Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers in Canada

The Beatles met Tony Sheridan during their first Hamburg trip in 1960 and the following year they occasionally backed Sheridan in Hamburg clubs.  This experience led to the opportunity to support Sheridan at a recording session in June, 1962. At the session a number of songs were recorded including eight with the Beatles participation. On the record they are listed as "The Beat Brothers".

As the Beatles' fame rose songs from this session were recycled through a number of releases on L.P.'s, E.P.'s and singles either  available to Canadian fans on Canadian releases or through imports.

The rare Decca 31382 My Bonnie / The Saints was pressed in Canada by Compo and released in April, 1962. Only a few hundred stock copies were pressed and the release never charted. About 15 copies are known to exist. No promotional copies were released. 

Prices for the original Decca 45 range from a high of $6000 for an EXCELLENT copy to about $4000 for a VG copy.  

In 1963 a few of the Tony Sheridan / Beat Brothers recordings were available on the Polydor label as imports in Canada.

With the Beatles' fame rising in early 1964 MGM released "My Bonnie / The Saints" in January of that year. The disc was pressed in Canada by Quality Records and released in a gray MGM company sleeve. The record failed to chart in Canada. The current value for a copy in Excellent condition is between $25 and $50.

In February, 1964, MGM released the L.P. "The Beatles with Tony Sheridan And Their Guests".  This was the third Beatles' LP released in Canada. It was pressed by Quality Records and only released in mono in Canada. Of the twelve tracks, six were credited to The Beatles and Tony Sheridan although the Beatles only participated on four.  The remaining six tracks were credited to The Titans, a group of New York session musician put together for this L.P.

 

In March, 1964, MGM released Why / Cry For A Shadow.  A very few copies came with the rare red picture sleeve imported from the United States.  Like the previous MGM release it did not have any chart success. The current value for a copy in Excellent condition is between $35 and $70. A picture sleeve in excellent condition has a value in the range of $200 - $300. 

In July, 1964, Atco released "Ain't She Sweet / Nobody's Child". The
record had minor regional chart success. Enough copies were initially pressed that the disc is more common than the MGM releases. Copies in Excellent condition sell in the $12 -$20 range.

   

In October, 1964, Atco released the L.P. "Ain't She Sweet".  It was pressed by Compo and distributed by London Records. Only a few songs featured the Beatles and Tony Sheridan, The remaining tracks were performed by The Swallows, a studio band.  

The L.P. had no chart success. Probably only 5000 copies were pressed and in 1964 and 1965 could be found in record store discount bins.