Johnny Devlin – Hurtin’ (CBS, May 1967)

[Thesaunderschild]

It was the encouragement that Johnny Devlin received from Brian Epstein and Beatles press officer Derek Taylor during the 1964 Beatles tour of Australia and New Zealand that brought him to England 15 months later. The original plan was for Taylor to help Johnny, but that plan fell through when he broke away from Epstein a short time later. Within a few weeks of arriving, Johnny secured a residency at the prestigious Empire Ballroom in Leicester Square, London. The residency required Johnny to work six nights a week – Monday night as the club DJ with the rest of the week in front of the Ken McIntosh 16-piece band plus backing singers. A recording deal with CBS followed shortly after, which saw Johnny release four singles in a 12 month period.