Jimmy Stevens (5 August 1942 - 1 October 2021) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead vocalist of the
Beathovens. He worked with
Maurice Gibb
Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main lea ...
between 1971 and 1973.
Biography
Early life
Stevens was born in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
, England, to Tom and Mary Stevens. He had a brother called Tommy and a sister, Mary. The family lived in Garston and Speke.
His father bought him an old pub piano, but like many of his generation he veered away from his classical training.
He studied at St. Francis Assisi School and later he went to John Almond Secondary Modern School and for two years Stevens was sent to board at Blackrock College, set in 56 acres overlooking Dublin Bay and run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. On a black wind-up gramophone in a dormitory there, he first heard
Buddy Holly, who immediately became his hero. At the age of 15, he came back to Liverpool working for other people including a tailor who employed him to tighten the trousers of ordinary suits to meet the fashion for drainpipe trousers.
An old wind-up gramophone for company and a collection of 78s, he developed a passion for
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American pianist, singer and songwriter. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New O ...
and
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...
. In 1963 his composition ''Baby That's You'' was released by the Liverpool band
The Young Ones on
Decca Records. To supplement his meager income from music, he worked as a bookie's runner, a leather watch strap maker, and a coal miner. He even rejected an approach from
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein (; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was a British music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1962 until his death in 1967.
Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him i ...
(manager of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developmen ...
)
Career
Stevens was the lead vocalist of the Beathovens, a
Merseybeat group that appeared regularly at
The Cavern Club
The Cavern Club is a nightclub on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England.
The Cavern Club opened in 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 50s and early 1960s. The club became closely assoc ...
in Liverpool.
[David Charters]
"Ringo Starr flies back to Liverpool to kick-start Capital of Culture"
''Liverpool Daily Post
The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013.
Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, with the ti ...
'', 10 January 2008. According to one source, the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'' once described Stevens as "a fat John Lennon
howrites like a broken-down poet and sings like he chews gravel for breakfast."
In 1966, he released a solo single, ''I Love You'', backed by ''Wharf 130'', both songs written by Stevens. Around 1971, he was heard in Cam Studios in Moorfield by two
Robert Stigwood
Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, best known for managing Cream (band), Cream, Andy Gibb and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions ...
representatives. A deal and the tour with
ELP followed, which Stevens recalls with mixed emotions. 'You'd go on and find people were chanting 'ELP' when you were trying to sing.'
In October 1971, he recorded his two compositions ''Tears (Behind My Eyes'' and ''The Band'', produced by
Maurice Gibb
Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main lea ...
and Billy Lawrie.
In 1972, he released his album ''
Don't Freak Me Out
''Don't Freak Me Out'' is the first and only album released by English musician Jimmy Stevens in 1972. The album was produced by Maurice Gibb. But in the United States, it was released in January 1973 and was called ''Paid My Dues''.
Recording ...
'' on
Atlantic Records, produced by Maurice Gibb.
In 1973 US version of the album, called ''Paid My Dues'' was released.
"Anyway," Stevens continues, "Maurice Gibb had this deal with Atlantic, so we made my album. On the tours, I was closest to
Barry Gibb
Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...
of the
Bee Gees. But we didn't see so much of
Robin. They were a very funny unit, actually. I don't think they socialised very much together as lads. They were all different. I remember us performing at the New York Philharmonic. I got a good review there. I was "delightful", said the Daily News".
Music broadcaster
John Peel once described Stevens as "the excellent writer/singer Jimmy Stevens, whose ''Don't Freak Me Out'' LP on Atlantic you have almost certainly ignored—to your cost".
[ John Peel, ''The Olivetti Chronicles'' (]Random House
Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...
, 2011), , p. 202
Excerpts available
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
.
Death
Jimmy Stevens died on the 1st October 2021
Discography
Albums
Charting singles
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Jimmy
1942 births
RSO Records artists
Atlantic Records artists
People from Speke
English male singer-songwriters
English rock keyboardists
English rock singers
Living people
English pop singers
Musicians from Liverpool
People educated at Blackrock College