Despite changing the name from The Texans, Rory Storm (real name Alan Caldwell) was obviously still fond of the numerous Western series on television.
He decided to call guitarist John Byrne “Johnny Guitar”, after the title of the 1954 Joan Crawford Western.
The group changed their style from skiffle to rock ‘n’ roll, and the Hurricanes were Alan Williams’ first choice when he went looking for a Liverpool band to send to appear at the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, Germany, for owner Bruno Kocschmider.
Rory and the boys were already committed to a season at Butlin’s and Gerry and The Pacemakers turned the Hamburg offer down, so Williams sent The Beatles instead.
The band also toured American bases in France and appeared at a club in Marbella, Spain, before their third season at Butlin’s in Skegness.
It was during their residency at Skegness that John Lennon and Paul McCartney turned up at the camp and offered Ringo £25 a week if he’d join them.
Storm committed suicide on 27 September 1972. He was only 32.
Rory Storm (Alan Caldwell)
Vocals
Johnny Guitar (John Byrne)
Rhythm guitar
Charles “Ty”
O’Brien
Lead guitar
Lou Walters (Wally Eymond)
Bass, vocals
Ringo Starr (Ritchie Starkey)
Drums
Video
RORY STORM AND THE HURRICANES
Rory Storm (born Al 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 changed the name of his group to “Al Storm and the Hurricanes”, then “Jet Storm and the Hurricanes”, and finally to “Rory Storm and the Hurricanes”.
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)