Early recordings from Ringo Starr‘s pre-Beatles days have surfaced after more than 50 years.

Before joining the Fab Four, Richard Starkey (who soon after took the stage name Ringo Starr) was a member of the pioneering Merseybeat band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.  Though the group only released a pair of singles, which failed to chart, the group was integral to the development of the Merseybeat scene in Liverpool and played alongside the Beatles in Hamburg.  Starr left the group when he joined the Beatles in 1962.

According to the BBC Iris Caldwell, Storm’s sister recently discovered the tapes in a sealed box in her cellar.  The tracks were recorded in March 1960 at several different locations including the Jive Hive club and Stormsville – the name given to Rory Storm’s house where many bands including the Beatles would gather after clubs like The Cavern had closed for the night.  The tapes will be compiled into a single album which will be released later this month.

Caldwell spoke to the BBC about her brother: “Rory was a performer.  He wasn’t like The Beatles, a brilliant songwriter.  They called him The Golden Boy and Mr. Showbusiness.  Rory was so far ahead of his time.  he was doing glam rock then.”  She also stated that in her opinion Brian Epstein (who produced one of the band’s singles in 1964) did not give Storm a real shot a success because he “didn’t want any major competition” for the Beatles.  Storm, who was born Alan Caldwell, passed away in 1972 at the age of 34.

Iris Caldwell’s son, Adam F. an award winning drum-and-bass DJ, added: “The quality of the tape left a bit to be desired.  It was over half a century ago.  But the spirit and rawness suggest a whole scene waiting to happen.  I am so proud that my uncle was, as has been suggested to me often, the father of the Liverpool sound.”