Photo by Gunter Zint / K & K Ulf Kruger OHG / Redferns via Getty Images
Gerry Marsden, the British singer who was instrumental in turning a song from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel” into one of football’s great national anthems, has passed away. He was 78. His friend Pete Price said on Instagram after talking to Marsden’s family that the Gerry and the Pacemakers frontman died after a brief illness linked to a heart infection.
“I send all the love in the world to (his wife) Pauline and his family,” he said. “You are never alone.”
Marsden was the lead singer of the band that rose to prominence in the Merseybeat scene in the 1960s. Although another band from Liverpool – The Beatles – went on to become a superstar, Gerry and the Pacemakers will always have a place in the city’s consciousness thanks to “You Never Walk Alone”.
“I thought it was a great song. I’m going to tell my band we’re going to play that song,” Marsden told The Associated Press in 2018 when he remembered the first time he heard the song in theaters. “So I went back and told my friends we were doing a ballad called ‘You Never Walk Alone’.”
Marsden is best known for his band’s rendition of the song from ‘Carousel’, a 1945 musical that became a feature film in 1956. The cover version of the Pacemakers was released in October 1963 and became the band’s third No. 1 hit on the UK singles chart. Adopted by fans of Liverpool football club, it is sung with chilling passion for every home game of the 19-time England champions – before coronavirus restrictions meant that many games were played in empty stadiums.
The lyrics, which show unity and persistence through adversity – including ‘When you walk through a storm, keep your head up, and don’t be afraid of the dark’ – were a rallying cry for the Liverpool faithful and the song’s title is on the club crest of Liverpool.
The song has also been taken over by supporters of the Scottish Celtic and the German Borussia Dortmund.
Liverpool tweeted alongside a full-voiced video of the fans that Marsden’s voice “accompanied our greatest evenings” and that “national anthem tied players, staff and fans around the world and helped create something really special.”
The song was embraced during the beginning of the corona pandemic last spring when a cover of the song, featuring World War II veteran Tom Moore, hit number one. Moore had captivated the British public by walking 100 laps around his garden in England leading up to his 100th birthday in April to raise about 33 million pounds ($ 40 million) for the National Health Service.
The Cavern Club in Liverpool, the music venue where many of The Beatles’ early performances took place, described Marsden as a “legend” and a “very good friend”.
In 1962 Beatles manager Brian Epstein signed the band, and their first three releases reached No. 1 in 1963 – “How Do You Do It?” and “I Like It” and “You Never Walk Alone.” Subsequent hits include ‘Ferry Cross the Mersey’ and ‘Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying’. The group split in 1967 and Marsden pursued a solo career before reforming the bank a few years later.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood singer Holly Johnson, who is from Liverpool and covers “Ferry Across The Mersey” tweeted that Marsden was a “Liverpool legend”.
Marsden is survived by his wife Pauline, whom he married in 1965. The couple had two daughters.
