31 Facts About Rory Storm

Rory Storm was the stage name of Alan Caldwell, born 7 January 1938, in Oakhill Park Estate, Stoneycroft, Liverpool to Violet and Ernest "Ernie" George W Caldwell.

Rory Storm's father was a window cleaner by profession, and a part-time porter at the Broadgreen Hospital, often singing songs to patients.

Apart from music, Rory Storm was interested in sports, particularly athletics; he ran for an amateur team in Liverpool, the Pembroke Harriers, and set the Pembroke Athletics and Cycle Club steeplechase record.

Rory Storm played football regularly and was a good skater and swimmer.

Rory Storm was the captain of Mersey Beat magazine's football team, called the Mersey Beat XI.

Rory Storm was born with a stutter, which did not affect his singing.

Rory Storm became a cotton salesman before forming a skiffle group.

Still known as Alan Caldwell, Rory Storm opened the Morgue Skiffle Club in the cellar of a large Victorian house, "Balgownie", at 25 Oakhill Park, Broadgreen, on 13 March 1958.

Rory Storm went to London, on 11 April 1958, to participate in a cross-country running competition.

In 1959, Rory Storm's group consisted of himself, Paul Murphy, and Johnny Byrne all performing on guitar and vocals, Reg Hale and Jeff Truman.

Rory Storm met Ringo Starr at a talent contest called "6.5 Special".

Starr's first concert with Rory Storm was on 25 March 1959, at the Mardi Gras in Mount Pleasant, Liverpool.

Rory Storm turned up at the audition, but only so he could have his picture taken with Fury.

Starr was not sure about giving up his job as an apprentice at Henry Hunt's, where he made climbing frames for schools, until Rory Storm put forward the idea of "Starr-time" with Starr singing songs like "Boys" by the Shirelles.

Starr finally agreed when Rory Storm told him about how many women would be "available".

Guitar remembered that as Rory Storm hit the stage, it cracked loudly and formed a V-shape around Rory Storm.

Rory Storm disappeared into it, and all the amplifiers and Starr's cymbals slid into the hole.

The Hurricanes wore matching suits on stage, but Rory Storm sometimes wore a pink suit and pink tie, and during concerts he would walk to the piano and comb his blond hair with an oversized comb.

Rod Pont remembered Rory Storm arriving at the Orrell Park Ballroom for a concert with a boil on his face.

When told about it, Rory Storm pulled out a black velvet hood which had slits for his eyes and mouth, and played the whole concert with the hood on.

Rory Storm was upset until someone walked in with a torch, which Rory Storm used to finish the concert.

Rory Storm occasionally used a pet monkey in some of the group's performances, as it attracted more people.

At a New Brighton swimming baths performance for 1,600 people in 1963, Rory Storm climbed to the top diving board, undressed to a pair of swimming trunks, and then dived into the water at the end of a song.

At another performance on the New Brighton Pier, Rory Storm made his way onto the Pavilion roof but fell through the glass skylight.

Rory Storm was often photographed for the magazine, such as being surrounded by nurses when he left the hospital after breaking a leg during a performance, or playing for the Mersey Beat XI football team.

Rory Storm later asked Epstein to manage the group, but Epstein refused.

Rory Storm disbanded the Hurricanes and became a disc jockey, working at the Silver Blades Ice Rink in Liverpool, in Benidorm, and in Jersey and Amsterdam.

When Rory Storm's father died, he returned from Amsterdam to Liverpool to be with his mother.

Rory Storm developed a chest infection and could not sleep properly, so he took sleeping pills.

The postmortem revealed that Rory Storm had alcohol and sleeping pills in his blood, but not enough to cause his death, which was ruled accidental.

Rory Storm's remains were scattered on section 23 at Anfield Crematorium's Gardens of Remembrance.