Sam Leach

Merseybeat

Lecturer, Historian, Writer, Promoter and major personallity in the Beatles and Merseybeat histories. Without Sam Leach who knows what the outcome might have been...........

Track 1 Sam joined Vince and Paul on Monday September 3rd--to tell us about his first meeting with the Beatles, how he organised the tribute to John Lennon. He also gave an insight to the business acumen of Brian Epstein and the caring side of Paul McCartney.

http://rockrupert.podomatic.com/

For the full version of the interview visit the link in the box

Sam Leach was, and indeed still is, an out and out Rock'n'Roll fan. In 1957 he organised a night for The Blue Diamonds. During the interval he put his records on an old dusty turntable and when he saw the kids bopping around the small garage that served as a meeting place, Sam knew where his future lay. Promoting. He told me he got greater pleasure putting shows on than performing onstage… even with The Beatles. Sam launched his first full time promotion at the historic St George's Hall in the City centre. With wildly fluctuating results, Sam continued his merry way toward his destiny - meeting The Beatles on 10th January 1961. Sam famously organised "Operation Big Beat" at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton, November 10th 1961. Headlining on that first night were The Beatles alongside Gerry and the Pacemakers, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and The Remo Four. Around 4,300 fans pack into the Tower Ballroom for the first in a series of Sam Leach's " Operation Big Beat" shows. For almost two years he was swept along on a roller coaster ride. He then decided to launch his own independent record label, Troubadour Records and followed that with a bid to become The Beatles' manager. He tried to introduce them to reluctant London agents by promoting shows at The Queens Ballroom, Aldershot. That failure became part of Beatles folklore. In February 1964 Sam bounced back from adversity. Anticipating that the Beatles would soon conquer America following exposure on the Ed Sullivan Show, he produced a magazine 'Beatles on Broadway', which sold almost a million copies in eleven languages. In the money again, Sam ran a group agency for a while but with The Beatles gone forever his heart wasn't in it and he settled down to his most successful promotion .... his young family, wife Joan and three kids, Debbie, Paul and Tony.