Crooner who sang with The Beatles auditions on The Voice
In 1962 Stevie Calrow unexpectedly found himself gigging with The Beatles, joking they were “the best backing I’ve ever had in my life”
Seventy-four-year-old Stevie Calrow will audition on this Saturday’s edition of The Voice and he’s got a pretty interesting backstory: he gigged with The Beatles.
Calrow, who hails from the Fab Four's native Liverpool, often used to go and watch the band play at the local Cavern Club and one night in 1962 found himself called up to sing.
“I got a shout out from the DJ at the time to go down to the band room and perform with The Beatles,” Calrow tells The Voice co-host Marvin Humes in what is the second episode of this year's series. “I told everybody, nobody believed me!”
“I did sing with The Beatles. Three songs. It’s the best backing I’ve ever had in my life,” he jokes. “It’s a memory to treasure”.
Joining the legendary band was actually somewhat of an SOS.
“They’d done 14 days of gigs on the trot and they’d worn their voices out completely,” Calrow told the Liverpool Echo in 2013.
Finding Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best backstage, Calrow said the DJ explained: “Do you want to get up and sing with them because they can hardly talk, never mind sing.”
Steve knew the band from the music scene, having been a performer himself since the age of sixteen.
“I got up on the Reslo mic and sang two early Elvis numbers – So Glad You’re Mine and Blue Suede Shoes – and Rip It Up by Little Richard,” he said.
“I had Paul and John behind me and I remember I did two verses and then George did the guitar breaks and they were just out of this world.”
As for auditioning for The Voice, Calrow says he wants to sing until they say ‘you’ve really got to stop singing, we’re trying to put the lid down’.
“I’m retired but I’m still doing gigs,” he explains on the BBC show. “You’re as young as you feel. I feel about twenty when I start singing.”
Calrow will perform Sinatra’s Witchcraft for coaches Ricky Wilson, Paloma Faith, Boy George and will.i.am. As for what The Voice's own Fab Four have to say, you’ll have to wait until Saturday night to see if there’s any chair spinning action…
The Voice continues Saturday at 7:45pm on BBC1
