beatles tour with helen shapiro

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The Beatles Are an Opening Band

Brow Beat is  following the Beatles in “real time,”  50 years later, from their first chart-topper to their final rooftop concert. In our latest weekly installment, we check in with the group as they head out on tour, in support of Helen Shapiro.

Still from YouTube.

Fifty years ago this week, the Beatles were an opening band. They were about to set out on what would become a grueling year of touring, and, on their first tour, they were listed dead-last on a six-band bill. The headliner was the far more popular Helen Shapiro, who was only 16 or 17 years old. The response to their early shows was often tepid, but they were eager for whatever exposure they could get. “Someone saying he was called Brian Epstein was ringing from Liverpool,” promoter Arthur Howes later recalled. “ He said he had a great group, was there anything I could fit them into? ” Howes remembers them as just “another group with a funny name,” but he booked them with the simple hope of turning a profit.

The English countryside was a bit dull for the band just back from their wild days in Hamburg . During the long bus rides, Lennon and McCartney would move to the back of the bus to work on new songs, often in hopes of selling those songs to Shapiro and others. But Ringo still recalls that they were happy to be there. “ Helen was the star ,” Starr said. “She had the telly in her dressing room and we didn’t have one. We had to ask her if we could watch hers. We weren’t getting packed houses, but we were on the boards, man.” You can get a sense of what the tour was like from this 1963 clip from Ready, Steady, Go! While the clip is from the following fall, it’s still Shapiro who takes center stage for the performance, as she serenades Lennon, Starr, and Harrison in turn. (Paul apparently lost the coin toss but can be spotted in the background.) The Beatles display a characteristically mischievous sense of humor, but Shapiro is unquestionably the star:

When the Beatles finally hit No. 1 with “ Please Please Me ,” in the middle of the tour, things began to change. Soon they were getting as much applause as the headliner—and this created some tension. “All the people coming to the show were just waiting for The Beatles,” Harrison later remembered. “ It was embarrassing, because she was a very nice person .” This is characteristic of the Beatles’ relationship with Shapiro. They liked her, and she even had a crush on John (who was secretly a married man), but he dismissed her music as “ mush .” A few months later they toured with one of their heroes, Roy Orbison. They shared top billing. Previously in Blogging the Beatles Where’s Yoko? On John Cage’s Piano Edition How a Black Label Brought the Beatles to America The Beatles Say Goodbye to Hamburg The Beatles Hit the Airwaves The Beatles Rise Up the Charts The Beatles Record Their First No. 1

The Beatles Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour

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The Beatles' first English tour lasted from 2 February 1963 until 3 March 1963. The Beatles were fourth on an eleven-act bill headed by 16-year-old Londoner, Helen Shapiro. Other acts on the tour were the Red Price Band, The Kestrels, The Honeys (UK), Dave Allen, Kenny Lynch and Danny Williams. They were also joined briefly by Billie Davis during the latter part of the tour.

The tour was organised by the Arthur Howes Agency. This was the first time that the Beatles had worked with Howes.

Programme [ ]

The programme for the tour was:

• Red Price Band
• The Beatles
• Danny Williams
• The Kestrels
• Kenny Lynch
• Helen Shapiro

Set list [ ]

The Beatles typical set list for the shows was as follows (with lead singers noted):

• "Chains" (George Harrison)
• "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" (John Lennon)
• "A Taste of Honey" (Paul McCartney)
• "Please Please Me" (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)

Two other songs were used as prepared alternatives during the tour:

• "Love Me Do" (Paul McCartney / John Lennon)
• "Beautiful Dreamer" (Paul McCartney)

• Beatles Tours

The Helen Shapiro Tour

by admin · Published July 14, 2008 · Updated January 18, 2023

February 5, 1963. Backstage at the Gaumont Cinema, Doncaster, the second stop on the Helen Shapiro tour.

This is the story of The Beatles/Helen Shapiro tour of 1963. It used to be in eight parts when we first published it in 2008, but here is the full article assembled from these bits and pieces. 1963 was when they “hit it big” in Britain, and started getting hits also in other European countries. This is the beginning. Their second single “Please Please Me” was released on January 11, and went to number one on the British charts on February 22nd. They had begun a nationwide tour with Helen Shapiro on February 2nd at the bottom of the bill.

Advertisement for the opening night in Bradford

Helen Shapiro was only 14 when she recorded the hit single, “Walkin’ Back To Happiness” in 1961. It went to number 1 on the singles charts in the UK, Ireland, New Zealand, Israel and South Africa. In the early 1960s Helen Shapiro was England’s top selling female artist, and this was her biggest selling single. Shapiro never wanted to record this song, as she felt it sounded too corny and old-fashioned to appeal to her fans. Shapiro says in 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, “I was brought up on blues and jazz and I thought Walkin’ Back To Happiness was corny – all that ‘woop-bah-oh-yea-yeah.’ I still don’t like the song but everyone goes mad for it so I’ve been proved wrong. That kind of rhythm was not my scene and I didn’t really want to do it. I preferred the B-side, Kiss And Run, which was written by Norrie Paramour.”

Shapiro’s single also spent one week at #100​ in the Billboard top 100 US chart – Shapiro’s only chart entry there.

“Brian telephoned Arthur Howes about booking the group. The Beatles had ‘Love Me Do’ on the charts at the time but were relatively unknown. Howes, one of Britain’s leading concert promoters, offered the Beatles £30 a night for the Helen Shapiro tour and wouldn’t pay them at all for a performance with Frank Ifield beyond traveling expenses. Brian responded by giving Howes first option on all future Beatle tours.” (Lewisohn. Chronicle p. 62)

With their first prestigious British tour scheduled to start on February 2nd, The Beatles decided once more to improve the appearance of their stage equipment. Starr’s name had to be taken off the front of his drum-head. After all, the group were going to be seen by thousands of new potential fans during their first real tour. They didn’t want people walking away after the performance wondering what the band was called … or thinking it might be The Ringo Starr Band. It was time to design a Beatles logo for the front of the bass drum.

Development of the “bug logo” for the bass drum

Various drawings that McCartney made for a Beatles logo were published in his brother Mike’s 1981 book, The Macs. These interesting documents show the preliminary sketches that would eventually become the group’s “bug” logo. The ideas were taken to a local signwriter in Liverpool, Tex O’Hara, whose brother Brian was guitarist in another Epstein-managed band, The Fourmost.

Tex explains, “We played around with different ideas to find out. which ones they liked. I did about live to ten drawings – which I’ve still got – and showed them to the group. They settled on one logo, which was put on a piece of linen and stretched across the front of the drum.” This second bass-drum head on Starr’s Premier drum set was plain while, without the Premier brandname and with the new Beatle “bug” logo. This had a script-style “Beatles”, the “B” of which was decorated with two bug-like antennae. It was simply drawn on a piece of cloth that was stretched across the drum head, and held down with the bass-drum’s mounting hoops.

At “Thank your lucky stars” on TV, February 17 during the break in the Helen Shapiro tour. Original colours.

Tex recalled in 1983: “All I can remember is they were shown to the group in a flat in Ullet Road, Toxteth, and John added a small Beetle to the top of the letter B, and Paul put one on top of the letter L.”

McCartney played his Höfner bass, Harrison and Lennon both used their Gibson J-160E acoustic-electric guitars, and Starr played his Premier drum set with the new “bug” Beatles logo displayed on the front drum head.

The tour acts (from the printed programme)

THE BEATLES / HELEN SHAPIRO TOUR 1963

• 2 February Gaumont, Bradford
• 5 February Gaumont, Doncaster
• 6 February Granada, Bedford
• 7 February Regal, Kirkgate
• 8 February ABC, Carlisle
• 9 February Empire, Sunderland
• 23 February Granada, Mansfield
• 24 February Coventry Theatre, Coventry
• 26 February Gaumont, Taunton
• 27 February Rialto, York
• 28 February Granada, Shrewsbury
• 1 March Odeon, Southport
• 2 March City Hall, Sheffield
• 3 March Gaumont, Hanley

The Shapiro tour carried on after the break, and the group continued to use their familiar equipment. But Lennon was again having problems with his Rickenbacker. The Homer volume knobs that he had put on the guitar when it was painted black started to fall off: first one, then another. Lennon used the Rickenbacker with two knobs missing for a while before he once again replaced them all with a new set of Burns knobs.

Handbill for the Sheffield concerts

With the immediate radio success of the new song, coupled with their second appearance on the Thank Your Lucky Stars television program on February 17th, they quickly moved to second only to Shapiro on the tour bill. The Shapiro tour ended on March 3rd, the day after this Sheffield date, which was two days after John and Paul wrote “From Me To You” on the tour bus, the song quickly recorded as the Beatles’ third single on March 5th. The three famous package tours with the Beatles started with this Helen Shapiro tour, continued with the Chris Montez/Tommy Roe tour and ended with the Roy Orbison tour. After that, the Beatles were on their own and had their first tour of another country, Sweden.

Would Bill Berry have acted differently if he’d known who the four young men in leather jackets were, and what they would become?

Berry approached them, had a quiet word, and the four leather jackets slipped away into obscurity. Well, not quite. John, Paul, George and Ringo managed to bounce back from the snub they suffered in Cumberland in 1963. More than one billion records sold and a legacy as the greatest act in popular music are testament to that.

The night the Beatles were asked to leave the Crown and Mitre ballroom has long been a part of Fab Four and Carlisle legend. And the story has now been told for the first time by one of the stars who was there. Not one of the Beatles, but the singer who topped the bill on their first nationwide tour. Helen Shapiro was only 16 when she arrived in Carlisle with the Beatles on Friday February 8, 1963. Shapiro had already had two number one singles while Beatlemania was on the verge of exploding.

Recalling this tour years later, Ringo Starr said: “Helen was the star. She had the telly in her dressing room and we didn’t have one. We had to ask her if we could watch hers.” The soon-to-be-Fab Four’s second single, Please Please Me, was riding high when they played the ABC Cinema – later to become the Lonsdale – on Warwick Road.

The Beatles played two sets of four songs that night. Three of the songs – “Chains”, “A Taste Of Honey” and “Please Please Me” – were favourites from their Cavern set list and would soon appear on their debut album. The fourth was “Keep Your Hands Off My Baby”, a song they only ever recorded for the radio.

John and Helen in Southport, March 1 (newspaper clipping)

After the show the Beatles, Helen Shapiro and entertainer Kenny Lynch travelled a few hundred yards through Carlisle city centre to the Crown and Mitre. In the book – Legends On Tour: The Pop Package Tours Of The 1960s – Shapiro describes what happened next: “We were in the lobby area. Kenny and the Beatles were having a drink and I was having a cup of tea. This fellow was going into the banqueting suite when he saw us. He was really chuffed and asked us to go in. We weren’t interested. They were all dressed up and it wasn’t our kind of thing. We were just having a quiet drink, but he was really insistent. They had a buffet in there and that probably swung it. We never seemed to get much to eat on tour. We went to the buffet table and had something to eat. Ringo was particularly enjoying the food. Then we went on the dance floor – we may have still been eating.”

“I think I was twisting with Ringo. There were these ladies with their long gowns who made a beeline for the Beatles in their leather gear. Then suddenly this guy came over, a much older man, and he was huffing and puffing, getting red in the face. He ordered us to leave. ‘Who invited you?’ he asked. It was a shame really because nobody seemed to have a problem with us, apart from the one bloke.”

Helen was mortified when a national newspaper picked up the story. “The Daily Express headline was something like ‘Helen Shapiro Asked To Leave Golf Club Dance’. It referred to Helen Shapiro and ‘The instrumental group the Four Beatles’ being asked to leave. I was mortified. I thought that would be the end of me. I was only 16 and that sort of thing was not something to be proud of then. I never found out for certain who tipped off the press.”

Helen Shapiro with John and Ringo in Southport, March 1.

Dr George Jolly, who was a GP in Carlisle for many years and a long-time member of Carlisle Golf Club, was at the Crown and Mitre that night. Dr Jolly died in 2006 at the age of 91. Speaking to the News & Star several years ago, his memory of the evening was still clear: “The annual dance was a dinner-jacket affair in those days. I was the golf club’s vice-captain that year. The captain was a bluff Yorkshireman called Bill Berry. I was having a meal with Bill and his wife and my wife. Somebody had introduced four rather scruffy young men into the dance. They were leather-jacketed and all the rest. We saw them across the room and Bill said to me ‘I think we should ask them to leave. What do you think?’ I said ‘Yes, I think maybe we should.’ I didn’t recognise them and neither did Bill. They were just coming into their fame. Bill went across to have a word with them. They left without any ill-feeling. I suppose it is something to say you were involved in asking The Beatles to leave.”

Music promoter Andy Park saw the Beatles at the ABC that night, although he heard very little because of the fans’ screaming. He did hear about the Crown and Mitre incident though, soon after it happened. “I was in the 101 Club on Botchergate a couple of hours afterwards and people were talking about it. At the time I had no idea that The Beatles were going to be so big or last so long. Nobody knew. We thought pop music was only going to last six months. You had to be there at shows like this or you’d miss it.”

Helen Shapiro met the Beatles again on the TV Show “Ready Steady Go”.

Two days after leaving the Crown and Mitre the Beatles were at EMI’s Abbey Road studios in London where they recorded the bulk of their first album, “Please Please Me”, in just 10 hours. This album propelled them to the stardom which has never waned.

It seems the Beatles did not hold a grudge over their treatment in Carlisle. Nine months later they played the ABC again – and stayed at the Crown and Mitre again. In 2001, Paul McCartney proposed to Heather Mills at Ullswater’s Sharrow Bay Hotel. And the following year McCartney revealed that he likes to shop in Carlisle – because he is rarely recognised in the city.

February 7. at the Regal in Kirkgate (Colourised)

Support act The Honeys was a British group, consisting of three sisters in close harmony. Their true surname was Liddell and they began ca. 1952 as the Liddell Triplets. By 1963 two had married so their names were Pearl Liddell, Anita Lockhart and Vilma Harvey.

After the break in the tour, The Beatles got second billing on the tour’s advertisements.

They also got a full page in the concert programme.

This is the Beatles’ page from the official programme of the Helen Shapiro Tour. It reads:

THE BEATLES

The Beatles hit recorders of “Love Me Do” are no newcomers to show business, the group was formed way back in 1956 when the grind and scratch of skiffle was just starting to graze the pop horizon. So their breakthrough on records is backed by six years of maturing musical notions and practical experience which has taken them from Liverpool ballrooms to Hamburg night clubs, from church hall hops to colourful strip club stints in Liverpool’s China town.

Now the boys have outgrown their rock and skiffle phases to explode onto the highly competitive musical scene as a thoroughly groomed super-charged quartet.

They have played package shows alongside such top line artistes as Bruce Channel, Little Richard, Joe Brown (who thought they were fabulous) , Mike Berry, Gene Vincent, Mr. Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball on their respective tours.

Their latest recording “Please Please Me” looks destined for parade honours.

In an earlier version of the programme, they didn’t have that much space and were sandwiched between some of the other acts on the tour.

Earlier version of the programme

The front page of the programme

A story from the final night of the tour, the concerts were held at the Gaumont Cinema, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent

My fish and chip supper with The Beatles

John, dancing with Helen on the Ready Steady Go TV Show

This story was published 19 February 2000 at Regional press news – now gone to internet heaven, but preserved here.

Derek Adams, a former journalist on The Sentinel, Stoke, and the Derby Evening Telegraph, recalls the night in 1963 when he shared a fish and chip supper with the Fab Four ….and the prediction he made about their futures.

“Were you part of Beatlemania in the Swinging Sixties?”

– Part of them! I actually shared a fish and chips supper with the four lads in 1963 and recall John Lennon making chip sandwiches, Paul McCartney pouring tomato sauce over everything he ate, George Harrison drinking his hot tea direct from a saucer and Ringo Starr mistakenly shaking sugar on his chips instead of salt.

The Fab Four had earlier appeared for a one night two-house gig at the Gaumont Cinema, Hanley, Stoke-on-Trent, and as a junior reporter with the Stoke-on-Trent Evening Sentinel (a sister paper of the Derby Evening Telegraph for whom I later worked) I was sent along to review the whole programme for the paper’s Out and About section. Helen Shapiro was billed as the star of the show. The Beatles were the third act down on the official programme.

– I had certainly heard of Helen Shapiro. The name The Beatles was somewhat vague to me.I watched both ‘houses’ from the wings adjoining the stage at the Gaumont and recall The Beatles larking around and pushing each other before they actually appeared before the screaming hordes that had solidly packed the venue. When they finished their act they were all bathed in perspiration and both John and Paul dunked their heads beneath the dressing room’s cold water tap.

– We chatted in the dressing room for about three-quarters-of-an-hour, which included the official interval, while girls screamed at the dressing room window from the outside pavement below us. Ringo actually chucked a glass of water through the open dressing room window to the delight of the screamers.

– Following the second ‘house’ I was just about to leave the Gaumont at 11.30pm when John Lennon said to me: “Hey Wack, where can we get some fish and chips at this time of night and without the fans leering and screaming at us?” I knew of a fish and chip shop in an area known as Etruria, near Hanley, where you could sit at tables in the back of the shop. It also served bread and butter and tea. It was arranged that The Beatles follow my car in their Transit van and that we all dine together. I too had not eaten throughout that eventful evening. The meal lasted about an hour amid much laughter and joking and the occasional chip being rescued from someone’s cup of tea.

– The overnight digs for The Beatles was with a theatrical landlady who lived at 6 Adventure Place, Hanley. When the bill arrived for the meal there was much arguing among The Beatles on who would foot the bill. John said he had paid for a meal for all of them the night before and Paul and George said something similar about other evenings. Ringo eventually coughed up.

– We eventually said our good nights and off trundled The Beatles in their van. I returned to my lonely bed-sitter in an area known as Basford.

– Oh yes, that review …

– My piece that appeared in the Out and About section of the Evening Sentinel read along these lines: “A pleasant boy band typical of many others of this time but who could just make the very competitive pop scene if only they could make another hit record”.

‘Tis true, I tell you!

Helen Shapiro in the EMI Studio in Abbey Road, recording her hit single, “Walkin’ Back To Happiness”:

Tags: Shapiro

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Hey that’s right, I saw the Beatles at the Regal in Wakefield, but the number of times in Books and on the net you see it as ABC or even Odeon is unbelivable !!

I was introduced to Helen via reading about this tour. IMO Helen is the greatest female vocalist of our times.

Besides a great voice, incredibly sexy young woman. If she was not so young, John Lennon would have been all over her. Don’t’ know why she did not have success in the States.

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Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour

Winter 1963 UK Tour

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From Wikipedia :

The Beatles first UK nationwide tour lasted from 2 February 1963 until 3 March 1963. The Beatles were fourth on an eleven-act bill headed by 16-year-old Londoner, Helen Shapiro. Other acts on the tour were the Red Price Band, The Kestrels, The Honeys(UK), Dave Allen, Kenny Lynch and Danny Williams. They were also joined briefly by Billie Davis during the latter part of the tour. The tour was organised by the Arthur Howes Agency. This was the first time that the Beatles had worked with Howes. […]

Last updated on April 27, 2019

14 concerts • 1 country

United Kingdom • Stoke-on-Trent • Gaumont Cinema

Mar 03, 1963

United Kingdom • Sheffield • Sheffield City Hall

Mar 02, 1963

United Kingdom • Southport • Odeon Cinema

Mar 01, 1963

United Kingdom • Shrewsbury • Granada Theatre

Feb 28, 1963

United Kingdom • York • Rialto Theatre

Feb 27, 1963

United Kingdom • Taunton • Gaumont Cinema

Feb 26, 1963

United Kingdom • Coventry • Coventry Theatre

Feb 24, 1963

United Kingdom • Mansfield • Granada Cinema

Feb 23, 1963

United Kingdom • Sunderland • Empire Theatre

Feb 09, 1963

United Kingdom • Carlisle • Regal

Feb 08, 1963

United Kingdom • Wakefield • ABC Cinema

Feb 07, 1963

United Kingdom • Bedford • Granada

Feb 06, 1963

United Kingdom • Doncaster • Gaumont

Feb 05, 1963

United Kingdom • Bradford • Gaumont Cinema

Feb 02, 1963

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I can remember seeing the billboard for this tour at the Granada Harrow but it is not on this list, am I wrong or has it just been missed off the list?

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The Beatles Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour

The Beatles ' first English tour lasted from 2 February 1963 until 3 March 1963. The Beatles were fourth on an eleven-act bill headed by 16-year-old Londoner, Helen Shapiro . Other acts on the tour were the Red Price Band, The Kestrels , The Honeys (UK) , Dave Allen , Kenny Lynch and Danny Williams . [1] They were also joined briefly by Billie Davis during the latter part of the tour. [2]

Winter 1963 Helen Shapiro Tour dates

Instruments and equipment.

The tour was organised by the Arthur Howes Agency . This was the first time that the Beatles had worked with Howes. [3]

The programme for the tour [1] was:

• Red Price Band
• The Beatles
• Danny Williams
• The Kestrels
• Kenny Lynch
• Helen Shapiro

The Beatles typical set list [1] for the shows was as follows (with lead singers noted): [4]

• " Chains " ( George Harrison )
• " Keep Your Hands Off My Baby " ( John Lennon )
• " A Taste of Honey " (Paul McCartney)
• " Please Please Me " (John Lennon / Paul McCartney)

Two other songs were used as prepared alternatives during the tour:

• " Love Me Do " (Paul McCartney / John Lennon)
• " Beautiful Dreamer " (Paul McCartney)

The Shapiro tour was split into two parts.

The first part lasted from 2 to 10 February, although the Beatles did not play on the 10th, as they needed to be in London early on the 11th. The Beatles played two dates at the Cavern Club , Liverpool on 3 and 4 February, before joining the Shapiro tour again on the 5th.

All dates from Lewisohn [5]

On 11 February, the Beatles recorded the ten tracks that, together with their two previously released singles, formed their debut album, Please Please Me . From 12 to 22 February, they played a number of dates on their own, before joining the Shapiro tour again on the 23.

The second part lasted from 23 February until 3 March. Travelling to Shrewsbury on 28 February 1963, Lennon and McCartney wrote the next Beatles single, " From Me To You ".

Instruments The Beatles had on the tour, shown here for each member of the group. [6]

John Lennon

• 1958 Rickenbacker 325 electric guitar
• 1962 [7] Gibson J-160E electro-acoustic guitar (used as backup)
• 1962 [8] Vox AC-30 amplifier

Paul McCartney

• 1961 Höfner 500/1 hollowbody Violin bass
• Quad II/22 Amp modified by Adrian Barber
• 1962 Adrian Barber "Coffin" speaker cabinet [9]

George Harrison

• 1957 [10] Gretsch Duo Jet hollowbody electric guitar

Ringo Starr

• 20×17" bass drum
• 12×8" rack tom
• 16×16" floor tom
• 14×4" Premier Royal Ace wood-shell snare drum
• List of the Beatles' live performances

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Please Please Me is the debut studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. Produced by George Martin, it was released in the UK on EMI's Parlophone label on 22 March 1963. The album is 14 songs in length, and contains a mixture of cover songs and original material written by the partnership of the band's John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Beatles for Sale is the fourth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 4 December 1964 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised the Beatles' previous work, partly due to the band's exhaustion after a series of tours that had established them as a worldwide phenomenon in 1964. Beatles for Sale was not widely available in the US until 1987, when the Beatles' catalogue was standardised for release on CD. Instead, eight of the album's fourteen tracks appeared on Capitol Records' concurrent release, Beatles '65 , issued in North America only.

" From Me to You " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in April 1963 as their third single. It was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. The song was the Beatles' first number 1 hit on what became the official UK singles chart but the second, after "Please Please Me", on most of the other singles charts published in the UK at the time. "From Me to You" failed to make an impact in the United States at the time of its initial release. Instead, a 1963 cover version released by Del Shannon resulted in the song becoming the first Lennon–McCartney tune to enter the US pop charts. The Beatles' original was rereleased in the US in January 1964 as the b-side to "Please Please Me", and reached number 41.

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" Ask Me Why " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles originally released in the United Kingdom as the B-side of their single "Please Please Me". It was also included on their 1963 debut album Please Please Me . It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.

" There's a Place " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their debut album, Please Please Me , released in March 1963. It was written primarily by John Lennon and credited to McCartney–Lennon. In the United States, the song was released in July 1963 on the group's first US LP, Introducing... The Beatles , later reissued in January 1964 as Beatlemania surged there. It was also issued as a non-album single in the US, in March 1964, as the B-side to "Twist and Shout", reaching number 74 in the Billboard Hot 100 .

" Old Brown Shoe " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist, it was released on a non-album single in May 1969, as the B-side to "The Ballad of John and Yoko". The song was subsequently included on the band's compilation albums Hey Jude , 1967–1970 and Past Masters, Volume Two . Although "Old Brown Shoe" remains a relatively obscure song in the band's catalogue, several music critics view it as one of Harrison's best compositions from the Beatles era and especially admire his guitar solo on the track.

" I'm Down " is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released on a non-album single as the B-side to "Help!" in July 1965. The song originated in McCartney's attempt to write a song in the style of Little Richard, whose song "Long Tall Sally" the band regularly covered.

The Beatles staged their second concert tour of the United States in the late summer of 1965. At the peak of American Beatlemania, they played a mixture of outdoor stadiums and indoor arenas, with historic concerts at Shea Stadium in New York and the Hollywood Bowl. Typically of the era, the tour was a "package" presentation, with several artists on the bill. The Beatles played for just 30 minutes at each show, following sets by support acts such as Brenda Holloway and the King Curtis Band, Cannibal & the Headhunters, and Sounds Incorporated.

Sir James Paul McCartney is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One of the most successful composers and performers of all time, McCartney is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, versatile and wide tenor vocal range, and musical eclecticism, exploring genres ranging from pre–rock and roll pop to classical, ballads, and electronica. His songwriting partnership with Lennon remains the most successful in history.

During 1965, the Beatles toured Europe.

The Roy Orbison/The Beatles Tour was a 1963 concert tour of the United Kingdom by Roy Orbison and the Beatles. Other acts on the tour included Gerry and the Pacemakers, David MacBeth, Louise Cordet, Tony Marsh, Terry Young Six, Erkey Grant, and Ian Crawford. It was Orbison's first, and the Beatles' third nationwide tour of the UK. Although Orbison was originally intended to be the headlining act, the reaction to the Beatles on the tour caused them to be promoted to co-headliners, with the Beatles closing the set in the traditional headlining spot.

• 1 2 3 Lewisohn 1996 , p.   98.
• ↑ Lewisohn 1996 , p.   101.
• ↑ The Beatles 2000 , p.   89.
• ↑ Lewisohn 1996 , pp.   361–365.
• 1 2 Lewisohn 1996 , pp.   98–102.
• ↑ Babiuk 2002 , p.   81.
• 1 2 Babiuk 2002 , p.   72.
• 1 2 Babiuk 2002 , p.   67.
• ↑ Babiuk 2002 , p.   64.
• ↑ Babiuk 2002 , p.   53.
• ↑ Babiuk 2002 , p.   70.
• The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology . San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN   0-8118-2684-8 .
• Babiuk, Andy (2002). Beatles Gear . San Francisco: Backbeat Books . ISBN   0-87930-731-5 .
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The Beatles and Helen Shapiro

The Beatles Unravelled #30 The Beatles and Helen Shapiro

In the spring of 1963, the Beatles first UK tour was as a support act with Helen Shapiro. The origins of She’s Leaving Home also lie with The Beatles and Helen Shapiro.

1 to 7 July – The Beatles and Helen Shapiro guest feature on the Mop Tops and The King show

Steve Chelmsford presents the Mop Tops and the King radio show. Certainly, a great name for a show that is all about the music of The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Every other week, author of Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Derek Shelmerdine presents The Beatles Unravelled , alternating with Elvis Presley Unravelled . The podcast provides this 1-minute segment of a little bit of Beatles and Elvis Presley history. Moreover, the Unravelled stories take a look at some of the more obscure parts of the story.

The MTK Network broadcasts the show, with 100 radio stations around the world. Consequently, the Mop Tops and the King is playing somewhere in the world, every day of the week. Show Schedule for times and radio stations. (Times on the Show Schedule are Eastern Time. Consequently, the UK is five hours ahead.)

Listen Again – PODCAS T The Beatles and Helen Shapiro

First UK tour

In the spring of 1963, The Beatles’ first UK Tour was as support to headliner Helen Shapiro, who’d already scored seven UK hits. On the other hand the Beatles had just scored their second hit, Please Please Me .

On 4 October 1963, the Beatles made their debut on UK TV music show Ready Steady Go! Helen Shapiro was also on the show and sang her tenth UK hit, Look Who It Is . Moreover Helen performed the song by singing directly to John, George and Ringo.

Origins of the song – She’s Leaving Home

 Paul missed the Helen Shapiro segment because he was presenting the prize to the miming competition winner, Melanie Coe.

In 1967 Paul read a newspaper article about a 17-year-old girl who’d run away from home. This article inspired Paul to write the song She’s Leaving Home . He later discovered that the runaway girl was Melanie Coe. The same girl he met on the 1964 Ready Steady Go! TV show four years earlier!

Extracts from Rock’n’Roll Unravelled

All of the Elvis Presley Unravelled and The Beatles Unravelled podcasts are based on extracts from Derek Shelmerdine ‘s book Rock’n’Roll Unravelled .

The Beatles – Extracts taken from Rock’n’Roll Unravelled Elvis Presley – Extracts taken from Rock’n’Roll Unravelled

These extracts are only a small fraction of the Beatles and Elvis stories to be found in the book.

About the book – Rock’n’Roll Unravelled

Rock’n’Roll Unravelled tells the story of rock’n’roll from its roots to mid-1970s punk.

In addition to the music, the book looks at the social factors influencing the music. The Vietnam War, fear of communism and Civil rights struggle certainly helped to shape the sounds of the time.

If it’s relevant to the music of the 1950s. ’60s, ’70s and its roots – it’s in the book. For example, there are stories about bands and artists. Also, a look at classic albums and singles, landmark recording sessions. Not forgetting memorable gigs and festivals. Plus stories about influential managers, how bands came together, lineups and – SO MUCH MORE…

Rock’n’Roll Unravelled ‘s unique three-part structure

Rock’n’Roll Unravelled has three sections: Timeline , What Happened Today and Pocket Histories .

What Happened Today – looks at the events happening on a day-by-day basis.

Consequently, as the review in Record Collector magazine puts it in its review of the book, “Shelmerdine has made a painstaking effort to documented pretty much every event that will prove significant in shaping popular music”. In addition, the review went on to describe the book as, “comprehensive… invaluable”.

Moreover, the cross-referenced events in What Happened Today create the other two sections, Timeline and Pocket Histories .

Timeline – consequently provides a date-order listing of all of the events in What Happened Today .

Pocket Histories – further extends the cross-referencing. As a result, this builds a picture of the lives and times of the artists, bands and events in What Happened Today .

TO BUY – a signed copy of Rock’n’Roll Unravelled

For all previous editions of… the beatles unravelled and elvis presley unravelled, first broadcast : the beatles and helen shapiro.

3 to 9 June 2022, on the MTK network .

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Beatles Facts - BeatlesFacts.org

BeatlesFacts.org is one of the web's top resources for facts, news, and trivia about the Beatles, as well as discussion of their history and music.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Beatles history: touring with helen shapiro, no comments:, post a comment.

The Beatles live: Gaumont Cinema, Doncaster

The Beatles’ tour with Helen Shapiro had begun on 2 February 1963, but the group gave two standalone performances at the Cavern Club between that date and 5 February, when the tour resumed at Doncaster’s Gaumont Cinema.

The Beatles stayed at the Regent Hotel, close to the venue. The owner’s 15-year-old son was excited to learn that the group were there.

I already had tickets for the show but when mum said The Beatles were staying here I was very excited about it. After a few minutes I went upstairs. The TV lounge was up there and The Beatles were inside strumming their guitars. I didn’t go in – that was not done, you didn’t disturb guests. But I went near the glass doors and heard them. I’ve often wondered if they were working on one of their early hits that day. I immediately called in to cancel my paper round the next morning so I could join my brother Dave in taking their tea up to their two twin rooms in the morning. Unfortunately, when we took the tea up they were all asleep. We went off to school, which was also very close by, but we both returned home fairly soon after, feeling unwell. It was probably the excitement and knowing The Beatles were probably still in the hotel. Anyway, when we got back there were The Beatles – all four of them in the restaurant finishing off their breakfast. They signed Parlophone promotion cards for us – and for some of the waitresses and kitchen staff. They had all signed the hotel register. There was space for a name, date and nationality. George wrote George Harrison, British, February 5, 1963. But Ringo got the year wrong. He put Ringo Starr, British, February 5 1962. The others also put the wrong year. John Lennon signed his name but under nationality wrote ‘white man’ and Paul put ‘green man’. Both followed Ringo in putting 1962. The funny thing was the next six people also put 1962 until one of them realised it was wrong and corrected it to 1963. I remember later saying to my dad and mum, who jointly owned the hotel, that we needed to put the beds up for sale. Everything to do with The Beatles was wanted – sheets they’d slept in, etc. ‘Don’t be so bloody stupid,’ my dad said. The register they signed is in a bank vault now, but we have copies displayed.

Taking photographs at the concerts was Charlie Worsdale, working for the Foto News agency. He was accompanied by Carol Roope, who was interviewing the performers for the agency.

[In the dressing room] they were playing Ray Charles records on a portable player, and tracks by people like Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. I was particularly chuffed they were listening to Ray Charles because I was quite a fan. I remember them joking among themselves about how audiences were reacting to them. They were poking fun at an audience which was now largely screaming girls who practically drowned out their music. I took my pictures from the wings while they were playing, but you couldn’t hear much. What was obvious was the excitement they were creating in the audience – it was obvious that they were going to be big. The much was largely drowned out, though.

The Art Deco venue opened in September 1934, with 2,020 seats and a stage 67 feet wide. A number of other musical acts performed at the cinema, including Buddy Holly and The Rolling Stones. The Beatles performed at the Gaumont on two other occasions, 22 March and 10 December 1963 .

The building was modernised in 1964, and in 1987 became the Odeon, but was demolished in November 2009.

Also on this day...

• 1996: Press release for Real Love
• 1990: Paul McCartney live: Civic Arena, Pittsburgh
• 1970: Recording: Love Is A Many Splendoured Thing by Ringo Starr
• 1969: Mixing: I’ve Got A Feeling, Don’t Let Me Down, Get Back, One After 909, Dig A Pony
• 1968: Ringo Starr rehearses for Cilla Black’s television show
• 1967: Filming: Penny Lane
• 1964: Press conference: London airport
• 1962: The Beatles live: Kingsway Club, Southport
• 1962: The Beatles live: Cavern Club, Liverpool (lunchtime)
• 1961: The Beatles live: Blair Hall, Liverpool

Want more? Visit the Beatles history section .

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The Beatles played on three occasions at the Gaumont Doncaster Theatre 5th February, 22nd March and 10th December 1963.

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Misery (Lennon/McCartney)

‘Misery’ was written while The Beatles were on tour with Helen Shapiro, and its origin can even be traced to a specific date and place – their performance at King’s Hall, Stoke-on-Trent, January 26, 1963. The song was offered to Shapiro but rejected by her manager Norrie Paramor. After being recorded by the Beatles it was also recorded and released by Kenny Lynch, becoming the first released Beatles cover.

“It was our first stab at a ballad and had a little spoken preface. It was co-written. I don’t think either of us dominated on that one, it was just a job, you could have called us hacks, hacking out a song for someone.” – Paul McCartney, from  Many Years From Now

“It was kind of a John song more than a Paul song, but it was written together.” – John Lennon, from All We Are Saying

“(Kenny Lynch) was another lad with an eye for an opportunity, and he had a minor hit with it. He used to do it on tour with us… not amazingly well.” – Paul McCartney on Kenny Lynch, who in covering the song, became the first singer to cover a Lennon-McCartney composition

“(Helen Shapiro) turned it down. It may not have been that successful for her because it’s a rather downbeat song. It was quite pessimistic.” – Paul McCartney, on Helen Shapiro’s manager Norrie Paramor rejecting the song for her to sing

BBC Performances

See  THERE WILL BE A SHOW TONIGHT: The BBC Performances  for complete information on BBC performances and recordings

• Teenager’s Turn (Here We Go) – recorded March 6, 1963, broadcast March 12, 1963 and released on  On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2 (2013)
• Saturday Club – recorded March 16, 1963, broadcast March 16, 1963
• On The Scene – recorded March 21, 1963, broadcast March 28, 1963
• Easy Beat – recorded April 3, 1963, broadcast April 7, 1963
• Side By Side – recorded April 1, 1963, broadcast April 22, 1963
• Pop Go The Beatles – recorded May 25, 1963, broadcast June 4, 1963
• Pop Go The Beatles – recorded September 3, 1963, broadcast September 17, 1963
• John Lennon – lead vocals, acoustic guitar
• Paul McCartney – lead vocals, bass
• George Harrison – lead guitar
• Ringo Starr – drums
• George Martin – piano

Release history

• The Beatles No. 1  (EP) (1963)
• Please Please Me  (1963)
• On Air: Live At The BBC Volume 2  (2013) [live at the BBC, March 1963]
• Bootleg Recordings 1963  (2014) [take 1; take 7]

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The Beatles – Helen Shapiro – UK 1963 handbill from first-ever Beatles tour

An ultra rare handbill from March, 1963, from the Beatles first-ever tour, where they opened for UK singer Helen Shapiro. This is for the March 3 Sheffield City Hall date. The Beatles were touring to support their first single, "Love Me Do," which became such a big hit during the tour that by its end they were closing the show. A historic artifact from the very beginning of Beatlemania in England. Though this has been bootlegged this is an absolutely genuine original in near-mint condition (just some very faint foxing, which is barely visible.) Ticket order form attached at bottom. 5.5" x 11.5."

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February 2: The Beatles and . . . Helen Shapiro

“I got on great with them and John was like a brother to me. Very protective.” —Helen Shapiro

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