Sep 4, 2012 at 3:02 PM | MusicNews | By Rock Square

According to the BBC, hitherto unreleased recordings of Ringo Starr’s first band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, have been discovered and will soon be released as a part of the band’s first album collection.

Rory Storm, born Alan Caldwell, started the Hurricanes in the late 1950s, recruiting an 18-year-old Ringo Starr (who was calling himself “Ritchie” at the time) to play drums in 1959. Starr would, of course, leave the Hurricanes to join the Beatles in 1962, while Storm continued on with The Hurricanes until 1967.

Rory Storm and the Hurricanes only released two singles, both of them after Starr’s move to The Beatles camp. So these newly discovered recordings, which were found in Storm’s sister’s cellar, are of particular interest, as they were recorded in March 1960, while the future Beatle was still a Hurricane.

Storm’s nephew, Adam F, spoke to the BBC about the condition of the fifty-year-old recordings. “The quality of the tape left a bit to be desired--it was over half a century ago,” he said. “But the spirit and rawness suggest a whole scene waiting to happen.”

Ringo is the only surviving former member of the Hurricanes whose whereabouts are known. Storm himself died in 1972, at the age of 34.

The recordings will be released later this month, according to the BBC.

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