The Beatles and Raymond Jones
The legend of Raymond Jones lives on. So Who was Raymond Jones??
Manager Brian Epstein sitting on stage at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Note the Beatles in the background.
As author Hunter Davies put it in his "authorized" biography of The Beatles, it was the summer of 1961 and John along with the group were waiting for something to happen for them. They felt it. Something big was going to happen to really break them out of Liverpool into the big time. "It," as legend goes, happened at 3 PM Liverpool time, on October 28, 1961.
At 3 in the afternoon, on October 28, 1961, 18 year old Raymond Jones walked into Brian Epstein's NEMS record shop on Whitechapel Street and asked Epstein for a copy of "My Bonnie" by the Beatles. Epstein was stumped. He had an elaborate system of finding records stocked in his store and an equally elaborate system of locating a record if, by chance, he didn't happen to have it in stock. But he had to admit, his entire system had finally been beaten by Raymond Jones. It was a Friday that day and Epstein made a note to begin the record search on Monday morning.
What really surprised Epstein was the two girls asked for the very same record Monday morning. More girls asked for it later on Monday afternoon. He simply couldn't believe he didn't have what was clearly a popular record. Jones had mentioned that the recording was German which was a start. Epstein made some calls but got nowhere. He finally resorted to asking some of the girls in his shop who exactly were these "Beatles." He was reportedly surprised to hear that they were not only not German but English and to boot, they were from Liverpool. Even more astounding to Eptein, the Beatles had actually been in his shop from time to time. Further inquiries revealed that the Beatles played regularly at The Cavern Club on Mathew Street which intersects with Whitechapel and is no more than 300 yards from Epstein's record store location. Eptein obtained copies of "My Bonnie" for his store and went to see the Beatles at The Cavern on November 9, 1961. The rest, as they say, is history. Obviously any number of kids would have come into NEMS sooner or later and requested "My Bonnie" but it happened to be Raymond Jones who asked, thus securing his place in Beatles folklore.
Now for the controversy:
First; the idea that Brian Epstein "never heard" of the Beatles seems at odds with other facts. Epstein himself regularly contributed to the local music paper called "Mersey Beat." The Beatles were featured regularly in that paper and it seems impossible that Epstein could have missed their name. However, in Epstein's defense, he was interested in groups that made and sold records. No Liverpool band was making records at the time so it's possible he might have glanced right by them. As for the Beatles' "first" record, they were billed as the "Beat Brothers" backing Tony Sheriden so they technically didn't have their very own record out yet. "My Bonnie" was released in Germany only and peaked at #32 on the German charts. It was never officially released in the UK.
Second; the idea that Raymond Jones didn't even exist gained traction for some years. Rather, he was the fictional invention of Epstein. It turns out that Bob Wooler, long time Cavern Club DJ actually knew Raymond Jones personally and could vouch for his existence. The controversay arose when Alistair Taylor, Epstein's long time personal assistant jumped up at the 1997 Penny Lane Beatles Festival and boldly announced that he was in fact, Raymond Jones. Taylor has repeated that story several times since, including saying it on a BBC documentary. Taylor claimed, "It was me. I ordered the Beatles' record and put down the deposit."
Author Spencer Leigh (Leigh S, et. al. "The Beatles: 10 years that Shook the World," MOJO Press, 2004) investigated the entire situation and actually found Mr. Jones who owned a printing company in Burscough which is now run by his son and daughter. Raymond Jones himself is retired and living quietly in Spain. It seems he is quite shy and self effacing. "I never wanted to do anything to make money out of the Beatles because they have given me so much pleasure. I saw them every dinner time at The Cavern and they were fantastic. I had never heard anything like them. Everybody had been listening to Lonnie Donnegan and Cliff Richard and they were so different. Ron Billingsley had a motorbike and we could follow them all over the place - Hambleton Hall, Aintree Institute, and Knotty Ash Village Hall."
And what about his encounter with Brian Epstein on Oct. 28, 1961? "Brian Epstein said to me, 'Who are they?' and I said, 'They are the most fantastic group you will ever hear.' No one will ever take that away from me that it was me who spoke to Brian Epstein and then he went to The Cavern to see them for himself. I didn't make them famous, Brian Epstein made them famous but things might have turned out different witout me."
When Brian Epstein published his autobiography which told the story of how he found the Beatles, he instructed his staff to write to Raymond Jones thanking him for what happened and to send him a copy of the book ("A Cellar Full of Noise,"Pyramid Books, NY, 1965). This serves as additional proof that Raymond did exist.
So there you have it. Raymond Jones apparently really does exist and he really did walk into Brian Epstein's record store and ask for a Beatles record that brought Epstein into the Beatles' world. NEMS ceased to exist long ago in Liverpool. What is there now is an "Ann Summers" sexy female underwear shop. Given Epstein's rather exotic tastes and predilections in sex, this has turned into one of Liverpool's better jokes. Still, given all the other sites that have become Beatle shrines, it would have been nice to maintain what was NEMS; the very site that Epstein first heard of and first took an interest in, the Beatles.
John Haberstroh (Bassist for Beatle Tracks) Find us at www.beatletracksband.com
Manager Brian Epstein sitting on stage at the Cavern Club in Liverpool. Note the Beatles in the background.As author Hunter Davies put it in his "authorized" biography of The Beatles, it was the summer of 1961 and John along with the group were waiting for something to happen for them. They felt it. Something big was going to happen to really break them out of Liverpool into the big time. "It," as legend goes, happened at 3 PM Liverpool time, on October 28, 1961.
At 3 in the afternoon, on October 28, 1961, 18 year old Raymond Jones walked into Brian Epstein's NEMS record shop on Whitechapel Street and asked Epstein for a copy of "My Bonnie" by the Beatles. Epstein was stumped. He had an elaborate system of finding records stocked in his store and an equally elaborate system of locating a record if, by chance, he didn't happen to have it in stock. But he had to admit, his entire system had finally been beaten by Raymond Jones. It was a Friday that day and Epstein made a note to begin the record search on Monday morning.
What really surprised Epstein was the two girls asked for the very same record Monday morning. More girls asked for it later on Monday afternoon. He simply couldn't believe he didn't have what was clearly a popular record. Jones had mentioned that the recording was German which was a start. Epstein made some calls but got nowhere. He finally resorted to asking some of the girls in his shop who exactly were these "Beatles." He was reportedly surprised to hear that they were not only not German but English and to boot, they were from Liverpool. Even more astounding to Eptein, the Beatles had actually been in his shop from time to time. Further inquiries revealed that the Beatles played regularly at The Cavern Club on Mathew Street which intersects with Whitechapel and is no more than 300 yards from Epstein's record store location. Eptein obtained copies of "My Bonnie" for his store and went to see the Beatles at The Cavern on November 9, 1961. The rest, as they say, is history. Obviously any number of kids would have come into NEMS sooner or later and requested "My Bonnie" but it happened to be Raymond Jones who asked, thus securing his place in Beatles folklore.
Now for the controversy:
First; the idea that Brian Epstein "never heard" of the Beatles seems at odds with other facts. Epstein himself regularly contributed to the local music paper called "Mersey Beat." The Beatles were featured regularly in that paper and it seems impossible that Epstein could have missed their name. However, in Epstein's defense, he was interested in groups that made and sold records. No Liverpool band was making records at the time so it's possible he might have glanced right by them. As for the Beatles' "first" record, they were billed as the "Beat Brothers" backing Tony Sheriden so they technically didn't have their very own record out yet. "My Bonnie" was released in Germany only and peaked at #32 on the German charts. It was never officially released in the UK.
Second; the idea that Raymond Jones didn't even exist gained traction for some years. Rather, he was the fictional invention of Epstein. It turns out that Bob Wooler, long time Cavern Club DJ actually knew Raymond Jones personally and could vouch for his existence. The controversay arose when Alistair Taylor, Epstein's long time personal assistant jumped up at the 1997 Penny Lane Beatles Festival and boldly announced that he was in fact, Raymond Jones. Taylor has repeated that story several times since, including saying it on a BBC documentary. Taylor claimed, "It was me. I ordered the Beatles' record and put down the deposit."
Author Spencer Leigh (Leigh S, et. al. "The Beatles: 10 years that Shook the World," MOJO Press, 2004) investigated the entire situation and actually found Mr. Jones who owned a printing company in Burscough which is now run by his son and daughter. Raymond Jones himself is retired and living quietly in Spain. It seems he is quite shy and self effacing. "I never wanted to do anything to make money out of the Beatles because they have given me so much pleasure. I saw them every dinner time at The Cavern and they were fantastic. I had never heard anything like them. Everybody had been listening to Lonnie Donnegan and Cliff Richard and they were so different. Ron Billingsley had a motorbike and we could follow them all over the place - Hambleton Hall, Aintree Institute, and Knotty Ash Village Hall."
And what about his encounter with Brian Epstein on Oct. 28, 1961? "Brian Epstein said to me, 'Who are they?' and I said, 'They are the most fantastic group you will ever hear.' No one will ever take that away from me that it was me who spoke to Brian Epstein and then he went to The Cavern to see them for himself. I didn't make them famous, Brian Epstein made them famous but things might have turned out different witout me."
When Brian Epstein published his autobiography which told the story of how he found the Beatles, he instructed his staff to write to Raymond Jones thanking him for what happened and to send him a copy of the book ("A Cellar Full of Noise,"Pyramid Books, NY, 1965). This serves as additional proof that Raymond did exist.
So there you have it. Raymond Jones apparently really does exist and he really did walk into Brian Epstein's record store and ask for a Beatles record that brought Epstein into the Beatles' world. NEMS ceased to exist long ago in Liverpool. What is there now is an "Ann Summers" sexy female underwear shop. Given Epstein's rather exotic tastes and predilections in sex, this has turned into one of Liverpool's better jokes. Still, given all the other sites that have become Beatle shrines, it would have been nice to maintain what was NEMS; the very site that Epstein first heard of and first took an interest in, the Beatles.
John Haberstroh (Bassist for Beatle Tracks) Find us at www.beatletracksband.com
I worked for Ray Jones in Burscough in 73-74 and he would tell stories of his Beatles at the Cavern days. He was annoyed that Epstein got his age wrong and in fact was 24 not 18 at the time.I last saw him at the pub twice in Burscough in 94,i have the photos to prove it.I now live in Lancaster, Ma and Chachi calls me Ken from Liverpool.
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