Gerry & the Pacemakers

In the early days of the British Invasion of the '60s, when every band from the U.K. making their American debut was judged by how similar they were to the Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers had a leg up on the competition. They came from the same Merseyside music scene that produced the Fab Four, they played the same venues and even shared bills with them, they were managed by Brian Epstein, and their first hit, "How Do You Do It," nearly became the Beatles' Parlophone debut. The group's style was lighter and less idiosyncratic than the Beatles; they leaned more toward pop than ...