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Post by pieter on Nov 1, 2021 16:05:53 GMT -7
It’s hard to say what, exactly, was in the water in Liverpool in the early 1960s that wound up producing the Merseybeat sound and hundreds of groups of varying success. Four teenagers caught the scene by surprise and found screaming fans at every turn. Their names were Mary, Sylvia, Pam and Val.
It wasn’t only their sound that turned heads. They were The Liverbirds, Britain’s first all-female rock ’n’ roll band. Sitting down with surviving members Mary McGlory and Sylvia Saunders, you’d never know these two exceedingly charming Scouse (that means they come from Liverpool) matriarchs rocked a tour with The Rolling Stones. Lent their instruments to The Kinks. Rolled joints for Jimi Hendrix.
John Lennon himself told them that girls don’t play guitar. Well, John, they did. Imagine that.
“Almost Famous” is a special Op-Docs series of short films directed by Ben Proudfoot featuring people who nearly made history — only to fall short. These are tales of overcoming disappointment at its most epic, from an astronaut who never flew to a superstar who never was.
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Post by pieter on Nov 1, 2021 16:09:27 GMT -7
The LiverbirdsThe Liverbirds were an English all-female rock band from Liverpool, active between 1963 and 1968. The group consisted of vocalist and guitarist Valerie Gell, guitarist and vocalist Pamela Birch, bassist and vocalist Mary McGlory, and drummer Sylvia Saunders. They were one of the very few female bands on the Merseybeat scene, as well as one of the first all-female rock and roll bands in the world. They took their name from the fictional liver bird, which is the symbol of their native Liverpool. They were mostly a cover band, except for three of their songs being written by Pamela Birch.HistoryGell, Saunders, and McGlory formed the band in 1963, along with guitarist Sheila McGlory (Mary's sister) and vocalist Irene Green, both of whom quickly left to join other bands and were replaced by Birch. According to Bruce Eder, the group formed in early 1962 as the Debutones. Irene Green left to join Tiffany's Dimensions and Sheila McGlory to the Demoiselles. They achieved more commercial success in Germany than their native Britain. Early in their career, they followed in the footsteps of fellow Liverpudlians the Beatles and made their way to Hamburg, where they performed at the Star-Club after the Beatles' own tenure and were billed as "the female Beatles". John Lennon of the Beatles infamously told the group that "girls" were unable to play guitars. Regardless, the Liverbirds became one of the top attractions at the Star-Club and they released two albums and several singles on the Club's own label. One of those singles, a cover of Bo Diddley's "Diddley Daddy", reached No. 5 on the German charts. The group broke up in 1968, just after finishing a tour of Japan. They briefly reunited in 1998.
Three members of the band settled in Germany permanently. Saunders moved to Spain, settling in Alicante with her husband, John (died 2 April 2017). Sylvia Saunders is now living in Glasgow. McGlory runs a Hamburg-based company called Ja/Nein Musikverlag ("Yes/No Music Publishing") which she founded with her husband, German songwriter Frank Dostal (died April 2017), who was one of the band's former colleagues from the Star-Club and later vice-chairman of the German performance rights organization GEMA. Birch also settled in Hamburg and worked for many years in the city's clubs. She died at the UKE on 27 October 2009, at the age of 65. Gell, who settled in Munich but later returned to Hamburg, died on 11 December 2016, aged 71.Members- Valerie Gell, vocalist and guitarist (1963–1968, 1998), died 2016 - Mary McGlory, bassist and vocalist (1963–1968, 1998) - Sylvia Saunders, drummer (1963–1968, 1998) - Sheila McGlory, guitarist (1963) - Irene Green, vocalist (1963) - Pamela Birch, guitarist and vocalist (1963–1968, 1998) (replaced Sheila McGlory and Irene Green), died 2009
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Post by pieter on Nov 1, 2021 16:18:28 GMT -7
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Post by karl on Nov 2, 2021 9:27:47 GMT -7
Pieter
Good for these young ladies, now much older. For them to start some thing new in light of such critizing that ladies do not play guitars. Not sure how I missed them, but certainly did so until at the present time.. For of any question of why? Then of course there is the answer of: Why not..
Karl
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Post by pieter on Nov 2, 2021 11:36:06 GMT -7
Karl,
Like many British bands they had a Hamburg base, lived in the city and toured all over Germany and even had German husbants. They were certain;y of your generation Beat groups and rock bands that played in Germany in the sixties (the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and the Who). You were in your teenage years in the late forties and early fifties and probably were in your twenties when the Rolling Stones, the Beatles and the Liverbirds played in Germany next to other foreign bands from the USA and the Netherlands (Cuby + Blizzards, The Outsiders -a Dutch band from Amsterdam- and Golden Earring).
We don't know all bands and sometimes we just didn;t had to opportunity to hear a band on the radio, see them on tv or encounter their long play record in the record store.
Cheers, Pieter
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Post by Jaga on Nov 2, 2021 20:14:13 GMT -7
How interesting. We had some female singing teams also in Poland in 60 - like Filipinki and Alibabki. I especially liked Alibabki:
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Post by karl on Nov 3, 2021 15:42:29 GMT -7
Jaga
The music group of young ladies look as if to be having fun at making good music and good for them. My self would not have the courage to go upon a stage with so many faces looking through my black heart, but these ladies are doing it, and very well I may say so..
Karl
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Post by karl on Nov 3, 2021 16:10:40 GMT -7
Pieter
My self turned teenager in 1953 and yes, certainly did enjoy music concerts. But in our city the summer bands were not of the rock and roll kind, but of concerts. To see any thing else, was to travel to Hamburg and it could get wild there.
In 1958 whilst starting my time in the Bundeswehr we did hear of Elvis Presley but I do not think he presented any of his singing performances whilst he was in the American army at that time. I just remember his singing on the radio which we as teens were stunned with this new type of music.
Most likely most people would think we were very boring at that time, but it was the only life we knew.
Ok, in our time before 1958, we as teens to have fun in the summer, was to assemble in the evening near the beach and read poetry whilst the light held, then around the fire, we just talked. Or attend one of the various concerts at that time.
Karl
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Post by Jaga on Nov 4, 2021 2:22:56 GMT -7
Hello Karl, Alibabki were the supporting group and also they had some real hits. Some of these ladies also became solo artists or sung is duets. They all were very nice and gave a good example to the girls like me, that women can do it Jaga The music group of young ladies look as if to be having fun at making good music and good for them. My self would not have the courage to go upon a stage with so many faces looking through my black heart, but these ladies are doing it, and very well I may say so.. Karl
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