Sir Paul missing? Call Karl Lornie

Aug 23 2006 by Phil Key, Liverpool Daily Post

Philip Key meets the man who becomes the ex-Beatle.

SO, WHAT do you do if your Beatles tribute band loses its Paul McCartney? You call Wirral actor/ singer Karl Lornie.
 
Lornie has been playing the Beatle on and off for some years now, both in theatre shows and his own McCartney tribute. He even taught himself to play guitar left-handed to do it.
 
So when a Beatle tribute band heading for Oslo as part of a Merseyside tourism bash last week found its McCartney falling ill at John Lennon airport, it was Lornie who had the call.
 
"I was called in the afternoon to see if I could do it and was on the flight to Oslo the next day," Lornie explains.
 
The gig, a joint effort between the Mersey Partnership and The Beatles Story, was promoting the joys the Liverpool as a tourist centre. "There wasn't a lot of time," says Lornie. "I got to Oslo at 6.45pm, checked into the hotel and then met the band to discuss things and then did the show."
 
The event at the city's Hard Rock Cafe was packed. "It went down very well," he says.
 
It was a prelude to Lornie's own big Liverpool gig when he plays his own McCartney tribute show at the Cavern Club on Thursday as part of International Beatle Week which kicks off officially today.
 
"It is the main show complete with brass section and will be the last for some time," he says. "Apart from a couple of smaller dates during the week I won't be producing it again until October next year."
 
It seems Lornie produces and stars in two other theatre shows which he plans to tour instead.