#nowhere boy

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.

"I'd rather him in our band than anyone else's" - Nowhere Boy (2009)

spoilers under the cut as per usual!

doodle aw

Paul: that never happened 😡

Two Of Us: John kisses Paul