Gunter Zint / K & K Ulf Kruger OHG / Redferns photo via Getty Images
Gerry Marsden, the British singer who helped turn a song in the musical “Carousel” by Rodgers and Hammerstein into one of the great anthems in the football world, has died. He was 78 years old. His friend Pete Price said on Instagram, after speaking with Marsden’s family, that the frontman for Gerry and the Pacemakers died after a short illness related to a heart infection.
“I’m sending all the love in the world to (his wife) Pauline and his family,” he said. “You’ll never Walk Alone.”
Marsden was the lead singer of the band that found fame on the Merseybeat scene in the 1960s. Although another Liverpool band – The Beatles – has achieved stardom, Gerry and the Pacemakers will always have a place in the city’s consciousness because of “You will never walk alone”.
“I thought it was beautiful music. I’m going to tell my band that we’re going to play that song,” Marsden told the Associated Press in 2018, recalling the first time he heard the song in the cinema. “So I came back and told my friends that we were doing a ballad called ‘You Never Walk Alone’.”
Marsden is best known for his band’s interpretation of the song “Carousel”, a 1945 musical that became a feature film in 1956. The Pacemakers cover version was released in October 1963 and became the third No. 1 hit by band on the British singles chart. He was adopted by fans of the Liverpool football club and is sung with a passion to shiver before every game at home of the 19-time English champion – before the coronavirus restrictions meant that many games were played in empty stadiums.
His lyrics, showing unity and perseverance in the midst of adversity – including “When you walk through a storm, keep your head up and don’t be afraid of the dark” – have been a rallying cry for Liverpool faithful and the title of the song is at the crest of the Liverpool club.
The song was also adopted by fans of Scotland’s Celtic and Germany’s Borussia Dortmund.
Liverpool tweeted alongside a video of the fans in full voice that Marsden’s voice “accompanied our greatest nights” and that his “anthem brought together players, staff and fans around the world, helping to create something truly special.”
The music was adopted during the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic last spring, when a cover of the song, featuring World War II veteran Tom Moore, reached number one. Moore captivated the British public by walking 100 laps in his garden in England before his 100th birthday in April, to raise about 33 million pounds ($ 40 million) for the National Health Service.
The Cavern Club in Liverpool, the venue that hosted many of the Beatles’ early shows, described Marsden as a “legend” and a “very good friend”.
In 1962, Beatles manager Brian Epstein hired the band and their first three releases reached number one in 1963 – “How Do You Do It?” and “I Like It”, as well as “You Never Walk Alone”. Later hits include “Ferry Cross the Mersey” and “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying”. The group split in 1967 and Marsden pursued a solo career before retiring the bank a few years later.
Singer Holly Johnson of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, who is from Liverpool and covered “Ferry Across The Mersey”, tweeted that Marsden was a “Liverpool legend”.
Marsden leaves his wife Pauline, whom he married in 1965. The couple had two daughters.
