John Lowe (born 13 April 1942) is an English pianist. In the late-1950s, he played

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

for

The Quarrymen The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle/rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Quar ...

, the group that would evolve into

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 ...

Early career

Known to his friends as "Duff", Lowe had known

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

since 1953, and was invited to play piano with The Quarrymen by McCartney in February 1958. He was in The Quarrymen for two years, and was there when the band recorded a couple of songs for a vanity disc at Percy Phillips' home studio in Liverpool. The two tracks cut that day were "

That'll Be the Day "That'll Be the Day" is a song written by Buddy Holly and Jerry Allison. It was first recorded by Buddy Holly and the Three Tunes in 1956 and was re-recorded in 1957 by Holly and his new band, the Crickets. The 1957 recording achieved widesprea ...

" and "

In Spite of All the Danger "In Spite of All the Danger" is the first song recorded by the Quarrymen, then consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, pianist John Lowe, and drummer Colin Hanton. McCartney wrote the song and Harrison provided the guitar so ...

". Lowe maintained possession of the tracks and, in 1981, sold the recordings to Paul McCartney. Their estimated value was around £12,000. McCartney had the record remastered and the songs appear on

' ''

Anthology 1 ''Anthology 1'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 20 November 1995 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the period 1958–64, including song ...

'' album.

Later career

In 1994, John Lowe played again with The Quarrymen for the album '' Open For Engagements''. Of the 1994 lineup, only Rod Davis (guitar) and Lowe (piano) played for The Quarrymen in the 1950s. John Lowe, Rod Davis, Len Garry and

Colin Hanton Colin Leo Hanton (born 12 December 1938) is a British musician who was a drummer for The Quarrymen—the band which would later evolve into The Beatles. Biography and career Hanton was in an early line-up of the band from summer 1956 alon ...

now perform as John Lennon's Original Quarrymen at Beatles events around the world. On 22 December 2014, Lowe appeared on the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

programme, '' Would I Lie To You?'', in which

Ricky Tomlinson Eric "Ricky" Tomlinson (born 26 September 1939) is an English actor. He is best known for his television roles as Bobby Grant in '' Brookside'', DCI Charlie Wise in ''Cracker'' and Jim Royle in '' The Royle Family'', and playing the titular cha ...

revealed that Lowe had left the Quarrymen to join the young Tomlinson's band.

References

External links

* 1942 births English keyboardists The Quarrymen members English rock pianists Living people Musicians from Liverpool {{UK-pianist-stub