An Evening with Billy J. Kramer

Liverpool Legend Billy J. Kramer in concert to celebrate John Lennon's 75th birthday

Born William Howard Ashton, Billy grew up in Liverpool, England. Upon leaving school, he became an apprentice engineer by day and an aspiring singer by night, performing under the stage name Billy Kramer (with “Kramer” chosen at random from the telephone directory).
Billy’s performance at local rock clubs around Liverpool soon brought him to the attention of John Lennon. Acknowledging Billy’s pop-idol potential, John urged Brian Epstein to sign Billy to an exclusive management contract. Needless to say, Billy jumped at the opportunity.

Soon after, Billy was summoned to Brian’s office and found John there with the suggestion that he add the “J to his name to give it a “rock and roll edge”. From then on, Billy became known as Billy J. Kramer.

Billy went on to become the first artist (including the Beatles themselves) to record a Lennon-McCartney song. Do You Want To Know A Secret shot to the top of the UK charts, and started a string of international hits for Billy written especially for him by John and Paul.
The smash hit “Bad To Me” along with “I’ll Keep You Satisfied”, “From A Window”, and “I Call Your Name” all became international million sellers for Billy, and appearances on the TV shows Shindig, Hullabaloo and The Ed Sullivan Show secured Billy a place in Rock and Roll History.

Billy toured extensively throughout the UK as the opening act for The Beatles.

Billy’s international momentum has continued through the years.

To commemorate the 50th anniversary of The British Invasion, Billy released his first cd in over 30 years, titled I Won The Fight, which includes an ode to his hometown written by Billy called To Liverpool With Love.

Billy will be performing both his classic hits and some of his new material with his incredible band consisting of Liberty Devitto (drums),
Adam Roth (guitar), Andy Burton (keyboards) and Muddy Shews (bass).