Photo by Gunter Zint / K & K Ulf Kruger OHG / Redferns via Getty Images
Gerry Marsden, the British singer who played a key role in transforming a piece from the musical “Carousel” by Rodgers and Hammerstein into one of the great anthems in the world of football, has died. He was 78 years old. His friend Pete Price said on Instagram after talking to Marsden’s family that frontman Gerry and Pacemakers died after a brief illness related to a heart infection.
“I send all the love in the world to (his wife) Pauline and his family,” he said. “You’ll never Walk Alone.”
Marsden was the lead singer of the band that became famous on the Merseybeat scene in the 1960s. Although another Liverpool band – The Beatles – reached superstition, Gerry and Pacemakers will always have a place in the city’s consciousness because of “You’ll Never Go Alone” .
“I thought what a beautiful song. I’m going to tell the band that we’re going to sing that song,” Marsden told The Associated Press in 2018, when he first remembered hearing the song at the movies. “So I came back and told my friends we were doing a ballad called ‘You’ll Never Go Alone.'”
Marsden is best known for his band’s rendition of “Carousel,” which was a 1945 musical that became a feature film in 1956. The cover version of Pacemakers was released in October 1963 and became the third hit. no. British singles chart. He was adopted by Liverpool football club fans and is sung with a passion for the tingling of the spine before every home game of the English champion 19 times – before the coronavirus restrictions meant that many matches were played on empty stadiums. .
His lyrics, showcasing unity and perseverance through adversity – including “When you walk through a storm, keep your head up and don’t be afraid of the dark” – were a rallying cry for Liverpool fans, and the song’s title is on the crest of the club. Liverpool.
The song was also adopted by supporters of Scottish Celtic and German Borussia Dortmund.
Liverpool posted on Twitter along with a full-length fan video that Marsden’s voice “accompanied us the biggest nights” and that “his anthem connected players, staff and fans around the world, helping to create something truly special.”
The song was hugged at the beginning coronavirus pandemic last spring, when a cover of the song featuring World War II veteran Tom Moore came in first. Moore captivated the British public by touring 100 laps of his garden in England before his 100th birthday in April to raise around £ 33 million ($ 40 million) for the national health service.
Liverpool’s Cavern Club, the venue for many of the Beatles’ early concerts, described Marsden as a “legend” and a “very good friend”.
In 1962, Beatles manager Brian Epstein joined the band and the first three releases reached number 1 in 1963 – “How Do You Do It?” and “I like it,” as well as “You’ll never go alone.” The following hits included “Ferry Cross the Mersey” and “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying”. The group split in 1967 and Marsden pursued a solo career before reforming the bank a few years later.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood singer Holly Johnson, who is from Liverpool and wrote “Ferry Across The Mersey”, wrote on Twitter that Marsden is a “Liverpool legend”.
Marsden is survived by his wife Pauline, whom he married in 1965. The couple had two daughters.
