Gerry & The Pacemakers

Gerry & The Pacemakers

Gerry & The Pacemakers is a Liverpool group associated with beat music, Merseybeat, pop and pop rock. Formed in 1959, the group includes Gerry Marsden, Freddie Marsden, Les Chadwick, Les Maguire and Keith Hall. It remains active.

Early years and Merseybeat

The band emerges from the Liverpool scene of the early 1960s and becomes prominent in the Merseybeat movement. In its early career it rivals The Beatles, playing the same circuits in Liverpool and Hamburg, and it works with Brian Epstein as manager and George Martin as producer. The group also rehearses at Cammell Laird shipping yard in Birkenhead. Arthur Mack plays piano in the original line-up before Les Maguire joins around 1961.

Chart success

Gerry & The Pacemakers is best known for reaching number one in the UK Singles Chart with its first three singles: "How Do You Do It?", "I Like It" and "You'll Never Walk Alone". "How Do You Do It?" is written by Mitch Murray and becomes a number one after being rejected by Adam Faith and The Beatles. The group then follows with another Murray song, "I Like It", and with "You'll Never Walk Alone", which is associated with Rodgers and Hammerstein. This sequence of three consecutive number ones is a notable chart achievement.

Songwriting, film work and later activity

Gerry Marsden begins writing most of the band's own material, including "It's All Right", "I'm the One", "Ferry Cross the Mersey" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying", the last of which becomes the band's first and biggest hit in the United States. The group also appears in the 1965 film Ferry Cross the Mersey, and Marsden writes much of its soundtrack. Although its popularity declines later in the 1960s and it disbands in 1966, Marsden later reforms the group in 1972 with Jose McLaughlin, Billy Kinsley and Pete Clarke. In 1973 this version becomes the only Merseybeat band to record for the John Peel Show on BBC Radio. Recordings from that session later appear on Gerry & the Pacemakers Live at the BBC on Parlophone Records.

Legacy

The band's version of "You'll Never Walk Alone" becomes closely identified with Liverpool Football Club and is sung by supporters before matches at Anfield.