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Today in Music... a Beatle fill-in footnote, and have a Coke, Ray

Posted at 8:45 AM on June 3, 2009 by Jim McGuinn (3 Comments)

1942 - Curtis Mayfield would have been 67
1939 - Ian Hunter is 70
1946 - John Paul Jones is 63
1951 - Christopher Cross is Sailing at 58

1939 - "Beer Barrel Polka" hits #1 on the pop singles chart by Will Glahe
1964 - Ringo Starr collapses from tonsillitis - he would be replaced on ten shows by Jimmy Nicol
1967 - Aretha Franklin's "Respect" reaches #1
1969 - Diana Ross's two pet dogs were poisoned by rat bait in her dressing room in Philadelphia.
1970 - Ray Davies of The Kinks travels round trip NY-London to change 1 word in "Lola," (Coca-Cola to Cherry Cola) because of the BBC's commercial reference ban
1994 - Pearl Jam rocker Eddie Vedder weds Beth Liebling - they divorced in 2000.

When Ringo Starr collapsed and was hospitalised on 3 June 1964 with tonsillitis on the eve of The Beatles' 1964 Australasian tour, manager Brian Epstein and producer George Martin discussed the possibility of using a stand-in drummer rather than cancel the tour. Martin suggested Jimmy Nicol, as he had recently recorded a Tommy Quickly session with him. Nicol had also drummed on a budget label album of Beatle covers called "Beatlemania" and knew the songs. The whole thing happened very quickly, from a phone call to attend a run-through at Abbey Road Studios to packing his bags all in the same day. He played 10 shows with the band in Europe and Australia, until Ringo returned on June 14th.

After his brief time with The Beatles, Nicol declared bankruptcy in 1965. That year, he joined numerous bands including Swedish group The Spotnicks, which he left in 1967. In 1975 he returned to England after setting up a button factory in Mexico. Other work in this time included housing renovations and carpentry. Later in his life, it was rumoured that Nicol had died in 1988, but a report in 2005 by the Daily Mail confirmed that he was still alive and living as a recluse in London.

Comments (3)

Diana's two pet dogs (Tiffany and Lil Bit) were poisoned in her dressing room at the Latin Casino Night Club, in New Jersey, not Philadelphia.

Posted by Mason | June 4, 2009 1:21 PM

Diana's two pet dogs (Tiffany and Lil Bit) were poisoned in her dressing room at the Latin Casino Night Club, in New Jersey, not Philadelphia.

Posted by Mason | June 4, 2009 1:21 PM

Diana's two pet dogs were poisoned in her dressing room at the Latin Casino Night Club, in New Jersey, not Philadelphia.

Posted by Mason | June 4, 2009 1:21 PM

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