Gerry Marsden, lead singer of the British band Gerry and the Pacemakers, whose version of You’ll Never Walk Alone became the thunderously sung anthem for Liverpool Football Club, has died aged 78.
“It’s with a very heavy heart after speaking to the family that I have to tell you the Legendary Gerry Marsden MBE after a short illness which was an infection in his heart has sadly passed away,” Marsden’s friend and radio broadcaster, Pete Price, posted on Twitter on Sunday.
Marsden formed the band in 1959 and enjoyed chart success in subsequent decades as part of Liverpool’s Merseybeat movement that included contemporaries such as The Beatles.
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While The Beatles reached superstardom, Gerry and the Pacemakers will always have a place in the city’s consciousness.
The band’s 1963 version of You’ll Never Walk Alone, from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel, has become the sound of Liverpool FC.
“Gerry’s voice accompanied our biggest nights. His anthem bonded players, staff and fans around the world, helping create something truly special,” the club tweeted.
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Scottish team Celtic Football Club also tweeted a tribute to Marsden, alongside a video of him performing before the side’s March 2003 UEFA Cup match against Liverpool FC.
The song has been adopted by supporters of Celtic and Germany’s Borussia Dortmund.
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Marsden told The Associated Press in 2018 he decided to record the song after hearing it for the first time at a cinema.
“So I went back and told my buddies we’re doing a ballad called You’ll Never Walk Alone.”
The song became the band’s third number one hit on the British singles chart.
The song was embraced during the coronavirus pandemic last spring when a cover of the song, which featured World War II veteran Tom Moore, reached number one.
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Moore captivated the British public by walking 100 laps of his garden in England in the run-up to his 100th birthday in April to raise some 33 million pounds ($58.5 million) for the National Health Service.
A spokesperson from the Cavern Club in Liverpool, the music venue which was the venue for many of The Beatles’ early gigs, described Marsden as a “legend” and a “very good friend”.
Marsden is survived by his wife Pauline, whom he married in 1965. The couple have two daughters.
Reuters
