Paddy, Klaus & Gibson: The Last Farewell

By Bill Harry  

John Frankland & Klaus VoormannStratton Smith began to work hard to gain recognition for the band, entertaining disc jockeys and journalists at the club while the group were performing.

It was probably a pity that John Lennon became so enthusiastic about the band that he encouraged Brian Epstein to take an interest.

Once Epstein declared that he wished to take over as manager, Stratton Smith and Paul reluctantly allowed the transfer, accepting a settlement of £3,000, although Stratters felt they were making the wrong move, later commenting, "I had regrets because I think they should have made it. They weren't a top 20 band but they had a marvelous live feel. I think the way I was handling them, building them through the clubs and delaying a record debut was, with hindsight, the best way. With NEMS, record after record came out and they were put on tours and I don't think they really had time to develop."

Roag BestEpstein signed Paddy, Klaus & Gibson on Sunday June 6 1965, securing them a contract with Pye Records and the group were to release a total of three singles, beginning with 'I Wanna Know' c/w 'I Tried' on Friday, July 9 1965.

As with a number of acts signed by Brian following his initial Liverpool successes, they vanished without a trace.

There were plans at one time, suggested by Pete Townshend, to amalgamate the trio with the Who. However, when internal disputes within the Who were settled, the scheme was dropped and Paddy, Klaus & Gibson disbanded on Monday June 13 1966.

Paddy returned to Liverpool, where he joined the Escorts for a while and later teamed up with another former Stratton Smith artist, Beryl Marsden, in a soul band called Sinbad. He then began managing clubs and was about to team up with former Faron's Flamingos team-mate Nicky Crouch when he became very ill with cancer and was hospitalized.

John Frankland, Klaus Voormann, Pete Best & Virginia HarryGibson, who had replaced Ringo Starr in Rory Storm & the Hurricanes and had married Astrid Kirchherr, became a prominent record executive for Polygram until his retirement when he achieved the dream of many - to own a village pub!

Klaus continued his association with the Beatles, was a member of Manfred Mann, the Hollies and the Plastic Ono Band before returning to Hamburg and taking up a career as an artist once again. Having received a Grammy for his design of the 'Revolver' sleeve, he also designed the artwork for the Beatles 'Anthology' series

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