LES MAGUIRE died aged 81 on November 25, 2023. He was the last surviving member of Gerry and the Pacemakers, the Merseybeat group formed by Gerry Marsden in 1959 who rivalled The Beatles during the early Sixties.
A keyboardist and saxophonist, Maguire joined the band in 1961, replacing the group’s original pianist Arthur Macmahon. Along with The Beatles, the Pacemakers were regulars at the Cavern Club in Liverpool and the bands travelled to Hamburg together, sharing a flat. On one memorable night in 1961 they combined forces as the Beatmakers for a gig at Litherland Town Hall.
In May 1962 Gerry and the Pacemakers were signed by Brian Epstein, who had signed The Beatles in January the same year, and who secured them a deal with Columbia Records.
After The Beatles had had a moderate success with Love Me Do, their producer, George Martin, wanted them to record How Do You Do It? a Tin Pan Alley song by Mitch Murray. The Beatles recorded it but disliked its chirpiness and persuaded Martin to release their own composition, Please Please Me instead.
Epstein then gave How Do You Do It? to the Pacemakers and the song made it to No 1 in April 1963, several weeks before The Beatles’ first official chart-topper From Me to You (though Please Please Me had already reached No 1 in other UK charts). The Pacemakers’ next two singles, I Like It and You’ll Never Walk Alone also made it to No 1, making them the first act to top the UK singles chart with their first three releases – a record they held for two decades.
You’ll Never Walk Alone, a tear-jerking ballad written by Rodgers and Hammerstein for the musical Carousel, was taken up by Liverpool FC fans and became the best-known anthem in football.
Gerry and the Pacemakers followed in The Beatles’ wake as part of the “British invasion” of the United States.