Legendary Liverpool record shop discovers links to Brian Epstein and ‘the secret Beatle’

Legendary Liverpool record shop The Musical Box has discovered a connection to two pivotal figures in The Beatles career.

The shop on West Derby Road already has confirmed history linking it to John Lennon and original drummer Pete Best who regularly went in there in the early 60s to look for new releases.

Now, thanks to a customer, they’ve been able to add another two names to their famous customer list: manager Brian Epstein and Joe Flannery, who was the band’s booking manager in the early days.

The Musical Box, which was recognised last year as the oldest independent record store in England, has been in the same family for four generations.

Tony Quinn, his wife Paula and their son Craig currently run the shop, taking it on from Tony’s mum Diane and nan Dorothy, who was the original owner.

Diane is now 88 but is still able to recall some of the big names who popped in more than 60 years ago.

So, when a customer commented on The Musical Box’s social media that friends Joe Flannery and Brian Epstein were among them, Tony and Paula were able to double check with her.

Paula explains:

“We put a 1960s post on our socials and one person commented underneath that we were mentioned in Joe Flannery’s book which was called Standing in the Wings.

“They sent us a page highlighting a quote saying: ‘he took a trip with Brian Epstein to the font of all wisdom, The Musical Box, for records that NEMS did not have in stock’.

“I mentioned this to Diane, my mother-in-law, and she said she was aware that Joe Flannery used to come into the Tuebrook shop while she was there. He used to live in Tuebrook, by the Carlton, and she said she’d met him several times because he used to come in and promote his brother’s band, Lee Curtis and the All-Stars.

“We think he came in with Brian Epstein around 1962/63 because that’s when they were working together.”

Paula says it makes sense that they would have chosen The Musical Box because the shop was known at the time for having records by artists that weren’t so well known in the UK.

“Diane has told me that seamen used to visit the shop who’d been to America and they’d tell her and her mum all about the new artists they were aware of. Then when Diane and Dorothy saw the artists’ names on a new release list they would order them in.

“That explains how they had records and artists nobody else knew about at the time – they were being given a heads-up by the customers. 

“They used to get American GIs based at Burtonwood coming in too, asking for Elvis Presley before he was well-known here, so the same happened. Diane said to her mum, ‘there’s that Elvis Presley on the new release list’, so then they ordered it in. 

“They were always introducing the city to all these new artists.”

This latest Beatle story fits another piece into the fascinating jigsaw of The Musical Box’s history, and Paula says they’re grateful to customers who help them continually add to it.

“People are definitely very invested in the history of our shop, we’ve got lovely loyal customers and we’d never have known about this without them,” she adds.

“It’s not just our history, it’s customers’ past too. When they come in all those memories come back so we’re keeping it going for them as well.”

Find out more about The Musical Box here.

Find out about the new documentary about the early days of The Beatles here.

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