In the beginning THE BEATLES AND ME BY BILL HARRY

INTERVIEW BY SEAN EGAN

Bill Harry is the Forrest Gump or Zelig of The Beatles’ story. A fellow attendee of Liverpool College Of Art with John Lennon and friend of the band, he was eyewitness to, and even instigator of, many momentous events in their career. He also unwittingly gave a type of music a name with the paper he founded to celebrate Liverpool’s vibrant music scene, Mersey Beat, a publication which almost certainly – and contrary to the legend of “Raymond Jones” – first brought The Beatles to the attention of Brian Epstein.

Epstein later persuaded Harry to turn Mersey Beat into a national music paper, Music Echo, after he became convinced the Merseybeat boom was over. Harry resigned from the newspaper over interference from Epstein and began working in PR, at the same time as continuing to write about music for various publications, including The Beatles Book when it was resurrected in the late 1970s. The Kinks, The Hollies and Led Zeppelin are just some of the three dozenplus acts for whom Harry handled publicity before tiring of that profession in 1984. After launching magazines Tracks and Idols, he turned to writing books.

What was the earliest gig you saw played by the future members of The Beatles?

The first time I saw them was in the late 50s at the art college. I introduced Stuart [Sutcliffe, bass player …

by SEAN EGAN
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