Lee Curtis and the All-Stars were an English

beat group Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music Music genre, genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British rock and roll, British and Music of the United St ...

from

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 ...

. They were contemporaries and briefly local rivals 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 ...

in the early 1960s. Led by Peter Flannery, who used the stage name Lee Curtis, other group members included

Pete Best Randolph Peter Best (; born 24 November 1941) is an English retired musician who was the drummer for the Beatles from 1960 to 1962. He was dismissed shortly before the band achieved worldwide fame and is one of several people referred to as a ...

Wayne Bickerton Wayne Bickerton (born Arthur Ronald Bickerton; 11 July 1941 – 29 November 2015) was a British record producer, songwriter and music business executive. He became well known, with Tony Waddington, as writer and producer of a series of UK chart ...

and

Tony Waddington Anthony Waddington (9 November 1924 – 21 January 1994) was an English football player and manager. He managed both Crewe Alexandra and Stoke City. Waddington had a seven-year playing career with Crewe Alexandra before becoming a coach at ...

Career

Their origins lay in the Detours, a group formed in 1961 by school friends in Liverpool including lead singer Peter Flannery, who adopted a stage name derived from the American singer

Curtis Lee Curtis Edwin Lee (October 28, 1939 – January 8, 2015) was an American singer and songwriter. He is known for his early 1960s hits " Pretty Little Angel Eyes" (US #7) and " Under the Moon of Love" (US #46), both of which were produced by Phil ...

. Although they performed regularly in the Liverpool and

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

areas, Lee Curtis and the Detours split up after a few months. Flannery and his brother and manager Joe, who had previously worked as a singer with the

Joe Loss Joshua Alexander "Joe" Loss (22 June 1909 – 6 June 1990) was a British dance band leader and musician who founded his own eponymous orchestra. Life Loss was born in Spitalfields, London, the youngest of four children. His parents, Israel an ...

Orchestra, decided to form a new group, to be called Lee Curtis and the All-Stars. In mid-1962 they recruited band members from other local groups. The original members were Frank Bowen (lead guitar),

(rhythm guitar), Wayne Bickerton (bass), and Bernie Rogers (drums). However, when

was sacked by the Beatles, the Flannery brothers – apparently encouraged by the Beatles' manager

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 ...

– decided to dispense with Rogers and install Best as the group's drummer. Biography by Bruce Eder

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

They also occasionally performed with singer Beryl Marsden. By the end of 1962, the group were one of the most successful in the area, and placed second in the ''

Mersey Beat ''Mersey Beat'' was a music publication in Liverpool, England in the early 1960s. It was founded by Bill Harry, who was one of John Lennon's classmates at Liverpool Art College. The paper carried news about all the local Liverpool bands, and ...

'' annual poll, behind the Beatles but ahead of

Gerry and the Pacemakers Gerry and the Pacemakers were an English beat group prominent in the 1960s Merseybeat scene. In common with the Beatles, they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein and recorded by George Martin. Their early successes helped make ...

the Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas–Indian wars, and stars John Wayne as a middle-aged Civil War v ...

, and other groups who later became nationally and internationally renowned. Lee Curtis and the All-Stars were signed by

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 ...

, and released two singles in early 1963, "Little Girl" and "Let's Stomp". However, neither made the charts, and in mid 1963 the rest of the band decided to split from Curtis to form The Original All-Stars. That group later became the Pete Best Four, and several years later Bickerton and Waddington moved on to become the writers and producers behind

The Rubettes The Rubettes are an English pop/glam rock band put together in 1974 after the release of " Sugar Baby Love", a recording assembled of studio session musicians in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton, the then head of A&R at Polydor ...

. Curtis formed a new version of the All-Stars in 1963, with Paul Pilnick (lead guitar), George "Porky" Peckham (rhythm guitar – in later years a renowned record cutting engineer), Dave "Mushy" Cooper (bass), and Don Alcyd (drums). The new line-up recorded a single "I've Got My Eyes On You", contributed two tracks to the Decca album, ''Live at the Cavern'', and played in clubs in

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg,. is the List of cities in Germany by population, second-largest city in Germany after Berlin and List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, 7th-lar ...

, but split up soon afterwards. However, Curtis continued to build up his popularity on the club circuit in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, and had a year-long residency at the

Star-Club The Star-Club was a music club in Hamburg, Germany, that opened on Friday 13 April 1962, and was initially operated by Manfred Weissleder and Horst Fascher. In the 1960s, many of the giants of rock music played at the club. The club closed on 3 ...

. He also recorded regularly in Germany, although the line-up of his backing group, the All-Stars, changed repeatedly.

Lee Curtis

Peter Flannery (born 31 October 1939, Walton,

– died 12 October 2023,

Southport Southport is a seaside resort, seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. It lies on the West Lancashire Coastal Plain, West Lancashire coastal plain and the east coast of the Irish Sea, approximately north of ...

), who used the stage name Lee Curtis, was an English rock and roll singer, who fronted Lee Curtis and the All-Stars.

Career

Flannery fronted the band from 1961 to 1967. Towards the end of 1967, he was a passenger in a car which crashed while he was on the way to a performance in Germany, and he suffered head injuries. After a few further performances, he decided to leave the music business and returned home to Liverpool.

Later life and death

In later years, Lee Curtis worked as a

croupier A croupier or dealer is someone appointed at a gambling table to assist in the conduct of the game, especially in the distribution of bets and payouts. Croupiers are typically employed by casinos. Origin of the word Originally a "croupier" mean ...

and at the Ford motor works at

Halewood Halewood is a town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Knowsley, Merseyside, England, near the city of Liverpool's southeastern boundary, bordered by the suburbs of Netherley, Hunt's Cross and Woolton. Historically part of Lanca ...

, occasionally returning to live performance in Liverpool and Germany. In 2007 he headlined a well attended live music event as Lee Curtis and The Bonds in

Cuxhaven Cuxhaven (; ) is a town and seat of the Cuxhaven district, in Lower Saxony, Germany. The town includes the northernmost point of Lower Saxony. It is situated on the shore of the North Sea at the mouth of the Elbe River. Cuxhaven has a footprint o ...

, Germany, for the launch of the book ''We Got Our Kicks in Cux'66'' by Jens-Christian Mangels and Ralf Froehlich. He later lived in

. Curtis died peacefully in Southport on 12 October 2023, nineteen days before his 84th birthday.

Members

* Lee Curtis * Frank Bowen *

* Bernie Rogers *

* Paul Pilnick * George Peckham * Dave "Mushy" Cooper * Don Alcyd * Mike Cummins * Simon Hind * Mike Bankes *

Joe Walsh Joseph Fidler Walsh (born Joseph Woodward Fidler; November 20, 1947) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Best known as a member of the rock band Eagles (band), Eagles, his five-decade career includes solo work and stints in other ...

* Bob Garner * Dave McShane * Chris Dannis * Franz "Piggy" Jarnach * Steve Doyle * Dave Watt * Ulf Krueger * Jimmy Cave * Billy Good * Arty Davies * Ian Love * Keith Roberts

References

External links

"Limelight at last for the man at The Beatles' birth"
- 2013 interview with Joe Flannery {{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Lee, and The All-Stars English rock music groups Rock music groups from Liverpool Beat groups