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Gerry & the Pacemakers was a British rock and roll group during the 1960s, and one of the few groups to challenge the Beatles in popularity. Like the Beatles, they came from Liverpool and were also managed by Brian Epstein.

Gerry Marsden formed the group in the late 1950s with Fred Marsden (his brother), Les Chadwick and Arthur Mack. They rivalled the Beatles early in their career, playing in the same areas of Hamburg, Germany and Liverpool, England. They began recording in 1963 with "How Do You Do It?"; the song became a #1 hit.

Their next two songs, "I Like It" and "You'll Never Walk Alone", both reached no. 1 in the UK -- the first time this feat had ever been achieved (first three singles by a performer all reach no. 1). Despite this early success, Gerry and the Pacemakers never had another number one single in the UK.

Marsden began writing most of their own songs, including "It's All Right" and "Ferry Cross the Mersey". The band also starred in a moderately successful film called Ferry Cross the Mersey. By 1965, though, their popularity was rapidly declining on both sides of the Atlantic and they soon seemed un-hip. They disbanded in 1966 (see 1966 in music). Gerry Marsden maintained a career as a television personality, and starred in the West End musical, Charlie Girl.

After the breakup Fred Marsden went to work for British Telecom. He put his drum kit in his garage and never touched it again. Leslie Maguire joined the Royal Navy, and is occasionally recognized playing piano in the Wallasey area. Les Chadwick moved to Australia, where he formed a successful employment agency.

Discography

• How Do You Like It? (October 1963)
• Don't Let The Sun Catch You Crying (July 1964)
• Gerry & the Pacemakers' Second Album (November 1964)
• I'll Be There! (February 1965)

The first Gerry & the Pacemakers hit "How do you do it" was initially turned down by Adam Faith before George Martin listened to a demo at the publishers.It was offered to the then flegling Beatles for their 2nd single but they also turned it down as they wanted to do their own songs rather than Tin Pan Alley ones.They did,however,record the song and its been issued many times since on bootlegs before an official one via the Anthology. The groups next 2 singles "I like it" and "You'll never walk alone" were also chart toppers giving the group a hat trick never to be touched until Frankie Goes To Hollywood repeated it in the 80s. The choice for the 3rd single was the Beatles song "Hello little girl" but with a demand for the "Carousel" song the recording was shelved finally appearing nearly 40 years later on the Abbey Road series of CDs.The song became the first Fourmost hit. In America a different series of Gerry & the Pacemakers singles was issued as well as the Laurie label creating more albums and at least 2 singles which were never issued in England till the CD named above. Gerry Marsden with a new set of Pacemakers has made over twice as many albums than he did in the 60s,including one of Beatles songs.In the 80s he returned to top the charts as part of The Crowd. In 2001 he recorded a Lennon tribute called "Much Missed Man",written 20 years earlier by musician Joe Flannery

External Links

• British Bands:

• British musical groups
• Music from Liverpool, England