The day I pinched Ringo's drum key

Dave didn't last long as our manager, but we found replacements in two nice guys, Ralph Horton and Denis Detheridge, who was editor of the area's only dedicated music paper, Midland Beat.

With our growing following of fans, we also appointed a fan club secretary - a pretty blonde girl named June, from Acocks Green in Birmingham.

We had a group meeting and made the unanimous decision that none of us should mix business with pleasure and that June was strictly out of bounds. Within a week, without the rest of the band knowing, the lovely June and I were out on a date together!

The winter of '62/'63 was one of the harshest on record and we were lucky to survive a skid that had our minibus spinning around several times, Denny at the wheel screaming: "Hang on guys!"

We were on our way to a Grand Xmas Dance at The Trees pub in Great Barr, on Boxing Day.

Winter turned to Spring, and Spring to Summer, and by the middle of 1963 Denny Laine and the Diplomats were really beginning to take off, even attracting the attention of EMI Records.

All of the British record labels were anxious to follow the incredible success of The Beatles and the "Mersey Beat" sound with a similar success in another region of the country and the second city, Birmingham, seemed a logical choice.

It was Brumbeat!

Denny began writing songs and it was these we performed and recorded at the legendary Abbey Road studios in Maida Vale.

Our producer, John Birch (who also produced Freddie and the Dreamers ), allowed us to look around studio One, where The Beatles' equipment was set up for a session the following day

I took a drum key from Ringo Starr's kit as a souvenir!

Our best recording was Denny's Forever And A Day, which was actually rather good, but it never did get released. In fact the dozen or so Birmingham bands who did get records released in 1963 didn't sell a bucket of 45's between them.

Even so, by being signed to a record label, every venue would announce on their posters "Birmingham's newest recording stars !" and we proudly emblazoned on the side of our minibus "EMI recording artistes".

The work just kept coming in and in June alone we notched up 30 gigs. Don't believe me? Well, here's the datesheet ...

1st EDGBASTON WATER CARNIVAL and HEN AND CHICKENS, LANGLEY
2nd STEWART & LLOYDS SOCIAL CLUB, LANGLEY
3rd EDGBASTON WATER CARNIVAL and GREEN LANE YOUTH CLUB, SHIRLEY
4th
5th CROWN HOTEL, BIRMINGHAM
6th
7th CROWN & CUSHION, PERRY BARR and B'HAM TOWN HALL
8th BULLS HEAD, HAY MILLS and MOATHOUSE CLUB
9th FRANK FREEMAN CLUB, KIDDERMINSTER
10th ADELPHI BALLROOM, WEST BROMWICH
11th WOOLPACK RESTAURANT, WOLVERHAMPTON
12th SPRINGFIELD BALLROOM, SPARKHILL
13th CORONATION CLUB, SHIRLEY
14th ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS, LONDON
15th BILSTON TOWN HALL
16th AVION CINEMA, ALDRIDGE
17th ATV "For Teenagers Only" and ADELPHI, WEST BROMWICH
18th
19th MASONS ARMS, SOLIHULL
20th WEDNESBURY YOUTH CENTRE
21st SHIRLEY ANNEXE
22nd GOLDEN CROSS, ERDINGTON
23rd FRANK FREEMAN CLUB, KIDDERMINSTER
24th ADELPHI, WEST BROMWICH
25th
26th SPRINGFIELD BALLROOM, SPARKHILL
27th CORONATION CLUB, SHIRLEY
28th MOATHOUSE CLUB, BIRMINGHAM
29th WEDNESBUTY YOUTH CENTRE
30th WHEATSHEAF, YARDLEY

Yes, June '63 was a great month for Denny Laine and the Diplomats, but the following one was to be an even more memorable one.

Why? Because on July 5 we were booked to open the show for The Beatles.

But more about that next week.