by Malcolm Pheby | Jun 8, 2019 | 1960s, Liverpool, Music
They were on the tour bus with Cilla Black and sung early Lennon and McCartney songs. They played on stage in the film Ferry Cross the Mersey and had Brian Epstein as their manager. They even recorded at Abbey Road studios with George Martin. In fact, all the right...
by Malcolm Pheby | May 17, 2019 | Liverpool, Music
It was like starting all over again for Paul McCartney when he greeted the audience at the Liverpool Empire this week in May 1973. The last time he’d appeared there was December 1965 when the Beatles were at the height of their fame. This time it was very different....
by Malcolm Pheby | Apr 28, 2019 | 1980s, Liverpool, Music
Disc jockey Mike Read did Merseyside band Frankie Goes to Hollywood a huge favour in January 1984. He decided to ban their single Relax from his BBC Radio 1 show after he saw the record cover and read the lyrics. Read thought both were overtly sexual and removed the...
by Malcolm Pheby | Apr 13, 2019 | 1960s, 1970s, Liverpool, Music
Most Merseyside bands of the 1960s tried to pick a catchy name when they took their first steps in the music business. Something like the Beatles perhaps, or the Searchers or even the Escorts. Not so the Scaffold. They started life as ‘The Liverpool One Fat Lady All...
by Malcolm Pheby | Feb 23, 2019 | Liverpool, Music
Liverpool group The Escorts reckoned they’d have piled up a stack of hit records if Brian Epstein had been their manager. Somehow the 1960s band, formed by three friends from Morrison School for Boys in Allerton, never broke into the big time. The musical talent of...
by Malcolm Pheby | Feb 2, 2019 | Liverpool, Music
Some remarkable and awe-inspiring craft have come out of the Cammell Laird shipyards over the years. Liners like the Mauretania, warships including the Ark Royal and the nuclear submarines Conqueror, Revenge and Renown have all rolled down the Birkenhead slipway. But...
