SIXTIES’ legend Billy J Kramer, now in his seventies and living in New York’s Long Island, is playfully chatting about his colourful life - as a star of the Merseybeat era and a friend of The Beatles - on a patchy transatlantic telephone line.

“If you survive 50 years in the music industry, then you deserve more than a five-star medal, but I’ve got this great feeling of goodness and serenity now,” Kramer told The Guide.

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“I had a wild, wild, journey, but these days I’d rather sit in front of the fire with my two lovely dogs and watch TV.

“I’m content, you know.

“I’m a better person now.”

His new album – I Won The Fight – is Kramer’s first-ever album of his own material, corralling songs about his career and capturing the depth and breadth of his songwriting.

“It is very autobiographical,” he added.

“One of the songs is called to Liverpool With Love and is about people I used to know when I was younger and never saw again.

“Paul McCartney heard it and he rang me. He said: ‘You captured the moment and brought back a lot of happy memories. That was great coming from him.’ “But there were darker times in my life too.”

Kramer, who plucked his name at random from a telephone directory after his old friend John Lennon had suggested that he put J in front of his surname, admits he was lucky to survive the brutal onslaught of life in the rock and roll fast lane.

“I nearly didn’t make it - my biggest achievement was to stop drinking and become William Ashton again (real name).

“I was a functioning alcoholic for a long time.

“You have to reach rock bottom first before you can face your recovery – and I mean rock bottom.

“It wasn’t easy. Slowly but surely, though, I hauled myself back up the pole.

“I’ve been sober for 30 years now and that means more to me than any of my hit records.

“Billy J Kramer is someone I take out of a suitcase now and again.”

Kramer also shared The Fab Four’s manager, Brian Epstein, and he successfully launched a campaign for the music guru, who died in 1967, to be included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

“It baffled me, because Brian Epstein became this forgotten man, and he was overlooked for so long,” said Kramer.

“He was the man who pounded the pavements in London when nobody wanted to know The Beatles and he was responsible for making them what they were.

“I wish Brian was here to see his name included in the 2014 Hall of Fame because he was my mentor and friend.”

Kramer, who also enjoyed a string of hits with The Dakotas, added: “I’ve always said there were two sides of The Beatles.

“There’s The Beatles that came along on the Ed Sullivan Show, suits and refined, and then there was The Beatles in leather.

“I always say if you never saw The Beatles at The Cavern, you never knew what they were really like.

“I think if not for Brian they could well have been overlooked and stayed in Liverpool forever.”

Raised in Bootle, Kramer says he discovered rock and roll when he was 12.

He joked: “I lived at 27 Hankey Drive, Bootle, and the locals called it Snotty Nose Drive.

“I wasn’t particularly good at school. I was too wrapped up in music.

“On the last day they said I’d never get a job.

“Years later they put a plaque on the wall to say that I was educated there.

“I did an engineering apprenticeship with British Rail and played guitar in the evenings.

“Weeks later I saw The Beatles at Litherland Town Hall and I said to my friend on the bus going home, ‘They’re going to be bigger than Elvis Presley.”

Kramer says his first British tour for nearly two decades will bring the memories flooding back for the 71-year-old.

The Solid Silver 60s Show will see Kramer appear with Mike Pender, the original voice of the Searchers, Chris Farlowe and PP Arnold, while the Merseybeats will provide the special guests.

“I’ve not played in the UK since the mid-1990s, so it is going to be a real blast,” he added.

“I get home now and again – to watch Liverpool play – but coming back to the north again to play music is going to be so special.

“I suppose I did win the fight after all.”

  • Billy J Kramer: The Solid Sixties Show: Blackpool Grand Theatre, March 22; Manchester Palace Theatre, March 23.