Sheridan made some recordings in the early sixties in Hamburg, Germany, with a variety of musicians, some of the least known having the first names of John, Paul, George, Stu, and Pete. Sheridan is in this picture with some of them in performance:
Sheridan released a few singles with this group of backup musicians on I believe Polydor Records. Sheridan and this group were billed as "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers." The original pressings are among the most valuable 45s in the world.
Seriously, the recordings, which have been released in compilations over the years, are pretty good. Most of them don't feature this group, later known as the Beatles. The Beatles, at least three of them who performed with Sheridan, would be world-famous, and poor Tony was left in the dust toiling in relative obscurity. However, Sheridan would have an influence on them, especially George Harrison.
Live version of Sheridan singing "My Bonnie" without "The Beat Brothers," of course:
A British native, Sheridan later settled in Germany, near Hamburg and the clubs where he and an early incarnation of the Beatles crossed paths in the early 1960s.
Both were British bands imported to play long hours of music for the raucous crowds at the Kaiserkeller and the Star Club in Hamburg's seedy late-night district.
Sheridan and the Beatles, who were first known as the Silver Beatles, became friends and often played on each others's sets.
The Beatles then included John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, at first with Stuart Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums.
German bandleader Bert Kaempert saw Sheridan as a potential star and arranged for a recording contract.
The Beatles were signed as his backup band. The nine songs that have surfaced from those sessions feature Sheridan singing lead on seven, Lennon singing "Ain't She Sweet" and one instrumental, "Cry for a Shadow."
No comments:
Post a Comment