This one, the first big passing of the New Year, really hurts. Next to the Beatles, Gerry & The Pacemakers were my favorite British group. I remember spending literally years searching for their greatest hits album, back when records were the only thing you could buy. I could never seem to find it, until one day, in a record store, there it was in that shiny plastic wrapped envelope. 

It was a British import and it cost a lot, but I had to have it. And what a great LP it was, with all their hits and a few on it I'd never heard before but came to really like. 

I even stayed home one New Year's Eve because some local TV station was showing the movie "Ferry Cross The Mersey" at midnight and in those pre-VCR days, that was the only way to see it. I was a big, big fan of Gerry Marsden. I'm truly sad to hear he's gone. But luckily he leaves behind a ton of great music. And somewhere upstairs, I still have that album.

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