Backstage with the Beatles: 'Lost' photos of band before they were famous that were taken by a 15-year-old boy in Croydon


Armed with a camera which had just one reel of film capable of taking only 12 photographs, 15-year-old photography student Andy Wright knew every picture had to count.



His assignment was to get some shots of Britain’s up and coming pop group, The Beatles, as they played a concert at the brand new Fairfield Halls in Croydon, South London in on April 25th, 1963.



The Liverpool group’s first Number One – From Me To You – was in the charts for 36 weeks and would be followed a few months later by the world’s biggest selling single, She Loves You.

The Beatles backstage at the Fairfield Halls, Croydon, on 25th April 1963

The Beatles played two shows at the Croydon venue as part of a 'Merseybeat Showcase'

Then and now: Photographer Andy Wright, pictured aged 15 when he took the extraordinary pictures in Croydon, south London, and now, almost 50 years on



None of this registered much with young Andy, who, having been allowed into the venue because his father, John, was a steward, was more interested in holding the Rolleiflex camera steady than witnessing history in the making.

‘To be honest, I was more of an Elvis Presley fan,’ said Andy yesterday. ‘I remember the first record I ever bought was Elvis singing All Shook Up. I was probably a bit awestruck but the Beatles had not attained their real fame and there was no real Beatlemania. To me, they were just a group playing at a venue in the town where I lived.’



Now it is Andy, however, who is all shook up after his set of photographs, showing the mop-haired group in their then trademark Beatle suits and Chelsea boots, were unearthed in his attic and shown to Fairfield’s officials to mark the venue’s 50th anniversary.

Fairfield Halls organizers had feared that photographs of the 1963 gig had been lost forever

John Lennon appears in the foreground of the photograph showing him performing on stage in Croydon

Andy, who still had the negatives has now been persuaded to license use of the pictures and has registered them with the world’s largest commercial picture agency, Getty Images.

‘They should generate a significant return for Andy from global licensing rights,’ said a Fairfield's spokesman.



‘They are potentially worth tens of thousands of pounds. We had been searching for pictures of The Beatles at Fairfield for years and had almost given up hope of ever finding any.’



The concert came barely a month after the release of the band’s first LP, Please Please Me, and John, Paul, George and Ringo formed part of a ‘Mersey Beat Showcase’ mini-tour featuring acts managed by their manager Brian Epstein.

Beatles Ringo Starr (left) and John Lennon (right) being interviewed backstage by a Mrs Kirby at Fairfield Halls, Croydon Also on the bill – which The Beatles headed with John Leyton – were Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J Kramer and The Dakotas and The Big Three.



In the end, Leyton was ill and The Beatles topped the bill on their own for the 5.30pm and 8pm performances – with Ringo, as Andy’s pictures show, using The Dakotas’ drum kit.



As well as shots of the group in action – with George looking rather quizzically at the young photographer taking pictures in the wings – Andy also captured them relaxing backstage and with a woman who appears to be a radio journalist, identified only as ‘Mrs Kirby.’

Although a few months later, girl fans would be screaming in the aisles and crying hysterically as Beatlemania took its grip, the members of this audience seem particularly staid, sitting politely with legs crossed and, in some cases, with rather bored expressions on their faces.



Legendary English actor Leslie Phillips (far right) at the Croydon concert, which took place before the Beatles heyday

English singer Matt Monro (right) backstage in the bar at Fairfield Halls in April 1963

Shirley Bassey (left) and Pete Murray (right) were also in attendance at the Fairfield Halls concert in Croydon, South London, in April 1963



Andy, who now lives in Hertfordshire after a career as a photographer, said: ‘My father was a voluntary steward and got me into the concert for nothing. There was no security or anything in those days. You just walked in.

'I only had 12 pictures on my roll of film. Film was expensive back then. The picture of all four of them backstage was taken with the last shot I had. They were very nice to me but they were a bit shattered after the concert. I went home on the bus, developed the pictures, and proudly took them into the school the next day. I still have the Rollei camera I took pictures with.’



The week he chose for his ‘work experience’ was a fortunate one because, as well as The Beatles, Andy also snapped a young Shirley Bassey and Matt Monro. His pictures form part of an exhibition celebrating 50 years of the Fairfield Halls which were opened by the Queen Mother on November 2, 1962, with a concert featuring Sir Malcolm Sergeant conducting violinist Yehudi Menuhin and the BBC Concert Orchestra.



Now, as the Halls prepare for a £25m facelift, staff are keen to hear from ‘Mrs Kirby’ who Andy photographed with The Beatles and to find out whether her interview with them still exists.

Acker Bilk, with his trademark goatee, signing autographs for fans at the 1963 gig

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