James O ' Meara James O ' Meara , born Jecomen on the planet Byulna , was one of the original three members of the Common Men . James sang , and played the bass . He and the other two in the band — also from Byulna — were brought to Earth as part of the selfish schemes of Lenny Kruger , who planned to use their popularity to render himself the most powerful man in Mutter ' s Spiral . Biography . Jecomen was from the Convents of Health on Byulna , owned by his parents . He would inherit it from them . Jecomen was kidnapped at a very young age by Lenny Kruger , who brought him to 20th century Earth , where he grew up in Liverpool as James O ' Meara inside a flesh suit , thinking himself human . In 1957 , he got together with two other locals , Mark Carville and Korky Goldsmith , and formed the Common Men . The band was not particularly popular , and — by the suggestion of the Fifth Doctor — became the backing group for Aubrey Waites in 1963 . This new alliance , adopting the name John Smith and the Common Men , became hugely popular within weeks , and quickly rose up to # 2 on the British charts , just below the Beatles . James never found out he was an alien . Alternate timeline . In an alternate timeline created by Lenny Kruger , the Common Men became the most popular band in the world in the Beatles ' place . They met Nyssa in 1950s Hamburg , and let her stay in their hotel for a few nights . He and Mark met the Fifth Doctor close afterwards , who explained their origins to them in the Pfannkuchen . They soon , though , had their memories wiped of the encounter by Lenny . They then unknowingly re - encountered the Doctor on 31 October 1963 , when they arrived in London after a plane ride , only to find hundreds of fans screaming for them outside . The Doctor warned them of Lenny walking through the crowd with an impulse laser , and James invited him for a drink . The group met the Time Lord once more in 1967 . They were at the time in a small Welsh town , promised a free private seminar with the guru Paravatar . James was approached by the Doctor , who informed him that they may be in danger . Paravatar , secretly a retire d time travel ler , hypnotised the musicians into revealing their true identities . After waking up , the Common Men were finally approached by Lenny , who quickly became their new manager . According to Mark , James once make him do retakes of a guitar solo for nine hours , then came by the next morning and simply did it himself in twenty minutes . Even after the Common Men split up , James had a connection with Lenny and Mark . When entering Mark ' s New York house around 1970 , Mark had just transformed into his true Byulnian form , and kill ed him out of anger . Lenny , upset that all did not work to plan , further manipulated time . In yet another timeline , the Common Men got back together and James never died . At the Doctor ' s request , though , the group and others pretended that James had been killed by Lenny in May of 1966 , and was subsequently replaced by a look - alike . The Doctor created a false corpse from Lenny ' s own genetic modifier , and had Rita spread the rumour . This spread bad word about Lenny throughout the world . Lenny , soon to die because of this , finally let the Doctor restore the original timeline , and all returned to normal . ( AUDIO : " " )