Born in
Rhyl,
Denbighshire, Wales, and named after his father, Bickerton grew up in
Kirkdale, Liverpool. He first came to prominence in 1963 when, after spells with the Bobby Bell Rockers (featuring Det Pete), Steve & the Syndicate,
Lee Curtis and the All-Stars and
the Remo Four, he became bassist and singer with the
Pete Best Four (later the Pete Best Combo), at the same time as childhood friend Tony Waddington became the group's guitarist. As well as sharing most of the singing, Bickerton and Waddington became songwriters for the group, which toured mainly in Germany and the US, before they left in 1966. Bickerton then became a record producer at
Deram Records, responsible for albums by
Giles, Giles & Fripp (the forerunner to
King Crimson) and
World of Oz; he also worked with
Petula Clark and
Tom Jones. He later joined
Polydor Records, becoming
A&R chief and producing the band
Mongrel. and also reached the UK Top 10 with "Sugar Candy Kisses" by
Mac and Katie Kissoon. They set up their own record label,
State Records, which diversified in 1979 into owning
Odyssey Studios and a new office building at
Marble Arch in central London, later sold to the radio station
Jazz FM. Bickerton moved into the upper reaches of the wider music industry, initially as an executive of the
Performing Right Society in England, where he worked from the late 1970s, eventually as chairman and acting Chief executive. He also became Deputy Chairman of The
University of Liverpool Institute of Popular Music. ==Death==