About Billy J. Kramer
William Howard Ashton (born 19 August 1943), known professionally as Billy J. Kramer, is an English pop singer. With the Dakotas, Kramer was managed by Brian Epstein during the 1960s and scored hits with several Lennon–McCartney compositions never recorded by the Beatles, among them the UK number one "Bad to Me" (1963). Kramer and the Dakotas had a further UK chart-topper in 1964 with "Little Children" and achieved U.S. success as part of the British Invasion. Since the end of the beat boom, Kramer has continued to record and perform. His autobiography, Do You Want to Know a Secret, was published in 2016. == Early life and career == Kramer grew up as the youngest of seven siblings and attended the St George of England Secondary School, Bootle. He then took up an engineering apprenticeship with British Railways and in his spare time played rhythm guitar in a group he had formed himself, before switching to become a vocalist. The performing name Kramer was chosen at random from a telephone directory. John Lennon suggested that the "J" be added to the name further to distinguish him by adding a "tougher edge". Kramer soon came to the attention of Brian Epstein, ever on the look-out for new talent to add to his expanding roster of local artists.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.