Nigel Walley - The Quarrymen and Management

The Quarrymen and Management

Lennon formed The Quarrymen in the summer of 1956, with friends and school friends. Walley was one of four tea-chest bass players in the fledgling lineup of the group, the others being Vaughan, Bill Smith and Len Garry. Playing tea-chest bass with the group from 1956 to 1958, Walley lost the tea chest when he left it at a bus stop after being threatened by two aggressive local boys. He then decided to become the group's manager, at Lennon's request. On 2 July 1957, Walley and Lennon were turned down when they tried to sign on as ship's stewards (as Lennon's father had been), in the seamen's employment office at Pier Head, Liverpool. Lennon's aunt was telephoned, and the plan was dismissed out of hand.

Although Walley did not secure the group many paid engagements, he sent flyers to local theatres and ballrooms, put up posters designed by Lennon, paid for small advertisements in the Liverpool Echo and the Liverpool Daily Post, as well as business cards to be displayed in local shop windows: "COUNTRY. WESTERN. ROCK N' ROLL. SKIFFLE - THE QUARRY MEN - OPEN FOR ENGAGEMENTS - Please Call Nigel Walley, Tel.Gateacre 1715". He secured two intermission concerts at the Gaumont cinema (near Penny Lane) on Saturday afternoons, and for the group to perform at parties and skiffle contests in the Liverpool area. Whilst playing golf with Dr. Joseph Sytner, Walley asked him if his son, Alan Sytner, could book The Quarrymen at The Cavern Club, in Mathew Street, which was one of three jazz clubs he managed. After passing on the information to his son, Sytner suggested that the group should play at the golf club first, so as to assess their talent. After playing at the golf club audition, he phoned Walley a week later and offered the group an interlude spot on 7 August 1957, playing skiffle between the performances of three jazz groups at The Cavern Club.

Paul McCartney made his debut with the group on Friday, 18 October 1957, at a Conservative Club social—organised by Walley—which was held at the New Clubmoor Hall in the Norris Green section of Liverpool. Lennon and McCartney wore cream-coloured sports jackets, which were paid for Walley, and he collected half a crown per week from each member until the bill was settled. McCartney later clashed with Walley about payment: "The funny thing was that whenever Paul was around he used to say, 'Don't pay anyone who's not playing' ... He didn't really rate managers".

As Walley's father often worked at night, some of the group gathered at his house and stayed overnight, indulging in masturbation sessions. McCartney: "We'd all sit in armchairs, and put all the lights out and, being teenage pubescent boys, we'd all wank ... Someone would say 'Brigitte Bardot' ... and then somebody, probably John would say, 'Winston Churchill' ... and it would completely ruin everyone's concentration". Walley stopped managing the group after his family moved from Vale Road to New Brighton, Merseyside, which was too far away, but mainly because he had contracted tuberculosis.

Walley kept in contact until Lennon's death in 1980: "John and I always stayed in touch after he was a Beatle - I would go round to his flat or house and we'd talk... He never forget any of the old gang … in fact towards the end of his life he was becoming more and more nostalgic". Walley's name has been often mistakenly written as "Whalley" in many books and on numerous web pages, but, as he has often stated, there is no 'H' in the spelling of it.