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An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


An Interview With Tony Sheridan
by Bart Mendoza

"All I know about Rock N Roll, I learned from Tony Sheridan"--George Harrison of the Beatles

           Tony Sheridan--He's an expert in heraldry and a respected painter, but for music fans the world over Tony Sheridan is best known as the man who had the world's most famous music group as his backing band for a brief period. "I was just a cog in the machinery. And there were a lot of cogs" is how the extremely modest Sheridan describes his contribution to the early Beatles career. However, it's safe to say his place in rock and roll history was sealed the moment he first took the stage with the Beatles in 1960.

Speaking from his home in Germany, Sheridan, reflected back on a long illustrious career. He began performing in mid fifties Britain, one of the country's original rock and roll artist's. Asked for his musical inspirations, Sheridan rattles of a list of classic rock and roll "Well, Elvis to be sure, but a lot of others meant a lot, especially Little Richard, Carl Perkins, Buddy Holly. We would also take things and change them. Anything up our street we could have fun with. Guy Mitchell. That sort of thing. With the right beat it worked. For us it was all rock and roll. I was very impressed with America. But my mother wasn't. You can go all the way back to WWII, when I was hearing things like Glen Miller with my baby ears. I lived close to the coast and I used to meet the soldiers, and they'd give me candy and things. Anyway, because my mother disapproved, I had to go to other people's houses to listen to music. I was an art student for about a year. But music was it. It broke my mother's heart to see me do something she saw as evil. She was practically a nun. The sight of Elvis almost made her throw up. She thought he was a pervert. I spent 6 years in schools with uniforms, so I guess that gave me something to rebel against, and when Elvis, Bill Haley, Buddy, Chuck Berry and the rest came along it was perfect."

The Rock and roll bug having bitten, Sheridan soon became a regular on Jack Good's "Oh Boy" TV Series, but our story really picks up steam after he took his act to Hamburg, Germany. For it was there, that he teamed up with the young pre Ringo Beatles, often joining them on stage, and more importantly, since he was a popular artist signed to a major label, using them as his backing band on 2 recording dates. "My Bonnie", from those sessions became a substantial worldwide success, even hitting the U.S. Top 30 in 1964, in the wake of the Beatles phenomenon.

"I was the established singer in Germany and I used a lot of different backing groups at the time. I played with Gerry and the Pacemakers, for example" he says with a laugh "but no one talks about that." He racked up a few more top 100 hits (here goes: My Bonnie #26, Why #88, Ain't She Sweet #19 and the "Beatles With Tony Sheridan" LP hit number #68 on the Billboard charts- the tracks have been re-issued countless times and remain perennial sellers) with those Hamburg tracks, including A total of 9 cuts were recorded of which 8 are readily available.

He points out the importance of the Hamburg scene to what became known as the British Invasion. "It was a proving ground, the only chance for British groups to play 8 hours a night. At the time everything in England was so polite. This was a chance to show what you had. Either you got good or you gave up. When we first got there, we really didn't know what to expect, but overnight we were a rousing success. At one time hundreds of British musicians were performing in Hamburg."

Despite a huge following, by the mid sixties Tony felt it was time to move on from the German rock scene, and decided to tour. He ended up heading to Vietnam. "I did it for the adventure. It was different. Difficult but worthwhile. I played for young Americans. They just loved the rock and roll." Asked if he saw any combat, he acknowledges being shot at. "The whole experience gave me a lot of appreciation for many things." He quickly added.

 Upon his return to Europe, he continued to record, though without the success of his earlier days. With literally dozens of recordings to his credit, did all the attention paid to his connection to the Beatles ever bother him? "I'll be honest, it used to, because it took away from what I was doing at the time. It put the brakes on things. There was a period where I refused to do anything from that era, I'd tell the public that's my past. Now of course, I realize I might have sunk into oblivion. This continuing interest has put me in a position to be able do many things."

Is he surprised with the public's response to his music 30 years on? " The reaction from fans is wonderful. It always has been. It seems that everywhere I go, there are people who know me. I do very well in Japan- The fans in Japan just love my music. I'm going to perform in South America this October. I feel very fortunate, like I've created my own little world."

When queried about whether he's kept in touch with the former Beatles, Sheridan replies " Funny enough, a few months ago in Bavaria, I ran into Pete Best at a function. We had a good time catching up. In the old days we would've been at fisticuffs, but that was so long ago. You know? I had Ringo in my group before he went to the Beatles. And there's no comparison. I'd have thrown him (Best) out of my group too."

And I saw Paul about 3 years ago and Ringo last year, it happens on occasion when they've been in the area." Interestingly Sheridan has recently begun to perform a song he and Paul McCartney co-wrote in 1962, "Tell Me If You Can", which while legendary amongst Beatle fans, has yet to be recorded- guaranteed, it's a classic.

Has he kept up with the slew of reissues of those original 8 songs? "I have no idea about those things, all the compilations and so on. To be honest I don't even care. I don't even collect them. Of course I was on the "Anthology" project and that was nice, and I do have a gold record for the original album, which looks nice on the basement wall", he laughs.

Did you ever see the movie "Backbeat"? "No. I felt no interest in reliving that era, I was there. The other thing is, nobody was impressed by it, they got things wrong, so I just couldn't be bothered."

Asked if he has many mementos or photos of his time with the Beatles, he says no. "People didn't take a lot of pictures back then. Nobody thought about posterity. We were to busy living the life."

True enough very few items from that era survive. A quick look at our trusty edition of "From Cavern to Starclub" (by Hans Olof Gottfridsson - Premium Publishing), the definitive tome on the Hamburg days for both the Beatles and Tony Sheridan, finds only one photo (top page 67) of Tony and the Beatles on stage together, though it was a common occurrence. Interestingly the book also brings to light additional material to the famed Beatles "Live at The Starclub" tapes. So amongst the more recent bootleg items to surface is a previously unheard live version of "Money" with Tony on vocals. George and John are even heard to say Tony's name before the song starts.

Currently Sheridan is working on new music, and continues to tour "I keep a pretty busy worldwide schedule. I'm happy to do a couple a month. That's about what I want to do. It's not that I wouldn't do ten, but I have to be there for my kids."

He's performed numerous times in San Diego, where he's become an honorary local, using a group of top area musicians, to great acclaim. And with good reason- even after all these years he still rock's like he's hitting that Hamburg stage back in '61. Amongst the rock and roll classics still in his set are "Great Balls Of Fire", "What I'd Say" "Little Queenie" and "Not Fade Away" (which he also performed on the local KPBS radio affiliate backed by top covers act Rockola) plus tons more. He's also shows up in pretty much every media project that relates to the Beatles early days.

"I've been very lucky" he concludes, "I'm a musician. I love what I'm doing. I'm obsessed. I've used music to see the world and have a good time. Unknowingly, history was using us to produce something new. Out of this nonsense came a lot of good stuff. Innovations, the effect of which can still be felt today."

 


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9/3/2006, 12:09 am Link to this post Send Email to pc31   Send PM to pc31 AIM MSN Yahoo Blog
 
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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


Great interview and thanks for upgrading, marshall.

---
My Bobber lies over the ocean
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9/4/2006, 9:05 am Link to this post Send Email to Bobber   Send PM to Bobber
 
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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


still a great read...

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11/14/2006, 10:44 pm Link to this post Send Email to pc31   Send PM to pc31 AIM MSN Yahoo Blog
 
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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


Yes! Are there more interviews like this?
11/15/2006, 9:11 am Link to this post Send PM to Finette
 
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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


not too many...bobber found another one.....http://com3.runboard.com/bthetonysheridanforum.f11.t36
it's on this forum too....but it seems that tony doesn't do many interveiws...he is on this dvd tho...
Image
read about it here....http://incolor.inetnebr.com/sumaree/beatles/tonysheridan.htm
i could probally write a better reveiw...i have it...you are welcome to come by and watch it with me and the family...i think this dvd is our best over all interveiw even tho it doesn't tell you much about tonys other few wives....there is a way we can find out more...you can interveiw him miss fin...and then we can ask him what we want....


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11/16/2006, 10:19 pm Link to this post Send Email to pc31   Send PM to pc31 AIM MSN Yahoo Blog
 
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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


Is this dvd one to have, pc?

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11/17/2006, 11:47 am Link to this post Send Email to Bobber   Send PM to Bobber
 
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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


yeah it is pretty much the best one so far....the info is as follows...
An excellent DVD exploring the early years with Tony Sheridian and the Beatles has been released by Universal Music. The DVD, entitled "THE BEATLES with Tony Sheridan - The Beginnings in Hamburg - A Documentary", runs 2 hrs 17min, features interviews from Tony Sheridan, Roy Young, Klaus Voormann, Astrid Kirchherr, Horst Fascher and the Beatles first manager, Allan Williams along with a host of other contemporaries from that period.
Tony Sheridan, the central figure in the documentary, provides insight to the origins of the song selection for the tracks that he and the Beatles recorded for Polydor. While the Beatles only recorded 7 tracks with Sheridan, featured here are 16 of those tracks done by the pop star. As each song is played, still photography is introduced linking the viewer back to the days of the Kaiserkeller, the Reeperbahn, the Top Ten Club and the Star-Club adding historical value to the documentary. While some photos will be familiar to fans, there are enough interesting "never-before-seen" photography of the locales in Hamburg along with group photos of the Beatles and Tony Sheridan. Also included in the still photography segments are rare and unique photographs of Stuart Sutcliffe, presumably taken by Astrid Kirchherr, Stu's girlfriend at the time.
The interviews are informative with the best contributions coming from Tony Sheridan, Allan Williams and Roy Young. Tony Sheridan tells his stories with much candor and at times enthusiasm while the Beatles first manager, Allan Williams, lives up to expectations in the similar elk that he wrote in his first book, "The Man Who Gave Away The Beatles". In the documentary, Beat Brother Roy Young remains true during the interviews and his answers are similar to an interview that he gave to the Ottawa Beatles Site a few years ago (see: A Roy Young Interview). But the only drawback found in this documentary happens to be the interviews of the German participants: they present their answers in German with English subtitles appearing at the bottom of the screen. This includes invaluable comments from Klaus Voormann, Astrid Kirchheer, Jurgan Kramer, Sound Assistant for the Sheridan/Beatles recordings and Horst Fascher, Sheridan's manager and a few band members from The Rattles and others which sometimes takes away from the entertainment value (it might have been better if the producer had used "English voiceovers" rather than using English subtitles for the spoken German responses.) That said, the historical value of this DVD gets a close "topermost of the popermost" rating for exploring the early beginnings of The Beatles and Tony Sheridan --definitely a must-have in your Beatles collection

Last edited by pc31, 11/18/2006, 10:55 am


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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


Something for Xmas.
11/27/2006, 11:51 am Link to this post Send PM to Finette
 
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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


how close are you to where tony lives miss finn?
make as a member of this forum he will agree to be interveiwed by YOU!!!you could then post it here....and be famous in the annals of the tony sheridan forum legacy...because we will be a legacy someday and you,me and bobber will be happy we made it what it is...don't you have any friends who like tony???or the fabulous beatles???or pete best?

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11/29/2006, 1:30 am Link to this post Send Email to pc31   Send PM to pc31 AIM MSN Yahoo Blog
 
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Re: An Interview With Tony Sheridan by Bart Mendoza


I tried to reach Tony for an interview twice now. No reply... He might be shy on doing interviews. Female attraction might work though.

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My Bobber lies over the ocean
Bobber's podcast: http://bobbr.podomatic.com
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