I'm looking back at the Beatle who helped a South Shields man onto the music ladder
A South Tyneside man had one of the Beatles to thank for a break in the world of music.
Bill Elliott went on to become one half of the South Shields duo Splinter.
Invited to the Abbey Road studio
But in 1970, when Bill was a member of another South Shields-based group, Half Breed, he was invited to the famous Abbey Road studio in London to record the John Lennon song, God Save Us.
It was later released as a single.
Sadly he never got to meet his hero at the recording session as Lennon had moved to the US a short time earlier.
But Bill and Splinter did enjoy success and that was partly down to their links with another of the Fab Four.
George Harrison signed the duo
Bill was later to go on to forge a musical partnership with another Beatle, George Harrison, who signed the duo to his Dark Horse record label.
It was on that label that Splinter recorded the hit single Costa Fine Town, which was a homage to Shields.
Bill spoke to the Shields Gazette in late 1980 and said: “John gave me a step up the ladder. I think the whole world has an affinity with John Lennon. His death shattered me more than Elvis Presley’s.
“I grew up listening to his music and though we didn’t meet, I knew him through his music.”
More South Tyneside news from 1980
If you want more of a reminder of South Tyneside life in 1980, all this happened;
South Shields born Catherine Cookson had just made the largest ever donation for life-saving equipment to the maternity unit at Newcastle General Hospital. She handed over £12,800.
Panovista Travel in Prince Edward Road, South Shields, was offering tickets for the Laker Skytrain to New York.
Al Pacino was the star alongside Karen Allen in Cruising, which was showing at the Focus cinema in South Shields.
Warlords of the Deep was being screened at the Crown Cinema in Jarrow.
Share your own memories of South Tyneside life in 1980 by emailing [email protected]