The Beatles back Davy Jones

At the famous Liverpool Stadium concert on 3 May 1960, when Gene Vincent appeared with several Liverpool groups following Eddie Cochran’s death, one of those artists on the bill was the black American singer Davy Jones, not to be confused with the late singer from The Monkees.
Jones returned to Liverpool at the end of 1961 and during The Beatles’ appearance at Sam Leach’s second “Operation Big Beat”, he got up on the stage as an unannounced guest and sang two numbers with the group.

This was shortly followed by two official appearances. First, Jones was booked by Ray McFall to appear at The Cavern on Friday 8 December 1961. Since he was a solo singer, Jones needed a backing band, so McFall arranged for The Beatles to support him. The session was photographed for Mersey Beat. That same evening, Leach was promoting another event at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton and once again had Jones on the bill. As at The Cavern, The Beatles were booked to support him. Leach had advertised Jones as the Saturday Spectacular television star and
highlighted Jones’ status as a successful recording artist.

Read more about this historic appearance and how Cavern DJ Bob Wooler got stoned on a cocaine, thanks to Jones, in The Fab One Hundred and Four

David Bedford