WHISPER this quietly, but it appears that the late, great Billy Fury once rejected The Beatles as his backing band because he felt that John Lennon might be too much trouble. Chris Raynor laughs in agreement, because without that fateful falling out he wouldn't have become Fury's lead guitar and one of the men who has jointly masterminded Halfway To Paradise – The Billy Fury Story.

"It's all true. there's a famous picture of Billy and John Lennon with a piece of paper asking for his autograph. And this was at an audition. John was a bit of a tearaway in his early days and there was a story that on their first tour together John went up to Billy and asked him about topping the bill that night. That's how Lennon was, he was determined to make it," says Chris.

The guitarist came to the attention of Fury, who was born Ronald Wycherley, when he returned from a tour of US bases in Germany and got to play with the Everlys. Keyboard player and bassist Charlie Elston and drummer John Raynor (no relation) asked Chris to become part of Fury's backing trio.

"When we used to come to the North-East we played the Stockton Fiesta Club. It was one of the best night-clubs in the country but it didn't have much of a stage. It was only a foot or so from the floor. We had to stop three or four times because as soon as Billy came on the girls in the audience just mobbed the stage. This was probably about seven years after his last big hit record in 1966, but it didn't seem to matter.

"There was an announcement that if the girls did it again then Billy Fury would not be appearing again. So you could see the girls wanted to rush the stage, but they kept to their seats," laughs Chris.

One wonders if this was the ideal situation for a singer with terrible heart problems, who was to die at 42 on January 28, 1983.

"He had problems from being a teenager and he was supposed to take things easy, but Billy was a naughty boy. He was told he shouldn't drink and smoke, but he did both. He was told that if he didn't drink or smoke he might last until he was 30, and he did quite well really," he adds.

Chris admits that the band, which Fury named the Tornados, were often anxious about the health of their employer, particularly when the hysteria surrounding him led to Chris feeling he had to flee for his life once.

"Billy never made an issue of his health and I have to say that in our company he never had any problems with his heart. He was one of the first people in the country to have open heart surgery. What they know about hearts now I think he'd have still been with us. He was unfortunate that technology didn't help for another ten or 15 years."

Asked about the fate of the performer still playing hits from 50 years ago, Chris points out that Fury had many fantastic musical arrangements and rock 'n' roll numbers that he and rest of the band were unaware of until they started researching Fury's legacy and heard the views of his fans.

"I have to say that, as a teenager, I was a fan of The Everly Brothers but now I realise how good Billy was. We (Chris and John) put this show together in 1997 and we only knew about eight or ten songs. We then had to learn all these songs he'd done earlier. I suspect he wouldn't have remembered half of them either. We only thought we'd do one tour and 17 years later we're still going. I think it's good that we're keeping these songs alive," says Chris.

He recalls that many singers in the UK wanted to be the next Elvis, but then Cliff Richard and Billy found their own niche in the music business. "Then along came The Beatles and it all changed again," he adds.

One would have thought that finding someone to replace the real Fury must have been difficult. "Actually, no. We thought we'd have to trawl through lots of singers but we saw a guy, called Colin Gold, doing Billy Fury on TV's Stars In Your Eyes. He was only singing Halfway To Paradise which is quite an easy song and we got him up to Nottingham and asked to sing songs like jealousy which have two octaves. He did well and I don't think I've heard him sing a duff note in 17 years," says Chris.

I can't resist asking how Colin got on in his heat of Stars In Your Eyes. "He lost to a Gilbert O'Sullivan impersonator. I rang him up and he put the phone down three times before I could get through to him we were serious. 'You're winding me up aren't you', he kept saying."

The current show has been further enhanced by the discovery of film footage of Billy from the 1970s and this is now being played during stage performances.

"Actually, what does spook me is that we found this tape of Billy who had written some poetry. It was a poem about a bird and he imagined himself as a bird flying and it was wonderful and we play the tape as part of the show. When you hear Billy's voice talking as opposed to singing it is quite haunting," he says.

Asked if he's happy to continue running the show, which has an introduction from Fury's long-time partner Lisa Voice, Chris says: "I think we'll get lynched if we stop doing this now. We did think about a rock'n'roll show at one point, but with our work ethic we didn't get around to it. We're just lucky that all of the band have their health while poor Colin, who is about 13 years younger than is, has some problems the same as Billy. So we have another singer we have to look after," says Chris.

Halfway To Paradise: Saturday, May 24, Gala Theatre, Durham, Box Office: 03000-266-600 galadurham.co.uk

Saturday, November 22, 7.30pm, Empire Theatre Consett, 01207-218171, £19.50/£18 (conc)