They went on to perform around the world
It has now been over six decades since one of Liverpool’s first ever girl bands burst onto the music scene. Back in the 1960s, Liverpool was flooded with talented bands as the Merseybeat scene took over the city.
Many local bands flew to the top of the charts, making history and establishing themselves as legends in the industry. Among them were The Liverbirds – the city’s first all-girl rock ’n’ roll group.
The band came together following an article in the Mersey Beat newspaper and from there, they went on to perform at The Cavern, Hamburg’s Star Club and venues across the globe. The Liverbirds consisted of Mary McGlory on bass, Pam Birch on rhythm guitar and vocals, Valerie Gell on lead guitar and vocals and Sylvia Saunders on drums and now decades on from their formation, The Liverbirds are creeping up The Heritage Charts with new music.
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As part of the Liverpool ECHO’s How It Used To Be series, we spoke to Mary and Sylvia, both now 78 about their memories of 60s Liverpool and how their legacy is continuing. Mary, originally from Fazakerley, told the ECHO: “I was in The Cavern one day with three of my cousins and The Beatles were playing.
“We were sitting in one of the front rows and we just looked at each other and said let’s do that. Not one of us could play an instrument – but we didn’t care.
“We just thought we’ll sit down and practice and asked one of the other groups that were on that night where they bought guitars and it was Frank Hessy’s which was just around the corner from The Cavern. We just went there the next day and bought them on Hire Purchase of course – we were only 16 so we needed our parents permission to do us.”
Sylvia, originally from Litherland, was friends with Val before the band was created and the pair would similarly go to clubs to listen to live music. She told the ECHO: “We used to go to the clubs together like the Litherland Town Hall.
“One day we went back to Val’s house and she got a guitar out and I said, I didn’t know you could play guitar. She started playing – she was absolutely fantastic and then I said, ‘oh, I’d like to do that, we could get a group together.’
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“She said I’ll teach you, but my fingers were too small for the frets of the guitar and I said, I’ll tell you what, I’ll get a case of drums. So Val and I went off to Rushworth and Draper’s and I bought a kitchen drums.”
Sylvia and Val later saw a story in the Mersey Beat newspaper about a group called The Squaws, formed of Mary and her cousins and the Liverbirds were later born. They then recruited a new singer and guitarist, Pam Birch, after the other Squaws, Sheila and Irene, left the group.
Working full time, Sylvia and Mary said the band would practice most nights to improve their sound and when they first left work to pursue music full time, they were earning £7 a week. Sylvia said: “We wanted to do it, we said we’re definitely going to do it.
“The scene was just fantastic then in Liverpool – it was amazing. I don’t think it was like any other city to be quite honest.” Mary added: “The whole of Liverpool was absolutely thriving on music in the 60s.
“We started in 1962 and then The Beatles were becoming famous and Gerry and the Pacemakers – there were groups on every corner. We just wanted to be part of that scene and of course we realised that there were no other females and we thought well wouldn’t that be a great idea to get together and start a female group.”
In the early days of The Liverbirds, Sylvia and Mary met The Beatles back backstage at The Cavern Club and John Lennon had one thing to say to them. One quote famously stuck with their story and the group set out to “prove him wrong.”
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Mary said: “We used to take our empty guitar cases with us to The Cavern so we didn’t have to stand in the queue outside and that was when the famous scene happened where we were taken into the dressing room to be introduced to the boys.
“The boys of course were The Beatles and there’s John Lennon and Paul McCartney standing there in their underpants with a towel around the neck. and Bob Wooler said this is going to be the first all female band.
“First of all Paul McCartney said ‘oh that’s a great idea’ and John Lennon just looked at us and said ‘girls don’t play guitars.'” But their paths would cross again with band through the years.
Mary said: “I did see Paul McCartney a few times and he said, oh, we always followed what you were up to and we were just amazed at you all, that it really worked out and we were proud of you.” The Liverbirds relocated to Hamburg in 1964 and they were famously residents at Hamburg’s Star Club, where The Beatles also played.
Mary said: “Sylvia wasn’t quite 18 at the time when we got the contract from the Star Club, we had to wait in London for a few weeks. She had to go to the court to get permission. The Star Club had this big banner up in the middle of the street, which they always did to announce some big artists that were coming and our name had been on it for weeks so the audience were really, really looking forward to us coming.
“They were beginning to think we didn’t even exist and when we did finally make it, the crowds was just unbelievable. The curtain opened because the Star Club had a big stage and the minute they saw that we were really there and we really played, they went hysterical.”
In their time, the group performed with legends including Chuck Berry, Jimi Hendrix and The Rolling Stones. They were managed by Manfred Weissleder, the owner of the club and they also built up fan bases in Switzerland, Denmark and Japan.
Sylvia said: “Manfred flew us over to other countries and when we arrived, it was just like The Beatles. The people, all the screaming and shouting. They’d come to the plane with a big bouquet of flowers for us.”
But for Sylvia and Mary, the best memory of that time was meeting their husbands, John and Frank. Now decades on from the 60s, he Liverbirds hasn’t been forgotten and in recent years has been turned into a book and a musical.
Written by Ian Salmon and directed by Bob Eaton, the musical Girls Don’t Play Guitars, which first hit the stage in 2019, returned to Liverpool’s Royal Court back in September. At the time, brilliant archive photos of The Liverbirds, seen again here, were shared with the ECHO.
Sylvia and Maria have also recently published an autobiography called ‘The Liverbirds: Our life in Britain’s first female rock ‘n’ roll band’ and released new music. Their song Love Love Love has been climbing up The Heritage Chart in recent weeks, alongside music from fellow Merseyside artists Billy J Kramer, Ringo Starr and The Real Thing.
Guest featured on the song is Molly-Grace Cutler and Lisa Wright, who played the band on stage and Sylvia and Mary’s family’s were also part of the production of Love Love Love. This week, Sylvia and Mary been promoting their new music in Germany and there has also been talks about a Liverbirds documentary being made in the future.
Mary said: “As Val and Pam have died, the two girls that play them in the musical, they came over to Hamburg because of course, they know all the songs. They took Pam and Val’s place on the recordings as guests and we knew that their voices were ideal for us.”
As for The Heritage Charts, Sylvia said: “We’ve gone to number six now. All those fantastic artists above us and under us – even Ringo Starr. I mean it’s such a privilege really to see that Love Love Love is doing so well.”
