THE STORY OF IRISH INDOROCKER JIMMY WARD
In the sixties my dad and some uncles of mine played in an Indorock band together with an Irish singer called Jimmy Ward (a.k.a. Del Ward).
I can already hear some of you think "An Irish man in an Indorock band?"
Well...yes, and as a matter of fact: it really ain't that strange of a combination at all if you just take the time to read the Jimmy Ward story below.
Jimmy Ward (real name = James Michael Macken) was born in Dublin-Ireland (23rd November 1938), but moved with his family to England in the late 1950’s.
Jimmy Ward started searching for a way to earn his money making music and moved to London.
In London he started working at the now famous 2.I’s coffeebar, which was named after the 2 brothers Irani.
This is the place were a lot of now famous musicians from the U.K. (f.i. Cliff Richard and the Drifters, Tommy Steele, Johnny Kidd, etc.) had their very first start.
The ideal surroundings for someone to start a music carreer, so Jimmy started doing sessions there hoping for his future band to come along soon.
Being a multi talented musician (Jimmy Ward was a great singer but also played the drums, piano and saxophone) finding a band to join seemed only a matter of time.
Jimmy Ward was asked to join the Jets and went to Hamburg - Germany with this band in June 1960. 
Indorock bands such as the Black Dynamites, Oety and his Real Rockers and the Tielman Brothers had already been playing some time in Germany, but June 5th 1960 the Jets were the first British band to enter Germany.
Some time later they were joined by a band that would gain worldwide fame as the Beatles.
The Jets consisted of Tony Sheridan (lead guitar/vocals), Rick Hardy (rhythm guitar/vocals), Colin Crawley (rhythm guitar/vocals), Peter Wharton (bass), Tony Cavanaugh (drums) and Jimmy Ward (piano/vocals/drums).
They started playing at the Top Ten Club and when the Beatles did finally enter Hamburg to play at the Indra Club, they would often jam together with other musicians like the bandmembers from the Jets or the ones from the Harry Bredow Band.
These Indorockers played in a club called the Blauer Peter for 3 consecutive months (August/September/October 1960) and the band line up consisted of bandleader Harry Bredow (guitar/piano/vocals), Henny Heutink (drums), Rob van Kreeveld, George Dankmeyer (guitar/bass/vocals) and Wim Zuijdervelt (trumpet/bass/vocals).
After a few months the Jets broke up and Jimmy Ward played with several other bands.
Among them were the Cadillacs and of course Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers (pre-Beatles consisting of Tony Sheridan, John Lennon, George Harrison, Pete Best, Stu Suttcliffe and Paul Mcartney).
In august 1962 Jimmy Ward was contracted to play at Berhard’s Eck – Hanau with a group called Glenn Barry & the Thunderbirds.
After that, he hooked up with legendary Dutch Indorock band the Black Dynamites in Frankfurt.
The Black Dynamites quickly needed a replacement for their singer Nico Fioole who was temporarily helping out another Indorock band called the Black Magic.
Nico Fioole brought the Black Magic over to Spain were he had already been touring with the Black Dynamites.
The Black Dynamites continued with Jimmy Ward and played their first gig with this new line up at Club Weindorff – Frankfurt.
From there on they would play many other German clubs such as the Kaskade in Cologne or the Rio Tanzbar in Stuttgart. 
In 1963 Jimmy Ward decides to leave the group and joins another legendary Indorock band: Oety & his Real Rockers.
The band got offered a lucrative record deal by the German Bellaphon record label and starts recording right away. 
The first song they recorded was called Susi, a song Jimmy Ward used to play with the Black Dynamites.
The other song was called Teen Beat Slop.
In 1964 bandleader Oety Johannes leaves his own band to join the Swallows and the remaining Real Rockers change their name into the Six Tropicals.
Shortly after that they changed their name into Jimmy Ward and the Tropicals.
Meanwhile another single is released (Wo Ist My Baby/Yes Clementine) and the band got a new bandleader: lead guitar player Alex Harmanus.
Jimmy Ward and the Tropicals played the many German clubs and were very succesful. 
The band finally split up in 1970 and Jimmy Ward started working as a DJ.
In 1971 Jimmy Ward got married with his German girlfriend Marianne Peter from Freyung and their son Markus was born later that same year.
After his divorce in 1975 Jimmy Ward returns to his family in Birmingham – England were he passed away in 1987, at the early age of 48 years old.
Jimmy Ward will be missed forever by his fellow musicians and the many, many people he touched so deeply with his songs and his unique voice.
Jimmy Ward...May His Soul Forever Rest In Peace