Billy J. Kramer – Are You With Me? Interview

Buoyed by his pals in The Beatles, Billy J. Kramer rode a Merseybeat wave of success all the way to the top of the UK charts in the 1960s. Now, as he reveals to Vintage Rock, he’s saying thank you on his brand new album.

I was proud to be a part of some very special times,” sings Billy J. Kramer on the title track of his new album Are You With Me? “John and Paul wrote me songs, it’s crazy but it’s true/ Even after all these years, I still sing for you…” With songs such as Do You Want To Know A Secret, I’ll Keep You Satisfied and Bad To Me, chief Fab Four tunesmiths Lennon and McCartney did indeed gift the star a number of his most enduring hits in the early 60s. And when the 80-year-old singer recently made an emotional return to the legendary Studio Two at Abbey Road to cut his latest LP, the spirit of The Beatles was still with him.

Special Times

“Last year, for the 60-year anniversary of Do You Want To Know A Secret, I went to Abbey Road Studios and had a birthday party,” Kramer explains to Vintage Rock as we join him in Chicago. “While I was there, I recorded 10 tracks. Some of the songs I’d been sitting on for some time and I’ve worked with some very talented friends on this new album. Jeff Perholtz, The Alessi Brothers, Mark Hudson, Liberty DeVitto, have all contributed to the writing, and Tom Hambridge penned the title track.

“I also wrote two numbers, Be Kind To Emma and Peace Of Mind, and I’ve only done one cover for the album. That was John Lennon’s Jealous Guy. I chose that song because I had performed it at a birthday concert for John several years ago and people really liked the way I did it.

“All the songs chosen work well together and seemed fitting or relevant. I know that albums are not what they used to be, but if I can afford to record or a song comes along that I want to do, I’m going to give it the best shot I can.”

Fantastic Opportunity

“I also think about my legacy now and want to be remembered as somebody who made a lot of good records,” continues Billy. “I didn’t do any recording for a number of years and then, about 10 years ago, I made an album called I Won The Fight. Every minute making that record was enjoyable and it was a thrill to go on stage and play the songs. I got the bug to get back recording again and I’ve just kept on doing it. To go to Abbey Road and make this album was a fantastic opportunity.

“I felt a lot of pressure beforehand and was very nervous. It was strange going into Studio Two. A friend of mine asked, ‘Where was John Lennon?’ And it was funny pointing out where John first set up the piano and played Bad To Me, I Call Your Name and I Want To Hold Your Hand. Standing in the same spot where I did the vocal on Little Children or worked on Trains And Boats And Planes, triggered a lot of memories that I had long forgotten.

“I thought that it might be an unpleasant experience, but it wasn’t. I felt very relaxed and very at home.”

Liverpool Love

The autobiographical lead single Are You With Me?, is something of a love letter to Billy’s home city of Liverpool and offered the singer an opportunity to thank his friends in The Beatles. The accompanying video captures the singer outside The Cavern, overlooking the Mersey, and standing with the landmark statue of the Fab Four.

“Liverpool has changed a lot now,” he reflects, “but it always had a vibrant scene. In those early days there were so many different venues: There was the Cavern, the Iron Door, Blair Hall, Aintree Institute, Litherland Town Hall, Orrell Park, Majestic Ballroom in Birkenhead. I could’ve played six or seven days a week if I wanted to.

“I have a lot of dear friends who are still there. That day, when we shot the video, it just started off with me strolling around with a small speaker singing into the camera. We never scripted or thought about any of it. But people were very friendly, smiling and shaking hands.”

I Call Your Name…

Billy J. Kramer, born William Howard Ashton, grew up in Bootle and was working as an engineering apprentice with British Railways before fame came knocking. He’d been playing rhythm guitar in a band during his spare time and evenings, before switching to vocals and considered going pro.

He credits his Beatle pal, John Lennon, for helping him decide on a more distinguished stage name. “Kramer came about when I was with my first group,” says the singer born William Howard Ashton. “My buddies in the band thought that I should have a stage name. Well, when you think about it now, William Howard Ashton is not a bad name, but back then I thought it wasn’t very rock’n’roll-y and sounded too English. I insisted it had to be Billy something and we picked around 12 different surnames. We called up a telephone operator and asked what she liked best and she said, Billy Kramer. So that was that.

“I added the ‘J’ shortly after I recorded Do You Want To Know A Secret. I went to see Brian Epstein one day, and John happened to be there. Brian said, ‘John has a suggestion, he thinks  you should add a ‘J’ to your name, to make it catch on with the public. I thought that it was a great idea.”

On turning professional, it was Epstein who connected the singer with The Dakotas. Wanting a recording contract of their own, the Manchester-based group and Kramer both signed to Parlophone under George Martin, where they were collectively christened ‘Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas’ to keep their own individual identities.

The Mersey Beat

“My early influences were rock’n’roll people like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino,” he smiles. “I liked Ricky Nelson’s records, Sam Cooke, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers, Del Shannon. I feel lucky that I got to meet most of the people I idolised as a kid.”

Vintage Rock wonders if Kramer ever encountered fellow scouser Billy Fury… “I saw Billy Fury in concert a number of times at the Liverpool Empire with Marty Wilde and Joe Brown,” responds Kramer. “He was not a guy that I was aware of on our scene, because Billy Fury was a star. I met him at an NME Poll-Winners concert in London and thought he was very charismatic.”

It was while singing with The Coasters, that Billy struck up a friendship with John Lennon and Paul McCartney. “I worked a lot with The Beatles, playing live gigs around Liverpool, in the early days,” he says. “When I decided I was going to pursue music professionally, I think it was John who suggested to Brian Epstein that he should ‘check out that kid Billy Kramer’. Brian was putting together a stable of acts and NEMS Enterprises when I featured in the Mersey Beat popularity poll. There was a concert where everybody got to do a few songs. The Beatles had just released the single Please Please Me, so they played that, while I did some awful song. Brian was giving away a prize of a tour to any non-professional on the bill. I declined it because I had a day job, but shortly afterwards Brian asked about managing me.

Do You Want To Know A Secret

“It was Brian who came to me with Do You Want To Know A Secret. He said, ‘If we’re going to go for a recording contract, you’ve got to have an original song and this is one that John and Paul have written’. I learned the song and played it a load of times with The Dakotas at shows in Hamburg. We played at the Star Club with people like The Searchers, Sounds Incorporated, who were there backing Gene Vincent, and Brenda Lee. I was very close with Gene Vincent. It was my first trip away from home, and Hamburg looked like a den of iniquity to me – a lot of neon lights and hookers sat in windows – it all seemed very dark to an innocent kid from Liverpool.

“When I recorded Do You Want To Know A Secret with George Martin, it was my first real experience in the studio and the first time working with George. I was a bit overwhelmed. Watching him in the studio was an experience and I must admit I was very surprised when I was told they wanted to release it. I’d test recorded for a number of labels and thought our cut was just another test… I even gave the acetate away!

“When I arrived at Heathrow, I had asked this woman at the front desk for directions to St. John’s Wood. After I’d sang the song, I went back and she was still there. She asked me how I got on and I said, ‘Well, everyone seemed to like it, maybe your daughters will, too’, and I gave her the acetate… I wish I still had that today!”

Musical Milestones

As the song was such a huge debut hit for Kramer, Vintage Rock wonders if he knew what George Harrison, who sang the track for The Beatles’ debut album, thought about his version?

“I’ll be honest with you,” answers Billy, “I didn’t even know George had recorded the song. When The Beatles album came out, I heard his version for the first time… I thought mine was better [laughs]. But, looking back now, I think his is too slow and that mine’s too fast. It should have been in the middle somewhere.

“I remember George saying to me, ‘You know, you’ll be singing Do You Want To Know A Secret for the rest of your life now’… and he was right. I know I’ll be singing it and Bad To Me, From A Window, I’ll Keep You Satisfied, forever. But I don’t get tired of those songs. They were milestones in my life, and for me to say anything different, would be ridiculous. As far as I’m concerned, the hits will always be very near and dear to me. They’re what made me.”

Those tracks that Kramer mentions were all specially written for him by Lennon and McCartney and launched him into stardom. His Bad To Me  b/ w I Call Your Name, topped the UK singles chart and sold over a million copies. 

Bad To Me

“It was my 20th birthday and I was in Bournemouth doing a week with The Beatles,” reveals Kramer. “I was backstage with John and he said that he had a song for me. He said he’d play it for me the next time I was at Abbey Road. But by the time I was back at the studio, Beatlemania had completely taken off and I really didn’t think he was going to show up. But true to his word, he was there on the day. He sat at the piano and played Bad To Me, and I thanked him. Then he played, I Want To Hold Your Hand and I said, ‘Can I have that one, too?’ [laughs] 

“Back then you had to do an A-side and a B-side in three hours and Bad To Me very nearly didn’t happen. I’d never heard the song before and the guys had never played it. It just wasn’t working out. We actually did I Call Your Name in about 20 minutes and I wanted to put that out as the A-side, but George Martin said it sounded too much like The Beatles. I said, ‘Well, I don’t think that’s a bad thing, George’. We persevered and Bad To Me eventually came together… the rest is history.”

As Beatlemania took hold, a tide of Merseybeat acts, including Gerry & The Pacemakers, The Searchers and Cilla Black, all enjoyed tremendous popularity and in 1964, Kramer returned to the top of the British hit parade with J. Leslie McFarland and Mort Shuman’s Little Children.

Top Of The Pops

“There was only a friendly rivalry between us all,” he recalls. “If Gerry had a record out, it’d be a month of Gerry getting all the attention. If Cilla had a record out, she’d get all the attention and if I had a record out, I’d get all the attention. That’s the way it was.”

“But, it was a lot of pressure,” continues Billy. “I was a very shy, self-conscious kid and it took a lot of adjusting to. Nothing can ever prepare you for thousands of kids outside your house every day. It’s great having that success, but you certainly pay a price for it.”

Today, Billy J. Kramer lives a quieter life in the United States. Our time talking with him flies by, but before we say our goodbyes, we wonder if he ever talks with Macca now?

“I see him occasionally,” responds Billy. “Everybody on the planet wants to see him. I would’ve loved for Paul to have come down to Abbey Road and play on the new LP, but I know if he had there would’ve been a mob scene. When I was living on Long Island and he played there, I met up with him. We had a nice chat and we sang Do You Want To Know A Secret together. That was cool.” 

For more on Billy J. Kramer and the new album click here

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