Derry and the Seniors
Encyclopedia
Derry and the Seniors were a British
rock and roll
group of the early 1960s. They were the first band from Liverpool
to play the club scene in Germany
, paving the way for The Beatles
and others. As Howie Casey and the Seniors, they were also the first Liverpool group to record an LP
, and featured singer Freddie Fowell
, later known as Freddie Starr.
singer born in Kent Gardens, Toxteth, Liverpool. According to local journalist Bill Harry
, Wilkie's real name was Derek Davis. In 1959, he began singing with a local rock and roll group, the Hy-Tones, who split up at the end of the year. A new band, the Seniors, was then formed by three members of the group - Howie Casey
(saxophone), Billy Hughes (rhythm guitar), and Stan Foster (piano) - together with Brian Griffiths (lead guitar), Paul Whitehead (bass) and Jeff Wallington (drums). Wilkie joined as lead singer, and for the next year the band was usually billed as Derry and the Seniors.
They performed in local venues around Merseyside
, and in May 1960, after appearing in a show headed by Gene Vincent
, were invited to audition for the role of backing band for Liverpool star Billy Fury
. Although they did not win the audition, they were invited by Fury's manager Larry Parnes
to go to London to perform at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho
. A few weeks later, they played at the 2i's, and happened to be seen there by Bruno Koschmider
, a visiting German
club owner who was looking for acts that he could use in his Hamburg
club, the Kaiserkeller
. The Seniors travelled to Germany and played regularly in Hamburg over the summer of 1960, later being joined there by rival Liverpool group, the Beatles
. However, as the group members did not have work permits or visas, they were repatriated to the UK in October 1960. They continued to play local clubs and venues around Liverpool for the rest of 1960, but at the end of the year Wallington and Hughes decided to leave.
At the start of 1961, the group reformed using the name Howie Casey and the Seniors, with Frank Wibberley on drums, and Wilkie sharing vocals with Freddie Fowell. They then signed a recording deal with Fontana Records
, becoming the first beat group from Liverpool to record an LP. The album, Twist At The Top, was issued in February 1962, together with a single, "Double Twist". Two further singles followed in 1962, "I Ain't Mad At You" and "The Boll Weevil Song", but they were not hits. Over the next few months, Whitehead left and was replaced by a succession of bass players including Lu Walters, and Wibberley also left to be replaced by drummer Kenny Hardin, before the group finally broke up in mid 1962.
group, the Pressmen, whose members initially included Richie Prescott (lead guitar), Bob Pears (bass), Phil Kenzie (saxophone), Dave Roberts (saxophone), and Tommy Bennett (drums - later replaced by Aynsley Dunbar
). Derry Wilkie and the Pressmen recorded one track on the Oriole
album, This Is Merseybeat, in 1963. However, the group split up in early 1964, and Wilkie formed another band, usually billed as "Derry Wilkie and the Others", with Kenzie, Bennett, Ernie Hayes (guitar), and Bob Montgomery (bass). After touring in the UK, and playing clubs in Germany, they supported The Alan Price Set at the Marquee Club
in London, in November 1965, billed as Derry Wilkie and the Pressmen. They then worked as the Savages with Screaming Lord Sutch
, before the group split up in 1966. Wilkie gave up the music business soon afterwards. He later lived in Italy
and in London, and died in 2001.
Howie Casey joined Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes
, mainly playing in Germany. After that group split up, he toured in Europe with German-based band The Krew, before returning to the UK in 1970. He played as a session musician
for Marc Bolan
and others, before recording the album Band On The Run
with Paul McCartney and Wings, and recorded and toured worldwide with McCartney until the end of the 1970s.
Freddie Fowell changed his name to Freddie Starr, and led several Liverpool beat groups including Freddie Starr and the Midnighters, before appearing on the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks
and then becoming one of the UK's leading comic performers in the 1970s and 1980s.
An expanded CD version of the album Twist At The Top by Howie Casey and the Seniors was released by Bear Family Records
in 2010.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
group of the early 1960s. They were the first band from Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
to play the club scene in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, paving the way for The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and others. As Howie Casey and the Seniors, they were also the first Liverpool group to record an LP
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
, and featured singer Freddie Fowell
Freddie Starr
Freddie Starr is an English comedian who became famous in the early 1970s. He is also an impressionist and singer, with a chart album After the Laughter and UK Top 10 single, "It's You", in March 1974 to his credit.-Early career:Under his real name, he appeared as a teenager in the film Violent...
, later known as Freddie Starr.
Career
Derry Wilkie (10 January 1941 - 22 December 2001) was a black BritishBlack British
Black British is a term used to describe British people of Black African descent, especially those of Afro-Caribbean background. The term has been used from the 1950s to refer to Black people from former British colonies in the West Indies and Africa, who are residents of the United Kingdom and...
singer born in Kent Gardens, Toxteth, Liverpool. According to local journalist Bill Harry
Bill Harry
Bill Harry is the creator of Mersey Beat, an important newspaper of the early 1960s, which focused on the Liverpool music scene...
, Wilkie's real name was Derek Davis. In 1959, he began singing with a local rock and roll group, the Hy-Tones, who split up at the end of the year. A new band, the Seniors, was then formed by three members of the group - Howie Casey
Howie Casey
Howard William "Howie" Casey is a British rhythm and blues and rock saxophonist. He first came to prominence in the early 1960s as a member of Derry and the Seniors, the first rock and roll band from Liverpool to play clubs in Germany, and later, as leader of the renamed Howie Casey and the...
(saxophone), Billy Hughes (rhythm guitar), and Stan Foster (piano) - together with Brian Griffiths (lead guitar), Paul Whitehead (bass) and Jeff Wallington (drums). Wilkie joined as lead singer, and for the next year the band was usually billed as Derry and the Seniors.
They performed in local venues around Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, and in May 1960, after appearing in a show headed by Gene Vincent
Gene Vincent
Vincent Eugene Craddock , known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula", is considered a significant early example of rockabilly...
, were invited to audition for the role of backing band for Liverpool star Billy Fury
Billy Fury
Billy Fury, born Ronald William Wycherley , was an internationally successful English singer from the late-1950s to the mid-1960s, and remained an active songwriter until the 1980s. Rheumatic fever, which he first contracted as a child, damaged his heart and ultimately contributed to his death...
. Although they did not win the audition, they were invited by Fury's manager Larry Parnes
Larry Parnes
Laurence Maurice "Larry" Parnes was an English pop manager and impresario. He has been described as "the first major British rock manager... Parnes' stable encompassed most of the most successful pre-Beatles British rock singers."...
to go to London to perform at the 2i's Coffee Bar in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
. A few weeks later, they played at the 2i's, and happened to be seen there by Bruno Koschmider
Bruno Koschmider
Bruno Koschmider was a German entrepreneur in Hamburg, Germany best known for employing The Beatles in the early 1960s...
, a visiting German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
club owner who was looking for acts that he could use in his Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
club, the Kaiserkeller
Kaiserkeller
Kaiserkeller is a night club in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg, Germany, near the Reeperbahn. It was opened by Bruno Koschmider on October 14, 1959. The Beatles had a contract with Kaiserkeller to play there in 1960.-Biography:...
. The Seniors travelled to Germany and played regularly in Hamburg over the summer of 1960, later being joined there by rival Liverpool group, the Beatles
The Beatles in Hamburg
The Beatles members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best regularly performed at different clubs in Hamburg, Germany, during the period from August 1960 to December 1962; a chapter in the group's history which honed their performance skills, widened their...
. However, as the group members did not have work permits or visas, they were repatriated to the UK in October 1960. They continued to play local clubs and venues around Liverpool for the rest of 1960, but at the end of the year Wallington and Hughes decided to leave.
At the start of 1961, the group reformed using the name Howie Casey and the Seniors, with Frank Wibberley on drums, and Wilkie sharing vocals with Freddie Fowell. They then signed a recording deal with Fontana Records
Fontana Records
Fontana Records is a record label which was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. In the seventies PolyGram acquired the dormant label....
, becoming the first beat group from Liverpool to record an LP. The album, Twist At The Top, was issued in February 1962, together with a single, "Double Twist". Two further singles followed in 1962, "I Ain't Mad At You" and "The Boll Weevil Song", but they were not hits. Over the next few months, Whitehead left and was replaced by a succession of bass players including Lu Walters, and Wibberley also left to be replaced by drummer Kenny Hardin, before the group finally broke up in mid 1962.
Later activities
After the split, Wilkie joined WallaseyWallasey
Wallasey is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in Merseyside, England, on the mouth of the River Mersey, at the northeastern corner of the Wirral Peninsula...
group, the Pressmen, whose members initially included Richie Prescott (lead guitar), Bob Pears (bass), Phil Kenzie (saxophone), Dave Roberts (saxophone), and Tommy Bennett (drums - later replaced by Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Dunbar
Aynsley Thomas Dunbar is an English drummer. He has worked with some of the top names in rock, including Eric Burdon, John Mayall, Frank Zappa, Ian Hunter, Lou Reed, Jefferson Starship, Jeff Beck, David Bowie, Whitesnake, Sammy Hagar, UFO, and Journey...
). Derry Wilkie and the Pressmen recorded one track on the Oriole
Oriole Records (UK)
Oriole Records was the first British record label founded in 1925 by the London-based Levy Company, which owned a gramophone record subsidiary called Levaphone Records.-History:...
album, This Is Merseybeat, in 1963. However, the group split up in early 1964, and Wilkie formed another band, usually billed as "Derry Wilkie and the Others", with Kenzie, Bennett, Ernie Hayes (guitar), and Bob Montgomery (bass). After touring in the UK, and playing clubs in Germany, they supported The Alan Price Set at the Marquee Club
Marquee Club
The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962....
in London, in November 1965, billed as Derry Wilkie and the Pressmen. They then worked as the Savages with Screaming Lord Sutch
Screaming Lord Sutch
David Edward Sutch , also known as "Screaming Lord Sutch, 3rd Earl of Harrow", or simply "Screaming Lord Sutch", was a musician from the United Kingdom...
, before the group split up in 1966. Wilkie gave up the music business soon afterwards. He later lived in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and in London, and died in 2001.
Howie Casey joined Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes
Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes
Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes were a British rock and roll band, formed in Liverpool in the late 1950s. One of the first beat groups in the Merseyside area, they were a locally popular and influential group who were contemporaries and rivals of The Beatles, and featured Cilla Black as a singer...
, mainly playing in Germany. After that group split up, he toured in Europe with German-based band The Krew, before returning to the UK in 1970. He played as a session musician
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
for Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan
Marc Bolan was an English singer-songwriter, guitarist and poet. He is best known as the founder, frontman, lead singer & guitarist for T. Rex, but also a successful solo artist...
and others, before recording the album Band On The Run
Band on the Run
Band on the Run is an album by Paul McCartney & Wings, released in 1973. It was Wings' third album. It became Wings' most successful album and remains the most celebrated of McCartney's post-Beatles albums...
with Paul McCartney and Wings, and recorded and toured worldwide with McCartney until the end of the 1970s.
Freddie Fowell changed his name to Freddie Starr, and led several Liverpool beat groups including Freddie Starr and the Midnighters, before appearing on the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks
Opportunity Knocks
Opportunity Knocks is a British television and radio talent show originally hosted by Hughie Green, with a late-1980s revival hosted by Bob Monkhouse, and later by previous winner Les Dawson....
and then becoming one of the UK's leading comic performers in the 1970s and 1980s.
An expanded CD version of the album Twist At The Top by Howie Casey and the Seniors was released by Bear Family Records
Bear Family Records
Bear Family Records is a Germany-based independent record label that specializes in reissues of archival material ranging from country music to 1950s rock and roll to old German movie soundtracks.-History:...
in 2010.