Beatles' were with. They began recording in 1963 with 'How Do You Do It', a song that had been turned down by Adam Faith. The record, which was written by Mitch Murray, was the original choice of George Martin to be 'The Beatles' second single. 'The Beatles' had recorded it but preferred their own song 'Love Me Do' instead and convinced Martin that this breezy, pop song wasn't in their style. The song was snapped up by Gerry and it certainly suited his cheeky toothy grin. Produced by George Martin, it became a No.1 hit in the UK, the first by an Epstein Liverpool group to achieve this on all charts, until being replaced at the top by 'From Me To You', 'The Beatles' 3rd single.
They followed this chart-topper with two further No.1 hits, 'I Like It', another Mitch Murray composition and 'You'll Never Walk Alone', which had been a favourite song of Gerry's since seeing Carousel when growing up. They became the first British artistes to have a hat trick of No.1's with their first three releases - a record they held until the 1980s when another Liverpool band, 'Frankie Goes To Hollywood', equalled it. Appropriately, the 'B' side of the first of F.G.T.H's No.1 hits was 'Ferry Cross The Mersey.'

The group narrowly missed a fourth consecutive number one when 'I'm the One', written by Gerry, was kept off the top spot for two weeks in February 1964 by fellow Liverpudlian's 'The Searchers' with 'Needles and Pins'. Gerry had begun writing most of the songs by now including 'I'm The One', 'It's Gonna Be Alright' and 'Ferry Cross The Mersey'. Their first and biggest US hit, peaking at No.4, was 'Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying' which was written by all the band members. An ‘Ed Sullivan Show’ appearance in May 1964 on their American tour was so successful that they were booked to appear again the following week.

Despite this early success, 'Gerry and the Pacemakers' never had another number one single in the UK but they did headline in an early 1965 film called 'Ferry Cross The Mersey'. Columbia then issued a 12-track soundtrack album, which featured nine original numbers penned by Gerry Marsden, an instrumental 'The Liverpool Scene' by the George Martin Orchestra and songs from 'The Fourmost' and Cilla Black.

In 1966 the group had their last American Top 40 hit with 'Girl On A Swing'. They were rapidly becoming outdated, sticking to the same basic feel-good formula that had seemed fresh in 1963, but was utterly passé by 1966 and 'The Pacemakers' split up in October 1966.

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2017/01/mersey-beat-searchers.html