To die-hard buffs, Billy J. Kramer’s name will be inextricably linked to the Beatles forever. For starters, both the Beatles and Kramer were managed by Brian Epstein. The ‘J” in Kramer’s name was suggested by John Lennon to give him an ‘edgier’ sound. Then when they were assigned to Parlophone Records, they begun working for producer George Martin, who produced nearly the entire Beatles catalog. Then the Beatles gave Kramer a barrage of Lennon/McCartney compositions to launch his career. These include: Do You Want To Know a Secret?, I’ll Be On My Way, I Call Your Name, Bad To Me, I’ll Keep You Satisfied, and From a Window. The latter three of these were among a very small group of Lennon/McCartney songs that the Beatles themselves never released.
Also linked forever to Billy J. Kramer’s name was the backup band The Dakotas. The music that they released together was credited to Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas, in order to keep the acts separate. Apparently somewhere over the course of time, Kramer had a falling out with the Dakotas and now refuses to be associated with the act.
On Saturday, October 9, 2010, I was honored to meet this former Merseybeat singer who was part of the British Invasion. But I had to smile with intrigue when he and his handler (who seemed to be a relative) became adamant that he wouldn’t sign The Dakotas along with his name on the photo.
Apparently at some point, he thought that “They were bad to me. So I’ll be on my way.” But do you want to know a secret? He kept me satisfied just by being there. I left happily with my signed photo, I called his name, and then I exited from a window.
Celebrities of the Fall 2010 Hollywood Show will continue…
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