Gerry and The Pacemakers are a British beat music group prominent during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool and were managed by Brian Epstein.
They are most remembered for being the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with their first three single releases. It was a record that was not equalled for 20 years, until the mid-80s success of fellow Liverpool band Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Gerry & the Pacemakers are the second most successful group from Liverpool to hit the US pop charts, behind only the Beatles. “How do you do it?” was firstly given to The Beatles, but after they refused, it became one of the greatest hits of Gerry & The Pacemakers.
History
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 (The Cavern – photo), England. McMahon (known as Arthur Mack) was replaced on piano by Les Maguire around 1961. 
The band’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 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, until being replaced at the top by “From Me to You”, The Beatles’ third single.
Gerry & The Pacemakers’ next two singles, “I Like It“ and “You’ll Never Walk Alone“, both also reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. The latter soon became the signature tune of Liverpool Football Club. To this day, the song remains a football anthem.
Despite this early success, Gerry & The Pacemakers never had another number one single in the UK. Gerry Marsden began writing most of their own songs, including “It’s Gonna Be All Right”, “I’m the One”, and “Ferry Cross the Mersey”, as well as their first and biggest US hit, “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying”. By late 1965, their popularity was rapidly declining on both sides of the Atlantic. They disbanded in October 1966, with much of their latter recorded material never released in the UK.
Here they are, with The Beatles and Roy Orbison:
