Sunderland legend who was the catalyst for thousands of Mackems' love of music immortalised with blue plaque

A Sunderland legend described as the catalyst for thousands of Mackems to develop a lifelong love of music has been immortalised with the installation of a blue plaque at the site where revellers would gather to see some of the most iconic bands of the late sixties and seventies.

Promoter Geoff Docherty was responsible for bringing some of the world biggest artists to the then Locarno Ballroom, including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Free, Rod Stewart, and David Bowie.

Geoff sadly passed away earlier this year, leading to the formation of the Geoff Docherty Memorial Facebook page. Members wanted to mark Geoff’s passing and began a GoFundMe page to raise money to create and install a blue plaque in his memory.

One of those was Karen Banwell, 71, from Roker, who as a teenager used to attend gigs organised by Geoff.

She said: “We used to run up the staircase which was where the plaque is now located, to the famous ramp where we all queued.

“Geoff put on amazing bands such as Led Zeppelin, The Who, Pink Floyd, and our beloved Free who were just an amazing band and Geoff gave them their start.

“Geoff was the catalyst for a lifelong love of music for thousands of people. The bands he brought to Sunderland really did kickstart people’s love of music.

“Geoff was really tenacious in getting bands to appear in the city who maybe wouldn’t appear elsewhere.”

Karen also got to know Geoff when she worked on the writing of two books about his life.

She added: “I’m thrilled to be here today to see the plaque unveiled. This will be seen and appreciated by people worldwide as the people who used to come to the gigs are now scattered across the globe.

“It’s a seminal moment. The real movement in music happened in the late sixties and having Geoff’s role in that marked is very special.”

Alongside Geoff’s name, the plaque is also emblazoned with the names of the artists who he brought to Sunderland.

The plaque was officially unveiled by the city’s mayor, Cllr Robert Hutchinson, who first got to know Geoff as 17-year-old student in 1969, when he was also making his way in the music industry.

The mayor said: “When Geoff came to the Locarno I was just starting to develop my psychedelic light show and I asked him if he would like a show at his new venue. He said yes, and if I had I started a week earlier I would have been working with Pink Floyd

“What Geoff did was incredible. He would go to London and find these bands before they were big. A lot of the bands he booked, in the weeks leading up to them playing, we started to hear about them and notice who they were as they started to go into the charts.

“I remember people saying, ‘you’ve never got them Geoff’, and one of those bands was Led Zeppelin.

“It’s unbelievable to unveil the plaque. As Sunderland lad, he would be chuffed to bits, especially this site where he brought so many bands and it really took off.”

The plaque is located in the Tesco Extra carpark in Roker, and Karen thanked the supermarket giant for agreeing to the installation as well as the support from the council.