When Billy J. Kramer's record of Lennon and McCartney's "Do You Want To
Know A Secret?" topped the New Musical Express charts in 1963, he
became the first singer in the world to have a number one hit with a
Beatles song, apart from the Fab Four themselves. This success propelled
the teenage Kramer into the fast lane, and he followed it with another
five top twenty singles within the space of two years.
In this autobiography Billy J. Kramer (born William Ashton) tells his
rags to riches story, from his working class childhood in Liverpool, via
a British Rail engineering apprenticeship in the dying days of steam, to
the racy world of international pop music. Managed by Brian Epstein,
produced by George Martin, engineered by Hurricane Smith, and friend,
confidante and colleague of the Beatles, Kramer gives a definitive
insider's account of the birth of the Liverpool sound and also the
"British Invasion" of the US.
We follow him to the Star Club in Hamburg, to Abbey Road, into the BBC
studios, and onto package tours and stage shows with the Beatles, Cilla
Black, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Tommy Quickly and other stars of the
age. He shares a dressing room with James Brown, and appears alongside
other 1960s giants of the American music business. Kramer also
brilliantly evokes the world of variety, as he goes behind the scenes
with comedian Tommy Cooper, and learns about the stagecraft of artistes
from another era.
On the surface, Kramer's career seems like a dream come true, but there
are dark secrets in the Kramer story. Even before he'd reached his
twenties, he was already in the grip of drugs and alcohol, and there
were constant tensions between him and his Mancunian backing band, The
Dakotas. When the screaming stopped, he reinvented himself as a cabaret
performer, and some of his best records were made during the years he
was out of the limelight. He brought up a young family, but the drink
and pills made his domestic life, and eventually his professional life,
a struggle.
In this no-holds-barred account of his life, Kramer evokes the vibrancy
of the sixties and reveals how he exorcised his demons and forged a new
career in the US. He assembles his current band, shows a growing mastery
of songwriting and recording, and returns to national tours, keeping the
flame of the Mersey sound alive. The lifetime of experience he brings to
his new songs infuses every page of this enthralling read.
