Gerry & The Pacemakers
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| Gerry and The Pacemakers | |
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 Gerry and The Pacemakers, 1963
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| Background information | |
| Origin | Liverpool, England |
| Genre(s) | Beat, Rock, Pop, British Invasion |
| Years active | 1959-1966 |
| Label(s) | Columbia (EMI) in the UK; Laurie Records in the US |
| Former members | |
| Gerry Marsden Freddie Marsden Arthur Mack Les Chadwick Les Maguire |
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Gerry and The Pacemakers were an English rock and roll group during the 1960s, and one of the few groups to initially challenge The Beatles in popularity. Like The Beatles, they came from Liverpool and were also managed by Brian Epstein.
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[edit] History
Gerry Marsden formed the group in 1959 with his brother, Fred, Les Chadwick and Arthur McMahon. They rivalled the Beatles early in their career, playing in the same areas of Hamburg, Germany and Liverpool, England. McMahon (known as Arthur Mack) was replaced on piano by Les Maguire around 1961. They are known to have rehearsed at Camell Laird shipping yard at Birkenhead.
The band was the second to sign with Brian Epstein, who later signed them with Columbia Records (a sister label to The Beatles label Parlophone under EMI). They began recording in early 1963 with "How Do You Do It?", a song written by Mitch Murray that Adam Faith had turned down and one that The Beatles chose not to release (they did record the song but chose to release their own song "Please Please Me"). The song was produced by George Martin and became a number one hit in the UK, until being replaced at the top by "From Me to You", The Beatles' third single.
Gerry and The Pacemakers' next two singles, Murray's "I Like It" and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "You'll Never Walk Alone", both also reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. Never before had the first three singles by a performer all reached the top spot (the feat would not be duplicated until Frankie Goes to Hollywood did it in the 1980s). "You'll Never Walk Alone" had been a favourite of Gerry Marsden's since seeing Carousel growing up (he turned down the Beatles' "Hello Little Girl" for this slot, which then became the first hit for The Fourmost). It soon became the signature tune of Liverpool Football Club. To this day, the song remains a football anthem, there and elsewhere, a phenomenon due to Gerry Marsden, rather than its Broadway composers.
Despite this early success, Gerry & The Pacemakers never had another number one single in the UK. Gerry Marsden began writing most of their own songs, including "It's Gonna Be All Right", "I'm the One", and "Ferry Cross the Mersey", as well as their first and biggest U.S. hit, "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying", which Gerry Marsden initially gave to Decca recording artist Louise Cordet in 1963. She recorded the song (Decca F11824), but without commercial success. All of these represented the band's light, poppy, enjoyable sound. They also starred in a moderately successful early 1965 film called Ferry Cross the Mersey (sometimes referred to as "Gerry & The Pacemakers' version of A Hard Day's Night"), for which Marsden wrote much of the soundtrack. The title song was revived in the 1980's as a charity single for a ferry disaster appeal, giving Gerry another British number one in association with other Liverpool stars, including Paul McCartney and Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Holly Johnson.
In the US, they were signed by the small New York independent Laurie Records in 1963 and Laurie issued four singles during 1963 without success (Neither The Beatles' first three US-singles on Vee-Jay and Swan clicked with the public).
- How Do You Do It?/Away From You (Laurie 3162)
- I Like It/It Happened To Me (Laurie 3196)
- You'll Never Walk Alone/It's Alright (Laurie 3218)
- I'm The One/How Do You Do It? (Laurie 3233)
- I'm The One/It's Alright (Laurie 3233)
When The Beatles broke through in January, 1964, Laurie's next regular single release of "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" became a big hit and during 1964, Laurie coupled "How Do You Do It?" with "You'll Never Walk Alone" (Laurie 3261) and "I Like It" with "Jambalaya" (Laurie 3271) with great success.
By late 1965, their popularity was rapidly declining on both sides of the Atlantic. They lacked both the innovations of the Beatles and the rawer musical and visual edge of some of the other British Invasion groups, and they soon seemed un-hip. They disbanded in October 1966, with much of their latter recorded material never released in the UK.
Gerry & The Pacemakers were mentioned in the 1993 comedy film Wayne's World 2. Wayne Campbell commented, when presented an album of their work by girlfriend Cassandra Wong, "I bet they actually have pacemakers by now."
Drummer Freddie Marsden died on 9 December 2006, age 66.
[edit] Discography
[edit] UK singles
- Mar 1963 "How Do You Do It?" b/w "Away From You" #1
- May 1963 "I Like It" b/w "It's Happened To Me" #1
- Oct 1963 "You'll Never Walk Alone" b/w "It's Alright" #1
- Jan 1964 "I'm the One" b/w "You've Got What I Like" #2
- Apr 1964 "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" b/w Show Me That You Care #6
- Sep 1964 "It's Gonna Be Alright" b/w It's Just Because #24
- Dec 1964 "Ferry Cross the Mersey" b/w "You, You, You #8
- Mar 1965 "I'll Be There" b/w Baby You're So Good To Me #15
- Nov 1965 "Walk Hand in Hand" b/w Dreams #29
- Feb 1966 "La La La" b/w Without You Did Not Chart
- Sep 1966 "Girl on a Swing" b/w "A Fool to Myself" Did Not Chart
- 1974 "Remember (The Days Of Rock And Roll)" b/w "There's Still Time"
[edit] UK albums
- How Do You Like It? (October 1963) #2
- Ferry Cross the Mersey (soundtrack, includes other artists) (March 1965) #19
[edit] U.S. singles
In U.S., a different series of Gerry and The Pacemakers' singles was issued, as their Laurie Records label created more albums, and at least two singles which were never issued in England. This was a standard practice at the time. It also happened with The Beatles and the Dave Clark 5. Peak chart positions are from the Billboard Hot 100.
- 1963 "How Do You Do It"/"Away From You" -- Laurie 3162
- 1963 "I Like It"/"It Happened To Me" -- Laurie 3196
- 1964 "You'll Never Walk Alone"/"It's All Right" -- Laurie 3218
- 1964 "I'm The One" (#82)/"You've Got What I Like" -- Laurie 3233
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- Original B-side; later pressings include "It's All Right" or "How Do You Do It" as the B-side"
- 1964 "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" (#4)/"Away From You" -- Laurie 3251
- 1964 "How Do You Do It" (#9)/"You'll Never Walk Alone" -- Laurie 3261
- 1964 "I Like It" (#17)/"Jambalaya" -- Laurie 3271
- 1965 "I'll Be There" (#14)/"You, You, You" -- Laurie 3279
- 1965 "Ferry Cross the Mersey" (#6)/"Pretend" -- Laurie 3284
- 1965 "It's Gonna Be Alright" (#23)/"Skinny Minnie" -- Laurie 3293
- 1965 "You'll Never Walk Alone" (#48)/"Away From You" -- Laurie 3302
- 1965 "Give All Your Love To Me" (#68)/"You're The Reason" (#117)
- 1965 "Walk Hand In Hand" (#103)/"Dreams" -- Laurie 3323
- 1966 "La La La" (#90)/"Without You" -- Laurie 3337
- 1966 "Girl on a Swing" (#28)/"The Way You Look Tonight" -- Laurie 3354
- 1966 "The Big Bright Green Pleasure Machine"/"Looking For My Life" -- Laurie 3370
- 1970 "Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying" (#112)/"Away From You" -- Laurie 3251 (reissue)
[edit] U.S. albums
- Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying -- Laurie LLP/SLP-2024 -- (July 1964) -- #29
- Gerry & The Pacemakers' Second Album -- Laurie LLP/SLP-2027 -- (November 1964) -- #129
- Ferry Cross the Mersey [soundtrack] -- United Artists UAL-3387/UAS-6387 -- (February 1965) -- #13
- I'll Be There! -- Laurie LLP/SLP-2030 -- (February 1965) -- #120
- Gerry and The Pacemakers Greatest Hits -- Laurie LLP/SLP-2031 -- (May 1965) -- #44
- Girl on a Swing -- Laurie LLP/SLP-2037 (December 1966) -- Did not chart
