#len garry

Remembering Len Garry 1942-2026

Musician Len Garry has died at 84. He was the bassist and multi-instrumentalist in Liverpool skiffle band The Quarrymen. He joined the band in 1957 to 1958, where his bandmates included John Lennon and later Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison later evolved into The Beatles in 1960. Some Quarrymen recordings later appeared on Anthology 1, but they were recorded after Garry's departure. Garry soon left music and became an architect.

The Quarrymen onstage: Colin Hanton, McCartney, Garry with tea-chest bass, Lennon and Eric Griffiths circa 1958

A famous day in Beatle history is July 6, 1957 because that was the day The Quarrymen did a Garden fete at St. Paul's Church and Paul met John for the first time. In 2009 when I visited Liverpool, I visited the location of that historic meeting. Kind of cool that Garry was a part of that show and meeting!

plaque at St. Peter's Church in Liverpool commemorating that show

In 1997, Garry re-joined some of the original members for a re-formed Quarrymen. Garry and the other surviving members even recorded and released some new music. Garry appeared in a few documentaries about The Quarrymen and The Beatles too.

Garry on right with The Quarrymen circa 2010s

In 2010, The Quarrymen with Garry toured the U.S. This tour coincided with the release of the movie biopic Nowhere Boy about John Lennon's teen years. Garry was portrayed in the film by Frazer Bird. When the film was released, I saw it at Film Forum in NYC and there was a Q&A with the remaining members of The Quarrymen. I got the chance to meet Colin Hanton, Rod Davis, and Garry and they actually signed my Beatles Liverpool guide book after the screening.

Quarrymen autographs including Garry's on the lower right

In 2023, Chas Newby passed away, who had been in The Quarrymen in 1960 and joined the modern Quarrymen in 2016.

"For my first gig, I was given a guitar solo on ‘Guitar Boogie’. I could play it easily in rehearsal so they elected that I should do it as my solo. Things were going fine, but when the moment came in the performance I got sticky fingers; I thought, ‘What am I doing here?’ I was just too frightened; it was too big a moment with everyone looking at the guitar player."

~Paul Mccartney in the Anthology

(Picture presumably from their second performance at the New Clubmoor Hall)

Just a few weeks after this, Len Garry gives us an account where Paul seems to be pepping himself up pre-performance:

"Tonight will run just like clockwork. I am going to give the audience the best rendition of 'Guitar Boogie' that they have ever heard this side of Garston."

"Hey this is a new twist." I said, "Paul just cracked a joke he must have a sense of humour after all. John, shall we have him in the group?"

John was enjoying the banter as ever.

"Yeah, we'll give him another try and if you don't get it right this time Jimmy...", Jimmy was Paul's middle name, "then..." John waited to see the expression on Paul's face, "then we'll..", again a pause, by this time we were hanging on John's next words, " ...then....we'll have to send him for some more guitar lessons!"

Paul joined in the laughter and we were all back to normal.

The earliest recording we have of John singing. Not strictly a Beatles recording, but it's certainly relevant.

This was recorded at Woolton Garden Fete on the day John and Paul officially met for the first time. (There are tantalizing hints that it wasn't the first time they met, but that's for another blog).

John was 16 when this was recorded.

Also performing with him were

Eric Griffiths - Guitar

Colin Hanton - Drums

Rod Davies - Banjo

Pete Shotton - Washboard

Len Gary - Tea Chest Bass

It's very cool to have any recording from that day and is pretty much a fluke that a fan would bring a recording device at all. They weren't exactly small.

Apparently, the entire set was recorded, but hasn't been released. Maybe it will be in the future. Who knows.

Here are the songs he's covering, if you haven't heard them:

Letter to Len Garry (the quarrymen)

“Wait a minute, John, I’m burning the toast.” Paul, clattering about in the kitchen, seemed oblivious to John’s emphatic statement.

Sounds like Paul needs a timer in the kitchen.. John has taken note!

My darling, when you burnt

That toast the other morning

I, I looked into your eyes and

I could see that National Health eyeball

And I love you, like I've never done,

Like I've never done before!

(“You’ll Be Mine” Lennon/McCartney)

I'm gonna be honest this came out AFTER the anthology, which is when "You'll Be Mine" was released.

I think it's very likely he heard the song and it either triggered something real or a fake memory.

Not saying it's not cute, but I'm very very skeptical of humans being able to remember quotes even paraphrasing that many years later.

Len Garry recalled: “There was a bit of a stony atmosphere at first…. Ivan had told John about Paul being a great guitarist, so he felt a bit threatened.” And Pete Shotton noted that John, who was “notoriously wary of strangers… acted, at first, almost standoffish.” John’s eyes slit to pin Paul fast in the taupey lamplit room. McCartney, who was younger and looked it, wore an outfit that required a little getting used to: a white sport coat with an underweave of fine silvery thread that sparkled, depending upon how the light hit it. The jacket, which was meant to convey a cheeky, debonair look, seemed almost comical on Paul, whose body was helplessly plump, his moonface putty-soft and pale. He had beautiful eyes, though, like a spaniel’s, and his spunk was jacked up several notches, almost to the point of being cocky for a boy who was, for all intents, on foreign turf.