Bill Harry - Simple English Wikipedia

# Bill Harry

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Bill Harry attended Liverpool College of Art with John Lennon and introduced him to Stuart Sutcliffe. Under the name the Dissenters they vowed to make Liverpool famous, John with his music, Stuart with his painting and Bill with his writing.

Bill coined the phrase Mersey Beat and launched a newspaper of that name in July 1961 to publicise the Beatles and the Liverpool music scene and he arranged for Brian Epstein to visit the Cavern and see the Beatles for the first time. He also gave Cilla Black her name.

He was the first person ever to write about the Beatles on a regular basis and has written more about them than anyone else.

Over the years he has appeared on over 400 television and radio shows in Britain, America, Europe and the Far East including ‘Good Morning’, ‘Good Morning America’, BBC News, Sky News, CNN, ITV and numerous major television documentaries and films of the Beatles ranging from ‘The Compleat Beatles’ to ‘Beatles Secrets.’ He was programme assistant to the documentaries ‘Beat City’ and ‘The Story of Mersey Beat.’ The British Council had him represent them for their Beatles exhibitions in Hong Kong and he has appeared as guest at Beatles conventions in Britain, Europe and America.

He moved to London in 1966 when he was music correspondent for Weekend magazine and columnist for the Fleetway magazines Marilyn and Valentine. He became news editor and feature writer for Record Mirror, columnist for Record Retailer, feature writer for Music Now and British correspondent for the German magazines OK and Star Club News.

In the 80s he launched and ran Tracks, a monthly glossy album magazine, He also launched Idols: 20th Century Legends, a newsstand monthly. In addition, his features on popular culture were syndicated to 50 countries around the world by Syndicated Features.

Once settled in London he was asked to become personal press officer for the Kinks and the Hollies. He then spent eighteen years as a press officer for numerous artists including Pink Floyd, Ten Years After, Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, Blodwyn Pig, Chicken Shack, Free, Mott the Hoople, Stone the Crows, David Bowie, Led Zeppelin, the Pretty Things, the Beach Boys, Suzi Quatro, Hot Chocolate, Cockney Rebel, Bill Kenwright, Alexis Korner, Nazareth, Supertramp, the Electric Prunes, Kim Wilde and Dave Prowse (Darth Vader in ‘Star Wars). He also embarked on press campaigns for all the major record companies including EMI, CBS, Chrysalis, Rak Records, Charisma and others, in addition to being press officer to various London clubs including the Revolution, the Speakeasy, Blaises and Tiles.

His books include: Mersey Beat; the Beginning of the Beatles (Omnibus Press); Arrows (Everest Books); Heroes of the Spaceways (Omnibus Press); the Beatles Who’s Who (Aurum Press); the Book of Lennon (Aurum Press); The Book of Beatles Lists (Javelin Books); Ask Me Why: The Beatles Quizbook (Javelin Books); the Beatles (Beatles City); Beatlemania: The Beatles on Film (Virgin Books); Paperback Writers: the Beatles in Print (Virgin Books); Beatles for Sale (Virgin Books); The McCartney File (Virgin Books); Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Atalanta Press); the Ultimate Beatles Encyclopaedia (Virgin Books); the Encyclopaedia of Beatles People (Blandford Press); The Beatles Encyclopaedia (Revised edition) (Virgin Books); The Best Years of the Beatles (Headline); The John Lennon Encyclopaedia (Virgin Books); the Paul McCartney Encyclopaedia (Virgin Books); the George Harrison Encyclopaedia (Virgin Books); the Ringo Starr Encyclopaedia (Virgin Books); Whatever Happened To… (Blandford Press) and the British Invasion (Chrome Dreams).

He was awarded a gold lifetime achievement award for his contribution to the music business by British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.

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