The Liverpool Five
The Liverpool Five
In spite of their name none of the Liverpool Five were from Liverpool!

Dave McCumiskey (aka Dave Burgess) was a Cumbrian, formerly with The Ramrods of Carlisle, which is why they appear on this site. The other lads, Steve Laine, Ron Henley, Jimmy May and Ken Cox, were all Londoners.


Dave McCumiskey
aka Dave Burgess

Dave meets Chet Atkins


Dave in action

The Liverpool Five had more success abroad than in England. They played across Europe in Holland, Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

In Germany they appeared with the top German band of the time The Rattles and recorded for CBS.

It was while they were in Germany that they successfully auditioned to tour Japan and perform at the Tokyo olympics.

They played for crowds of six to eight thousand and performed their final gig at the vast Kouraken Ice Palace.

While in Japan they also played at the Camp Zama American military base.


Dave
The Liverpool Five at the Tokyo Olympics


The band stopped over in the Philippines on their way back from Japan and played at a party held by the American ambassador.
The ambassador was impressed with them and arranged for visas for them to enter the USA to play for the American troops. They performed on several mini tours, appearing with such acts as The Loving Spoonful, Stevie Wonder and the Rolling Stones.

The highlight of their American adventure was playing at the Hollywood Bowl with the Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, The Byrds, Sam The Sham and the Kinks.


Kenny Cox and Jimmy May

Dave in 2007

The Best of the
Liverpool 5
a Hit in 2008!

A reunion of

The Liverpool Five

in 2008

after 40 years

The gentleman in the red sweater, standing next to Dave, is Al Schmitt who was the producer of the Liverpool Five.

During his career Al has won 19 Grammy awards as well as a lifetime achievement award from the National Academy of Recording Arts.

He has engineered in the studio for Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, Jefferson Airplane, Celine Dion, Neil Young and many more top artists.

He has recently been nominated for an award for Shelby Lynn's album of Dusty Springfield songs and has just finished Natalie Cole's new CD.

After the reunion he was heading down to Rio to record Diana Krall's new DVD in Brazil.