The Beat Svengali

[richard_havers]

Larry Ôthe Beat SvengaliÕ Parnes was an old fashioned manager of pop stars, he was dubbed ÔMr Parnes, Shillings and PenceÕ which gives you some idea of where Larry was coming from. Mr ParnesÕ theory of guaranteed stardom was simple; you needed the right sounding name. Unlike Americans, whose real names always sounded right, post war Britain suffered from a plethora of Rons, Toms, Johns and even a few Clives. In fact LarryÕs inspiration was Rock Hudson, which probably tells you something about Mr Parnes. Once a young hopeful was signed to LarryÕs Ôstable of starsÕ he was quickly given a name that would look equally at home on a marquee or a Parlophone or Pye 45 rpm single.

John Askew Ð Johnny Gentle
Dave Nelson Ð Vince Eager
Ray Howard Ð Duffy Power
Richard Knellor Ð Dickie Pride
Thomas Hicks Ð Tommy Steele
Ronald Wycherley Ð Billy Fury
Reginald Smith Ð Marty Wilde
Clive Powell Ð Georgie Fame

There were a very few that got away with a name change. One young man was told he was going to be called Elmer Twitch, somehow common sense prevailed and he stayed plain old Joe Brown.

[royclough]

Yes spot on Richard, names that won't mean much perhaps to our friends here. Billy Fury of course was the first real act from Liverpool to make a name for themselves. Though back then it did not mean anything until The Beatles put Liverpool on the map so to speak.

Johnny Gentle of course in 1960 was backed by the Beatles, Lennon, McCartney,Harrison and Sutcliffe but not Best they did not have a drummer at the time, so a guy called Tommy Moore wAs recruited to play drums.

Gentle himself was from Liverpool as was Chris Morris, who became Lance Fortune, he had one big hit called "Be Mine" made number 4 and a smaller hit both in 60,the former a Clough Classic, I'll post it later, I still like the track 46 years on.

He left the Parnes stable and according to Bill Harry, Parnes owned the name and was going to call Clive Powell that until Powell came up with Georgie fame.

Another interesting bit of trivia, supported by both Harry and Gentle is that in 1962 Gentle released a single under the name Darren Young for some reason, it was called My tear Will Turn To Laughter but it is the B side called I'm Just Fallen For Someone that is interesting, as it is claimed that the middle 8 of the song was written by John Lennon as Gentle was having trouble finishing the song which he wrote the majority of.

[admin]

Richard, I absolutely love your posts but find that your punctuation, quotes and perhaps dashes leave characters in your the text on this Forum that is difficult to read.

This is my problem not yours. While I try to figure out the problem, would you do me the favour and see if using other quotation makes makes a difference. It may help me with the diagnosis as well.

[richard_havers]

Hi Peter

What browser do you use? Maybe that could be the problem. My post looks fine on mine, as does yours so it's baffling.

I've got quote marks around the beat svenglai and dashes between the singers real name and stage name. How do they come out?

Richard

[sowhat]

Ô and X for quotation marks, P instead of a dash.
Very interesting reading, Richard - thanks for the info.

[richard_havers]

I'm going to see Georgie Fame play with Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings next week at a charity gig in Holland (Rotterdam). He's still got such a great voice and never fails to do a great set.

Richard
(posted using Firefox browser)

[richard_havers]

FYI

My earlier post looks like rubbish on firefox so it's probably when I post using Safari. Let me know if this looks ok and I'll stick to Firefox

R

[royclough]

Yes Richard it looks ok to me

[admin]

Thanks Richard, that is much better to my eyes.

[jingle_jangle]

Odd. I use Safari; have since I joined this Forum. My posts read OK, and this is the first time I've seen this except when I use a non-English keyboard.

Tkhoiypdlsls. (´lhkfc-l™) ªjkgh§§. By the w¢y, th•s sªªms t? w¡rk j¶st f£nˆ.

[richard_havers]

Paul, is yours an American English or an English English?