Mersey Beat was born in Liverpool, the original phrase came from Bill Harry and his newspaper called "Mersey Beat", dedicated to the local groups. Follow the link to find out more about one of the most important Pop Rock movement ever.

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Bill Harry : I coined the phrase 'Mersey Beat' in 1961 for the newspaper of that name which I founded. The title referred to the area I was covering, just like a policeman's beat!

When the Beatles became successful, the media termed the music 'The Mersey Sound' or 'The Liverpool Sound.' The music itself was never called Mersey Beat. However, later in the 1960s, after I had ceased publication in 1965, people began referring to the music as Mersey Beat. This is an anachronism. The encyclopaedias which refer to 'Mersey Beat' as a sound are wrong, the category should read 'Mersey Sound.'

The full story of the Mersey Sound can be found on www.mersey-beat.net

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Saturn : Mersey sound is a mix of skiffle with jazz and folk with rock and roll. The Beatles roots were in skiffle which explains why folk artists like the Byrd's noticed the Beatles used many folk chords in there music. The first Mersey sound hits was Love Me Do and Please Please Me by the Beatles and the first number one song was by the Gerry and the Pacemakers. The Beatles had the first number one album with Please Please Me and that started a run of 51 straight weeks at number one on the album charts and it basically ended the days of London domination on the British charts.