Gerry & The Pacemakers (GB)

About

Also known as: Gerry and de Pacemakers, Gerry and the Peacemakers, Jerry and the Pacemakers

Few acts in pop history can claim a debut run like Gerry and the Pacemakers pulled off. The Liverpool beat group became the first act ever to see their first three singles all hit number one on the UK Singles Chart, "How Do You Do It?", "I Like It" and "You'll Never Walk Alone", a record that stood for twenty years until Frankie Goes to Hollywood matched it. That last track, borrowed from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, went on to become one of football's most enduring anthems, adopted by Liverpool FC and countless other clubs worldwide. Like the Beatles, they were managed by Brian Epstein and produced by George Martin, and they rode the Merseybeat wave hard, scoring seven Top 40 hits in the US as part of the British Invasion, with "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying" peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. They also starred in the 1965 film Ferry Cross the Mersey, their own take on A Hard Day's Night. That title song got a second life in 1989 when Gerry Marsden cut a charity version with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and Holly Johnson in response to the Hillsborough disaster, landing him another UK number one.