Who was Ronnie Woodbridge? All about the original lead singer of The Searchers as he dies at 84

Ronnie Woodbridge was one of the original members of the English rock band called The Searchers. In 1955, Ronnie "Shorty Rogers" Woodbridge was a part of a skiffle band with his friend McNally. He was on vocals and played the guitar. The skiffle band later turned into The Searchers, after Joe Kennedy joined on drums and Tony West on bass in 1957.

Ronnie Woodbridge was a tour de force in the Liverpool music scene during the 60s and 70s. He left the band right before they rose to fame; however, the impact he left remains.

87-year-old Norman Stevens, a Merseybeat veteran and a member of Duke Duval, had this to say about Ronnie. He shared:

"One night we were playing at the Holyoake Hall on Smithdown Road, and this lanky tall guy came up and said 'can I do a couple of numbers lads?', and we said yeah. We called him on and he rocked the place. You couldn't hear what we were playing for him. He was throwing himself all over the place, he had all the actions going."

More about Ronnie Woodbridge's career after leaving The Searchers

Ronnie Woodbridge sang and played with The Searchers for just a year. He joined the British rock band in 1959 and left the following year. However, he moved on to forge his own path in music. After leaving the group, he became the lead vocalist for the Nat Allen Orchestra and performed at the Locarno Ballroom (now known as The Olympia) in West Derby.

In the same year, he moved to Edinburgh and started working at the Palais de Danse in Fountainbridge. It was known that he performed six nights a week and took on the nickname "Shorty Rogers," as a humorous reference to his height.

Later on, after the dance hall was no longer as popular as it used to be, Ronnie did not stop his career in music. He continued to perform rock and roll, country music, and even comedy, all over Scotland.

Norman Stevens had more to say about Ronnie Woodbridge. He added:

"He was at the start of The Searchers, in fact it was him who gave them the name The Searchers from the John Wayne film of the same name. He was a nice guy too, a real Liverpool bloke we should all be proud of... When Duke Duval finished we became the resident band at the Empress Jazz Club on Victoria Road in New Brighton and Ronnie used to come and sing with us from time to time."

Stevens also reminisced about how doing music back then was their way of breaking the mould and chasing their dreams. He elaborated:

"He was spotted by someone from a large orchestra from Edinburgh along with this lad called Johnny, who was what we called 'the Liverpool Elvis Presley'. Him and Ronnie Wood were invited to join the large orchestra in Edinburgh and off they went, and good luck to them."

He continued:

"It was an absolutely marvellous time because it was all new, all raw, all against everything that our parents had stood for. They all still wore suits and ties, and we said 'bugger that we want to do what we want to do!' and off it went. We broke new ground and it echoed all over the country, bands springing up, it was all going on."

Ronnie Woodbridge's cause of death has not been revealed to the public. But his funeral will be held on July 4, 2025, at the Warriston Crematorium in Edinburgh at 1:00 p.m. Those who are mourning the late singer are requested to wear red to the funeral.

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