Quarry‘man’ Rod Davis to honour late Beatle John Lennon
Before The Beatles became a legendary supergroup whose music is still celebrated by generations of fans, there was The Quarrymen.
The name of John Lennon’s first skiffle/rock and roll group, the Quarrymen was formed in 1956 and featured some of Lennon’s school mates. One of those mates was Rod Davis, who grew up with Lennon near Liverpool, and played with him as a small child, even attending Sunday school with the future legend.
Currently touring Canada in celebration of what would have been Lennon’s 75th birthday, Oct. 9, Davis will tell some of those stories from the early days at the Best Western Vernon Lodge, Oct. 15. Hosted by the Vernon Folk-Roots Music Society (VFRMS), the show will also feature a PowerPoint presentation with photos of the guys and the places where they grew up and performed. “He will also be playing some of the songs he sang with Lennon so long ago, and will wrap up the evening with a Q&A from the audience,” said Paul Tessier, with the VFRMS.
Davis, who grew up in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool, first met Lennon at St. Peter’s Church, where the boys both attended Sunday school. Later, they found themselves students at Quarry Bank High School with fellow schoolmates Eric Griffiths and Pete Shotten, and started a band called The Quarrymen, named after their school. Davis was asked to play banjo in the band. “Eric and John taught me which chords to play and I soon learnt to busk,” recalled Davis in his bio.
By: Kristin Froneman
Source: Vernon Morning Star
