Soccer: British singer and Liverpool icon Gerry Marsden dies at 78

Gerry Marsden, the British singer who was instrumental in turning a song from the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Carousel” into one of the great anthems in the world of football, has died. He was 78 years old.

His friend Pete Price said on Instagram after speaking with Marsden’s family that the Gerry and the Pacemakers frontman died after a brief illness related to a heart infection.

“I’m sending all the love in the world to (his wife) Pauline and her family,” he said. “You will never Walk alone.”

Marsden was the lead singer of the band that found fame on the Merseybeat scene in the 1960s. Although another Liverpool band, The Beatles, rose to stardom, Gerry and the Pacemakers will always have a place in the city’s consciousness thanks to “I’ll Never Walk Alone”.

“I thought what a beautiful song. I’m going to tell my band that we’re going to play that song,” Marsden told The Associated Press in 2018 as he remembered the first time he heard the song at the movies. “So I went back and told my friends that we were doing a ballad called ‘You will never walk alone.’

Marsden is best known for his band’s rendition of the song “Carousel,” which was a 1945 musical that was made into a feature film in 1956. The Pacemakers version was released in October 1963 and became the third The band’s number one hit on the British Singles Chart. It was adopted by fans of the Liverpool football club and is sung with chilling passion before each home game of the 19-time champion of England, before coronavirus restrictions have meant that many matches have been played in empty stadiums.

His lyrics, which show unity and perseverance through adversity, including “When you walk through a storm, keep your head up and fear not the dark”, has been a rallying cry for the faithful of Liverpool and the The song’s title is on the Liverpool crest.

The song has also been adopted by fans of Celtic of Scotland and Borussia Dortmund of Germany.

Liverpool tweeted along with a loud fan video that Marsden’s voice “accompanied our most important nights” and that his “anthem brought players, staff and fans around the world together, helping to create something truly special.”

The song was accepted during the start of the coronavirus pandemic last spring when a version of the song, which featured WWII veteran Tom Moore, reached number one. Moore had wowed British audiences by walking 100 laps around his garden in England in the run-up to his 100th birthday in April to raise some 33 million pounds (NZ $ 63 million) for the National Health Service.

The Cavern Club in Liverpool, the music venue that hosted many of The Beatles’ early concerts, described Marsden as a “legend” and a “very good friend.”

In 1962, the Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, signed with the band and their first three releases reached number one in 1963: “How do you do it?” and “I like it” as well as “You will never walk alone”. Later hits included “Ferry Cross the Mersey” and “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying.” The group broke up in 1967 and Marsden pursued a solo career before reforming the bank a few years later.

Frankie Goes To Hollywood singer Holly Johnson, who is from Liverpool and covered “Ferry Across The Mersey,” tweeted that Marsden was a “Liverpool legend.”

Marsden is survived by his wife Pauline, whom he married in 1965. The couple had two daughters.