''Mersey Beat'' was a music publication 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 popul ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...
in the early 1960s. It was founded by
Bill Harry
William Harry (born 17 September 1938) is the creator of '' Mersey Beat'', a newspaper of the early 1960s which focused on the Liverpool music scene. Harry had previously started various magazines and newspapers, such as ''Biped'' and ''Premier ...
, who was one of
John Lennon's classmates at
Liverpool Art College
Liverpool College of Art is located at 68 Hope Street, in Liverpool, England. It is a Grade II listed building. The original building, facing Mount Street, was designed by Thomas Cook and completed in 1883. The extension along Hope Street, des ...
. The paper carried news about all the local Liverpool bands, and stars who came to town to perform.
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 ...
had a close association with ''Mersey Beat'', which carried many exclusive stories and photos of them. It also published several of Lennon's early writings, including a history of the band, and occasional comical
classified advertisements
Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...
by him as space filler.
Beginnings
A fellow student, John Ashcroft, introduced Harry to rock 'n' roll records, and the members of
Rory Storm & The Hurricanes and Cass & The Cassanovas. Harry carried notebooks with him, collecting information about the local groups, once writing to ''
The Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'': "Liverpool is like New Orleans at the turn of the century, but with rock 'n' roll instead of jazz". He also wrote to ''
The Liverpool Echo
The ''Liverpool Echo'' is a newspaper published by Trinity Mirror North West & North Wales – a subsidiary company of Reach plc and is based in St Paul's Square, Liverpool, Merseyside, England. It is published Monday to Sunday, and is Liverp ...
'' about the emerging Liverpool music scene, but neither paper was interested in stories about music that was popular with teenagers.
The classified ads in ''The Liverpool Echo'' for local groups were always under the heading of ''Jazz'',
but the paper refused to change this policy, despite pleas from the promoters and groups who actually paid for them.
Harry planned to produce a jazz newspaper called ''Storyville/52nd Street'' and contacted Sam Leach, the owner of a club called Storyville. Leach promised to fund the newspaper, but failed to turn up for three meetings with Harry, leaving him no other option but to find another investor.
Harry thought starting a fortnightly newspaper covering Liverpool's rock 'n' roll music scene would be more successful, and would differ from national music newspapers such as the ''
New Musical Express
''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' and the ''
Melody Maker
''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. It was founded in 1926, largely as a magazine for dance band musicians, by Leicester-born ...
'', which only wrote articles about current chart hits and artists.
''Mersey Beat''
Photographer Dick Matthews, a friend from the Jacaranda,
heard about Harry's problems with Leach and introduced Harry to a local civil servant, Jim Anderson, who lent Harry £50. This enabled Harry to found ''Mersey Beat'' in 1961.
Harry decided to publish the newspaper every two weeks, covering the music scene in Liverpool, Wirral, Birkenhead, New Brighton, Crosby and Southport, as well as Warrington, Widnes and Runcorn. He thought up the name ''Mersey Beat'' by thinking about a policeman's 'beat' (the area of duty), which had nothing to do with a musical beat.
Virginia gave up her accountancy/
comptometer
The Comptometer was the first commercially successful key-driven mechanical calculator, patented in the United States by Dorr Felt in 1887.
A key-driven calculator is extremely fast because each key adds or subtracts its value to the accumulato ...
operator job at Woolworth's
and worked full-time for £2.10/- (two
guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
s) a week (also contributing a ''Mersey Roundabout'' article), while Harry lived on his Senior City Art Scholarship funding. Matthews photographed groups, while Anderson found a small attic office for £5 a week above David Land's wine merchant's shop at 81a Renshaw Street, Liverpool.
Anderson and Matthews helped with the move to the new office, with Anderson providing a desk, chair and an Olivetti typewriter.
![Renshaw Street, Liverpool - geograph](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2b/Renshaw_Street%2C_Liverpool_-_geograph.org.uk_-_978005.jpg)
Harry asked printer James E. James (who had printed ''Frank Comments''), if he could borrow the
printing blocks he used for photos, as they were too expensive for the fledgling company at the time.
Harry also borrowed blocks from the ''Widnes Weekly News'', ''Pantosphinx'' and local cinemas, but contributed to charities by printing free charity advertisements at the side of the front cover page. After taking Virginia home to
Bowring Park in the evening, Harry would often return to the office and work throughout the night, pausing only to go to the
Pier Head
The Pier Head (properly, George's Pier Head) is a riverside location in the city centre of Liverpool, England. It was part of the former Liverpool Maritime Mercantile City UNESCO World Heritage Site, which was inscribed in 2004, but revoked in ...
to buy a cup of tea and a hot pie at four in the morning.
Virginia's parents helped the paper during this time, as they paid for classified ads, and arranged for Harry and his future wife's first photographs together.
The first issue
Splitting the price of the newspaper (
three pence), with retailers, Harry arranged for three major wholesalers,
W.H. Smith
WHSmith (also written WH Smith, and known colloquially as Smith's and formerly as W. H. Smith & Son) is a British retailer, headquartered in Swindon, England, which operates a chain of high street, railway station, airport, port, hospital and m ...
, Blackburn's, and Conlan's, to sell ''Mersey Beat''. Harry personally delivered copies to more than 20 newsagents as well as to local venues and musical instrument and record stores, such as Cramer & Lea, Rushworth & Draper, and Cranes.
The paper released its first edition on 6 July 1961, selling out all 5,000 copies.
The paper's circulation increased rapidly as Harry started featuring stories about groups in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
,
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
,
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to:
*Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England
*Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England
*Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...
, with circulation growing to 75,000.
As the newspaper's sales rose, it became known as the "Teenagers Bible". Local groups were soon being called "beat groups", and venues started advertising concerts as "Beat Sessions".
With circulation rising, the paper's offices were moved downstairs to a larger two-roomed office. The Cavern Club's doorman, Pat (Paddy) Delaney, was employed to deliver copies, a secretary, Pat Finn, was hired, as well as Raymond Kane to promote advertising space,
Harry later said: "The newspapers, television, theatres and radio were all run by people of a different generation who had no idea of what youngsters wanted. For decades they had manipulated and controlled them. Suddenly, there was an awareness of being young, and young people wanted their own styles and their own music, just at the time they were beginning to earn money, which gave them the spending power. ''Mersey Beat'' was their voice, it was a paper for them, crammed with photos and information about their own groups, which is why it also began to appeal to youngsters throughout Britain as its coverage extended to other areas."
Because of the employment situation in Liverpool at the time, ''
The Daily Worker
The ''Daily Worker'' was a newspaper published in New York City by the Communist Party USA, a formerly Comintern-affiliated organization. Publication began in 1924. While it generally reflected the prevailing views of the party, attempts were ...
'' newspaper denounced the enthusiasm of younger people in Liverpool by saying "The Mersey Sound is the sound of 30,000 people on the
dole
Dole may refer to:
Places
* Dole, Ceredigion, Wales
* Dole, Idrija, Slovenia
* Dole, Jura, France
** Arrondissement of Dole
* Dole (Kladanj), a village at the entity line of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina-Republika Srpska
* Dole, Ljubušk ...
."
Liverpool groups
Between 1958 and 1964, the Merseyside area had about 500 different groups, which were constantly forming and breaking up, with an average of about 350 groups playing concerts on a regular basis.
In 1961, Harry and The Cavern Club's
DJ,
Bob Wooler
Frederick James "Bob" Wooler (19 January 19268 February 2002) was compère and DJ at The Cavern Club, Liverpool from 1961 until 1967. An important figure in the Merseybeat scene, Wooler was instrumental in introducing The Beatles to their mana ...
, compiled a list of groups that they had personally heard of, which had almost 300 names.
In 1962, ''Mersey Beat'' held a poll to find out who was the most popular Merseyside group. When the votes were counted, Rory Storm & The Hurricanes were in first place, but after looking through the postal votes again, Harry noticed that forty votes were all written in green ink, in the same handwriting, and from the same area of Liverpool, so the dubious votes were declared void. This was suspected to have been Storm himself, but Harry had no idea that The Beatles had done exactly the same thing.
The results were announced on 4 January 1962, with The Beatles in first place. The results were printed in issue 13 of ''Mersey Beat'' on 4 January 1962, with the front page announcing, "Beatles Top Poll!"
An iconic symbol of the Mersey Beat era was the poster artwork created by local artist
Tony Booth. He was a popular figure amongst the promoters in the area where he was commissioned to create hundreds of the posters used to advertise all the concerts that were occurring during that period. His posters were seen on walls all across Merseyside including some of his famous work outside
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 ...
.
The poll
In 1962, ''Mersey Beat'' held a poll to find out who was the most popular Merseyside group. The results were announced on 4 January 1962:
''1.
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 ...
''
''2.
Gerry and the Pacemakers
Gerry and the Pacemakers were a British beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their early successes alongsid ...
''
''3.
The Remo Four
The Remo Four were a 1950s–1960s rock band from Liverpool, England. They were contemporaries of The Beatles, and later had the same manager, Brian Epstein. Its members were Colin Manley (born Colin William Manley, 16 April 1942, in Old Swan, ...
''
''4.
Rory Storm and the Hurricanes
Rory Storm (born Alan Ernest Caldwell; 7 January 1938 – 28 September 1972) was an English musician and vocalist. Born in Liverpool, Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contempora ...
''
''5. Johnny Sandon and
The Searchers
''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John Wa ...
''
''6.
Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes''
''7.
The Big Three''
''8. The Strangers''
''9.
Faron & The Flamingos''
''10. The Four Jays''
''11.
Ian and the Zodiacs''
''12.
The Undertakers''
''13. Earl Preston & The TTs''
''14. Mark Peters and the Cyclones''
''15. Karl Terry and the Cruisers''
''16.
Derry and the Seniors''
''17. Steve and the Syndicate''
''18. Dee Fenton and the Silhouettes''
''19.
Billy Kramer and the Coasters''
''20. Dale Roberts and the Jaywalkers''
Such was the popularity of the poll, Rushworth's music store manager, Bob Hobbs, presented Lennon and
George Harrison
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
with new guitars.
Many groups in Liverpool complained to Harry that his newspaper should be called ''Mersey Beatles'', as he featured them so often.
The ''
Stern
The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...
'' magazine in Germany phoned Harry and asked if he could arrange a photograph of all the groups in Liverpool. Harry suggested Kirchherr (then Sutcliffe's girlfriend) be the photographer, who would stand on a crane to take the photograph.
Virginia phoned every group in Liverpool and arranged for them all to turn up on the same day at
St George's Hall. Kirchherr and Max Scheler said that every group would be paid £1 per musician, but over 200 groups turned up on the day, and Kirchherr and Scheler ran out of money as a result.
"Liverpool Days" book
genesis-publications.com - Retrieved: 21 May 2007
Another of the paper's noted supporters was 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 ...
, the future Beatles' manager, who wrote a regular column about new record releases available at NEMS Enterprises
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 ...
. Note: The phrase ''Mersey Beat'' was also used to describe local music of the time, sometimes also called ''the Mersey Sound'', see Beat music
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, skiffle ...
.
Harry asked a local singer, Priscilla White, to contribute a fashion column after writing an article called "Swinging Cilla", in which he wrote, "Cilla Black is a Liverpool girl who is starting out on the road to fame." Harry’s mistake came about because he could not remember her surname (which he knew was a colour), but White decided to keep it as a stage name. Two years later Harry arranged for Black to sing for Epstein at the Blue Angel club, leading to a management contract.
In late 1962, Harry wrote an article called "Take a look up North", asking for A&R men from London to travel up to Liverpool and see what was really happening with the music scene, but not one record company sent an A&R representative to Liverpool. Journalist Nancy Spain
Nancy Brooker Spain (13 September 1917 – 21 March 1964) was a prominent English broadcaster and journalist. She was a columnist for the '' Daily Express'', ''She'' magazine, and the '' News of the World'' in the 1950s and 1960s. She also appea ...
once wrote an article for the ''News of the World
The ''News of the World'' was a weekly national Tabloid journalism#Red tops, red top Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published every Sunday in the United Kingdom from 1843 to 2011. It was at one time the world's highest-selling En ...
'' newspaper, stating that "Bill and Virginia Harry were Mr. & Mrs. Mersey Beat", and when Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
visited Liverpool to appear at the Odeon, he specifically asked for Harry to act as his guide to the city.
The last issues and London
On 13 September 1964, Epstein approached Harry to create a national music paper, so Harry coined the name ''Music Echo'', and gradually merged ''Mersey Beat'' into it. Epstein had promised Harry full editorial control, but then hired a female press officer in London to write a fashion column and a D.J.
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
to write a gossip column, without informing Harry of his intentions, and Harry resigned as a result.
References
External links
''Mersey Beat'' Official Homepage
"Bill Harry's Weekly Blog"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mersey Beat (Magazine)
History of Liverpool
History of the Beatles
Music magazines published in the United Kingdom
Magazines established in 1961
Magazines disestablished in 1964
Mass media in Liverpool
Defunct magazines published in the United Kingdom