The Unsung Heroes of the Mersey Sound
Derry Wilkie, Ted ‘Kingsize Taylor, Beryl Marsden, Colin Manley.
Do these names ring any bells? It should if you are a true Mersey Beat
connoisseur. If it doesn’t, then you’d better start reading because these
musicians were as much part of the Mersey beat scene as
Gerry and the Pacemakers, Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, and The Beatles.
They are the unsung heroes of Liverpool’s late 1950s music scene
and an important part of the rise of Mersey Beat.
However, theý never made the big time as many of their contemporaries did.
Still, their role in the local scene must not be overlooked nor should it be
disregarded.
Liverpool author Anthony Hogan has chronicled their often captivating
and obscure stories that not only made a huge contribution to the scene
but also influenced many of their peers. Hogan describes, for example,
the black music scene in Liverpool and the story of first all-girl beat group The Liverbirds.
Valued by their contemporaries but often overlooked by music fans and journalists, the Beat Makers, as Hogan calls them, have had a huge impact on the Liverpool music scene. Often, they were even ahead of groups as The Beatles, The Searchers and Gerry and the Pacemakers by releasing records and playing in Hamburg before they did.
Anthony Hogan has done a fantastic job of conveying the story of The Beat Makers and rightly putting them in the limelight. The Beat Makers – The Unsung Heroes of the Mersey Sound is essential stuff when you are interested in rock ‘n’ roll and especially the Mersey scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s.