Len Garry | |
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 Garry live on stage with The Quarrymen in 2011. | |
| Background information | |
| Born | 6 January 1942 Wavertree, Liverpool, England |
| Genres | Skiffle, rock |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments |
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| Years active | 1957–present |
| Member of | The Quarrymen |
Leonard Charles 'Len' Garry (born 6 January 1942 [1] [2] ) is an English musician, best known for being a member of The Quarrymen, a band who would later evolve into The Beatles.
Garry was born at 77 Lance Lane, Wavertree, Liverpool. His father, Henry, worked as a compositor at the Liverpool Daily Post, and his mother, Phyllis, was a housewife. [1] His older brother, Walter, was born three years earlier. [1] Garry attended Mosspits Lane Primary School, which included future Quarrymen members Pete Shotton and Nigel Walley, and briefly, John Lennon. [1] Len learned how to play the piano as a child.
In 1953, Garry was attending Liverpool Institute High School for Boys, when he met Ivan Vaughan. Vaughan would introduce Garry to Paul McCartney. [1] The two briefly knew each other, as they were in the same German class. Two years later, Garry met John Lennon. [1] In 1956, The Quarrymen was formed. The Quarrymen's original tea-chest bassist, Bill Smith, stopped showing up for practices shortly after, and so, Len stepped in as the new tea-chest bassist for the Quarrymen. [1] The group, consisting of John Lennon, Eric Griffiths, Pete Shotton, Garry, Colin Hanton, and Rod Davis, formed the first stable line-up of the group.
Garry performed with the group at two of their most historical performances, on Rosebery Street, on 22 June 1957, and at their first performance at The Cavern Club. [1] Len remained for a few months, when he had to back out after falling severely ill with Tubercular meningitis. [1] Garry, however, would not return to the group after returning: [1] [3]
In 1955 I finally met John Lennon when Ivan Vaughan invited him to Woolton, where I bumped into Lennon, Shotton, Ivan and Nigel walking along Vale Road. I soon became "one of the gang" who would hang around Calderstones Park. In 1956 a lad called George Lee, a friend of Eric Griffiths and John Lennon at Quarry Bank School, suggested to John that he form his own group. This was at the height of the skiffle craze, and sure enough in the autumn of 1956 the band that was to become the Quarrymen took shape, with another Quarry Bank lad called Bill Smith on tea chest bass. Bill however, never turned up for practices and so I soon stepped into his shoes and became a permanent member of the band, staying with the group until August 1958 when I fell seriously ill with tubercular meningitis, spending some 7 months in hospital.
A few months after Len's departure, the band recorded their first singles; That'll Be the Day and In Spite of All the Danger. Garry was one of two members of the Quarrymen, who didn't attend Quarry Bank High School [2] (the latter of which the band was named after), the other being Nigel Walley. Garry was in the same room as John Lennon, when he and McCartney first met on 6 July 1957: [4]
I remember Paul coming along that night at St Peter's Church Hall, picking up a guitar – I didn't even know he was left-handed – and playing a couple of chords. I think he was trying to audition for us. John always wanted someone to support him, no matter what he did, and Paul came along at the right time. It wasn't just about playing guitar together or singing, it was about composing as well.
In 1997, Garry reunited with the then-surviving members of The Quarrymen to perform a concert, to commemorate 40 years since the group's formation. [5] Shortly after, they embarked on a tour which took place in the United Kingdom, United States, Germany, and Japan, among many others. Garry has participated on all Quarrymen releases since; including their three albums; Get Back – Together (1997), Songs We Remember (2004), and Grey Album (2012). Their recent material primarily consists of rock and roll and skiffle songs from the 1950s.
Garry was portrayed by actor Frazer Bird in the 2009 biopic Nowhere Boy. [6]
The Quarrymen performed in New York City, for what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday in 2010. [5]
As of 2016, Garry still tours with founding member Colin Hanton and Rod Davis.
As a young adult, Garry worked as in Architecture in Liverpool, and got married. In 1971, he and his wife migrated south to Chard, Somerset. [1] During his time in Somerset, he fronted a rock gospel group called "Come Together", and both of his daughters were born there. [1] In 1987, he and his family migrated to New Zealand, although after a few months, they moved back to England, this time, they moved back to Liverpool, where he still lives today. [1]
| Title | Year |
|---|---|
| Get Back – Together | 1997 |
| Songs We Remember | 2004 |
| Grey Album | 2012 |
| Title | Year |
|---|---|
| Live At The Halfmoon Pub Putney | 2005 |
| The Quarrymen Live! In Penny Lane | 2020 |
The washtub bass, or gutbucket, is a stringed instrument used in American folk music that uses a metal washtub as a resonator. Although it is possible for a washtub bass to have four or more strings and tuning pegs, traditional washtub basses have a single string whose pitch is adjusted by pushing or pulling on a staff or stick to change the tension.
The Quarrymen are a British skiffle/rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several school friends, the Quarrymen took their name from a line in the school song of their school, the Quarry Bank High School. Lennon's mother, Julia, taught her son to play the banjo, showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars in a similar way to the banjo, and taught them simple chords and songs.
Skiffle is a genre of folk music with influences from American folk music, blues, country, bluegrass, and jazz, generally performed with a mixture of manufactured and homemade or improvised instruments. Originating as a form in the United States in the first half of the 20th century, it became extremely popular in the United Kingdom in the 1950s, where it was played by such artists as Lonnie Donegan, the Vipers Skiffle Group, Ken Colyer, and Chas McDevitt. Skiffle was a major part of the early careers of some musicians who later became prominent jazz, pop, blues, folk, and rock performers, the Quarrymen and Rory Gallagher among them. It has been seen as a critical stepping stone to the second British folk revival, the British blues boom, and the British Invasion of American popular music.
Lennon–McCartney was the songwriting partnership between English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collaborations ever by records sold, with the Beatles selling over 600 million records worldwide as of 2004. Between 5 October 1962 and 8 May 1970, the partnership published approximately 180 jointly credited songs, of which the vast majority were recorded by the Beatles, forming the bulk of their catalogue.
Eric Ronald Griffiths was a British musician and dry cleaner, he was best known as the guitarist in the original lineup of the Quarrymen until he left the group in the summer of 1958.
Peter Shotton was an English businessman. He was known for creating the Fatty Arbuckle's chain of restaurants and for his long friendship with John Lennon of the Beatles; he played the washboard in the Beatles' precursor the Quarrymen and remained close to the band, holding various positions related to their business ventures over the years.
Ivan Vaughan was a boyhood friend of John Lennon and later a schoolmate of Paul McCartney.
"In Spite of All the Danger" is the first song recorded by the Quarrymen, then consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, pianist John Lowe, and drummer Colin Hanton.
"Maggie May" is a traditional Liverpool folk song about a prostitute who robbed a "homeward bounder": a sailor coming home from a round trip.
Colin Leo Hanton is an English musician, best known as the drummer for the 1950s skiffle band the Quarrymen, led by a young John Lennon. He currently plays for the reformed version of the Quarrymen.
Christopher Nigel Walley is an English former golfer and tea-chest bass player and manager, best known for his association with band The Quarrymen, the precursor of The Beatles which included John Lennon. His surname has often been spelt incorrectly as 'Whalley' in numerous books and on web pages.
John Charles "Duff" Lowe was an English pianist. In the late 1950s, he played piano for The Quarrymen, the group who would evolve into The Beatles.
Songs We Remember is the third album by the re-incarnated version of the Quarrymen, which was the band that eventually evolved into the Beatles. It is also the final album to feature founder member Eric Griffiths before his death in 2005.
Get Back – Together is the second album by the reformed Liverpool band the Quarrymen, which was the band that, in its original conception, evolved into the Beatles. It is also the first of two albums by the band that feature all surviving founding members together, as while the name the Quarrymen name was used in the 1994 album Open for Engagements seen as the first album since the reformation, it only featured Rod Davis and part-time member John Duff Lowe. Eric Griffiths and Len Garry make their first appearances on a studio recording, with drummer Colin Hanton also returning to the band for the first time since 1959, having previously appeared on the "In Spite of All The Danger" recording in 1958 as a b-side to a cover of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day". It is also the only full length album featuring Pete Shotton, who also returned to the band in 1997 but later retired due to ill health. Shotton subsequently died in 2017. The album was recorded and mixed at Liverpool Music House by record producer and engineer Lance Thomas.
Phillips' Sound Recording Services was a studio in the house of Percy Francis Phillips (1896–1984) and his family at 38 Kensington, Kensington, Liverpool, England. Between 1955 and 1969, Phillips recorded numerous tapes and acetate discs for Liverpool acts, people and businesses in a small room behind the shop his family owned.
Nowhere Boy is a 2009 British biographical drama film, directed by Sam Taylor-Wood in her directorial debut. Written by Matt Greenhalgh, it is based on Julia Baird's biography of her half-brother, the musician John Lennon. Nowhere Boy is about the teenage years of Lennon, his relationships with his aunt Mimi Smith and his mother Julia Lennon, the creation of his first band, the Quarrymen, and its evolution into the Beatles.
The Cavern Club at 10 Mathew Street, in Liverpool was the venue where the Beatles' UK popularity started. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best were first seen by Brian Epstein at the club. Epstein eventually became their manager, going on to secure them a record contract. Best was replaced by Ringo Starr on 16 August 1962, which upset many Beatles fans. After taunts of, "Pete forever, Ringo never!", one agitated fan headbutted Harrison in the club.
The Cavern Club is a music venue on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England.
Rodney Verso Davis is an English musician, best known for being a member of The Quarrymen, a band who would later evolve into The Beatles.
William Frederick Smith is an English former musician, who was a founding member of The Quarrymen. His tenure with the group was short, only performing with them for one month.
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