Randolph Peter Best is an English musician who was the drummer for the Beatles from 1960 to 1962. He was dismissed immediately prior to the band achieving worldwide fame and is one of several people who have been referred to as a fifth Beatle.
Gerry and the Pacemakers, were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongside the Beatles were instrumental in popularizing the Merseybeat sound and launching the wider British beat boom of the mid-1960s.
The Fourmost are an English Merseybeat band that recorded in the 1960s. Their biggest UK hit single was "A Little Loving" in 1964.
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed, particularly in and around Liverpool, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British and American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle, traditional pop and music hall. It rose to mainstream popularity in the UK and Europe by 1963 before spreading to North America in 1964 with the British Invasion. The beat style had a significant impact on popular music and youth culture, from 1960s movements such as garage rock, folk rock and psychedelic music.
Alice Mona Best was a British music club proprietor, best known as the owner of The Casbah Coffee Club, a club in Liverpool which served as a venue for rock and roll music during the late 1950s and 1960s. Among the bands to play at The Casbah was the Beatles, for whom her son Pete Best was a drummer at the time. Mona Best also had two other sons, John Rory, and Vincent "Roag" Best. It was later confirmed that Roag's father was The Beatles' associate, music executive Neil Aspinall, although he was not registered as the father on Roag's birth certificate.
Rory Storm was an English musician and vocalist. Born in Liverpool, Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contemporaries of The Beatles in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Ringo Starr was the drummer for the Hurricanes before joining the Beatles in August 1962.
Mersey Beat was a music publication in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool Art College. The paper carried news about all the local Liverpool bands, and stars who came to town to perform.
William Harry is the creator of Mersey Beat, a newspaper of the early 1960s which focused on the Liverpool music scene. Harry had previously started various magazines and newspapers, such as Biped and Premier, while at Liverpool's Junior School of Art. He later attended the Liverpool College of Art, where his fellow students included John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe, who both later performed with the Beatles. He published a magazine, Jazz, in 1958, and worked as an assistant editor on the University of Liverpool's charity magazine, Pantosphinx.
The Swinging Blue Jeans are a four-piece 1960s British Merseybeat band, best known for their hit singles with the HMV label: "Hippy Hippy Shake", "Good Golly Miss Molly", and "You're No Good", issued in 1964. Subsequent singles released that year and the next made no impression. In 1966, their version of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Don't Make Me Over" peaked at number 31 in the UK Singles Chart, but the group never charted again.
The Escorts were a Merseybeat band formed in October 1962 in Liverpool, England, by three classmates who had just left the Morrison School for Boys in Rose Lane, Allerton — Mike Gregory, Terry Sylvester and John Kinrade. In 1963, they were voted the ninth most popular group in Liverpool by readers of Mersey Beat magazine from a competitive field of several dozen popular Liverpool bands of the time.
The Big Three were a Merseybeat group from Liverpool. They are best known for their 1963 recording of "Some Other Guy" and their close connection to The Beatles.
The original lineup of the Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best regularly performed at different clubs in Hamburg, West Germany, during the period from August 1960 to December 1962; a chapter in the group's history which honed their performance skills, widened their reputation, and led to their first recording, which brought them to the attention of Brian Epstein.
Wayne Bickerton was a British record producer, songwriter and music business executive. He became well known, with Tony Waddington, as writer and producer of a series of UK chart hits in the 1970s for The Rubettes, and as a leading figure in SESAC – one of the three major American performing rights organisations.
Beryl Marsden is a British R&B and pop singer, who first came to notice on the Liverpool club scene of the early 1960s. She recorded a number of "powerful and soulful", but unsuccessful, records, and has been described as "undeservedly neglected".
Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes were a British rock and roll band, formed in Liverpool in the late 1950s by Ted "Kingsize" Taylor. One of the first beat groups in the Merseyside area, they were a locally popular and influential group who were contemporaries and rivals of The Beatles, and featured Cilla Black as a guest singer before her solo career, but had little commercial success except in Germany.
Derry and the Seniors were a British rock and roll group of the early 1960s. They were the first band from Liverpool to play the club scene in Germany, paving the way for The Beatles and others. As Howie Casey and the Seniors, they were also the first Liverpool group to record an LP, and featured singer Freddie Fowell, later known as Freddie Starr.
The Dennisons were an English Merseybeat band, that emerged from the Liverpool scene in the early 1960s. Despite their background, and a couple of minor hit singles, they failed to achieve more than a local following and were unable to find a footing on the British Invasion. However, in 1963, Bob Wooler stated that "The Dennisons have created the biggest impact in Liverpool since the Beatles." The band's drummer, Clive Hornby, later became the actor best known for portraying Jack Sugden in British soap opera Emmerdale.
Anthony Brandon Joseph Waddington is an English singer-songwriter, record producer, film producer, screenplay writer, and creative media executive. He became well known with Wayne Bickerton, as writer and producer of a series of UK chart hits in the 1970s for The Rubettes. He also received an Ivor Novello Award as "Songwriter of the Year".
Ian and the Zodiacs were an English Merseybeat/R&B band formed in 1958, originally known as The Zodiacs, in Liverpool, England. Led by Ian Edwards (1943–2007), the band existed in relative obscurity until relocating to Germany in 1964 where they achieved national success. During the band's three-year stint in Germany, they released three albums under their name, exclusive to the country until their re-release. They also released two cover albums featuring material by The Beatles with the name, The Koppykats.
Faron's Flamingos were an English band. In spite of having a lack of success due to poor decision making, they remain an important part of the Merseybeat history. They also have the distinction of being the first major example of the Mersey Motown sound with their release of "Do You Love Me".
