Skiffle Heroes

Warren James & His Skiffle Heroes

Following the success of Warren James’ telling of The Lonnie Donegan Story we are delighted to invite the band back to perform for us a more broad and varied selection of songs that had England swingning throughout the 1950s Skiffle-Boom.

On Saturday 6 July, 1957 a young James Paul McCartney met John Lennon at Woolton Village Féte after he went along to watch Lennon’s band “The Quarrymen Skiffle Group” performing – and the rest is history.

Lonnie Donegan had launched The Skiffle Boom the previous year and in doing so he quite accidentally became the catalyst for the future of British Pop Music..

Thousands of Skiffle Groups appeared all over Britain and many had some major hit records. For The Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group with Nancy Whiskey on vocals, “Freight Train” was their biggest hit. “Last Train to San Fernando” was a huge success for the American Johnny Duncan. Meanwhile, The Vipers, gave us “Don’t You Rock Me Daddio”, “Cotton Fields” and “Maggie Maggie May”, which was the first song that the Beatles learnt..

Skiffle was the influence behind the 60s folk revival, whilst many more became the pop stars and hit makers of the 50s and 60s onwards. The Beatles, Van Morrison, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones and The Who all started in Skiffle Groups..