Jimmy Stevens (5 August 1942 – 1 October 2021) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was the lead vocalist of the
Beathovens. He worked with
Maurice Gibb
Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician and songwriter. He achieved global fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb wer ...
between 1971 and 1973.
Biography
Early life
Stevens was born in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
, England, to Tom and Mary Stevens. He had a brother called Tommy and a sister, Mary. The family lived in Garston and Speke.
His father bought him an old pub piano, but like many of his generation he veered away from his classical training.
He studied at St. Francis Assisi School and later he went to John Almond Secondary Modern School and for two years Stevens was sent to board at Blackrock College, set in 56 acres overlooking Dublin Bay and run by the Holy Ghost Fathers. On a black wind-up gramophone in a dormitory there, he first heard
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959), known as Buddy Holly, was an American singer, songwriter, and musician who was a central and pioneering figure of rock and roll. He was born to a musical family in Lubbock, Texa ...
, who immediately became his hero. At the age of 15, he came back to Liverpool working for other people including a tailor who employed him to tighten the trousers of ordinary suits to meet the fashion for drainpipe trousers.
An old wind-up gramophone for company and a collection of 78s, he developed a passion for
Fats Domino
Antoine Caliste Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orl ...
and
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
. In 1963 his composition ''Baby That's You'' was released by the Liverpool band
The Young Ones on
Decca Records
Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...
. To supplement his meager income from music, he worked as a bookie's runner, a leather watch strap maker, and a coal miner. He even rejected an approach from
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein ( ; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967.
Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put hi ...
(manager of
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
)
Career
Stevens was the lead vocalist of the Beathovens, a
Merseybeat
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British and American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle, tradit ...
group that appeared regularly at
The Cavern Club
The Cavern Club is a music venue on Mathew Street, Liverpool, England.
The Cavern Club opened on 16 January 1957 as a jazz club, later becoming a centre of the rock and roll scene in Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The club beca ...
in Liverpool.
[David Charters]
"Ringo Starr flies back to Liverpool to kick-start Capital of Culture"
''Liverpool Daily Post
The ''Liverpool Post'' was a newspaper published by Reach plc, Trinity Mirror in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. The newspaper and its website ceased publication on 19 December 2013.
Until 13 January 2012 it was a daily morning newspaper, wi ...
'', 10 January 2008. According to one source, the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily Tabloid journalism, tabloid newspaper. Founded in 1903, it is part of Mirror Group Newspapers (MGN), which is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the tit ...
'' once described Stevens as "a fat John Lennon
howrites like a broken-down poet and sings like he chews gravel for breakfast."
In 1966, he released a solo single, ''I Love You'', backed by ''Wharf 130'', both songs written by Stevens. Around 1971, he was heard in Cam Studios in Moorfield by two
Robert Stigwood
Robert Colin Stigwood (16 April 1934 – 4 January 2016) was an Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer, and impresario, best known for managing musicians such as Cream, Andy Gibb, and the Bee Gees; theatrical produc ...
representatives. A deal and the tour with
ELP followed, which Stevens recalls with mixed emotions. 'You'd go on and find people were chanting 'ELP' when you were trying to sing.'
In October 1971, he recorded his two compositions ''Tears (Behind My Eyes'' and ''The Band'', produced by
Maurice Gibb
Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician and songwriter. He achieved global fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb wer ...
and Billy Lawrie.
In 1972, he released his album ''
Don't Freak Me Out
''Don't Freak Me Out'' is the first and only album released by English musician Jimmy Stevens (musician), Jimmy Stevens in 1972. The album was produced by Maurice Gibb. But in the United States, it was released in January 1973 and was called ''P ...
'' on
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...
, produced by Maurice Gibb.
In 1973 US version of the album, called ''Paid My Dues'' was released.
"Anyway," Stevens continues, "Maurice Gibb had this deal with Atlantic, so we made my album. On the tours, I was closest to
Barry Gibb
Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Along with his younger fraternal twin brothers, Robin Gibb, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Maurice, he rose to global fame as a member ...
of the
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees
were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in ...
. But we didn't see so much of
Robin. They were a very funny unit, actually. I don't think they socialised very much together as lads. They were all different. I remember us performing at the New York Philharmonic. I got a good review there. I was "delightful", said the Daily News".
Music broadcaster
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
once described Stevens as "the excellent writer/singer Jimmy Stevens, whose ''Don't Freak Me Out'' LP on Atlantic you have almost certainly ignored—to your cost".
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
, ''The Olivetti Chronicles'' (Random House
Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...
, 2011), , p. 202
Excerpts available
at Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...
.
Death
Jimmy Stevens died on 1 October 2021.
Discography
Albums
Charting singles
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stevens, Jimmy
1942 births
2021 deaths
RSO Records artists
Atlantic Records artists
People from Speke
English male singer-songwriters
English rock keyboardists
English rock singers
English pop singers
Musicians from Liverpool
People educated at Blackrock College