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Rory Storm (born Alan Ernest Caldwell; 7 January 1938 – 28 September 1972) was an English musician and vocalist. Storm was the singer and leader of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, a Liverpudlian band who were contemporaries of the Beatles in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Ringo Starr was the drummer for the Hurricanes before joining the Beatles in August 1962, replacing original drummer Pete Best. Storm’s first name for a group was “Dracula & the Werewolves”, but he then settled on “Al Caldwell’s Texans”. Still known as Alan Caldwell, Storm opened the Morgue Skiffle Club in the cellar of a large Victorian house, “Balgownie”, at 25 Oakhill Park, Broadgreen, on 13 March 1958. Groups played on Tuesdays and Thursdays for up to 100 people (above the age of 15) starting at 7:30 pm, including Storm’s group (later called “The Raving Texans”) and the Quarrymen (who later became “the Beatles”). (More from Wikipedia)
As skiffle became displaced by American rock and roll, and billed as Ritchie Starkey, he joined a band called Texans in November 1959 that was led by Al Caldwell. They were a well known skiffle band that was trying to reinvent themselves as a rock band. The band went through several names – the Raging Texans, then Jet Storm and the Raging Texans – before settling on Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Starkey developed the Ringo Starr persona at that time, due to his propensity for wearing numerous rings. They became one of the top bands in Liverpool in 1960 and eventually made their way to Hamburg, where they crossed paths with the Beatles; initially, however, they were billed above the Fab Four and were also paid more.
(September 2014)
