Famous sons and daughters of Liverpool

By Mary Silver


Without doubt the most famous sons of the city of Liverpool are The Beatles. The group formed in 1960 and were originally called The Quarrymen, playing at the city's Cavern Club. The four members of the group were all born in Liverpool. Vocalist and lead guitarist George Harrison (1943-2001) also formed the supergroup The Traveling Wilburys, whose other members were Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, Roy Orbison and Bob Dylan. Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey, born 1940) joined the group in 1962, replacing the original drummer Pete Best. During the 1980s he narrated the children's TV series Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. Guitarist and vocalist John Lennon (1940-1980) joined forces with the fourth member of the group, vocalist and bass-player Paul McCartney, to form one of the most successful songwriting partnerships of all time. In 1969 John Lennon returned the MBE he had been awarded four years earlier, in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigerian-Biafran War and against Britain's support of American involvement in the war in Vietnam. Lennon was shot in New York in 1980. Paul McCartney (now Sir James Paul McCartney) was born in 1942. His song Yesterday (composed in 1965) is the most-covered song in the history of recorded music, having been recorded by over 2,200 artists. During the late 1960s it was rumoured that McCartney had died in a car accident and had been replaced by a look-alike called William Campbell, but this rumour was later denounced as a hoax.

Paul McCartney's younger brother Michael (Peter Michael McCartney, born in Liverpool in 1944) is also a talented performer. Together with John Gorman and Roger McGough he formed the 1960s comedy group The Scaffold, whose best-known hits include Thank You Very Much and Lily The Pink (the latter reaching Number One in the British pop charts in December 1968). Known professionally as Mike McGear, he has also worked for many years as a professional photographer, and was once dubbed "Flash Harry" by the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein because of his fondness for the electronic flashgun.

One of The Scaffold's other members, Roger McGough (born in Liverpool's northern suburb of Litherland in 1937), has more recently found further renown as a performance poet. In 2011 he took over the presidency of The Poetry Society and is affectionately known as Liverpool's Poet Laureate. McGough also wrote much of the humorous dialogue in The Beatles' animated film Yellow Submarine, but is contribution is not acknowledged in the film's credits. He now records voice-overs for commercials and also presents the programme Poetry Please on BBC Radio 4.

The frontman for the band Echo & the Bunnymen, the singer-songwriter Ian McCullough, was born in Liverpool in 1959. When the group was first formed in 1978 its original line-up included a drum-machine which was allegedly given the name of Echo. The drum-machine was subsequently replaced by a live drummer, Pete de Freitas, in 1979.

Amongst Liverpool's daughters, perhaps the most famous is the actress, singer, entertainer and presenter Cilla Black. Born Priscilla Maria Veronica White in 1943, she was promoted by The Beatles whom she had met whilst working at the Cavern Club. The Lennon-McCartney partnership wrote her debut single Love of the Loved.

Classical music can also boast a famous son of Liverpool. Sir Simon Rattle, born in the city in 1955, rose to world-wide prominence as the conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, and he has been the principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic since 2002.

Another son of Liverpool, John Bishop (born in 1966), has recently achieved fame and popularity as a TV presenter and stand-up comedian.

In addition, one of English literature's most famous (or infamous) characters - none other than Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights - made his first appearance on the streets of Liverpool.




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