Gerry and the Pacemakers

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Gerry Marsden formed the group in 1959 with his brother, Fred, Les Chadwick and Arthur McMahon.

They rivalled the Beatles early in their career, playing in the same areas of Hamburg, Germany and Liverpool.

McMahon (known as Arthur Mack) was replaced on piano by Les Maguire around 1961.

They are known to have rehearsed at Cammell Laird shipping yard at Birkenhead.

The group's original name was Gerry Marsden and the Mars Bars, but they were forced to change this, when the Mars Company, producers of the chocolate Mars Bar, complained.

The band was the second to sign with Brian Epstein, who later signed them with Columbia Records (a sister label to the Beatles' label Parlophone under EMI).

They began recording in early 1963 with "How Do You Do It?", a song written by Mitch Murray, that Adam Faith had turned down and one that the Beatles chose not to release (they did record the song but insisted on releasing their own song, "Please Please Me").

The song was produced by George Martin and became a number one hit in the UK, the first by an Epstein Liverpool group to achieve this on all charts, until being replaced at the top by "From Me to You", the Beatles' third single.

Their lineup was:

Freddie Marsden
Les Chadwick
Les Maguire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qN-8oFU3yIg