chasevans
07-26-2011, 03:47 PM
A Very Special Golden Anniversary – A Cultural Moment (http://www.larrykane.com/2011/07/07/a-very-special-golden-anniversary-a-cultural-momentnt/)
July 07th 2011 — Posted to News Flash (http://www.larrykane.com/category/news-flash/)
This week, in fact yesterday, marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most important events in the cultural history of the world. Fifty years ago, a young man, a friend of John Lennon, and a classmate of his, started something so big, and with such impact. It was called “Mersey Beat. It was a newspaper but no ordinary newspaper.
Bill Harry, and the woman who became his wife, Virginia, brought out the first edition of the newspaper. You might say that Bill captured the market. The germ of the idea began in the late fifties when Bill started taking notes and keeping files on the young men and women who were beginning the explosion of music in the Liverpool region. Of course, he had the “inside”, the early line on the group that began as the Quarrymen evolved into the Silver Beatles and eventually the Beatles. When John’s band was young, Bill Harry helped write their way to success. When Mersey Beat emerged in 1961, it was an almost instant success: a newspaper that chronicled the rise of these amazing young groups, individuals as well as bands, who were playing at church halls, schools, community centers and anywhere they could get on a stage. Soon, Bill and Virginia were proud partners in a paper that sold five thousand copies in its first outing.
To show you how important this couple was: Mersey Beat put the Beatles on the map. A survey taken by the newspaper had them number one in the hearts and minds of the kids in Liverpool. That was a pivotal moment. Harry introduced John Lennon to Stu Sutcliffe, a fellow art student who joined the band. Harry helped arrange Brian Epstein’s first visit to the Cavern nightclub to see “the boys.”
Bill was a key player in the Beatles success. Bill later in his young career became a communications executive for some of the greatest bands in the world, including Led Zeppelin. But he will always be remembered as a journalist whose sense of drama and history and timing was amazing.
His magazine changed rock journalism forever. His style and drive were unstoppable. One of the added benefits was his marriage, a long one. Bill and Virginia live in London, where Bill has written over 20 books on the Mersey Beat and the Beatles.
Bill is one of my primary sources for a book I’m working on covering all the mystery and intrigue that accompanied the Beatles rise to success from 1957 through 1963.
Congratulations to Bill and Virginia Harry.
http://www.examiner.com/beatles-in-national/special-mersey-beat-founder-bill-harry-tells-paper-s-story-on-its-50th-birthday (http://www.examiner.com/beatles-in-national/special-mersey-beat-founder-bill-harry-tells-paper-s-story-on-its-50th-birthday)
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2011/07/22/bill-harry-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-mersey-beat-the-newspaper-he-created-and-edited-100252-29098409/ (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2011/07/22/bill-harry-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-mersey-beat-the-newspaper-he-created-and-edited-100252-29098409/)
http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/merseybeat/ (http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/merseybeat/)
http://issuu.com/liverpool/docs/mersey_beat (http://issuu.com/liverpool/docs/mersey_beat)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A12282905 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A12282905)
Happy anniversary, Bill and Virginia,
Chas
:cha (41):
July 07th 2011 — Posted to News Flash (http://www.larrykane.com/category/news-flash/)
This week, in fact yesterday, marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most important events in the cultural history of the world. Fifty years ago, a young man, a friend of John Lennon, and a classmate of his, started something so big, and with such impact. It was called “Mersey Beat. It was a newspaper but no ordinary newspaper.
Bill Harry, and the woman who became his wife, Virginia, brought out the first edition of the newspaper. You might say that Bill captured the market. The germ of the idea began in the late fifties when Bill started taking notes and keeping files on the young men and women who were beginning the explosion of music in the Liverpool region. Of course, he had the “inside”, the early line on the group that began as the Quarrymen evolved into the Silver Beatles and eventually the Beatles. When John’s band was young, Bill Harry helped write their way to success. When Mersey Beat emerged in 1961, it was an almost instant success: a newspaper that chronicled the rise of these amazing young groups, individuals as well as bands, who were playing at church halls, schools, community centers and anywhere they could get on a stage. Soon, Bill and Virginia were proud partners in a paper that sold five thousand copies in its first outing.
To show you how important this couple was: Mersey Beat put the Beatles on the map. A survey taken by the newspaper had them number one in the hearts and minds of the kids in Liverpool. That was a pivotal moment. Harry introduced John Lennon to Stu Sutcliffe, a fellow art student who joined the band. Harry helped arrange Brian Epstein’s first visit to the Cavern nightclub to see “the boys.”
Bill was a key player in the Beatles success. Bill later in his young career became a communications executive for some of the greatest bands in the world, including Led Zeppelin. But he will always be remembered as a journalist whose sense of drama and history and timing was amazing.
His magazine changed rock journalism forever. His style and drive were unstoppable. One of the added benefits was his marriage, a long one. Bill and Virginia live in London, where Bill has written over 20 books on the Mersey Beat and the Beatles.
Bill is one of my primary sources for a book I’m working on covering all the mystery and intrigue that accompanied the Beatles rise to success from 1957 through 1963.
Congratulations to Bill and Virginia Harry.
http://www.examiner.com/beatles-in-national/special-mersey-beat-founder-bill-harry-tells-paper-s-story-on-its-50th-birthday (http://www.examiner.com/beatles-in-national/special-mersey-beat-founder-bill-harry-tells-paper-s-story-on-its-50th-birthday)
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2011/07/22/bill-harry-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-mersey-beat-the-newspaper-he-created-and-edited-100252-29098409/ (http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-entertainment/echo-entertainment/2011/07/22/bill-harry-celebrates-the-50th-anniversary-of-mersey-beat-the-newspaper-he-created-and-edited-100252-29098409/)
http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/merseybeat/ (http://www.britishmusicexperience.com/merseybeat/)
http://issuu.com/liverpool/docs/mersey_beat (http://issuu.com/liverpool/docs/mersey_beat)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A12282905 (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A12282905)
Happy anniversary, Bill and Virginia,
Chas
:cha (41):