(Cathy has done an outstanding job researching the various Beatles lineups. We graciously thank her for allowing us to post it here. This vastly expanded version was published in The 910 magazine and is used here with their permission. A look at how the name "Beatles" itself came about can be found by clicking here.)
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What was the name of John Lennon's first group? Who were its members? Many Beatle fans would answer the first question with "The Quarry Men," a few would be able to give the correct answer of "The Black Jacks." But how many know the answer to the second question? This article is an attempt to answer that second question and follow the permutations of "The Black Jacks" from its very beginnings until they became the group who will be forever known as "The Beatles."
As to who its first two members were there can be no doubt. John Lennon and Pete Shotton got together at John's instigation and formed a group. The name of this group was "The Black Jacks." After this very clear beginning the story immediately becomes hazy. Who were the members of this group? How long did each remain with the group? Sources vary. According to Mark Lewisohn, "The Black Jacks" consisted of just John (guitar and vocals) and Pete (washboard). According to Bill Harry, "The Black Jacks" consisted of John Lennon, Pete Shotton, Bill Smith (tea-chest bass), Rod Davis (banjo), Eric Griffiths (guitar), and Colin Hanton (drums).
The name of this group was quickly changed from "The Black Jacks" (the name lasted a week) to "The Quarry Men" after the school that both Pete and John attended. Pete Shotton in his book says that he was the one to come up with the name "Quarry Men" after a line from the school song, "Quarry Men, strong before their birth." Most other sources give the credit for coming up with the name to John Lennon. However the name came about, it was a name that would, like the personnel of the group itself, go through many changes.
After John and Pete "formed" the group, they started recruiting other members. Pete says that the first member recruited was Bill Smith on tea-chest bass. Next to be asked to join was Rod Davis on banjo and Eric Griffiths on guitar. Eric eventually brought in Colin Hanton on drums. Two other members who joined the group at some time were Ivan Vaughn and Nigel Whalley, both on tea-chest bass.
Who played tea-chest at any given performance seemed to depend on who felt like playing and who showed up at the gig! The first to depart the group was Bill Smith. It seems that he often wouldn't show up for rehearsals and that even when he did show up, he would try and pick a fight with Pete. So it was that Len Garry was asked to join the group.
There are two stories as to how Len came to join the Quarry Men. According to Pete Shotton because of Bill having proved unreliable, the decision was made to invite Len to take Bill's place. Bill, meanwhile, had absconded with the tea-chest bass which was only retrieved after John and Pete "sagged" off from school and broke into the Smith's through their kitchen window. According to Philip Norman, Len Garry joined the group after a couple of local Woolton "toughs" by the names of Rod and Willo had chased the group after they had gotten off of a bus with all of their gear. The group scattered leaving the tea-chest bass behind. The tea-chest remained in the street for a week, sometimes it could be seen beside the street, sometimes in the middle. It was at this time that Len Garry became the tea-chest bass player. It was also around this time that Nigel Whalley took over as the groups "manager."
The group's first public appearance was at Rosebery Street, Liverpool at a community party celebrating the 750th anniversary of King John issuing a Royal Charter inviting people to settle in Liverpool. They played in the afternoon and again in the evening. According to Julia Baird, the group was called Johnny and The Rainbows for this appearance, because they all wore different colored shirts, although a photograph taken of the group on this day shows the name "Quarry Men" on Colin Hanton's drums. It may be an indication of how well they played that while Rosebery Street won a prize for best decorated street outside of Liverpool center and a party was held the following week to celebrate the win, the Quarry Men were not invited back to play!
One of the most important dates played by The Quarry Men was on July 6, 1957. This was the day that Paul and John met. Since that story is probably very well known, I won't go into the details except to say that on July 20, 1957 Paul was asked to join the Quarry Men as a member. He started rehearsing with the group but didn't appear with them until Oct. 18, 1957 at the New Clubmoor Hall, Norris Green, Liverpool. Paul played lead guitar on this one occasion and because of nerves flubbed his solo while performing Arthur Smith's "Guitar Boogie Shuffle." It was after this performance that the Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership was born. Paul was upset by how badly he played and to impress John, he showed John a song he had written, "I Lost My Little Girl," John then showed Paul a few songs he'd written and it was then that John and Paul started writing songs together.
By the time of Paul's debut with the Quarry Men, the group had undergone a number of personnel changes. The members for that October 18 appearance were Colin Hanton, Paul McCartney, Len Garry, John Lennon, and Eric Griffiths. Early members Pete Shotton, Rod Davis, and Ivan Vaughn had left the group. Pete Shotton, who had little interest in the group and recognizing that he had no musical ability tells us that he left after an open air party in Toxteth thrown by Colin Hanton's aunt. The Quarry Men played from the back of a lorry (truck) and afterwards Pete and John got really drunk (the first time for either of them) and John broke Pete's washboard over his head, to Pete's great relief, as that spelled the end of his career as a Quarry Man.
Rod Davis probably left sometime after The Quarry Men appeared at The Cavern Club for the first time. The Cavern Club, which was to play a very important role in their careers in just a few years, was a venue for jazz at this time, although skiffle was allowed because of its jazz origins. They appeared there for the first time on Aug 7, 1957. John attempted to play some rock and roll which didn't sit well with the Cavern's owner, Alan Sytner, who sent a note up to the stage telling the group "to cut the bloody rock." Rod Davis was more of a folk purist and this caused friction between him and John and this may be one reason why he left the group. Rod also went on to the Sixth form at Quarry Bank and had little time for playing the banjo. At least one source (Bill Harry) says that Rod was with the group until February, 1958, so it's possible that he made occasional appearances with the group or at least still practiced with the group until February of 1958.
Nigel Whalley had become an apprentice golf pro but was still managing the group as he was responsible for the Cavern engagement. Nigel may have managed the group until he left the area at age eighteen, eventually becoming a golf pro at Wrotham Heath Golf Club in Borough Green, Kent. Nigel was still in Liverpool in July of 1958, at which time he witnessed Julia Lennon's accidental death. I found only two sources that mentioned how long Ivan Vaughn played with the group or when he may have left, one was by Bill Harry who said that Ivan left the group in mid 1958, the other source says that Ivan left the group long before Pete Shotton.
At the end of 1957 The Quarry Men consisted of Colin Hanton, Paul McCartney, Len Garry, John Lennon, and Eric Griffiths. In just a little under two months, a new member would be added and three quarters of the group who were to become world famous as The Beatles would be together. That new member was George Harrison. Exactly where (and even when) George met the group is uncertain. Most sources give the date as Feb. 6, 1958. The location, however, varies. George believes that he first met them when The Quarry Men were performing at Wilson Hall, Garston, Liverpool. Colin Hanton remembers meeting George for the first time at the "Morgue Skiffle Cellar." George's mother remembers them meeting at a local chip shop and Pete Shotton recalls that they met at George's house, when Paul took them over there to meet George.
Although George met the group early in the year he was not immediately made a member of the group. In fact, he was never "officially" asked to join but became a member through perseverance. He would sit in at rehearsals and perform with the group when one or another of the group's guitarists didn't show up. He eventually replaced Eric Griffiths when it was decided that the group had too many guitarists. Colin Hanton, who was a good friend of Eric's, was asked by Nigel Whalley to go along with the group and Eric was "frozen out" of the Quarry Men, by the simple method of not informing him of the time and location of rehearsals.
Nineteen fifty-eight brought other changes to the Quarry Men. Nigel Whalley contracted TB, followed soon after by Len Garry coming down with meningitis. John "Duff" Lowe became an occasional member and The Quarry Men made their first recording, a demonstration record, recorded at a house in Kensington, Liverpool. At this time, the Quarry Men consisted of John, Paul, George, Colin Hanton and John "Duff" Lowe. All but Colin participated in the recording and two songs were recorded, "That'll Be The Day" and "In Spite Of All The Danger," John Lennon sang lead on both recordings.
In January of 1959, Colin Hanton left the group after a performance at either the Picton Lane Busman's Social Club in Wavertree (Norman) or the Prescot Cables Club in Prescot (Lewisohn). A manager for a local cinema had been in attendance watching the group and the possibility existed that the manager may have provided the group with interval engagements but the night had turned into a drunken brawl, destroying any chance the group had of making a good impression on the manager. On the way home, Hanton got off the bus along with his drums and was never seen or heard from again by the Quarry Men. Finding a drummer was now to prove a constant problem for the group. Down to just three, the future looked rather bleak for the Quarry Men. Even George Harrison joined another group, playing with the Les Stewart Quartet from January until August of 1959.
As it happened, this turned out to be very fortuitous for our erstwhile Beatles. Mona Best (mother of Pete Best) had decided to open a social club for teenagers (to be called the Casbah Club) and was going to hire the Les Stewart Quartet as the resident band. One of the members of that group was Ken Brown. Ken had helped Mona prepare the club for opening night. This had upset Les Stewart who felt that Ken was missing too many rehearsals because of helping at the Casbah Club. This caused an argument between Ken and Les and Ken along with George walked out. George then got in touch with John and Paul and together with Ken Brown the four of them opened the Casbah Club on August 29,1959.
Ken's tenure with the Quarry Men was short-lived. He played with them for a mere six weeks. An argument over money was the cause of his leaving the group. He was ill one night and although he showed up at the club, he couldn't perform with the group. Mona Best, however, still paid him his share of the fee the Quarry Men were usually paid for playing at the club. The other group members didn't feel that he should have been paid as he had not actually played that night. And so Ken was out, and the group was down to three members -- John, Paul and George.
Determined to carry on, the Quarry Men renamed themselves Johnny and The Moondogs and auditioned for Carroll Levis' "TV Star Search" in Liverpool and were selected to attend the finals in Manchester. They gave one performance as part of the final competition, but were unable to stay for the performance in which the final winner was to be selected as the contest ran overtime. In order to participate in the final, they would have had to stay overnight in Manchester as the last train back to Liverpool would have already left by the time the finals would be over. Lacking the funds for an overnight stay, Johnny and the Moondogs returned to Liverpool early. A win would have meant a two-minute appearance on Carroll Levis TV show "Discoveries."
The start of a new decade meant more name changes and more personnel changes for the Quarry Men. In January 1960, Stu Sutcliffe joined the group playing bass guitar. He had entered a painting in the John Moores biennial exhibit and won. John convinced Stu to use the money to purchase a bass guitar so that he could join the group. He never became very proficient as a bass guitarist and so would often stand with his back to the audience so that they couldn't see him play. Stu was responsible for renaming the group as the Beatals. This name was probably used until they changed it to "Silver Beetles." It would seem likely that this name change occurred when they auditioned for Larry Parnes as a possible backup band for Billy Fury.
Another name associated with the Beatles, or at least with John and Paul, is the "Nerk Twins." This was a name used by John and Paul when they appeared as a duo at the "Fox And Hounds" in Caversham, Berkshire. They had spent some time with Paul's cousin and in return for working behind the bar were given the opportunity to perform Saturday night April 23 and again Sunday afternoon April 24. The alternate spelling "Nurk Twins" is also associated with John and Paul but this name appears to have been used by Paul and his younger brother Mike when the two of them would perform at family parties.
In May of 1960, several changes occurred; the group changed their name to The Silver Beetles, Allan Williams became their manager and they secured a drummer. The name change was at the suggestion of Brian Casser of Cass and the Cassanovas who told them that Beatals was a "ridiculous" name and suggested Long John and the Silver Beetles. John rejected the "Long John" part of the name but found "Silver Beetles" acceptable. The drummer, who was acquired for them through the efforts of Allan Williams, was Tommy Moore. Tommy's tenure as drummer was short-lived as he made his last appearance with the Silver Beetles on June 13 at the Jacaranda Club (which Williams owned). During this month, they failed an audition for Larry Parnes as a possible backup band for Billy Fury but were selected as backup band for Johnny Gentle on a tour of Scotland. During the first half of their audition, Johnny Hutchinson sat in as drummer as Tommy Moore was late showing up. On May 14, they appeared at Lathom Hall calling themselves the Silver Beats, the only time this name was used. Shortly after their return from Scotland, Tommy Moore quit as their drummer having gotten fed up with the conditions of the tour and having had enough of John Lennon. And so again The Beatles were drummerless.
As can be seen by the fact that The Beatles had already lost two drummers, The Beatles had trouble finding and keeping a good drummer. Allan Williams tells the story of the night they found a drummer they didn't want to keep. It happened at an appearance at the Garston Baths. This venue was known for its tough customers who were more then ready and willing to fight. The Beatles (or Silver Beetles as they were then being called) lacked a drummer on this particular night. John was concerned that this lack on their part might not be very well received by the customers at the Garston Baths, so he made an offer to the audience for anyone who could play drums and would like to perform with The Beatles to come up on stage. A young tough named "Ronnie" decided to take John up on his offer and joined the Beatles on stage behind the drum kit. Needless to say "Ronnie" couldn't drum, but decided he'd like to join the group on a permanent basis. A call to Allan Williams by John Lennon brought Allan out to the "Baths" to resolve the situation. "Ronnie" didn't become a Beatle and the John Lennon never again asked for "volunteers" from the audience!
In July of 1960, they changed their name once again to the Silver Beatles and acquired yet another drummer for a short time. Sitting in the Jacaranda Club, The Beatles were discussing what they could do about the drumming situation. Allan Williams had gone out to the street when he heard someone drumming away. He called the group outside and they followed the sound of the drumming. The first night the drumming stopped before they found the source, but on the second night, they found Norman Chapman practicing above the offices of the National Cash Register Co. Norman was asked to join The Beatles, but only appeared with them three times before he was called up for national service. Once again, The Beatles were drummerless.
It was also probably during July of 1960 that The Beatles were hired for what was probably one of their more unusual engagements - performing as a backup band for a stripper! This came about because Allan Williams was running a club called the "New Cabaret Artistes" and he had hired a stripper from Manchester to perform for a week at his club. This stripper (named either "Janice" or "Shirley") refused to perform unless provided with a live backing band. Allan engaged The Beatles as the backup band mostly due to the fact that he knew the band members didn't have daytime jobs and would therefore be available to provide the backup music for the stripper. The Beatles weren't especially pleased with the idea of providing music for a stripper but agreed to do it because the money was right.
Although working as a backup band for a stripper was probably their most unusual performance it wasn't the only time they provided backup for a non-singing performer. Another time (May or June 1960), they were engaged to provide backup for a "beat poet," Royston Ellis. Liverpool University had booked him to read his poetry and he later talked The Beatles into providing him with backup as he read his poetry at the Jacaranda Club. Most of their work as a backup band was of a more "normal" nature, providing backup for various singers. One of these singers was Johnny Gentle whom they had provided music for during their Scottish tour. Johnny had returned to Liverpool during a free weekend and decided to look up his old backing band, who were appearing at Grosvenor Ballroom. He joined them on stage on July 2, 1961 and performed several numbers with them. Other singers that they provided backup for included Cilla White (later Black) on July 27, 1961, at St. John's Hall, Tuebrook, Liverpool, Johnny Gustafson on August 17, 1961 also at St. John's Hall. Davy Jones (not Davy Jones of The Monkees but a black American singer living in the U.K.) also performed with The Beatles as his backup band on two occasions, November 24, 1961 at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, Wallasey and on December 8, 1961 at the Cavern Club and later that evening for another appearance at the Tower Ballroom.
In August of 1960, the Beatles were engaged to appear in Hamburg, Germany and for this engagement they needed to have a drummer. As chance would have it they happened to visit the Casbah Club and found Pete Best playing with his group the Blackjacks. The Blackjacks were on the verge of breaking up and so Pete Best auditioned as drummer on August 12, 1960. He was hired, and The Beatles left for Germany on August 16, 1960. Having dropped the "Silver" from their name, they were now called simply "The Beatles" and although they now had the name under which they would become famous, there were still several personnel changes that they were to go through before finally becoming the Fab Four.
The first of these changes occurred when Stu Sutcliffe fell in love with Astrid Kirchherr and decided to remain in Germany and resume his art studies. Thus, when The Beatles returned from Germany for the first time, they were short a bass guitarist. Pete Best suggested Ken Brown, but feeling that there might be some hard feelings because of the past, the others rejected that suggestion. Pete next suggested Chas Newby. Chas had been with The Blackjacks (Pete Best's group), and was now attending college, but was on vacation and so agreed to play with The Beatles. He appeared with them for three engagements in December of 1960. John asked him to go to Germany, for the Beatles' second trip, but he chose to return to college and has never had any regrets. The Beatles started 1961 with the bass guitarist's position vacant, this was filled sometime before February 14, 1961 by Paul. Almost complete, the group now featured John on rhythm guitar, George on lead, Paul on bass and Pete Best on drums. Three other things that happened this year that had a significant effect on their careers -- the quitting in April of 1961 of their manager Allan Williams; their recording as a backup band for Tony Sheridan during their second trip to Hamburg; and their "discovery" by Brian Epstein, as a result of that recording.
With the advent of the British Invasion, a great number of rock groups were formed, split up and sometimes reformed as "super groups." On Oct 19, 1961, what could be looked on as one of the first "super groups" was formed for a one night appearance at Town Hall, Litherland, Liverpool. This first "super group" consisted of Liverpool's top two groups, The Beatles and Gerry and The Pacemakers who were both appearing that night along with The Crusiers. Someone suggested that the groups should do a set together, so along with Karl Terry of the Crusiers the two groups performed as "The Beatmakers." Although provided with a number of opportunities to reform, the Beatmakers were strictly a one-night stand band.
Our story of the early Beatles is now almost complete. One more personnel change occurred on August 15, 1962. Pete Best was sacked as the Beatles drummer and replaced by Ringo Starr. For the Beatles appearances on August 16 and August 17, Johnny Hutchinson sat in as drummer. While Ringo's first "official" appearance as The Beatles' drummer was on August 18 at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, Birkenhead. It was not the first time that John, Paul, George and Ringo had appeared together. This actually occurred on February 5, 1962. When Pete Best was unwell and unable to appear with the group, John, Paul and George's first choice as a replacement was Ringo Starr, whom they had known for two years. Ringo appeared with them at the Cavern Club in the afternoon and at the Kingsway Club, Southport in the evening.
With the addition of Ringo as their drummer The Beatles were now complete and the rest, as they say, is history.
The Blackjacks (3/?/57) -- name was used for about one week
John Lennon: guitar
Pete Shotton: washboard
Colin Hanton: drums
Eric Griffiths: guitar
Rod Davis: banjo
Bill Smith: tea-chest bass
Quarry Men (3/?/57--name change)
John Lennon: guitar
Pete Shotton: washboard
Colin Hanton: drums
Eric Griffiths: guitar
Rod Davis: banjo
Bill Smith: tea-chest bass (Smith was replaced after a few weeks by Len Garry.)
Quarry Men(4(?)/?/57)~
John Lennon: guitar
Pete Shotton: washboard
Rod Davis: banjo
Eric Griffiths: guitar
Colin Hanton: drums
Len Garry/Ivan Vaughn: tea-chest bass*
Nigel Whalley: tea-chest bass, manager
~ Paul met John Lennon on Jul. 6, 1957, Len Garry was playing tea-chest bass
that day.
* Either Len Garry or Ivan Vaughn played tea-chest bass depending on who
showed up or who felt like playing. Nigel Whalley would also fill in on
tea-chest bass.
Quarry Men (7/20/57)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
Pete Shotton: washboard ~
Rod Davis: banjo *
Eric Griffiths: guitar
Colin Hanton: drums
Len Garry/Ivan Vaughn *: tea-chest bass
Nigel Whalley*: tea-chest bass, manager
~ Pete Shotton left the group after a performance in Toxteth at a party
thrown by Colin Hanton's aunt. (date unknown)
* Rod (and possibly Nigel) appears to have quit by late 1957. It would seem
that Ivan also quit around this time (if not earlier) as there is no record
of him being with the group when Paul debuted with the Quarrymen in October
of 1957.
Quarry Men (late 1957)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar*
Eric Griffiths, guitar
Colin Hanton, drums
Len Garry: tea-chest bass
Nigel Whalley: manager (?)
* Paul's first performance with the Quarry Men was at the New Clubmoor Hall
on October 18, 1957.
Quarry Men (2/6/58-mid 58)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar *
Eric Griffiths, guitar
Colin Hanton, drums
John "Duff" Lowe was an occasional member in 1958
Nigel Whalley: manager (?)
* George Harrison was introduced to the Quarry Men sometime in early 1958
(most sources give the date as 2/6/58), he would sit in at rehearsals and
performances and eventually took over Eric Griffiths place on guitar. Nigel
Whalley was involved with the "freezing out" of Eric and so may still have
been managing the group.
Quarry Men (mid 58- 1/?/59) *
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar
Colin Hanton, drums
John "Duff" Lowe was an occasional member in 1958
* Sometime in mid 1958 the Quarry Men made a demonstration record, recording
"That'll Be The Day" and "In Spite Of All The Danger," Colin Hanton did not
participate.
Quarry Men (1/?/59)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar *
* George Harrison joined the Les Stewart Quartet in January of 1959. The Les
Stewart Quartet were going to be the resident band at the Casbah Club, but
an argument between Les and Ken caused Ken and George to walk out. George
got in touch with John and Paul and along with Ken Brown they opened the
Casbah Club on 8/29/59.
Quarry Men (8/29/59-10/10/59)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar
Ken Brown: guitar
Johnny and The Moondogs (10/18/59-11/15/59) *
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar
* The name Johnny and The Moondogs was used for their audition on Carroll
Levis' "TV Star Search."
Beatals (1/?/60) * ~
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar
Stu Sutcliffe: bass guitar
* Stu Sutcliffe renamed the group the "Beatals" sometime after joining the
group in Jan. 1960.
~ John and Paul appeared as the Nerk Twins on Apr. 23 and 24 at the Fox And
Hounds, Caversham, Berkshire.
Silver Beetles (5/5/60-6/13/60) * ~
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar
Stu Sutcliffe: bass guitar
Tommy Moore: drums
* Allan Williams became manager around the beginning of May 1960 and
continued as manager until Apr. 1961. Allan secured the services of Tommy
Moore as drummer around May 5, 1960.
~ The group appeared as the Silver Beats on May 14, 1960 during an
appearance at Lathom Hall.
Silver Beatles (July 1960)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar
Stu Sutcliffe: bass guitar
Norman Chapman: drums
Beatles (8/12/60)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar
Stu Sutcliffe: bass guitar
Pete Pest: drums *
* Pete Best auditioned for the Beatles on Aug. 12, 1960.
Beatles (12/17/60-12/31/60)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: guitar
George Harrison: guitar
Chas Newby: bass guitar
Pete Best: drums
The Beatles (1/1/61-8/15/62) * ^
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: bass guitar ~
George Harrison: guitar
Pete Best: drums
* Stu Sutcliffe appeared with the Beatles occasionally during the Beatles
second Hamburg trip.
^ Brian Epstein first saw the Beatles performing at the Cavern Club on Nov.
9, 1961.
~ Paul switched to bass sometime before Feb. 14, 1961.
The Beatles (8/18/62-4/10/70)
John Lennon: guitar
Paul McCartney: bass guitar
George Harrison: guitar
Ringo Starr: drums