IN 3,000 books about the Beatles, Paul Murphy’s name never appears. Yet, but for him, the Beatles would never have recorded with George Martin and Parlophone and might never have recorded at all.
Paul was born in Walton Hospital in 1943 shortly before a famous Paul was born there. This was Paul McCartney, of course.
Paul Murphy was an early entrant in the Mersey music scene, recording She’s Got It with Johnny Guitar of Rory Storm & the Hurricanes at Philips Recording Studio in Kensington in 1957, months before the Quarrymen made their debut disc there.
Johnny, of course, was a member of Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, as was Paul for a time. He then embarked on a solo career and it was while he was performing at Liverpool’s Latin Quarter club that he was spotted by comedians Mike & Bernie Winters. The comedy duo recommended him to EMI’s Walter Ridley (who was later to reject the Beatles) and Ridley signed him to a recording contract.
He made his debut disc with Four & Twenty Thousand Kisses, a record he placed on the jukebox at the Zodiac club in Duke Street where Cilla Black worked in the evenings and where the Beatles, the Big Three and other bands used to hang out.
When he returned to London to pursue his career singing with the Cyril Stapleton Orchestra, he dropped into a hotel in Half Moon Street one day to have a drink at the bar. He noticed Brian Epstein, who he knew as manager of the NEMS record store in Liverpool.
Brian was rather dejected at the time. He had been extending his energy on seeking a recording contract for the Beatles, without much success. Every major label had turned him down – EMI, Pye, Piccadilly, Oriole, Philips, Decca – and people in Liverpool were jokingly saying that they’d end up on the Woolworths label.
He’d initially approached EMI and due to his status as a major record retailer met with Ron White, the general marketing manager. EMI’s A&R men at the time were Norrie Paramor, Wally Ridley, Norman Newell and George Martin. Paramor, Ridley and Newell, immediately turned them down and Martin was on holiday at the time, but it was doubtful whether he would have accepted a band that all his colleagues had rejected.
Although Brian managed to arrange a recording audition with Decca Records, Decca also turned them down. However, they at least gave Brian the tapes to their recording session, which he hoped to interest other record companies with, although there were only a few minor labels that he hadn’t yet approached.
Paul greeted Brian who said: “Hello Paul, I’m having terrible trouble with these,” and displayed some reel-to-reel tapes. When he explained to Paul his attempts to try and get A&R men to listen to the tapes, Paul told him not to be silly, because no one would listen to reel-to-reel tapes. He would need to have acetates made.
Paul mentioned the HMV Centre in Oxford Street and said “I’ll take you there, that’s where I have my own acetates made.”
So Paul took Brian along to the EMI Store where another example of serendipity occurred.
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