Very rare recordings of Rory Storm and The Hurricanes, the band Ringo Starr was a member of immediately before he replaced Pete Best in The Beatles, have been unearthed more than 50 years after they were first laid down.
The tapes were found in the basement of Rory Storm’s sister’s house, and include songs recorded at both the Jive Hive club in Liverpool, and Storm’s own Merseyside residence.
“Rory was a performer,” Iris Caldwell, sister of Rory Storm (real name Alan Caldwell), has told BBC News. “He wasn’t, like The Beatles, a brilliant songwriter. They called him The Golden Boy and Mr Showbusiness. Rory was so far ahead of his time. He was doing glam rock then. I suppose these tapes have been in an old sealed box ever since.”
Rory Storm and The Hurricanes performed in Hamburg at the same time as The Beatles, a period which saw some of the first meetings between Ringo and his future Fab Four bandmates.