{"id":485544,"date":"2026-02-23T10:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/485544\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T10:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T10:44:10","slug":"on-this-day-in-2024-we-lost-the-stockbroker-who-played-piano-for-the-beatles-before-they-were-the-beatles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/485544\/","title":{"rendered":"On This Day in 2024, We Lost the Stockbroker Who Played Piano for The Beatles Before They Were The Beatles"},"content":{"rendered":"

Before Beatlemania swept the world, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison were just three kids trying to make it in music. Lennon was just 16 years old when he formed the Quarrymen<\/a>, a skiffle group comprised of his school friends, in 1956. Bassist Paul McCartney came aboard the following year when he and Lennon met at a gig, and George Harrison later joined on guitar at McCartney\u2019s recommendation. In February 1958, the Quarrymen added pianist John \u201cDuff\u201d Lowe\u2014another friend of McCartney\u2019s\u2014to the mix. Although Lowe, who died two years ago on this day (Feb. 22) in 2024, didn\u2019t make music a lifelong career, he still remains an integral part of the Beatles\u2019 early history.<\/p>\n

More About John \u201cDuff\u201d Lowe<\/p>\n

In 1953, John \u201cDuff\u201d Lowe met Paul McCartney during a choral audition<\/a> at Liverpool Cathedral in 1953, when they were mere boys of 11. Reconnecting later that year when they both attended the Liverpool Institute Grammar School, their friendship grew. Five years later, McCartney invited Lowe to join the Quarrymen.<\/p>\n

@musicflashbacks68<\/a> <\/p>\n

July 12, 1958 \u2013 The Quarrymen, featuring John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, John \u201cDuff\u201d Lowe on piano and Colin Hanton on drums, recorded a vanity disc at a small studio in an electronics shop owned by a man named Percy Phillips. Their first ever recording, the band recorded \u2018That\u2019ll Be The Day\u2019 and \u2018In Spite Of Danger\u2019 in one take each. McCartney wrote the song, likely around January 1958 and possibly at George Harrison\u2019s family home in Upton Green. The song uses the B7 chord, which McCartney discovered with Harrison after a multi-bus trip across Liverpool to the home of a stranger who knew the chord. Harrison wrote both of the song\u2019s guitar solos, and so McCartney gave him a joint credit. In The Beatles Anthology, McCartney describes it as, \u201ca self-penned little song very influenced by Elvis.\u201d In an interview with Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, McCartney further explains that the song is very similar to a specific Elvis song, though he avoids mentioning which particular one. Lewisohn writes that, though McCartney wrote the track on his own, it is heavily based on the melody of Elvis\u2019s \u201cTryin\u2019 to Get to You\u201d, which also includes the similar lyric, \u201c[in] spite of all that I\u2019ve been through.\u201d Musicologist Walter Everett agrees, writing that \u201cits cadence comes close\u201d. Chris Ingram says it was \u201cclearly inspired\u201d by it, and John C. Winn says it was \u201cfashioned after\u201d it. Recording was achieved with a single microphone suspended from the ceiling, no volume balancing possible. Curtains and carpets were put in the downstairs living room to dampen the noise of traffic from the street outside. At nearly three and a half minutes, the song is much longer than most pop recordings of the time. Lewisohn writes, \u201canecdotes have Percy Phillips waving his arms at them, hurrying them to a finish, because he could see the disc-cutting lathe reaching its ultimate point, almost at the center label.\u201d The recording was cut directly to a single two sided shellac-on-metal 78-rpm disc. The disc cost the group 17s 6d. In a 1977 interview, Phillips recalled that the group initially only paid 15 shillings and someone returned a few days later with the remaining amount. #TheQuarrymen<\/a> #thisdayinmusic<\/a> #1958<\/a> #1950s<\/a> #inspiteofallthedanger<\/a> #johnlennon<\/a> #paulmccartney<\/a> #georgeharrison<\/a> #percyphillips<\/a> #colinhanton<\/a> #johnlowe<\/a> #musichistory<\/a> #memorylane<\/a> #thebeatles<\/a> #elvispresley<\/a> @The Beatles @John Lennon @Paul McCartney @George Harrison <\/p>\n

\u266c original sound \u2013 Music Flashbacks<\/a> <\/p>\n

Lowe played with the Quarrymen for just under a year<\/a>, recording two tracks\u2014\u201dThat\u2019ll Be the Day\u201d and \u201cIn Spite of All the Danger\u201d\u2014at Percy Phillips\u2019 home studio in Liverpool. Holding onto that record for 23 years, Lowe eventually sold it to McCartney in 1981.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: The Quarrymen\u2019s Cavern Debut Perfectly Encapsulated John Lennon and Paul McCartney\u2019s Personalities]<\/a><\/p>\n

After leaving the Quarrymen, he played piano in a band called Hobo Rick & the City Slickers, headed by Ricky Tomlinson, now a well-known British comedic actor. However, his primary career had nothing to do with music. Lowe got a job as a stockbroker with a Liverpool firm, although he still frequented the Cavern Club, known today as the birthplace of the Beatles. During one visit, he ran into John Lennon, who quipped to a friend, \u201cThis is Duff. He breaks stock.\u201d<\/p>\n

After a couple of years, Lowe grew tired of \u201cbreaking stock\u201d and switched to banking instead. After working as banking hall manager for Hill Samuel Bank in Bristol, he opened his own financial services company in 1980. Lowe continued to work in finance until his retirement in 2007, still moonlighting as an equity release adviser afterwards.<\/p>\n

John \u201cDuff Lowe\u201d died on Feb. 22, 2024, at 81 years old.<\/p>\n

Featured image by Phil Noble \u2013 PA Images\/PA Images via Getty Images<\/p>\n