The Pacemakers with the Beatles and Roy Orbison, in 1963 – Getty
By Rachel Yang, Yahoo | Liverpool legend Gerry Marsden, who was the lead singer of the ’60s British band Gerry and the Pacemakers, died Sunday, AP reported. He was 78.
His family told the outlet Marsden’s death was not connected to COVID-19, and his friend Pete Price said the rocker died after a short illness related to a heart infection.
Paul McCartney and others have honored the musician’s legacy.
“Gerry was a mate from our early days in Liverpool. He and his group were our biggest rivals on the local scene,” McCartney tweeted Sunday. “His unforgettable performances of You’ll Never Walk Alone and Ferry Cross the Mersey remain in many people’s hearts as reminders of a joyful time in British music…”
He also wrote, “My sympathies go to his wife Pauline and family. See ya, Gerry. I’ll always remember you with a smile.”
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Liverpool legend Gerry Marsden, who was the lead singer of the ’60s British band Gerry and the Pacemakers, died Sunday, AP reported. He was 78.
By Rachel Yang, Yahoo Entertainment | His family told the outlet Marsden’s death was not connected to COVID-19, and his friend Pete Price said the rocker died after a short illness related to a heart infection.
Paul McCartney and others have honored the musician’s legacy.
“Gerry was a mate from our early days in Liverpool. He and his group were our biggest rivals on the local scene,” McCartney tweeted Sunday. “His unforgettable performances of You’ll Never Walk Alone and Ferry Cross the Mersey remain in many people’s hearts as reminders of a joyful time in British music…”
He also wrote, “My sympathies go to his wife Pauline and family. See ya, Gerry. I’ll always remember you with a smile.”
Gerry and the Pacemakers were known for “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” which was a rendition of the song from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel. The group’s version became the anthem of Liverpool Football Club, which shared a tribute to the late singer on Sunday.
“It is with such great sadness that we hear of Gerry Marsden’s passing. Gerry’s words will live on forever with us. You’ll Never Walk Alone ??” the official account for Liverpool FC tweeted.
“Gerry’s voice accompanied our biggest nights. His anthem bonded players, staff and fans around the world, helping create something truly special,” it said in another tweet.
In their early days, Gerry and the Pacemakers played with The Beatles and had the same manager, Brian Epstein. While they didn’t have the same success as their fellow Liverpudlians, they still scored a fair amount of hits. They were the first act to reach No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart with their first three singles: “How Do You Do It?”, “I Like It,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone,” all from 1963. The band also had the hits “Ferry Cross the Mersey” and “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying.”
Marsden is survived by his wife Pauline and their two daughters.
Read the whole article here:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/gerry-marsden-lead-singer-gerry-021004820.html
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When the Beatles met the Pacemakers: inside the friendliest rivalry in rock
By Ed Power, Yahoo | In the spring of 1960 several of Merseyside’s brightest rock ’n roll prospects auditioned for a coveted spot opening for Gene Vincent at Liverpool Stadium. Among those trying their luck were a collection of scrappy up-and-comers who had recently changed their name from The Quarrymen to The Silver Beetles.
To their disgruntlement, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and bandmates were passed over. The honour of raising the curtain at Liverpool Stadium instead went to Lennon’s friend Gerry Marsden, who has just passed away at age 78 (Ringo Starr was also on the bill, drumming with Rory Storm and his Hurricanes). It would not be the last time the histories of The Beatles – they dropped the “Silver” that August – and Gerry and the Pacemakers became entwined. But as the years went by, Marsden’s triumph in early 1960 would come to look like an aberration.
At that time, The Beatles and Gerry and the Pacemakers appeared cut from the same teenbeat cloth. They’d come up in the same skiffle circuit and if anything the mercurial John Lennon seemed to find Marsden a more natural soulmate than the squeaky clean McCartney or the brooding George Harrison. And early on, their careers proceeded in lockstep, as Marsden and the Pacemakers were signed by Beatles manager Brian Epstein, followed the future Fabs to Hamburg, where they cut their teeth playing seven 45 minute sets each night, and appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show.
So why didn’t have the enduring success? Perhaps because they didn’t move with the times. The Beatles were sponges – adapting to musical change and embracing the counterculture. Marsden simply tried to replicate his success. This gave him an enduring fanbase. However, it meant that musical greatness eluded him
And yet bragging rights initially went to The Pacemakers. Starting with 1961’s How Do You Do It?, their first three singles soared to number one. And though a Liverpool group would finally match that feat the honour would go not to The Beatles but to Frankie Goes to Hollywood a generation later. And they did something The Beatles never managed in creating a terrace anthem with their definitive cover of You’ll Never Walk Alone, from the 1945 Rogers and Hammerstein musical Carousel (spruced up with strings from Beatles producer George Martin).
In the end, of course, Gerry and the Pacemakers never became another Beatles. That arguably has as much to do with the genius of Lennon and McCartney than with any lack on talent on the part of Marsden.
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“We were deadly rivals onstage, but the best of friends offstage,” is how Marsden described his relationship with The Beatles and the other Merseybeat groups in an April 2008 interview with Record Collector. “We never expected to make any money, or even a record even. So we were all very pleased while it was happening.”
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“I obviously knew that our style of music was out. The music was changing. The kids were changing. The whole era was changing, and I wasn’t into that whole scene. So I thought, “Get out. You’ve had a good time. You’ve enjoyed it. Move on.”
https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/beatles-met-pacemakers-inside-friendliest-130608529.html
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