PosterCentral.com’s “Before They Were Famous” posters

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the Chilites, the Delfonics, the Jackson Five concert poster

We’ve previously run a 1969 Jackson Five poster from Chicago in this space, also headlining the Chi-Lites, when Michael Jackson was just 11 years old. (James Brown dominated that poster.) This poster is even earlier… in April 1969 the Gloved One was just 10, and the J5 were still months away from the slightest hint of stardom.

Gigantic Show and Dance the Allman Joys concert poster

A remarkable poster because it’s three full years before the Allman Brothers Band released their first album, it uses an earlier incarnation of their band name, and it features a great photo with brothers Duane and Gregg Allman in Beatles-like bowl haircuts of the day. And it carries a great slogan at the very bottom: “Don’t Miss the NEW Psychedelic Sound.”

gerry and the Pacemakers, The Rolling Stones concert poster

You don’t see many concert items on The Rolling Stones from 1963, when the Beatles were still settling in as the rulers of the kingdom. Here they’re way down the bill, the last act listed, from December ’63. At this point Mick Jagger & Co. had charted two singles on the British hit parade, but nothing in the Top 10 yet.

Herman's Hermits, The Who concert poster

One of our very favorite BTWF posters, this fun 1967 window card from Rhode Island spotlights the chart-topping Herman’s Hermits, but way down on the poster, in quotes as if to explain them, are “The Who.” The tour lasted 10 weeks and went coast-to-coast, but this is the only poster we’ve seen from that jaunt.

Bruce Channel, The Beatles concert poster

Hey Baby indeed… the formula was simple: American Bruce Channel had a hit record under his belt and the Beatles didn’t, so he received the more prominent billing. This 1962 Liverpool concert poster actually dates from the first month the Fab Four ever entered an EMI recording studio, so stardom was just about half-a-year away. And a new drummer (Ringo Starr replacing Pete Best – of course) was less than two months away.

Faron Young, Homer and Jethro, Patsy Cline concert poster

Seventh-billed is a humbling location for future hall-of-famer Patsy Cline, but that’s where she is on this 1960 country music poster. In fact, a lot of this concert’s billing is somewhat arbitrary… Elton Britt hadn’t charted a single in 10 years, but yet his name is above George Jones, who had a #1 record the year before and was relatively hot. We’re probably taking this all a lot more seriously now than they did back then.

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The Chilites (should be Chi-Lites), The Delphonics (should be Delfonics), The Jackson Five (with 10-year-old Michael Jackson), Josephine Taylor, Renaldo Domino and Carl Wright at the Met Theatre in Chicago, IL for a week’s engagement starting on April 25, 1969; The Allman Joys (later the Allman Brothers Band), featuring Duane Allman and Gregg Allman, at the Fort Brandon Armory in Tuscaloosa, AL on Nov. 25, 1966; Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Overlanders, Pete McClaine and The Clan, The Original Checkmates and The Rolling Stones, with compere Tony Brandon, at the Odeon Theatre in Romford, England on Dec. 6, 1963; WPRO Radio Presents Herman’s Hermits plus The Blues Magoos and The Who at the Rhode Island Auditorium in Providence, RI on Aug. 14, 1967; Bob Wooler Presents Bruce Channel and Delbert McLinton (should be McClinton) with The Barons, plus The Beatles, The Big Three, The Statesmen and The Four Jays at the Tower Ballroom in New Brighton, England (a Liverpool suburb) on June 21, 1962; and The Starr Enterprises Presents Faron Young, Homer and Jethro, Elton Britt, George Jones, Carl Belew, Jimmy Newman, Patsy Cline, Rex Rhinehart, Lew Childre and The Country Deputies at the Fairgrounds Tingley Coliseum in Albuquerque, NM on April 30, 1960.

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			Before They Were Famous As the proprietor of postercentral.com, I (Pete Howard) fully confess that this is a pet niche of mine that perhaps few others care about, certainly not with the passion that I do. I was fascinated with rookie baseball cards as a kid in the 1960s, and I remain thrilled to this day to find concert posters with future stars listed down on the bill – the more their name is buried, the better. I have photos of over 50 concert posters where yesterday’s under-card turned into tomorrow’s superstar, and it’ll be great fun posting them here on a regular, rotating basis. So check back every month or two, and by all means, please send me your image of anything that qualifies for this category. And I don’t need to remind you that I pay top dollar for old concert posters like these!