Bill Harry

Bill Harry is an English author, from Liverpool. He went to college with John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe, who were members of The Beatles. Using the name The Dissenters, they promised to make Liverpool famous with Lennon's music, Sutcliffe's paintings and Harry's writing. The Dissenters did not get far together, but each member later became well-known.

Harry founded Mersey Beat, a newspaper about the local music scene in Liverpool, in 1961. He was the first person to write news articles about the Beatles.

Over the years, Harry has been on over four hundred television and radio shows in Britain, America, Europe and Asia. Shows he has been on include Good Morning, Good Morning America, BBC News, Sky News, CNN, ITV and many television documentaries and movies about the Beatles. The British Council had him represent them for their Beatles exhibitions in Hong Kong. Harry has also appeared as a guest at Beatles conventions in Britain, Europe and America.

Harry moved to London in 1966, when he was a music journalist for Weekend Magazine, and columnist for the Fleetway magazines Marilyn and Valentine.

He was given an award by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors for everything he has done for the music business in his lifetime.

Artists worked with

In London, Harry worked with many entertainers. His job as their publicist was to deal with the media.

• The Kinks
• The Hollies
• Pink Floyd
• Ten Years After
• Jethro Tull
• David Bowie
• Led Zeppelin
• The Beach Boys
• Procol Harum
• Blodwyn Pig
• Chicken Shack
• Free
• Mott the Hoople
• Stone the Crows
• The Pretty Things
• Suzi Quatro
• Hot Chocolate
• Cockney Rebel
• Bill Kenwright
• Alexis Korner
• Nazareth
• Supertramp
• The Electric Prunes
• Kim Wilde
• David Prowse (Darth Vader in Star Wars).

Books by Bill Harry

• Arrows : The Official Story Everest Books (1976) ISBN 0-903925-61-3
• Mersey Beat: The Beginnings of The Beatles Omnibus Press (1977) ISBN 0-86001-415-0
• The Beatles Who's Who Aurum Press (1982) ISBN 0-906053-38-2
• Beatlemania Virgin Books (1984) ISBN 0-86369-041-6
• Paperback Writers Virgin Books (1984) ISBN 0-86369-021-1
• The Book of Lennon Aurum Press (1984) ISBN 0-906053-74-9
• Ask Me Why Javelin Books (1985) ISBN 0-7137-1635-5
• Beatles For Sale Virgin Books (1985) ISBN 0-86369-097-1
• The Book of Beatle Lists Javelin Books (1985) ISBN 0-7137-1521-9
• The McCartney File Virgin Books (1986) ISBN 0-86369-157-9
• Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Atalanta Press (1987) ISBN 187004908X
• The Ultimate Beatles Encyclopedia Virgin Books (1992) ISBN 0-86369-681-3
• Jan Olofsson: My 60s Taschen (1994) ISBN 3-8228-8915-6
• The Encyclopedia of Beatles People Blandford Press (1997) ISBN 0-7137-2606-7
• The Best Years of The Beatles Headline (1997) ISBN 0-7472-7762-1
• Whatever Happened to ... Cassell (1999) ISBN 0-7137-2675-X
• The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated Virgin Books (2000 ISBN 0-7535-0481-2
• The John Lennon Encyclopedia Virgin Books (2000) ISBN 0-7535-0404-9
• The Paul McCartney Encyclopedia Virgin Books (2002) ISBN 0-7535-0716-1
• The George Harrison Encyclopedia Virgin Books (2003) ISBN 0-7535-0822-2
• The Ringo Starr Encyclopedia Virgin Books (2004) ISBN 0-7535-0843-5
• The British Invasion Chrome Dreams (2004) ISBN 1-84240-247-1

Other websites

• Bill Harry's story on Mersey-beat.com
• The Beatles and Mersey Beat by Bill Harry