Tony Sheridan obit

TONY SHERIDAN, the singer and guitarist who was backed by The Beatles during their formative run in Hamburg, died on Saturday at the age of 72, the Telegraph reported. Sheridan met John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best in Hamburg's red-light district in the early ’60s when the young group came to see his act every night after their own shows at a neighboring club. Sheridan took the band under his wing, advising them on their look (which at the time included black leather bomber jackets and cowboy boots) and introducing them to American R&B acts like Little Richard. The Beatles eventually served as Sheridan's backing band at the Top Ten Club and cut their earliest recordings accompanying him as the Beat Brothers on 1961 covers of "My Bonnie" and "When the Saints Go Marching In." The album they recorded was later released as Tony Sheridan and The Beatles. Sheridan had an earlier distinction: During a 1959 appearance on the BBC music show Oh Boy!, he became the first British musician to play the electric guitar on TV, breaking a network ban. (2/18a)