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"Early in 1961, The Beatles came to see me on their return from a trip to Hamburg and presented me with a copy of their first record "My Bonnie" c/w "The Saints." The story I ran on the front cover of the second issue of THE MERSEY BEAT newspaper was illustrated by one of the photographs they'd taken in Germany. The headline read: "Beatles Sign Recording Contract!" and the story provided the background to their recordings. THE MERSEY BEAT story ended with the words: "Bass guitarist Stuart Sutcliffe has remained in Hamburg and will shortly be marrying a German girl. At present he is studying at Hamburg Art College and has an English tutor. The group have no plans for taking another guitarist, but have decided to remain a quartet."
It was the cover story which led the Liverpool youngsters to search for copies of the single and ultimately resulted in Brian Epstein signing The Beatles-the rest is history. As to the sessions themselves: Bert Kaempfert was to tell me that he was seeking a new sound. He was a producer at Polydor Records in Hamburg at the time and had heard of the excitement created by English bands playing in the St. Paul's district. Bert was particularly struck by the vocal abilities of the English singer called Tony Sheridan and arranged to make some recordings with him. Tony asked The beatles is they could provide backing for the sessions and at the first recording gig they cut five numbers in a day. Tony Sheridan took over on lead vocals on four of the numbers "My Bonnie", "The Saints", "Why" and "Nobody's Child" with The Beatles providing musical and vocal backing. The fifth number that day was an instrumental by The Beatles co-written by George Harrison and John Lennon which they'd originally called "Beatle Bop", but finally decided to call "Cry For A Shadow." "Why" had been penned by Sheridan and Bill Compton and "The Saints" had actually been arranged from the Traditional tune by Iain Hines and Del Ward, two members of Sheridans original backing band The Jets, initially playing in Bruno Koschmieder's clubs in the Grosse Freiheit, When the Jets returned to England, Tony remained as a solo singer at the Top Ten Club in the Reeperbahn, recieving musical backing from various musicians, including The Beatles, who backed him for a few days at the club at the end of their first Hamburg trip in 1960.
After their first recording session with Kaempfert, they immediately returned to the studio and cut a further two tracks, "If You Love Me Baby" and "Ain't She Sweet". The first featured Tony on lead vocals while "Ain't She Sweet" was performed by The Beatles with John Lennon on lead vocals. The "If You love Me Baby" track has also become known as "Take Out Some Insurance On Me, Baby". In May 1962, Tony Sheridan and The Beatles returned to the studio one more time and recorded "Sweet Georgia Brown."
When the first single "My Bonnie" and "The Saints" was issued in Germany in October 1961, the number was credited by Tony Sheridan & The Beat Brothers. Producer Kaempfert had decided on The Beat Brothers name in preference to that of The Beatles. This has since caused some confusion to chroniclers because Sheridan continues to record for Polydor ith various musicians and the released records continued to credit his backing musicians with the name The Beat Brothers.
The Beatles themselves, John, Paul, George, and Pete Best, only participated in the eight tracks mentioned above. Rikki Barnes, a tenor sax player from Scotland teamed up with organist Roy Young, bass guitarist Colin Malander and drummer Johnny Watson to record "Let's Dance", "Ya Ya", and "What'd I Say" and on "Ruby Baby" Tony was backed by Joey Dee's Band The Starliters. The American Band, who became famous at New York's Peppermint Lounge, had been appearing at Hamburg's Star Club at the time.
The sessions in which The Beatles backed Tony in a hall in Hamburg were the first professional recordings they'd been involved in. Previously, the only recording they'd made was an amateur effort in a small booth at Hamburg railway station during which they backed Lu Walter's singer with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes, on three numbers.
Bert Kaempfert had arranged to pick The beatles up and drive them to their first session, but arrived at the rendezvous to find them cpnspicuous by their absence. He tracked them down to the small room where they were living and found they were still asleep! Bert was obviously taken in their boyish charm and humor and they acquitted them well on the recordings. The recordings have become a slice of history and are an essential ingrediant in the story of the rise of the twentieth century's most enduring and endearing pop entertainers."-Bill Harry, 1985
"I first met The Beatles in Hamburg in 1960 when I was playing in a new club just around the corner from the Reeperbahn.
They were working at a place just down the road, as I later found out, and every night when they were through they used to come up and watch us. I remember noticing them the first time they came. They wore cowboy boots, leather jackets and - at the time- contemporary haircuts. Well, we gradually got to know each other, and I got to enjoy their visits. I remember being very inpressed by their musical eagerness, and personalitywise also they made a great impression on me.
After a while they went back to Liverpool to play at the Cavern, I think, but then returned to Hamburg some time later in 1961 when I was playing at the Top Ten club on the Reeperbahn. I was without a band at that time, and so we got together. They backed me in my solo numbers, and I played guitar with them when they did their spots. We all shared a room together, too, over the Top Ten. It was really an attic with bunk beds in tho tiers! Those were the great days. We didn't have a lot of free time really, because when you work at night you've got to sleep during the daytime, and very often there is only time to eat a snack between getting out of bed and going onto the stage. The Beatles had quite a few rhythm n' blues discs, mostly Chuck Berry and comparatively unknown singers. They had a great talent for finding unusual records.
Sometimes we went down to the British Seaman's Mission near the Harbour. We could get (almost!) English Food there. And talking about food, another place we went to a lot was a typical German "Imbiss" on the Grosse Freiheit called Harold's. The Beatles always ate cornflakes with milk (at one time that seemed to be their staple diet)-and we all had tea!
One night, Bert Kaempfert came into the Top Ten, introduced himself as an A&R man and record producer and asked us if we would like to record for Polydor. We said O.K., and the result of the first recording session was MY BONNIE, THE SAINTS, CRY FOR A SHADOW, and WHY. Bert Kaempfert and all the other guys at the diskery were very excited about the waxings, but we didn't think very much of them, and although MY BONNIE as a single release sold quite well in Germany, nothing fantastic happened at the time.
Looking back now, I can only agree with Bert Kaempfert when he said the following words upon being asked by a newspaper reporter why he let The Beatles out of their Polydor contract: "It was obvious to me that they were enormously talented, but nobody -including the boys themselves- knew how to use that talent or where it would lead them."
Just for the record, I'd like to mention here tat there were five Beatles in those days: John Lennon, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Pete Best (who was replaced later by Ringo Starr) and Stuart Sutcliffe, who died so tragically in Hamburg. John, Paul, George, and Pete are the original Beatles heard on this disc.
Their engagement at the Top Ten finished and they went back home to Liverpool once more. I formed a band to play in the Top Ten for a period, the drummer of which I had secured on a visit to Liverpool-a boy by the name of Ringo Starr. This engagement finished, and Ringo Went home, but he reappeared at the opening night of the Star Club in Hamburg, playing with The Beatles. I was also on the bill of that first show...and you can imagine the reunion!
The Star Club audience loved The Bealtes because they were different in every way from all the other groups who worked there. They were great individualists, enormously high spirited and enjoyed playing pranks. They gave everybody their money's worth-and a few headashes into the baegain! On stage, they sometimes wore their leather suits(these we all had made together in the Top Ten days), and sometimees their usual collarless jackets. Their hair styles weren't quite what they are today-but well on the way. Another thing that struck me was their sunny outlook on life. It wasn't often that they were to be seen in low spirits. They were very self-assures; in fact they gave me the impression of unconsciously knowing that they would get somewhere one day; their confidence was very infectious.
Their last appearance in Hamburg included Christmas 1963/3 at the star Club, after which they returned to England and ha their unprecedented rise to fame. The rest is history."-Tony Sheridan, 1970
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