FROM ‘HEARTBREAK HOTEL’ TO THE PEEL STREET LABOUR CLUB
Hearing Elvis Presley’s ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ for the first time changed everything. Then Little Richard, Gene Vincent, Carl Perkins, Eddie Cochran . . . John switched his allegiance from the banjo to the guitar – though he used banjo tuning and played banjo chords – and decided to start a band.
In the UK at the time, the other big music craze was skiffle, spearheaded by Glasgow-born Lonnie Donegan who had massive chart success with songs such as Leadbelly’s ‘Rock Island Line’ and ‘Cumberland Gap’. With its appealing DIY ethic and improvised instruments, including the tea chest bass, washboard and kazoo, skiffle was popping up everywhere, including Liverpool. John gathered together a gang of friends from Quarry Bank High School to form a band, and each was given a role to play. John was the frontman and leader. They called themselves The Quarrymen after their school. Though the line-up often changed, the original line-up consisted of John on guitar and lead vocals, his best friend Pete Shotton on washboard, Eric Griffiths also on guitar, Bill Smith on the tea chest bass and Colin Hanton on drums.
Their first official engagement was an audition for Carroll Levis, ‘Mr Star-Maker’, who ran talent contests across the country to find acts for television variety shows. The Quarrymen failed to qualify.
Paul’s first public performance was with his brother, at the Butlin’s holiday camp in Filey Bay, Yorkshire. They sang ‘Bye Bye Love’ by The Everly Brothers, Michael in a sling as he had broken his arm at scout camp just before the holiday. After the duet, Paul treated the audience to his Little Richard routine. They didn’t progress to the next round.
George, ever the independently minded individual he’d been since childhood, managed to get himself a booking before he even had a band. So, due to play the British Legion club in Speke, he convinced his brother Pete, his friend Arthur Kelly and another local boy, Alan Williams, to join him on stage. They called themselves The Rebels, and played to about half a dozen people.
Ringo’s health problems meant he had trouble getting and holding on to jobs once he had left school. Finally, he managed to get himself an engineer’s apprenticeship at H. Hunt & Sons. There he joined the work band, the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group. Guitarist and vocalist Eddie Clayton was really Eddie Miles (and Ringo’s neighbour), and they were joined by Roy Trafford on tea chest bass, John Dougherty on washboard and Frank Walsh also on guitar. They played during lunch breaks in the staff canteen and made their official debut at the Peel Street Labour Club where they soon took up a residency. They played The Cavern multiple times too, before disbanding when Eddie decided to settle down and get married.