Gerry Marsden

 On Monday I heard the sad news about Gerry Marsden of the legendary British rock group of the 60's Gerry and The pacemakers passed away on 4KQ and they played some of the big hits like Ferry Cross The Mersey and How Do You Do It. I first heard of Gerry and the Pacemakers in the early 90's mainly through 4KQ on Jukebox Saturday Night as well as having an Time Life tape of 1964 which I had I'm the One and I didn't actually have an greatest hits CD of Gerry and the Pacemakers until 1995 when I bought one in early that year at K Mart Cannon Hill  when in those times you can get CD's. I got to see Gerry Marsden live 4 times which the first was at the British 60's concert at Festival Hall Brisbane Saturday February 11th 1995 with an friend Emma and I remember he and the Pacemakers were the last act on the bill which they did many of the hits which I remember it started with How Do You Do It as well as the other classics before finishing the set I think with You'll never Walk Alone and then the others 60's British acts Billy J Kramer, Hermans Hermits with Barry Whitwam, Brian Poole, the Manfreds and Mike Pender of the Searchers coming on stage doing I Saw Her Standing There which finished the night and it was FANTASTIC. Then second time I saw Gerry was the Reelin and Rockin Show at Kedron Wavell Thursday February 14th 2002  which it had besides from Gerry there was Mike Pender (The Searchers), Dave Berry, Brian Poole (The Tremeloes) and Mike D'Abo (Manfred Mann aka The Manfreds) as well as the Nolans  and they did some of their famous hits as well as other rock songs  which was FANTASTIC. The 3rd time was at Twin Towns  Saturday June 7th 2003  which it was my very first Wintersun appearance and it was an FANTASTIC show  which it was the same line up. The 4th and last time I would get to see Gerry was at Kedron Wavell Friday March 18th 2011  which it had the All Stars being the support act as well as Backing up Gerry  and did an FANTASTIC set doing the classic hits  and after the show Gerry came out to sign autographs as well as having photos which I got an autograph and an photo and also I am glad to have to got that which I will treasure it. Gerry and the Pacemakers were formed in 1959 which they played around Liverpool as well as Hamburg Germany and signed with Brian Epstein who would managed them as well as signing them with Columbia(EMI) and  they  would achieve great success between 1963-66 with an string of classics How Do You Do It written by Mitch Murray as well as I Like It, the classic You'll Never Walk Alone which it's an soccer anthem  at the soccer games , I'm The One, It's Gonna Be Alright, Ferry Cross The Mersey,  I'll Be There , Girl On A Swing and many others  and they sound an great today as it did back then. They did an version of the Nat King Cole song Pretend which was from the How DO You Like It album in 1963 was an hit only in Australia in 1965  which went to number 17 in Australia, number 7 in Adelaide, number 16 in Brisbane, number 49 in Melbourne, number 29 in Perth and number 13 in Sydney. They had 2 British LP's How Do You Like It and Ferry Cross The Mersey which was an soundtrack from the movie of the same name that they did along with Cilla Black and the Fourmost and 4 American LP's. They made their first Australian tour April 1964 with Dusty Springfield, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes and Gene Pitney  which included Brisbane at Festival Hall April 20th and did an TV Special on Channel 7 with Johnny O'Keefe called The Liverpool Sound which it exists. They also did the TAMI show in October 1964  with Jan and Dean, The Supremes, James Brown, Marvin Gaye, The Beach Boys, Lesley Gore and others. Gerry and the Pacemakers disbanded in 1967 and Gerry went on to do musical theatre including Charlie Girl and Pull Both Ends as well as releasing solo singles including Gilbert Green, Please Let Them Be and Liverpool as well as recording 2 of his hits You'll Never Walk Alone in 1985 with the Crowd which included Kiki Dee, Tony Hicks of the Hollies, Colin Blunstone of the Zombies, Frank Allen of the Searchers, Motorhead and others for charity as 56 people died at the Bradford Football Club stadium fire which went to number 1 in the UK and in 1989 after the Hillsborough disaster which 96 Liverpool FC died he re-recorded Ferry Cross the  Mersey with Paul McCartney, The Christians, Holly Johnson and Stock Aitken and Waterman which went to number 1 in the UK. In the early 70's he reformed the Pacemakers  and would tour the UK as well as Europe, USA, Australia and New Zealand  which would last until he retired from live performing in 2018. It is sad that he has passed away  but he has left behind an great legacy of music  that has stood the test of time  and will live on forever. He had an great band with  great players  his brother Freddie on drums, Les Maguire on Piano and Les  Chadwick on bass  and out of the classic line up only Les Maguire is the only surviving member as Freddie passed away in 2006 and Les Chadwick in 2019 and  Gerry and the Pacemakers should be considered for an Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, Thank You for the music and the memories Gerry Marsden.