Rory Storm - Stage Persona and Lifestyle

Stage Persona and Lifestyle

When Storm became a professional singer, he changed his name to Rory Storm by deed poll, and changed the name of his family's home in Broadgreen to "Stormsville". Storm was known for the extravagant clothes he wore and the cars he drove, once buying a pink Vauxhall Cresta for £800 in cash. A young man was once caught by a porter at Bootle railway station writing "I love Rory" over the walls, and when questioned, it turned out to be Storm himself. The Hurricanes wore matching suits on stage, but Storm sometimes wore a pink suit and pink tie, and during concerts he would walk over to the piano and comb his blond hair with an oversized comb. Their stage wear changed from sunglasses and palm tree decorated shirts to red (and blue) suits. Storm also wore an Elvis-style gold lamé suit. When they first appeared at Butlins holiday camp Storm wore a turquoise suit with a gold lamé shirt, while the group wore fluorescent suits.

Rod Punt (also known as Steve Day in Steve Day & the Drifters) remembered Storm arriving at the Orrell Park Ballroom for a concert with a boil on his face. When told about it, Storm pulled out a black velvet hood which had slits for his eyes and mouth, and played the whole concert with the hood on. At one concert at Bankfield House Youth club, Garston, Liverpool, in 1965, the stage lighting failed between sets. Storm was upset until someone walked in with a torch, which Storm used to finish the concert. He 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, 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. In January 1964, during a performance at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead, he climbed up one of the columns supporting the balcony, but slipped and fell 30 feet (9 m) to the floor below, fracturing his leg. At another performance on the New Brighton Pier, Storm made his way onto the Pavilion roof, but fell through the glass skylight.

Storm and The Hurricanes received the most votes in the first Mersey Beat magazine poll, but many votes were disqualified as they had been posted from the same place at the same time, and were written in green ink. (Although never proven, it was thought that Storm had posted the votes). This meant that The Beatles reached the top position, with The Hurricanes coming fourth, even though The Beatles had also been sending in extra votes themselves. Storm was often photographed for the magazine, such as being surrounded by nurses when he left hospital after breaking a leg during a performance, or playing for the Mersey Beat XI football team.