George Martin: from here to eternity

When George Martin gave a desperate Liverpool group one shot at glory, he brought Cliff Richard’s chart dominance to an end. Jon Savage on how one year – and one man – changed pop for ever ‘ This was the year in which I had 37 weeks at No 1,” says George Martin in the new BBC Arena documentary, Produced By George Martin . He’s talking about 1963, the year the Beatles broke through. While the exact number of weeks remains in dispute – thanks to the still vexed question of whether Please Please Me went to No 1 – this achievement has never been bettered. Often overlooked in pop histories, 1963 saw a revolution. Between 11 April and 31 December, George Martin productions – singles by Gerry and the Pacemakers , Billy J Kramer and the Dakotas , and the Beatles – monopolised the top of the charts. The picture is even more complete when you factor in the album charts. After 11 May, while the Beatles were at No 1 with From Me to You , their two albums, Please Please Me and With the Beatles , remained at the top for the following 51 weeks. They supplanted Cliff Richard’s Summer Holiday – No 1 for 14 weeks in early 1963 – and thereby lies a story. In Francis Hanly’s Arena film, Martin freely admits to his competitiveness. Back in 1962, the man to beat was Norrie Paramor, who, as recording director for EMI’s Columbia records, had bossed British pop since the late 50s. Now an unjustly forgotten figure, Paramor nurtured Cliff and built an empire on his productions for the Shadows , Helen

Posted by on April 20, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.