Written by: David Bedford and Garry Popper
Edited by Mark Naboshek
Designed and assembled by Paul Skellett
Produced by: Garry Popper
Printed by TREDITION
Published 2018 by GBF
Finding the Fourth Beatle © copyright Bedford & Popper 2014
The right of David Bedford and Garry Popper to be identified as the co-authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 and 2014.
All rights Reserved.
With the exception of fair trading which allows for extracts to be quoted for the purpose of academic study and research, or objective criticism or review as permitted by the Copyright, Design & Patents Acts 1988 and 2014, no part of this book may be copied, reproduced or otherwise transmitted in any form by any means electronic, digital, mechanical, photo or reprographic or by any other means, or placed in any social media, information, storage or retrieval system without the prior written consent of the publisher and the authors respectively.
ISBN: 978-3-7439-8995-5 (Paperback)
ISBN: 978-3-7323-9842-3 (Hardcover)
ISBN: 978-3-7439-8996-2 (eBook)
This book is dedicated:
By David: to Alix Bedford; Philippa, Ryan and Noah Kilroe; Lauren, and Ashleigh Bedford, and to the memory of Colin Bedford, Judy Place and Alexander Dowbiggin
And
By Garry: to my wife, Linda, my brother, Gordon, and my daughters, Marisa, Rosalyn and Anita for keeping me going after my stroke. Much love and kisses xxx
No author works in isolation. To do justice to a work on this scale requires a good researchers and the input of reliable witnesses, so it is fitting to acknowledge the friendships and associations that David and Garry share with some of
Liverpool’s legends of the Merseybeat and Beatles era.
During their rise to fame, The Beatles didn’t always give due credit to the many contributors who helped shape their success either, mostly due to Brian Epstein’s efforts to re-invent their story, with himself at the ‘Eppycentre’ of it all. So we feel it’s only right to mention some here, because without them, there might not have been a Mersey scene at all, or The Beatles – or this work!
People like Johnny Hutchinson, Bill Harry, Sam Leach, Dave Forshaw, Billy Hatton, Wally Hill, Beryl Marsden, Faron, Arty Davies, Joe Ankrah, Dave Jamieson, Freda Kelly, Michael Hill, Billy Kinsley, Ted “Kingsize” Taylor, Lee Curtis, Billy Butler, Alistair Taylor, Allan Williams, The Quarrymen, Howie Casey, Chas Newby, Andy White, Tony Barrow and not forgetting the late Geoff Nugent and Harry Prytherch, to name just a few. These are the old guard: the musicians, Beatles friends, promoters and publicists; the ‘other guys’ so often ignored or airbrushed out of Brian Epstein’s carefully stage-managed Beatles story. We were privileged to talk privately and record most of them over many years. Their personal insights have added so much to the making of this book.
We also could not have written this book without the research skills of Ed Jackson, who has been working with David since 2010 after Liddypool was published to solve the mystery of the sacking of Pete Best, and Henrik Enevoldsen for his research for the Jimmie Nicol Story. Also a thank you to Jim Berkenstadt for his assistance, as well as the many family and friends of those people featured in this book, too numerous to mention here. Our expert drummers and those providing legal advice, especially David Harris and Peter Bounds, have also contributed greatly to the book.
Last, but by no means least, the two people without whom we could not have produced this book. Firstly, we owe a great debt of thanks to Mark Naboshek, whose tireless work in editing this book has been invaluable in producing Finding the Fourth Beatle. We couldn’t have done it without him. And secondly, to Paul Skellett, for his unique art and design skills in putting the book together. Thank you both.
Liverpool runs through David Bedford and Garry Popper’s veins like the River Mersey itself. Coming from the birthplace of The Beatles also gives them big advantages over other writers in their understanding of the nature of the city, its people and its music history, hence Finding The Fourth Beatle brings with it an unrivalled wealth of ‘insider’ knowledge from first hand sources, local contacts and friends in the music community.
David Bedford
David Bedford missed the longest party in music history by a whisker, but since 2000, his life’s great mission has been to record it honestly, filling in the missing parts, and in the process demolishing some of the many myths and half-truths that abound. Born in 1965 just after the golden Merseybeat era, he grew up in the heart of Liverpool’s Dingle district where his family lived within a drum beat of Ringo’s home in Madryn Street. They were both as close to the river as it gets without falling in. It was this closeness and familiarity that drew David into the successful campaign to save Ringo’s birthplace from demolition.
The Dingle was also where he met and married his wife, Alix. She was just 17… well, you know what I mean? Today, she’s the boss and they live in Mossley Hill near Penny Lane not far from Dovedale School where his three daughters attended. It was also where John Lennon and George Harrison began their education many years earlier.
At the age of 35, serious illness forced David to retire early. The alternative was to join a band, go to jail, or take up writing to keep idle hands busy. But write about what? This was the question. So began what has since become a lifetime’s quest to discover as much as he could about The Beatles, Merseybeat and Liverpool.
It’s been a long and winding road since then, starting when he began writing for the London Beatles Fan Club (now the British Beatles Fan Club) in 2000. The experience opened up a new career as a dedicated researcher and writer, resulting in the publication of his much applauded book, Liddypool – Birthplace of The Beatles in 2009. Its success triggered David’s passion to uncover even more about The Beatles early history, and four more years of diligent research resulted in his second mighty book, The Fab One Hundred and Four in 2013. He also co-authored The Beatles Book with Hunter Davies, Spencer Leigh and Keith Badman in 2016.
Since then, David’s passion has turned him into a well-respected guest speaker at Beatles events in the U.S.A, the U.K and Europe. He has also been appointed as an official cultural ambassador for The Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool, as well as being a highly valued historical researcher for Get Back Films and producer Garry Popper. It was this collaboration which led to a eureka moment when Garry realized that David had highlighted one of the most defining aspects of Beatle history that had never been fully documented in a unified account: the struggle to find and keep a steady drummer in The Beatles. A flurry of research confirmed they had stumbled on a totally unique story and Finding the Fourth Beatle was born.
Garry Popper
Garry Popper was born in 1948 in Liverpool’s quiet district of Knotty Ash. Famous for its jam butty mines and comedian Ken Dodd, Knotty Ash nestles between West Derby village and the outlands of Page Moss and Huyton. It also played host to a vast tented transit camp for American and British Empire troops in both world wars.
Some of Garry’s fondest memories are of the mid 1950s, with Saturday afternoons filled with the sound of music echoing from his sister’s blue Dansette record player, plus the battery powered wireless (radio) which became a family focal point in the evenings when the Jack Jackson show and Radio Luxembourg whined to life as the tuner homed in. Weeoo.. weeoooo!. Wonderful!
Garry was also a frequent visitor to his Uncle Ed’s café, which was a haven for Rockers and Teddy Boys alike in the late 1950s, thanks to a Wurlitzer jukebox stacked with the latest chart hits from, mostly from America. The jukebox attracted teenagers like bees to honey and gave Garry his first real insight into how music unites different tribes.
Music was still only a pastime, because his growing artistic talent was to take him to the legendary Liverpool Art High School. Located in the grand Victorian terraces of Gambier Terrace, directly opposite the Anglican Cathedral, the Art High School became a launch pad for many artists and musicians in the 1960s, including Stuart Sutcliffe, Cynthia Lennon and Bill Harry. A few doors away John Lennon and Stuart shared a flat, which quickly became a student hangout for Rod Murray, John Lennon, Bill Harry, Cynthia, and many others.
Garry’s journey into the world of art and design led to Liverpool College of Art across the road in Hope Street, next door to the Liverpool Institute where Paul, George and Neil Aspinall were students. He studied graphic design and photography, and also developed an interest in writing, inspired by his poet tutor, Roger McGough (of Scaffold fame) and Adrian Henri. His career eventually took him away from Liverpool in the 1970s, beginning as a graphic designer and progressing in turn as a Creative Director, Head of corporate film, Marketing Manager and Marketing Director before going it alone as a design consultant. During this time he also indulged in staging dance events and bought two hospitality coaches, playing host to George Harrison, Grand Prix legend Jackie Stewart, Paul McCartney’s band Wings and many others in what he fondly remembers was his own magical mystery tour!
The journey came full circle in 2010 when he returned to Liverpool to set up Get Back Films with partners John Adams and Roger Appleton, to produce the music documentary, Get Back – The Story of The City That Rocked the World in 2012. He has just produced Looking for Lennon and in addition to co-writing and producing this book, he is busy preparing the next documentary – something called Finding the Fourth Beatle.
FINDING THE FOURTH BEATLE
Original painting by Paul Skellett (www.skellett.com)
by Sam Leach
Sam Leach was a legendary promoter on the Merseybeat scene, and a great friend to The Beatles. Anyone who takes a critical look back on the formative years of The Beatles will discover Sam at the very epicentre of the story. This savvy promoter was among the very first to see their potential, taking them from the smaller Liverpool clubs and booking them into the larger venues like the Tower Ballroom where their unique style of rock ‘n’ roll could be heard by a greater number of locals. Sam worked with a lot of the drummers featured in this book, and he offered us his thoughts on them in his last interview, given shortly before his death at the end of 2016. He was a dear friend, and an essential part of Beatles, and Merseybeat, history. David Bedford and Garry Popper
“I remember when Lonnie Donegan came to Liverpool, and I was up on the stage by the drums, so Lonnie said, ‘Can you give me a drum roll?’ So I picked up the snare drum, and rolled it along the floor towards him. We had a good laugh at it, and that was as close as I got to playing a drum roll!
“I loved rock ‘n’ roll, and was one of the first promoters working with the Liverpool bands in clubs like the Cassanova Club, the Iron Door, and of course at New Brighton’s Tower Ballroom. They told me I was mad to try and promote groups at the Tower, but I knew it could work. I laid on buses so that everyone could stay to the end, and those Operation Big Beats became the best concerts ever on Merseyside, with all the top groups.
“I got to work with the top drummers. Johnny Hutch had amazing power in his beat, and the quality of the sound from The Big Three was incredible. He was the best drummer in Liverpool. There was nobody like him, and he could sing, too. He had perfect timing and was so powerful that they had to nail his drums to the floor. Nobody messed with Johnny! When I set up the Cassanova Club, The Big Three were the best band in Liverpool. Cass had left The Cassanovas and, now as The Big Three, they honed their sound, and there was probably only Rory Storm and The Hurricanes who came close. Rory was a great showman, performer, and had a big personality. With them all in suits, dancing in time like The Shadows, they always drew a big crowd.
“Gerry and The Pacemakers, by the end of 1961, were right up there with The Beatles. Gerry was very versatile, and could include show tunes, like ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ and, as a group, they were tight, and top performers. They were running neck and neck with The Beatles, and I promised them, once I had secured a deal for The Beatles, they would be next. Freddie Marsden was a really good drummer, and helped develop the sound of the Pacemakers, though the group was really about Gerry as the front man.
“Pete Best put the beat in The Beatles when he joined. When they returned from Hamburg at the end of 1960, they were pure rock ‘n’ roll. Pete was a great drummer, and versatile, which a lot of people don’t realise, and the group had learned together in Hamburg, and had a great sound. Pete, though, didn’t socialise with the others, and was more of an introvert. I started promoting them in early 1961, and they were incredible.
“Ringo, on the other hand, was a more experienced drummer, and I think a better drummer. He had more versatility than Pete, because of the songs Rory Storm and The Hurricanes were doing, and he had been drumming for a few years by then. He was a good professional, too, and that experience helped him. He was also a decent enough singer, who had his own ‘Starr Time’ with Rory.
I remember Ringo singing three songs: ‘Hit the Road, Jack’, ‘Boys’ and ‘What’d I Say’, which I remember on one occasion going on for nearly 20 minutes, before Rory grabbed the microphone off him! Ringo also had a really good driving beat, like Pete did, though not as dominant.
“At the end of 1961, I made plans with The Beatles to become their manager, and make a record. I hired a car to impress them, and tried to get them to London, though ended up in Aldershot. At the same time, Eppy had come on the scene, and was also offering to be their manager. They approached me, and told me what Brian was offering, and even though it meant me missing out, I knew I couldn’t offer them what Brian could.
“At the time, The Beatles were the best rock ‘n’ roll group anyone had ever seen, but Brian took their raw talent, and cleaned them up. I didn’t like it at the time, but it worked, and you can’t deny that. Brian was the only one who could have done that, and he deserves the recognition for what he achieved.”
Sam Leach
Beatles Friend and Promoter
Sam with David Bedford at Sam’s book launch for The Rocking City
Ringo’s famous Ludwig kit
It’s been nearly fifty years since the breakup of the most famous band in the world. Many books and many stories about those four fab lads have emerged since then. Incredibly, in all that time, no one has fully revealed the conflicts and clashes of personality that shaped one of the most crucial periods of The Beatles history – their ‘dubious origins’ as Lennon put it.
‘Crucial’ is not an exaggeration, for as you’ll see, the real Beatles story was defined by a series of critical make-or-break crises where virtually everything hung in the balance – all for want of a drummer. The Larry Parnes’ Wyvern Club audition, the coming-of-age trip to Hamburg, the EMI recording tests, the later Abbey Road sessions and the 1964 world tour are just a few of those crucial moments when The Beatles’ success or failure depended on finding a drummer! Indeed, it’s tempting to think that if anyone had dared to ask John Lennon, “Where are we going now, Johnny?” in these tense moments his reply might well easily have been, “Nowhere fast without a bloody drummer!”
In the end, the Fabs made it to the toppermost of the poppermost. But, as is so often forgotten by writers and fans taking the magical music history tour, they made it literally by the skin of a drum. For that reason alone, Finding The Fourth Beatle is an important reminder about how essential to the story the crises were – far more in fact than has previously been acknowledged or written about.
I’m sick and tired of hearing things...... I’ve had enough of reading things......
All I want is the truth, Just gimme some truth.
John Lennon
Confabulation is a memory problem in which the individual produces false memories. When people confabulate, they either report remembering events that never occurred, or remember events as having occurred at an incorrect time or place. For example, a person who is confabulating may report a conversation that never occurred, or may report a conversation that occurred three years ago as having happened today.
When it comes to chronicling Beatles history, writers have several problems to overcome, especially those of us who are die-hard Beatles fans with unbridled passion for the subject. Because of the subject matter, it is almost impossible for authors to stay impartial. An author who has taken a similar approach to us is Erin Torkelson Weber in her book, The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four. Her use of “historiography”, the study of the way history has been and is written, “is necessary to understanding any major historical event or cultural phenomenon.” That is the approach we have followed.
The first official Beatles history appeared in Parlophone’s press release to promote “Love Me Do”, which is reproduced in this book. It started the pattern of telling The Beatles’ story in their own way, and as they want you to know it.
It is full of errors. There was only one official biography, The Beatles: The Authorised Biography, written by Hunter Davies. Based on extensive interviews with The Beatles and their families, friends and colleagues over a two-year period, it gives the boys’ own spin on Beatles history. Still, it remains a unique, valuable resource because Davies was the first author to be granted exclusive, close contact with the group members. Often overlooked sources from the 1960s are Michael Braun’s Love Me Do! The Beatles’ Progress, and the The Beatles Book Monthly, an incredible resource rife with interviews with key, and lesser-known, eyewitnesses to the events.
In the 1970s, John Lennon gave several lengthy interviews, including the legendary ones with Rolling Stone and Playboy, as well as lesser-known accounts like the Red Mole interviews where he went into greater detail about his political opinions. In 1980, there was a series of new interviews as he prepared to return to the public arena with his new album, Double Fantasy. You have to study them all to see and understand what John was feeling, as his opinions changed more often than he changed his socks! Sadly, those final interviews saw a man, full of life and optimism as he was just “Starting Over”, only to be robbed of his life in such a tragic way.
In the 1980s, we had Philip Norman’s Shout!, which was the most comprehensive biography published since the ‘60s, and is still a popular book. However, when examined, there was a clear bias towards Lennon and against McCartney. Geoff Emerick did the opposite, praising McCartney over Lennon in Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles.
Many more memoirs and personal recollections have given us the story from other personal viewpoints, which often means that there is a bias. McCartney worked with Barry Miles on a biography, Many Years From Now, as he sought to put over his story, and George published I Me Mine to tell his version of Beatles history.
Ringo, the subject of surprisingly few biographies, would tell his story through the songs he recorded from 2008 onward.
Unfortunately, the facts woven into many Beatles books have seldom been challenged. “They were repeated in biography after biography and from narrative to narrative until they became accepted wisdom. Numerous Beatles authors also apply a blatant moral double standard: absolving or omitting the character and musical flaws of their favourite Beatle while emphasizing or inventing those of the group’s other members.”(The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four)
In an effort to reclaim their history, the “Threetles” (Paul, George and Ringo) gave us Anthology in the 1990s, including archival interviews from John. The documentary and book were promoted as The Beatles’ own story, told in their own words. But as historian and author Erin Torkelson Weber wrote: “With four voices offering their own personal view of The Beatles’ story, different memories of events emerged, most often between McCartney and Harrison. Both men’s accounts are self-serving.” (The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four)
A new breed of Beatles author emerged in Mark Lewisohn, who had been heavily involved in the Anthology project. His outstanding books – The Beatles Live!, A Day In The Life, The Beatles Chronicles and The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions – should be in every serious Beatle fan’s collection. However, Tune In, his first volume in a trilogy meant to create the best, and most complete, history of The Beatles, is different to his earlier works as it is a biography, not a reference book, and should be tested in the same way as other books. “Those Beatles writers who dispute Lewisohn’s interpretations will be faced with two choices. In order to establish a counter-narrative, they can either use Lewisohn’s sources and interpret them in different ways, or discover new, equally credible sources which contradict Lewisohn’s.” (The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four)
We have therefore decided to examine every aspect of the Fourth Beatle story as scholars and historians, especially that polarizing period in 1962 when Ringo replaced Pete, without bias to either, and giving credit where it is due. We have applied standard tests used by historians to examine the evidence and every account of these events, and have shown at each relevant stage what tests we have applied, as well as our conclusions based on the evidence. If there is not enough evidence available and we can only offer an opinion or an assumption, then we have also made that clear. We have also included the relevant source in the text, whether author interview or other source.
Eyewitnesses
In any legal hearing or trial, there is the case for the defence and the case for the prosecution. Both sides will attempt to provide proof, beyond reasonable doubt, that the accused is either innocent or guilty.
Documentary evidence is not open to speculation, though it can be misinterpreted, but the most crucial part of either the defence or prosecution is the summoning of their eyewitnesses. These people can swing a case either way, depending on their reliability, honesty and objectivity. However, neither side in the court will rely solely on what the eyewitness says; they also have the chance to cross-examine them and scrutinize their testimony. Only then will the jury be satisfied that they are telling the truth, or lying under oath. What we have done is examine not only the eyewitness testimony of those who were intimately involved in The Beatles’ story, but the findings of authors, including ourselves, who have written about The Beatles. Of course, we know that none of us authors is infallible!
Where possible, we have interviewed those key eyewitnesses again. However, because so many of those first-hand observers are no longer with us, we have to also apply similar tests to the authors.
We present the case for the prosecution and defence; you are the jury who will examine the evidence.
The Tests
Can the eyewitness testimony be trusted? Since it is the most vital of evidence, and can be compelling and convincing, we have used these tests:
1. Intention. Was the intention of the writer or eyewitness to accurately preserve history, or did they have an ulterior motive in presenting their testimony in this way? “Hearsay and unverified testimony is often misrepresented as fact.”
(The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four)
2. Bias. Is there a bias by the author or eyewitness to make either themselves or those around them look better than they really were? Is it objective, honest and fair? “Many authors of Beatles books use technically factual evidence in misleading ways – for example, by quoting a source who supports the author’s point of view while ignoring countervailing evidence... when in fact it was just one source’s perspective on a given event.”
(A Day in the Life - Mark Hertsgaard)
3. Timing. How close to the event is the testimony given? The closer the eyewitness testimony is to the date of the event, the less likely the possibility for legendary embellishment or development. We take into account faulty memories and wishful thinking, as well as deliberate revisionism.
4. Is there multiple, corroborative, independent attestation? What other eyewitness accounts or physical evidence is there that can corroborate the testimony, or contradict it? The more accounts that can confirm the story, the more reliable it is, and the more likely it is to be accurate. It doesn’t mean that a single source should be discounted, but a higher level of scrutiny is required.
“Eyewitness testimony that lacks verification from other, independent sources will be regarded as valuable but not unquestionable. However, eyewitness testimony will be granted more weight than secondhand accounts or hearsay.”
(The Beatles and the Historians:An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four)
5. Oral History. Have the accounts been passed down so many times that errors creep in, resulting in an accidental “truth” being perpetuated? It has been said that if you tell a lie often enough and loud enough, people believe it is true. That is why we have approached this book with an open mind, accepting nothing and challenging everything.
6. Consistency. Do all the accounts concur, or are there discrepancies? Have eyewitnesses changed their stories over the years? What can be considered the truth? As historians, the truth is often unattainable, but we must gather as much evidence as possible, and get as close as we can to the truth.
Original painting by Paul Skellett (www.skellett.com)
Documentary Evidence
There are many documents available for inspection. Printed materials like letters, contracts, posters, tickets and programs help us clearly corroborate the events and support, or refute, eyewitness testimonies.
Experts
Weber says that when analysing The Beatles’ music and musicianship, we should consider “the subjectivity of music, and the tenuous authority of writers, particularly those with no musical training, to bestow or withhold the title of genius on musicians.” (The Beatles and the Historians: An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four)
Our knowledge as historians and writers is not always sufficient for the topic being analysed. For the task of scrutinizing and dissecting the drumming abilities of Pete Best and Ringo Starr, we have consulted independent experts in their field – professional drummers. We feel this has far more merit than our humble opinion as uninformed authors. When combined with the musical evidence and opinion of these experts, we will present the case and leave it to you to make your judgment.
For parts of The Beatles story, we have had to take independent legal advice as to the status of various contracts and agreements that underpin the relationship the group had with record companies and manager Brian Epstein. This has helped us to understand the events more clearly.
Evidence and Proof
What is the difference between evidence and proof? Author and historian J. Warner Wallace – Cold Case Christianity – says that “while evidence is a matter of objective truth, proof is in the mind of the evaluator, and many of us resist the truth in spite of the evidence.” How can authors come to such different conclusions when they are often examining the same evidence? We can offer evidence like eyewitness testimony and documents all day long, but you have to have an open mind to examine it, and decide if the evidence supports the facts that we have stated, and whether you feel we have given you sufficient proof.
Evidence: | The facts we offer to support our claims of truth |
Proof: | What we infer from the facts offered |
Abductive Reasoning
When examining testimony and evidence, we sometimes have to consider the implications of what has been revealed. There are several ways of doing this, and one of the most dangerous is speculation, which can be constructed to suit the agenda of the writer. However, what is more appropriate is the adductive reasoning approach, which is a form of logical conclusion, which starts with the available evidence, and then seeks to find the simplest and most likely explanation. It is important, therefore, to keep away from supposition, speculation and presumption where no evidence exists, and we have endeavoured to follow the evidence. We have therefore ensured that we have shown our sources within the text, to save flicking between footnotes.
You Decide
Don’t just take our word, or the words of any author, based solely on who we are, our reputations, or previous works, but on the facts and evidence put before you. The truth is what you make of it, based on the evidence, not the writer. To counter an argument made with evidence, you need to provide rebuttal evidence.
To quote Daniel Patrick Moynihan;
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.”
As John Lennon said:
“Gimme Some Truth”.
When “Love Me Do” was issued in October 1962, Parlophone released a press release that for the first time, told the story of The Beatles.
As you will read, even with The Beatles themselves providing the information, the myths have begun, and have been repeated so many times. It is because of this that we have examined every account of The Beatles’ history, from this press release, through Beatles Book Monthly, Hunter Davies’ authorised biography The Beatles, their own Anthology and up to and including Tune In.
On page three of the press release, we are told of the “background story of Britain’s most exciting new vocal and instrumental R & B quartet.”
This is their version of Beatles history: how many errors can you spot?
CHURCH HALL HOPS AND A CHINATOWN STRIP JOINT
Way back in ‘56 when the grind and scratch of skiffle was just starting to graze the pop horizon, the three founder members of THE BEATLES - John, Paul and George - were busily experimenting with washboard ‘n’ banjo sounds at every out-of-school opportunity. Their ‘62 breakthrough is backed by six years of maturing musical notions and solid practical experience which has taken them from Liverpool ballrooms to Hamburg night clubs, from church hall hops to colourful strip club stints in Liverpool’s Chinatown.
The “Meet The Beatles” promo leafiet, 1962
The boys outgrew their rock and skiffle phases to explode onto the highly competitive Merseyside scene in 1960 as a thoroughly grounded, super-charged quartet.
Hamburgers and Beatles
In 1960 they undertook the first of three unusually successful night club seasons in Hamburg. Their impact upon German audiences carried such strength that in April 1961 and May 1962 they made lengthy return visits to Hamburg, playing increasingly important venues on each occasion.
Last year their fame on the continent was swollen and intensified by the Polydor release of a disc featuring The Beatles with vocalist Tony Sheridan.
Mersey BEAT -ALLS
Meanwhile, back at the Mersey ranch, The Beatles had gathered such a faithful following of fans that capacity crowds were commonplace wherever the dynamic foursome played.
In October 1961 Brian Epstein became The Beatles’ personal manager. He was swift to realise the extraordinary potential of the group. The Beatles justified his confidence by smashing past all rivals to triumph as the North West’s favourite outfit when the publication ‘Mersey Beat’ came out with its poll results in November 1961.
DIGGING MOGULS
In the early months of 1962 The Beatles were in constant demand among promoters as far apart as Hull and Nuneaton, Doncaster and Preston. Brian Epstein decided that the time was ripe for his talented quartet to make itself known to the moguls of the music world. He planed to London and eventually made himself and his precious bundle of tapes heard to recording manager George Martin. George was enthusiastic enough to schedule a swift recording session for The Beatles and two of the group’s most popular personal-appearance numbers were chosen for their first Parlophone single.
So far as the majority of Britain’s record-collecting public are concerned this is the beginning of The Beatles’ story. We are confident that The Beatles will sprout chart-sized dimensions in Chapter One!
In a book about drummers, as neither author is a drummer himself, we felt that it was appropriate to bring in experts to analyse the drummers being discussed.
Analysing Pete Best
When analysing the early Beatles, especially the various recording sessions with Pete Best in Hamburg, and with Decca and EMI, we asked Mike Rice, Derek Hinton and Andrew Hinton – three drummers from different generations – to listen to the recordings and give us their objective feedback. None of them had listened to these studio recordings before. When analysing the Decca audition, we also enlisted the help of experienced record producer Steve Levine, whose unique insight helps us understand what Decca was likely looking for, what he would have been looking for, and how The Beatles would have fared with other record companies.
Analysing Ringo
To analyse Ringo’s recordings, we recruited two experienced drummers who have been studying his recording career for their book, Ringo Starr and The Beatles Beat. Alex Cain and Terry McCusker have 80 years drumming experience between them and, in their book, have critically analysed every song The Beatles recorded. We also enlisted the help of two drummers who work closely with Ringo: Gary Astridge and Rob Shanahan. Producer Steve Levine was also asked for his observations on Ringo, having worked with him when producing The Beach Boys.
Finally, we wanted to have the input of drummers who have been trying to play like Ringo in Beatles tribute bands. Mitch Kozera and Phil Kelly have studied Ringo’s drumming for years, and provide unique insight into the often complex drum patterns that Ringo created, and the challenges they faced trying to get that “Ringo sound”.
Our drummers are:
Gary Astridge
A drummer and collector of replicas of Ringo’s drum kits, Gary has now assumed the role of “Curator of Ringo’s Kits”, working with Ringo on several projects.
Alex Cain
Like John Lennon a quarter-century before him, Alex was born at Oxford Road Maternity Hospital, Liverpool, as The Beatles’ latest single “Eleanor Rigby”/“Yellow Submarine” sat atop the UK charts. He has been a drummer for many years, and has enjoyed a career in TV sound, most notably working on Channel 4’s Brookside and Hollyoaks, plus numerous productions for BBC, ITV and independents. He is particularly proud of his contribution to the BBC documentary of another of his heroes, Dennis Wilson – The Real Beach Boy.
Derek Hinton
An accomplished drummer, Derek has been performing in bands for over 30 years, also playing guitar and bass. He is a fan of rock music in particular, and is a Beatles fan.
Andrew Hinton
Andrew, Derek’s son, is an excellent drummer, bassist and lead guitarist. He recently gained a music degree at Liverpool University. He has an eclectic taste in music of all decades.
Clockwise (from top left): Gary Astridge (with Ringo); Phil Kelly; Alex Cain, Terry McCusker; Rob Shanahan (with Ringo); Derek Hinton; Andrew Hinton; Lou Longobardi; Mike Rice, Mitch Kozera.
Phil Kelly
Phil has been playing drums in various Beatles tribute bands for many years now, and has spent many hours studying Ringo’s drum style and performances so that he can recreate them as closely as possible when he plays.
Mitch Kozera
Mitch Kozera is a classic rock drummer and vocalist from Detroit, Michigan, USA. He has nearly four decades of drumming experience and has performed in bands in Michigan since the 1980s.
Lou Longobardi
A lifelong Beatles fan who saw The Beatles at Shea, Lou is also a drummer and multi-instrumentalist who has tried to reproduce Ringo’s drum patterns, and studied the music of The Beatles for many years.
Terry McCusker
Terry worked in the same building as the Cavern and became a regular at the legendary club. He witnessed Merseybeat and, after watching Pete Best play with The Beatles, decided to become a drummer. He was playing the same clubs as the bands he had watched, and became a freelancer, performing all over Europe, America and the Middle East. Terry has been studying the drumming of Ringo Starr and has shared that knowledge in the book he co-wrote with Alex Cain.
Mike Rice
Mike was a drummer with The Senators, a 1960s Merseybeat band, and also drummed for other groups from the ‘60s until recently. He is a fan of both Pete Best and Ringo Starr, and saw both drum with The Beatles.
Rob Shanahan
Rob has been photographing Ringo – and most of the top rock stars on the planet – while playing in a Rolling Stones tribute band. However, because he and Ringo are both left-handed drummers playing right-handed kits, they share the same drumming technique.
Drummers? You Can’t Beat Them
Hopefully, this will give you an insight into the role of the drummer, which non-drummers rarely understand. As with most things musical, everything is subjective and you may or may not agree with these drummers. That is why we have created the Finding the Fourth Beatle Album with over 40 tracks featuring as many of the drummers covered in this book as we could find. This includes the Tony Sheridan recording, Decca audition, Parlophone audition and the two September sessions at EMI Studios. Read the opinions of the drummers, listen to the tracks, and see whether or not you agree.
It’s clichéd, but yes, The Beatles phenomenon really did change everything, especially in Liverpool. More than being the most famous band in music history, The Beatles triggered a revolution in modern music and social thinking that changed western society forever. However, to fully appreciate the impact of that revolution, we owe it to the memory of many people who also played their part to put an end to the myths and deliberate misinformation.
Liverpool’s musical tidal wave didn’t begin or end with The Beatles alone.
Where do we begin? Liverpool - in the town, where they were born!
They were only one of hundreds of bands in the city, and this is still the case today! For serious music lovers and Beatles fans to fully appreciate the essence of the group and the role it played as a catalyst for change in the 1960s, we believe it is essential to understand how their birthplace shaped and affected their outlook. Here we show how Liverpool, with its unique cultural and musical heritage provided the essential seed bed for their characters to develop and grow.
Just as important is the need to appreciate that, despite revisionist nonsense, London wasn’t, and still isn’t, at the epicentre of everything that happens in Britain. Apart from two particular events that took place in the 1960’s in London’s now legendary 2i’s Café, the capital made no direct contribution to the birth of the Merseybeat revolution – a true teenage phenomenon which developed in splendid isolation. More to the point, “Swinging London” was nonexistent until the cream of Liverpool talent was forced to head south to the record label’s studios
Scouse, Not English
Historically, Liverpool has long been socially, culturally, politically and geographically disconnected from London. It’s as much a state of mind as anything else – a state within a state fueled by north/south rivalries and a large influx of Irish settlers whose long-held anti-establishment grievances are a legacy of their ancestor’s struggle for independence.
It’s not surprising that Liverpool is referred to as the capital of Ireland. The cry of “Scouse not English!” is regularly heard among local left-wing champions of republicanism. Of course, these are only expressions of a sense of difference and are far removed from the long seafaring history that has influenced Liverpool’s underlying nature.
Like many northern towns, the port has always had a strong sense of close community spirit. Fiercely communal in outlook, the port has a powerful matriarchal heartbeat at its core, borne from centuries of developed inner strength, self-reliance and the need to survive when the menfolk were at sea for weeks or months at a time. There’s an old saying in Liverpool that men rule the roost but it’s the women who decide what they think – and when! An example can be seen in John Lennon’s close maternal family, the Stanleys, where attitudes to the menfolk had such a dramatic effect on his development.
Maritime Influences
Until recent times, Liverpool was Britain’s second biggest maritime gateway to the world. After the ending of the American war of independence in 1783, the port profited from its strategic location by becoming Britain’s main import and export link to the Americas. This led the newly independent American Government to establish a permanent trade and cultural Consulate in Paradise Street in Liverpool and, soon enough, other international consular offices did likewise.