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Rory Storm &The Hurricanes...The King Of Liverpool
The MerseyBeat was more than just about a band; it was the look, the attitude and the fashion and Rory never quite understood that. But.... he wasn't the only one. The one thing you learn in life is that when the time portal opens up, you have to dive straight through or be left behind. But that's doesn't change the fact that Rory was one great performer and with a bit of tweaking, it could have happened .....big style. I saw Rory for the first time at Butlins Holiday camp and the excitement was unbelievable. For me though, it was the band that made it special. With Ringo on drums and Johnny (Byrne) Guitar with his £25 Astoria guitar (which incidentally he played until he died tragically at age 59 of Motor Neurone disease) clanking out a raw but infectious riff, the sound was FAB. Snapshots of Rory"He was well liked by everybody, it was funny at times to see him arguing with Freddie Starr as they both stammered and stuttered - but it was all in fun. Bill Harry Rory had the impediment of a very bad stutter when he spoke, yet was able to sing perfectly on stage without the stutter.
Derry Wilkie Bill Harry The first band Cilla Black played was Rory Storm & The Hurricanes...
Billy Fury as Stormy Tempest (Rory Storm)The Stormy Tempest character portrayed by Billy Fury in the "That'll Be The Day" film which starred David Essex and Ringo was based on Rory Storm. A radio show entitled "That'll be the Star Dust" based on the sequel to the film was released in 2008. You can download the entire production here. http://www.thatllbethestardust.co.uk/listen.html
A Typical Rory Storm Set
The Classic Line up:
In 1958 Alan Caldwell formed a skiffle group and called themselves ‘Al Caldwell’s Texans’. Alan suffered from a stutter, very noticeable when he spoke but never on stage when performing. In early 1959 he changed their name to ‘The Raving Texans’ and brought in Ritchie Starkey on the drums just in time for their first appearance at the Mardi Gras club in Liverpool City Centre on 29th March. Numerous name changes to the group were made and by the end of 1959 were known as ‘Rory Storm and the Hurricanes’.
America
How could you sum Rory up? Well this comment is from one of the guys who worked at Butlins with Rory and no one could have said it better. He was, on stage, a charismatic showman. A glam rocker before the glam rockers. Elton John before Elton John. He used his stage clothes and props to shock, but it was his skill in 'working the audience' that was most remarkable... how do I know, because I Can Tell.....
I Can Tell |
Rory Storm was called 'the Golden Boy' and 'Mr Showmanship. Why wasn't
Rory a superstar, he had all the attributes, Tall, Good Looking, Great voice. What happened? Well, its an
opinion but as the Liverpool Rock 'N' Roll scene evolved the 50s bands with a singer and backing musicians
became "Old Hat". The new look was for bands that all played and sung. The lead singer was a throw back to the
Elvis generation and Rory was locked in this time warp. The fashions changed and yet Rory
still sported the Elvis quiff, the gold lame suits and in the rush for success he got left behind.
"The one funny story I remember was at the Orrell Park
Ballroom. Groups used to double up on jobs in those days and we had been on first. We were getting
ready to move on to Litherland Town Hall when Rory turned up. He had the biggest gumboil I
had ever seen. His face was in a real mess. So I said to him, 'You're not going on stage like that, are you?'
He promptly pulled out a black velvet hood. It had slits for his eyes and for his mouth. He put it on and tied
the strings round his neck - he looked like Ned Kelly. What a trouper!"
During the first few years, Rory introduced several changes in stage wear,
at one time the group wore red suits with Rory wearing a pink one. When they appeared for their first season
at Butlins (Holiday camp), the Hurricanes wore fluorescent suits while Rory donned a
turquoise suit and a shimmering gold shirt. In line with most Merseyside skiffle groups they changed to rock
‘n’ roll, this caused trouble at ‘The Cavern’ club which, at the time, was a jazz club
and they had banned rock ‘n’ roll. When appearing on the bill with ‘The Swinging
Bluegenes (still a trad jazz band), Rory opened their slot singing ‘Cumberland
Gap’, a typical skiffle number, then switched to rock ‘n’ roll singing ‘Whole Lotta Shakin’
Goin’ On’. The jazz fans started throwing coins at them and drowned out the remainder of their slot
by booing, Ray McFall the club owner was furious with them for playing rock ‘n’ roll and
‘fined’ them part of their fee, he also made them pick up all the coins from the stage, which more than
covered the cost of the ‘fine’!!
owner, for a booking at the Kaiserkeller in
Hamburg, Germany but due to the commitment of a seasons booking at Butlins, Alan sent Derry Wilkie and
the Seniors instead. When the Butlins season was over, they replaced Derry and the
Seniors and billed as the main group above ‘The Beatles’ who had been sent
out as support to Derry and the Seniors.
In 1963, the London A & R men started taking an interest in Liverpool
looking for another Beatles, Rory and the Hurricanes recorded for both Oriole’s
‘This Is Mersey Beat’ albums, Oriole also released ‘Dr
Feelgood/ I Can Tell’ as a single. The recording was made on a mobile unit
at the Rialto Ballroom, Liverpool, not a perfect recording and it didn’t make the charts,
resulting in them missing the opportunity of recording in a ‘proper studio’. Over the next few years,
Ringo offered them chances to record but, for reasons unknown, they never took him up on
his offer.
When his father died, Rory returned to
Liverpool to be with his mother, neither of them recovered from the shock. Rory developed a chest infection
and couldn’t sleep properly so took sleeping tablets to help get some sleep. On 28th September 1972 both Rory
and his mother were found dead at their home, many fans thought he had killed himself but a post mortem
revealed he hadn’t taken enough to kill himself. When Ringo was asked why he hadn’t attended the funeral,
sadly he is reported as saying “I wasn’t at his birth either”.