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William Howard Ashton (born 19 August 1943), known professionally as Billy J. Kramer, is an English pop singer.With The Dakotas, Kramer was managed by Brian Epstein during the 1960s and scored hits with several Lennon–McCartney compositions never recorded by the Beatles, among them the UK number one "Bad to Me" (1963).
[1] [2] [3] It was released as a single by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas on 1 November 1963, and released on Kramer's album Little Children. [3] It reached number 4 and spent 13 weeks in the UK charts, [4] kept off the top spot by the Beatles' "She Loves You" (another Lennon–McCartney composition) and "You'll Never Walk Alone". [3]
Kramer and the Dakotas recorded "I'll Be On My Way" on 14 and 21 March 1963. [20] Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas released their cover of the song as the B-side of their hit debut single, "Do You Want to Know a Secret" [8] on 26 April 1963. [21] The record held at #2 nationally in the U.K., second to the Beatles' "From Me To You". [22]
The Beatles' version was never released as a single in the UK, where a cover version by Billy J. Kramer with the Dakotas (released b/w "I'll Be on My Way", Parlophone R5023, 26 April 1963) [17] reached number two in the Record Retailer chart, and hit number one in the NME chart (used by Radio Luxembourg) and the BBC's Pick of the Pops chart ...
Lennon wrote the song prior to the formation of the Beatles. [5] In 1963, he gave it to Billy J. Kramer of The Dakotas, another Liverpool band who were signed to Parlophone by George Martin. Kramer released it as the B-side of the single "Bad to Me", another Lennon–McCartney composition. [7]
Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas released their recording of the song in 1963 and it became their first number 1 in the UK Singles Chart. [1] Paul McCartney was present during the recording session at Abbey Road Studios. The single was released in the US the following year, and was a top-ten hit there, reaching number 9. [4]
The phrase "sad and lonely" also appears in the Lennon-McCartney number "Bad to Me", [3] originally recorded by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, as well as "Act Naturally", which the Beatles covered (with Starr singing) for the album Help!.
Epstein flew to New York on November 5 to promote another one of his acts, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas. Six days later, Epstein and Sullivan met at the Hotel Delmonico and agreed to have the Beatles perform three shows—two live and one taped. [5] The Beatles ended up earning $2,400 ($18,025 in 2023 dollars) for each of the three shows. [6]