The Red Sox Skiffle Group 

Line-up

1. Frederick 'Freddie' Garrity Jnr - guitar, vocals (1957 - 1958)
2. Derek Garrity - tea-chest bass (1957 - 1958)
3. Patrick 'Paddy' Doherty - lead guitar (1957 - 1958)
4. Peter 'Pete' Doherty - double bass (1957 - 1958)
5. Douglas Eyre - washboard (1957 - 1958)
6. David Johnson - banjo (1957 - 1958)
7. Norman Taylor - drums (1957 - 1958)
8. William 'Bill' Clayton - drums (1 gig, 1957)

The Red Sox (Skiffle Group) was formed in 1957 in West Didsbury, Manchester 20 by 20-year-old Freddie Garrity on a cheap guitar (b. Frederick Garrity Jnr, Saturday, November 14, 1936, 123 Crescent Road, Crumpsall, Manchester 8, Lancashire, England d. Friday, May 19, 2006, Hospital, Ysbyty Ifan near Bangor, Gwynedd, North Wales) and his younger brother 18-year-old Derek Garrity on tea-chest bass (b. 1939, 11 Chandley Street?, Ancoats, Manchester 4, Lancashire, England d. October 2020, Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain). The rest of the band was Paddy Doherty on lead guitar (b. Patrick Doherty, Magherafelt, Country Derry, Northern Ireland d. 1973), his brother Pete Doherty on double bass (b. Peter Doherty, Magherafelt, Country Derry, Northern Ireland d. 1990), 15-year-old Douglas Eyre on washboard (b. 1942), 15-year-old David Johnson on banjo (b. 1942) and Norman Taylor on drums.

They also had one drummer in Bill Clayton (b. William Clayton), who only played one gig with the group in 1957 at The Princess Rooms, Chortling, Lancashire.

In 1957 The Red Sox played their début gig at The British Legion Hall, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester 21 and 20-year-old Freddie Garrity's first public appearance.

At the time of his birth Garrity was living at 11 Chandley Street, Ancoats, Manchester 4. Garrity was the eldest son of miner, general labourer, later dye-mixer Freddie Garrity Snr and Elise Clynes. He had a younger brother Derek Garrity. He grew up in Glynn Gardens, West Didsbury, Manchester 20 and went to Yew Tree Secondary School where he played football for the school team as he was a talented schoolboy footballer. He later had trials with Burnley and trained with Manchester City and Manchester United football clubs.

Garrity was also stepped in his city's popular entertainment tradition. After leaving school at 15 in 1951, he signed on for an engineering apprenticeship that would have lasted seven years had his musical talent not begun to emerge. He started to practice his guitar skills on the shop floor of the Turbine Factory and show them off at staff dances. He was later a shoe salesman, a brush salesman and then a milkman.

A fanatical Manchester United fan, he began to get pub gigs. Then during the first year of his apprenticeship, he won a local talent contest in 1956 at The Locarno Ballroom, Sale with an Al Jolson song 'April Showers.' His prize for winning was an electric razor, even though he hardly shaved.

In 1957 Eyre and Johnson, who were residents at the same housing estate in Merseybank, West Didsbury, Manchester 20, would take a washboard and banjo round to Freddie Garrity's parents modest council in Glynn Gardens, West Didsbury. The three guys went to see Lonnie Donegan at The Palace Theatre, 97 Oxford Street, Manchester 1.

When they came out of the contest Garrity had decided they would have a Skiffle group and they formed The Red Sox (Skiffle Group) also known as Freddie and the Red Sox. They would practice all day at Garrity's home, playing their favourite music in preparation for band competitions.

On Thursday, November 14, 1957 Freddie Garrity had his 21st birthday party above the Co-op on Barlow Moor Road, Charlton, Manchester 21. His friend's all chipped in and brought him an amplifier.

In 1958 The Red Sox entered the North-West Skiffle Competition at The Locarno Ballroom, Washway Road, Sale, Lancashire. The band were runners-up, came second.

The Red Sox built up a quiet a good name, not mainly for the music, but because they enjoyed fooling around on stage, enjoyed jumping around, bouncing about and generally making idiots of themselves. People enjoyed their act as they were enjoying themselves on stage. Subsequent bookings in and around Manchester at labour halls and cinema intermissions kept the group busy.

But Garrity's fiancée Josie Tideswell (b. Josephine Ida Tideswell, 1943) prevailed upon him to leave the group in 1958 to sing with the less demanding John Norman Four. Within weeks, he had joined The Kingfishers, where he sold his amplifier and guitar to this band's rhythm guitarist (Gibson Jumbo), lead vocalist Roy Crewsdon (b. Thursday, May 29, 1941, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester 21, Lancashire, England).

The Kingfishers in Late 1959 became The Dreamers and in March 1962 had mutated into Freddie and the Dreamers. 

Some Red Sox (Skiffle Group) concerts: 

1957: The British Legion Hall, Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester 21, Lancashire, England. The Red Sox Skiffle Group début gig and Freddie Garrity's first public appearance.

1957: The Princess Rooms, Chortling, Lancashire, England - With Bill Clayton on drums.

1958: The North-West Skiffle Competition, The Locarno Ballroom, Washway Road, Sale, Lancashire, England. The Red Sox entered the competition and ended as runners-up; they came second.

John H. Warburg - 1/12/23