Not many people can say they have worked with more than a dozen Open champions and The Beatles in their career, but Paul Stevens certainly can.
Growing up in Lancashire in the 1950s, Stevens, known as “The Singing Caddie,” has had a remarkable career in golf, and performing on the stage.
“I got into caddying at age of 12, became a club caddie,” Stevens said. “The reason being, I lived in a town called Rochdale, which was a cotton town. And my mother had an accident in the cotton mill, so she couldn’t afford to give me any pocket money. So, I decided to travel to the other side of town, to Rochdale Golf Club, and started caddying for 4 shillings a round (just under 50p today), which to me was a fortune in those days.
“After I started, I had to leave caddying alone and go working in the cotton and textile industry. Caddying was like a weekend occupation at that time, and I really didn’t like being in the cotton mill, because I had started singing then, rock and roll singing.”
“I finished up winning a talent quest at Butlins in 1960. Ringo played drums for me, and I won the heat and the final."
Paul Stevens
Stevens was building a love for caddying, but his first love was performing. After winning a talent contest, he and his group, Paul Stevens and the Emperors of Rhythm, soon found themselves mingling with some of music's biggest names.
“That was the love of my life: singing,” he said.
The top group in Liverpool at that time wasn’t The Beatles, it was a group called Rory Storm and The Hurricanes. And the drummer for The Hurricanes was a guy called Richard Starkey, aka Ringo Starr.
“I finished up winning a talent quest at Butlins in 1960,” Stevens said. “Ringo played drums for me, and I won the heat and the final. I formed my own group, and a couple of years later we were working at the world-famous Cavern Club in Mathew Street in Liverpool.
“My group were supporting four guys from Liverpool who have done very well, The Beatles. And that was probably the biggest thing in my life. I did work with the Rolling Stones afterwards, and later on the Beach Boys. So, a lot of big names during the years.”
Although Stevens would never stop singing, even competing in “The Voice Australia” recently, he realised that golf was where his future lay, and caddying was what he wanted to do. He soon found he was good at it too.
“I was a cricket player, not a golfer, although I loved golf and started playing later,” Stevens said. “But I just applied common sense, and to me that is still what caddying is all about. I’ve always believed that caddying is basically common sense, and saying the right thing at the right time. But it had got into my blood at that time and I wanted to do well, and to be a top caddie I needed to be a links caddie. So, I started travelling to the far reaches of Lancashire, to Royal Birkdale.”
To read more about Paul Stevens and his unique career, click HERE.
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