Gerry and The Pacemakers

Gerry and the Pacemakers were an English beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein and produced by George Martin. Their early successes helped make popular the Merseybeat sound and launch the wider British beat boom of the mid-1960s.They were the first act to have all of their first three singles reach No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart: "How Do You Do It?", "I Like It" and "You'll Never Walk Alone", the latter from the musical Carousel. This record was not equalled for 20 years, until the mid-1980s success of fellow Liverpool band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Another of their most famous songs is "Ferry Cross the Mersey", which refers to the River Mersey, which flows past Liverpool, and was the title song for the film of the same name, which the group starred in. The group also enjoyed some success in North America as part of the British Invasion, with seven of their singles reaching the US Top 40, their biggest hit there being "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying", which reached No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100.The group broke up in 1966, though singer/guitarist/band leader Gerry Marsden would reform the group on and off through the subsequent years, until his retirement in 2018. Since his death in 2021 his bandmates, from his final lineup of the band, have returned to touring as Gerry's Pacemakers, as Marsden requested before he retired.Marsden formed the group in 1956 with his brother Fred, Les Chadwick, and Arthur McMahon. At the time, Gerry had been working for British Rail as a deliveryman. They rivalled the Beatles early in their career, playing in the same areas of Liverpool. McMahon (known as Arthur Mack) was replaced on piano by Les Maguire around 1961. The group's original name was Gerry Marsden and the Mars Bars, but they were forced to change this when the Mars Company, producers of the chocolate Mars bar, complained.Brian Epstein signed them to Columbia Records (a sister label to the Beatles' label Parlophone under EMI). They began recording in January 1963 with "How Do You Do It?", a song written by Mitch Murray. The song was produced by George Martin and became a number one hit in the UK, the first by an Epstein-managed Liverpool group to achieve this on all charts. "How Do You Do It?" was also reluctantly recorded by the Beatles (they eventually convinced Martin to let them release their song "Love Me Do" as a single instead). Both the Pacemakers' and Beatles' versions of "How Do You Do It?" were recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.