My Bonnie   b/w   The Saints

Tony Sheridan & The Beatles
 
My Bonnie
My Bonnie
Label Polydor
Catalogue No. NH 66833
Country of Origin England
Recording Details Probably around the 22nd June 1961
Release Date 5th January 1962
U.K. Chart Detail :
Entry Date :6th June 1963
Highest Position :48
Weeks in Chart :1
Detail : Polydor "scroll" type label.
Both sides credited to, "Tony Sheridan & The Beatles"

During the Beatles second stint in Hamburg (April to July 1961) they regularly backed English singer/guitarist Tony Sheridan. It was during one of these performances that a friend of Orchestra leader Bert Kaempfert saw them and recommended them to Bert for recording. The sessions took place, not in a recording studio, but on a school stage at Friedrich-Ebert-Halle school in Hamburg. The Beatles backed Sheridan on five or six numbers, including "My Bonnie", which was chosen by Polydor in Germany for single release. On this German issue the group were credited as "Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers", but as you can see above, for the U.K. release the label was correctly attributed to "Tony Sheridan and the Beatles".

Either way, this was The Beatles first appearance on a commercial disc.

It created a stir in the Beatles home town where it sold quite well locally and was instrumental in bringing the band to the attention of Brian Epstein. Nationally, it didn't reach the chart until after the Beatles had reached number 1 and were famous.


©2001 Graham Calkin's Beatles Pages. All Rights Reserved.