#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!

Paul: that never happened 😡

Two Of Us: John kisses Paul

I'd read Joe's book, Sticky Fingers, several years ago and remember being puzzled at how little of the whole Paul vs Jann conflict was in there, especially since I knew something of the story before reading the book. I'm glad that Joe has published the entire interview, because it's pretty enlightening about the situation.

What completely shocked, me, however, was this little item:

Joe: And the irony is her next boyfriend was a gay man, Sam Havadtoy.

Paul: Yeah. And then we had to deal with Sam. Everything we wanted—I’d nearly have Yoko agreeing to something, then Sam would get hold of it, the decision would be reversed.

Joe: Oh my God.

My mind went blank for a moment when I read that, then my next response was WHAT .... THE .... FUCK????!!!!!!! Why was Yoko's boyfriend getting any say in Beatles business??? Paul, George, and Ringo must have been absolutely incandescent when that happened.

Here's the interview, that section is in Part 2.

Then there's the part where Paul talks about how Sam Taylor-Johnson sent him the script for Nowhere Boy:

Paul: ...she actually brought me the script, and I said—because they had Mimi as a real old harridan—I said, “Mimi was kind of cute. Mimi was strict as hell, but she was kind of cute.” And I always remember a twinkle in her eye. And I would come round to see John. I would walk up from where I lived—John lived over there. I would walk up with my guitar to see him. And Mimi would go, “John, your little friend’s here.” Little friend. We had a great relationship. It was like I couldn’t say, “Piss off, woman,” because I was young, she was old. But it was like that. But she was okay. So I told Sam, I said, “Well, this didn’t happen. That didn’t happen. This is right. John never punched me out.” So on and so on. But Sam said, “It’s a film.”

And I go, “Yeah, it’s a film, but it’s kind of history. These films are a kind of history. The Buddy Holly story, Johnny Cash story—it’s kind of history.” So in the film, there’s John—he lays me out with one [punch]. Never happened. He’s riding on the top deck of buses. But Sam said, “Well, it’s a film.”

Joe: The mythology and the facts are always battling it out.

Paul: It’s interesting because I’m a fact, not a myth. For me, this is fact. And so to think John’s mum wasn’t like that—did she really turn him on to rock and roll? I don’t think so. I know his stepdad had some Carl Perkins records, and we used to go in their house and play them.

I think in the end you just give up. You just go, “Richard III was maybe a baddie, or maybe he wasn’t.” He’s now getting reinterred in Leicester Cathedral or whatever it is. And who knows? Shakespeare made him that. And the historians think he was quite all right.