Now a property developer, 71-year-old Christopher Howard first picked up a guitar aged 14.
A year later he formed The Rockets Skiffle on vocals and banjo.
And over the years Christopher formed and joined many more bands, such as rock n’ roll group The Mustangs at 17, before joining semi professional band Sonny Kaye and the Reds at 18 as a bassist and vocalist.
They played all over Merseyside, including St George’s Hall in Liverpool supporting Emile Ford and The Checkmates.
They also played The Tower Ballroom in New Brighton supporting Wayne Fontana and The Mind Benders.
It was while with Sonny Kaye and the Reds that Christopher, aged 19, appeared as a supporting act for the Beatles on three occasions at the Queens Hall in 1963, with tickets costing five shillings.
He said: “Supporting the Beatles is indeed one of my proudest moments because we were there at the very beginning.”
Then the Fab Four’s biggest hit was Love Me Do and Christopher remembers: “At the time I had no idea how big they would go on to be, but I did realise they were completely different to anything I had ever seen before and they had great charisma, all four of them.”
Unfortunately Christopher did not get to meet them, he said: “They dashed in, got on stage, played and dashed out again, much to all supporting bands’ disappointment.”
However, they had such a profound effect that he went on to collect Beatles memorabilia and has amassed a huge collection, including signed pictures, which he keeps with his personal collection of 26 guitars, ukulele, keyboard, Egyptian Lute and mouth organ — all of which he can play.
Christopher went on to find further success with Sonny Kaye and the Reds and their name is engraved on a brick wall at the world famous Cavern Club in Liverpool.
But he left the group when they ventured to Hamburg and went on to find further success with a new group, The Script, with his brother.
In 1974 Christopher got the chance to spend six months in the US working in Louisiana with The Exxon Oil Company.
Keen to continue with music, he joined a country rock band and played all around the Baton Rouge area.
Upon returning to the UK he formed yet another band, Sixties Sound, and gigged around Preston.
They disbanded in 1980 but Christopher still plays his guitar and sings at his local pub in Moffat every week with other musicians.
He also plays venues with his band, The Southern Strings, in Lochmaben and Lockerbie.
