Tracks Ltd, PO Box 117, Chorley, PR6 0QR, England.
Johnny ‘Guitar’ Byrne was a guitarist in a band called Rory Storm and The Hurricanes with Ringo Starr. Johnny Byrne, who used the stage name of Johnny ‘Guitar’ and Alan Caldwell AKA Rory Storm, started playing together in 1957 in a skiffle band called The Raving Texans, which combined elements of jazz, blues, country and folk. The group became the Hurricanes in 1959.
Rory Storm and the Hurricanes were one of Liverpool’s most popular bands in the years before Beatlemania, but unlike a host of other Merseyside bands, they never had a record on the British hit charts.
With Ringo Starr on drums, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes played at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg in late 1960, getting headline billing over the Beatles. The group disbanded in 1967. We have just acquired a collection of items from the estate of Johnny Guitar. Some of these items will be available on our sister site www.tracks.co.uk.
An original Cavern Club handbill advertising performances between 17th and 27th December 1959. Rory Storm and The Hurricanes performed on 19th November 1959 with Ringo Starr on drums. It comes from the collection of the Rory Storm And The Hurricanes guitarist Johnny ‘Guitar’ Byrne.
An original concert poster for the ‘Big Beat Night’ which took place at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton on 25th May 1962. The event included Rory Storm And The Hurricanes performances, featuring Ringo Starr on the drums.
He has signed Johnny Guitar’s US Army Installation pass in a blue ballpoint pen. The pass has an expiration date of 30th April 1962.