Recordings featuring The Beatles drummer Ringo Starr before he found fame with the Fab Four have been discovered in a basement.

The previously unheard sessions, from 1960, contain performances by Rory Storm and the Hurricanes - the band Starr played with prior to joining The Beatles.

The tapes, which feature tracks from a gig near Liverpool and a recording of a rehearsal at frontman Storm's home, were unearthed by Storm's sister, Iris Caldwell, in the cellar of her house and they are now set to be released on a new album.

"I suppose these tapes have been in an old sealed box ever since (they were recorded)," she told the BBC.

Starr left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join The Beatles as Pete Best's replacement in 1962, shortly before the band shot to fame.