<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On June 3, 1964, The Beatles had a full schedule ahead of them.\u00a0 They were to spend the morning posing for a photographer from <\/span>The Saturday Evening Post<\/span><\/i> before they did an afternoon and evening recording session at EMI Studios.\u00a0 The next day, they would fly off to begin their first ever world tour that would take them to Denmark, The Netherlands, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand.\u00a0 Author Jim Berkenstatdt summed up the importance of the moment when he wrote, \u201cThis was not just any tour, but one that had been carefully planned for months, planned with the preparation and detail of a military campaign.\u201d\u00a0 The Beatles were already riding high having taken both the United Kingdom and the eastern seaboard of the United States by storm with their juggernaut record sales.\u00a0 Indeed, they had the top five positions on the US <\/span>Billboard Hot 100 Singles <\/span><\/i>Chart simultaneously.\u00a0 The contracts were signed, the travel itinerary was set, and the boys were ready to take on the world the same way they had conquered both sides of the pond.\u00a0 Then, without any warning, The Beatles\u2019 drummer, Ringo Starr, collapsed in the middle of the <\/span>The Saturday Evening Post<\/span><\/i> photo session.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Manager Brian Epstein knew immediately they were going to have to find a way to start the tour without Ringo.\u00a0 At first, the other Beatles were against the idea, \u201cIt won\u2019t be The Beatles without Ringo,\u201d was the line they gave Epstein.\u00a0 George Harrison flatly refused to tour without his drummer.\u00a0 As producer George Martin put it later, \u201cGeorge is a very loyal person.\u201d\u00a0 Harrison himself had stated, \u201cIf Ringo\u2019s not part of the group, it\u2019s not The Beatles.\u00a0 And I don\u2019t see why we should do it.\u00a0 I\u2019m not going to go.\u201d\u00a0 George standing his ground was one thing, but to Epstein\u2019s way of thinking, there was no \u2018out clause\u2019 built into the tour plans.\u00a0 Unless they adopted a \u2018the show must go on\u2019 plan, the group\u2019s future was going to be uncertain, at best.<\/span><\/p>\n Paul McCartney also remembered the events of that day:\u00a0 \u201cFor some reason, we couldn\u2019t really cancel it.\u00a0 So, the idea came up, we\u2019ll get a stand-in drummer.\u201d\u00a0 With one day’s notice, Epstein did just that.\u00a0 After being turned down by his first two choices, Epstein called Jimmie Nicol.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0James George Nicol was born in London, England on August 3, 1939.\u00a0 He was seven when WWII ended so his childhood history was similar to many of the other English rock stars we have discussed in this space.\u00a0 The times were tough, but like many of our parents and grandparents who lived through the Great Depression, they didn\u2019t think of it in terms of \u2018oh, we were deprived of this and that\u2019.\u00a0 Life was tough all over but people summoned their resolve to get on with things and make the best of it.\u00a0 Jimmie Nicol\u2019s family was no different.\u00a0 Growing up in the Battersea area of London, Nicol watched as the slums and bombed out neighborhoods were replaced by modern homes replete with gas and electricity.\u00a0 They had a comfortable life compared to the war years.\u00a0 Jimmie never spent much time fleshing out the story of his early years so there has been much speculation of what drew him into the world of music.\u00a0 He was no doubt exposed to music at the cinemas, at public hall dances, and from family trips taken to the seaside resorts that were common at the time.\u00a0 Seaside resorts drew vacationers with live music.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In his 2013 book, <\/span>The Beatle Who Vanished<\/span><\/i>, author (and self-proclaimed \u2018Rock \u2018n\u2019 Roll Detective) Jim Berkenstatdt describes Nicol\u2019s early years:\u00a0 \u201cJimmie was unconventional from the start.\u00a0 He did not conform to the norm.\u00a0 He began tying his shoes backward from the top down and made the knot and bow at the bottom, not the top.\u00a0 It was his protest against conformity, a theme that would continue throughout his life.\u00a0 He was known as a sincere lad, but one happy to be a contrarian.\u201d \u00a0 His first instrument was the piano and he was a member of the Boy\u2019s Choir group at school.\u00a0 Jimmie was reported to be playing the drums with other students in a school band that included one saxophone and two trumpets.\u00a0 The Battersea area was a notable breeding ground for musicians in the 1950s including Bob Geldof (Boom Town Rats and the founder of the Live Aid concerts), Rick Parfitt (Status Quo), and Simon Le Bon (Duran Duran).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As a member of the Army Cadet Force (whose mission was similar to the Boy Scouts of America), young Jimmie learned musical theory, how to read music,\u00a0 performance, and the\u00a0 diverse drumming skills that would serve him throughout his career.\u00a0 Perhaps the most important skill he developed was the ability to play with many types of ensembles and with players of varying abilities.\u00a0 According to Berkenstatdt, \u201cNicol thrived as a drummer and enjoyed the enthusiastic response of the audiences to the band\u2019s live performances.\u00a0 At the age of 14, Jimmie Nicol obtained his first drum at a pawn shop.\u00a0 This allowed him to practice at home, much to the chagrin of nearby neighbors.\u00a0 He began to listen to jazz music on the radio and loved it.\u201d\u00a0 Though his father disagreed, Jimmie quit his day job at age 17 to explore the London music scene, intent on becoming a professional drummer.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Soho section of London was just beginning to come alive with clubs and coffee houses that featured live music.\u00a0 Jimmie found work repairing and maintaining drums at the Boosey & Hawkes musical equipment store located not far from the 2I\u2019s Coffee Bar.\u00a0 As skiffle musicians transitioned to rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, Nicol was there to take it all in.\u00a0 As his drumming skills improved, he found he was able to sit in with any group of musicians in need of a drummer.\u00a0 Jimmie\u2019s\u00a0 experiences at The 2Is introduced him to many other drummers and musicians he could learn from.\u00a0 Nicol was a veritable musical sponge,\u00a0 capable of playing any style of music.\u00a0 Jimmie\u2019s apprenticeship with other drummers and musicians allowed him to listen, learn, and develop his own hard hitting style.\u00a0 The word was out, \u201cJimmie could <\/span>really<\/span><\/i> play the drums.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In 1954, Jimmie was spotted playing the drums at The 2Is by music impresario Larry Parnes who had a stable of musicians like Tommy Steele (nee Tom Hicks – Parnes was famous for renaming his artists).\u00a0 Steele\u2019s younger brother Colin was just starting out in the music biz and Parnes provided Nicol with his first big break.\u00a0 He invited the drummer to join Colin Hicks and the Cabin Boys (Hicks had recently returned from a stint in the merchant marines).\u00a0 After touring extensively with Hicks in Italy, Jimmie went on to play with other acts on Parnes\u2019 roster including Vince Eager, Oscar Rabin, and Syril Stapleton.\u00a0 Parnes, looking to get the best hit-making potential, often moved musicians around his various bands like chess pieces.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nicol had sat in with Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames numerous times and in 1964, he and BF bassist Bob Garner formed a band called the Shubdubs.\u00a0 The Shubdubs leaned more toward the jazz side of the ledger but in the early days of rock \u2018n\u2019 roll, there were many places that still preferred to book bands playing that genre.\u00a0 Jimmie always said he was a jazzer and was perfectly content playing with his band when he got \u2018the call\u2019.\u00a0 It was The Beatles manager Brian Epstein who made the call, but more than likely he got the idea from their producer George Martin.\u00a0 When their first attempts to find a temp drummer were rebuffed, Martin recalled working on a session for Tommy Quickly with Jimmie Nicol.\u00a0 Nicol was at home having \u2018a bit of a lie down\u2019 when his phone rang and his career made an abrupt lane change.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nicol met the other Beatles and ran down a few numbers with them and tried on Ringo\u2019s stage suit.\u00a0 It was not an audition as some reported it.\u00a0 The tour was ready to depart the next day so it was more of a \u2018meet and greet\u2019 so everyone would be ready to roll in the morning.\u00a0 Before he really knew what hit him, Jimmie was on a plane to Denmark to begin a 13 day whirlwind tour subbing for Ringo Starr.\u00a0 The press was quick to dub him \u2018The Fifth Beatle\u2019.\u00a0 After their European stops, they made their way to Asia and eventually to Australia.\u00a0 Beatlemania was by now a full blown phenomenon and Jimmie Nicole was there to witness it:\u00a0 \u201cThe day before I was a Beatle, the girls weren\u2019t interested in me at all.\u00a0 The day after, with the suit and the Beatles (hair) cut, riding in the back of the limo with John, Paul, and George, they were dying to get a touch of me.\u00a0 It was very strange and quite scary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jimmie felt right at home with The Beatles.\u00a0 He grasped their sense of humor and instinctively played Ringo\u2019s Ludwig drum kit so the fans would hear as close an approximation of Starr\u2019s style in their set list (if they could indeed hear the music above all the screaming).\u00a0 When Ringo was discharged from the hospital, he and Brian Epstein finally caught up with the boys in Melbourne.\u00a0 Nicol was able to do one last \u2018balcony wave\u2019 to the fans, the only time all five Beatles appeared together.\u00a0 The 13 day fill in gig had gone very well, but suddenly the whole atmosphere changed.\u00a0 Jimmie\u2019s traveling buddies from the past fortnight were happy to see their drummer back in the pink.\u00a0 At that point, they circled their wagons around Ringo and pretty much ignored their substitute drummer.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During the tour, the ever independent Fifth Beatle had made it a point to explore some of the exotic locales they were visiting.\u00a0 The other famous faces were inclined to hide out in their hotel rooms since a personal appearance anywhere would cause a near riot.\u00a0 Jimmie was not as well known so he was able to roam freely and take in the local color unmolested.\u00a0 On his last night in Melbourne, he drew Epstein\u2019s ire when he borrowed a car and went out for a couple of drinks.\u00a0 He was just beginning to relax when Beatles roadies Mal Evans and Derek Taylor screeched to a stop at the front door and all but dragged Nicol back to the Southern Cross Hotel.\u00a0 Having previously chided Jimmie for talking to a reporter on the sidelines during the first group interview when Ringo returned, Nicol was feeling disrespected by their manager.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The next day, Jimmie was not even afforded the courtesy of saying goodbye to the Fab Four before Epstein drove him to the airport.\u00a0 A photo of Nicol sitting alone on a long bank of chairs at the airport paints a clear picture about how quickly his fortunes changed.\u00a0 With a long flight home to plan his next move, Nicol drafted a mental game plan of how to use his brief time as a Beatle to his advantage.\u00a0 He would reassemble his last band, the Shubdubs and get back to his own career.\u00a0 When drummer Dave Clark was hospitalized, Nicol would get his second call to sub for an ailing drummer, only this time it was the Shubdubs who filled in the weeks long engagement, not just Jimmie filling in on drums.\u00a0 Without a hit record to propel them, the band quietly folded.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The next group he organized was called The Sound of Jimmie Nicol.\u00a0 He spent himself 4,000 pounds into debt to outfit the band but it too, ultimately, failed.\u00a0 Adding to his troubles, his marriage broke up and he lost his homebase of wife and son.\u00a0 Nicol ended up moving back in with his mother and declaring bankruptcy.\u00a0 Out of the session scene, he picked up a few stray drumming gigs but within 18 months, his heady time as the Fifth Beatle had come and gone.\u00a0 The press and public moved on and Jimmie Nicole was busted and broke, if not broken.\u00a0 He did pick up a touring job with Peter and Gordon.\u00a0 Paul McCartney was dating Peter Asher\u2019s sister, Jane, and recommended Jimmie for the job.\u00a0 Nicol was probably unaware he had been given assistance by one of The Beatles.\u00a0 For the most part, Jimmie thought that his acrimonious parting with Epstein had resulted in the Beatles manager blacklisting him to deny him work.\u00a0 It was not true but Jimmie would carry this baggage and an intense dislike for Epstein there after.\u00a0 McCartney never forgot their sub-drummer.\u00a0 When they were first touring with him, John Lennon would ask Jimmie how he was doing.\u00a0 His response (\u2018it\u2019s getting better\u2019) came to Paul\u2019s mind when they were writing for the <\/span>Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band<\/span><\/i> album.\u00a0 The track that reminded him of Jimmie(<\/span>Getting Bett<\/span><\/i>er) ended up on that 1967 release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During his pre-Fifth Beatle days, a couple of Jimmie\u2019s bands toured with a Swedish band called the Spotnicks.\u00a0 This old friendship paid off when the band needed a drummer for an upcoming world tour.\u00a0 Their manager did not just offer Jimmie a \u2018hired gun replacement\u2019 gig – he offered Nicol a full membership in the band.\u00a0 He took the job and quietly moved to the band\u2019s base in Gothenburg without telling anyone he was going.\u00a0 It seemed that he had again simply disappeared from the London scene just as he had when he left The Beatles tour in Australia.\u00a0 The versatility of his drumming skills improved The Spotnicks (their name was a takeoff on the USSR\u2019s \u2018Sputnik\u2019 satellite.\u00a0 This time, Jimmie got to experience a world tour as a full member of the band that was enjoying their popularity without so much hysteria – they were well accepted, especially in Mexico and Japan, but there was no surge of\u00a0 Sputnik-Mania.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Things were rolling along for Nicol until the band made their second visit to Mexico.\u00a0 Jimmie began indulging in the local customs (some of which involved more than the heavy marijuana use he was known for) and he stopped showing up for band functions.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t miss any gigs but he was incapacitated at a few leaving the band no choice to bring over another drummer from Sweden and let Jimmie go.\u00a0 They had tossed him a lifeline when he was in dire need and it seemed he was now paying them back by choosing to go out on his own in Mexico rather than finish the tour. \u00a0 Jimmie Nicol would spend the next fifty years disappearing and hopping around the globe but he never tried to cash in on his Beatles fame.\u00a0 He often said it was probably the worst career decision as it 8-balled his own career.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As he did research for his book, author Berkenstadt decided to make one last push to see if he could find and talk to Jimmie Nicol.\u00a0 While in London, he hired a private detective who assessed the situation thusly:\u00a0 \u201cNicol was more successful at vanishing than Osama Bin Laden.\u201d\u00a0 His son Howie has become an award winning sound engineer.\u00a0 Many of his former friends and band members echoed the \u2018he seems to have just vanished\u2019 line.\u00a0 Oddly enough, one of the last verifiable sightings was in the Netherlands.\u00a0 A Beatles historian from Australia named Brendan Pearse told Berkenstadt he had been at the international Beatles convention in the Netherlands.\u00a0 Walking by a construction site near the convention center, he spotted an older, but still familiar face.\u00a0 He asked the construction worker if he was drummer Jimmie Nicol.\u00a0 The man confirmed his identity and gave Pearse his autograph.\u00a0 It seems Jimmie Nicol was still beating out rhythms, but now using a hammer instead of drumsticks.\u00a0 If he is still with us in 2023, he would be 84 years of age, but in his secretive world, we may never know when he leaves this mortal coil.<\/span><\/p>\n Top Piece Video:\u00a0 A 1964 clip from a Dutch TV show with Mr Nicol subbing for Ringo<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On June 3, 1964, The Beatles had a full schedule ahead of them.\u00a0 They were to spend the morning posing for a photographer from The Saturday Evening Post before they did an afternoon and evening recording session at EMI Studios.\u00a0 The next day, they would fly off to begin their first ever world tour 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