Part 5: The Billy Fury Discovery

Moondogs and Fury in 1958

A biography of Fury at Billy Fury confirms that Fury appeared on the Carroll Levis show at the Liverpool Empire in late 1958, and from that probably went on to regional finals in Manchester. As the Beatles shared venues with Fury in their early days, this known relationship places Johnny and the Moondogs at the Levis Show in the fall of 1958. At about the same time, he was "discovered" by Larry Parnes and added to Larry's touring show. Shortly thereafter, he signed to Decca Records and released the following four singles.

8 Jan 1959
Maybe Tomorrow/Gonna Type A Letter (No.18 in UK charts)

28 May 1959
Margo/Don't Knock Upon My Door (No.28 in UK charts)

16 Sep 1959
Angel Face/Time Has Come

10 Nov 1959
My Christmas Prayer/Last Kiss

The latter two didn't chart, but the first two had already established Billy Fury as a teen idol in the UK. By 1959 he was headlining at the Apollo and similar venues, and certainly had no need to appear in a local talent contest.

Fury's major chart success came later, and he's best remembered for "Half-way to Paradise" which endowed him with almost Elvis-like status in the UK. He enters the Beatles story again in 1960 of course, when he and Larry Parnes visited Liverpool to audition various local groups as a backing band for Fury. The Beatles didn't get the gig but they did get to tour Scotland backing Johnny Gentle, another of Parnes' stable. Then they went to Hamburg, and the rest is history.......