The Liverbirds


The Liverbirds were an English all-female rock band from Liverpool, active between 1963 and 1968. The group consisted of vocalist and guitarist Valerie Gell, guitarist and vocalist Pamela Birch, bassist and vocalist Mary McGlory, and drummer Sylvia Saunders. They were one of the very few female bands on the Merseybeat scene, as well as one of the first all-female rock and roll bands in the world. They took their name from the fictional liver bird, which is the symbol of their native Liverpool.

History

Gell, Saunders, and McGlory formed the band in 1963, along with guitarist Sheila McGlory and vocalist Irene Green, both of whom quickly left to join other bands and were replaced by Birch. They achieved more commercial success in Germany than their native Britain. Early in their career, they followed in the footsteps of fellow Liverpudlians the Beatles and made their way to Hamburg, where they performed at the Star-Club after the Beatles' own tenure and were billed as "the female Beatles". John Lennon of the Beatles infamously told the group that "girls" were unable to play guitars. Regardless, the Liverbirds became one of the top attractions at the Star-Club and they released two albums and several singles on the Club's own label. One of those singles, a cover of Bo Diddley's "Diddley Daddy", reached No. 5 on the German charts. The group broke up in 1968, just after finishing a tour of Japan. They briefly reunited in 1998.
Three members of the band settled in Germany permanently. Saunders moved to Spain, settling in Alicante with her husband, John. Sylvia is now living in Glasgow. McGlory runs a Hamburg-based company called Ja/Nein Musikverlag which she founded with her husband, German songwriter Frank Dostal, who was one of the band's former colleagues from the Star-Club and later vice-chairman of the German performance rights organization GEMA. Birch also settled in Hamburg and worked for many years in the city's clubs. She died at the UKE on 27 October 2009, at the age of 65. Gell, who settled in Munich but later returned to Hamburg, died on 11 December 2016, aged 71.

Releases

;Albums
;Singles
;Compilation
The story of the Liverbirds is the subject of the 2019 musical, Girls Don't Play Guitars, written by Ian Salmon and directed by Bob Eaton at the Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool. Founding members McGlory and Saunders have been involved with the production and join in the cast on stage for the encore.