b. Howard William Casey, 12 July 1937, Liverpool, England. Casey enlisted in the army so that he could play baritone saxophone in a military band. Demobbed in 1958, he bought a tenor saxophone and played in early Liverpool beat groups, the Rhythm Rockers and the High Tones. By November 1959, Casey had formed the Seniors featuring Derry Wilkie (vocals), Billy Hughes (vocals), Brian Griffiths (lead guitar), Paul Whitehead (bass), Stan Foster (piano) and Jeff Wallington (drums). The line-up was to change over the months with, notably, Frank Wibberley of the Rhythm Rockers replacing Jeff Wallington. Their repertoire was culled from Ray Charles, Little Richard and Fats Domino and they called themselves Derry And The Seniors as a nod to Danny And The Juniors. The promoter Allan Williams found them work at the Kaiser Keller in Hamburg and in 1960, they became the first Liverpool group to go to Germany. Returning to Liverpool, they were asked by local actor/singer Freddie Howell (later Freddie Starr) to help him audition for a recording contract with Fontana Records. They were asked to write songs about the new Twist craze and they cut the whole of Twist At The Top in an afternoon, thus becoming the first Liverpool group to record. ‘It’s not much of a twist album, ’ admits Casey, ‘we used to play everything at a hundred miles an hour.’ Appropriately enough, the first single was called ‘Double Twist’. The band had a residency at the Twist At The Top club in Ilford and played bookings throughout the UK. When Casey got married, he decided to settle down and disbanded the group. Even an offer of management from Brian Epstein did not change his mind. When the Mersey boom happened, Casey went back to music by returning to Germany with Kingsize Taylor And The Dominoes. He became a noted session musician, playing on albums by Wings (Band On The Run), Elkie Brooks, Cliff Richard, T. Rex and the film soundtracks of Tommy and Quadrophenia. He works with British rock ‘n’ roll veteran Roy Young, backs Elvis Presley impersonator Liberty Mountain and has an oldies band, Loose Covers.