Brian Cassar (21 March 1936 – 25 December 2022) was a British singer and guitarist. He led the first notable
beat group
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 American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffl ...
in Liverpool, Cass and the Cassanovas, who were early rivals of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...
in the city. He later led another group, Casey Jones and the Engineers, which was one of
Eric Clapton's first bands, and then, as leader of Casey Jones and the Governors, became successful in Germany, where he became based for much of his life. His surname is sometimes misspelled as Casser.
Life and career
Early life
Cassar was born in
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the la ...
, and raised in Liverpool.
[ Casey Jones & The Engineers, ''Allmusic.com'']
Retrieved 30 December 2022 In the 1950s, he worked in the
Merchant Navy.
Cass & the Cassanovas
As a singer and rhythm guitarist, Cassar formed a trio, Cass & the Cassanovas, in May 1959, with singer and guitarist
Adrian Barber
Adrian Barber (13 November 1938 - 8 August 2020 in Ilkley, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England) was a musician/producer who is most noted for recording the Beatles ''Live! at the Star-Club in Hamburg, Germany; 1962'', producing the Allman Brothers Ba ...
(born 13 November 1938,
Ilkley, Yorkshire), and drummer and singer Brian J. Hudson (born Brian James Hudson, 21 April 1938,
Cleveland, Yorkshire). After a few months, Hudson left and was replaced by
Johnny Hutchinson (born 18 July 1940,
Malta
Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...
), known as Johnny Hutch. In need of a
bass guitarist
A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboard bass or a low bra ...
, Hutchinson then brought in
Johnny Gustafson (born 8 August 1942, Liverpool) in December 1959. At that time Gustafson did not have a proper bass guitar so Barber converted an
acoustic for him. The group became popular playing a wide range of music, from Latin American music to rock and roll, in dance halls in the Liverpool area. Cassar also started his own music club in Liverpool, the Casanova Club, whose guest groups included one known at the time as the "
Silver Beetles"; according to some reports, Cassar had suggested that they change their name from the earlier spelling of "Beatals" which Cassar found "ridiculous". In May 1960 Cass & the Cassanovas took part in auditions in front of leading manager
Larry Parnes
Laurence Maurice Parnes (3 September 1929 – 4 August 1989) was a British pop manager and impresario. He was the first major British rock manager, and his stable of singers included many of the most successful British rock and roll singers of ...
who was looking for backing bands for his stable of pop singers. The group secured a place as backing group for singer
Duffy Power
Duffy Power (born Raymond Leslie Howard; 9 September 1941 – 19 February 2014) was an English blues and rock and roll singer, who achieved some success in the 1960s and continued to perform and record intermittently later.
Career
Ray Howard w ...
and toured with him.
[ Badcat Records: Casey Jones and the Governors]
/ref>[ Repertoire Records, ''Coming Round The Bend: Casey Jones]
By this time, Cassar had begun using the stage names of "Casey Jones" and "Casey Valence".
Casey Jones
In December 1960, Gustafson, Hutchinson and Barber left the band, and formed themselves into a new trio, The Big Three. Cassar moved to London around 1962, and managed the Blue Gardenia club in Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
. He also briefly formed a group called the Nightsounds, which featured Albert Lee
Albert William Lee (born 21 December 1943) is an English guitarist known for his fingerstyle and hybrid picking technique. Lee has worked, both in the studio and on tour, with many famous musicians from a wide range of genres. He has also ma ...
on guitar. The following year, he won a recording contract with the Columbia label, and recorded a single, "One Way Ticket", using the name Casey Jones. With drummer Ray Stock, he recruited two former members of R&B group the Roosters, guitarist Eric Clapton and bassist Tom McGuinness, and briefly toured as Casey Jones & the Engineers. Clapton and McGuinness left after a few performances, shortly followed by Stock.[
Cassar then formed a new group with David Coleman (lead guitar), Roger Cook (rhythm guitar), Jim Redford (bass) and Peter Richards (drums). They played at the ]Star-Club
The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on ...
in Hamburg and became popular in Germany, releasing two singles, "Tall Girl" and "Don't Ha Ha" on the Bellaphon label, before changing their name to Casey Jones & the Governors, apparently in an attempt to stress their British origins. The record label reissued "Don't Ha Ha" – which in fact was a version of the 1958 Huey Smith and the Clowns song "Don't You Just Know It" – under the new band name and it rose to # 2 on the German pop chart. Casey Jones and the Governors continued to tour and record successfully in Germany for a few years, achieving six top 40 singles and releasing two albums on the Gold 12 label, ''Casey Jones and the Governors'' (1965) and ''Don't Ha Ha'' (1966).[
In the 1970s, Cassar, still using the name Casey Jones, worked as a disc jockey in ]Löhnberg
Löhnberg is a municipality north of Weilburg in Limburg-Weilburg district in Hesse, Germany.
Geography
Location
Löhnberg lies between Wetzlar and the district seat of Limburg an der Lahn.
Neighbouring communities
Löhnberg borders in t ...
, and recorded a solo album, ''Casey's Rock 'n' Roll Show''.[ In the 1990s, he formed a new version of Casey Jones and the Governors to play the oldies circuit in Germany, and in 2006 was reported to be living in Unna near ]Dortmund
Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the l ...
.
Personal life and death
Cassar died on 25 December 2022, at the age of 86.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cassar, Brian
1936 births
2022 deaths
Musicians from Liverpool
English pop singers
English pop guitarists
English male singers
British expatriates in Germany
Beat musicians