Gerry and The Pacemakers

Gerry and the Pacemakers were an English beat group from Liverpool, formed in 1959 by singer and guitarist Gerry Marsden together with his brother Fred on drums, Les Chadwick on bass, and later Les Maguire on piano. They emerged from the same Merseybeat scene as the Beatles, sharing the same manager, Brian Epstein, and playing the same Hamburg and Liverpool clubs, which made them one of the era's most direct rivals to the Fab Four in popularity.

The group made chart history as the first act ever to send its first three singles straight to number one on the UK charts: «How Do You Do It», «I Like It», and «You'll Never Walk Alone». That last song, a cover of the Rodgers and Hammerstein showtune, became their defining anthem and was later adopted as the terrace chant of Liverpool Football Club, cementing its place in British popular culture far beyond the pop charts. Their sound was warm, melodic pop-rock built on Marsden's earnest, expressive vocals and simple, catchy arrangements typical of the Merseybeat style.

Other hits such as «Ferry Cross the Mersey», named after the river running through their home city, and «Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying» kept them near the top of the British charts through the mid-1960s. Though their run of success was shorter than the Beatles', Gerry and the Pacemakers remain one of the defining bands of the Merseybeat movement and one of Liverpool's most beloved musical exports.