“The (Updated) Beatle Who Vanished”: A Review

In 2013, author and historian Jim Berkenstadt (aptly billed as “The Rock and Roll Detective™”) wrenched a musical mystery back into the light in his book The Beatle Who Vanished. It’s the compelling story of Jimmie Nicol, a shy, gifted session drummer who had not yet made the big time. That is, until one day in 1964 when he received a call from Beatles’ producer George Martin, asking if he could fill in for an ailing Ringo Starr for the Beatles’ first World Tour. What??

Nicol wasn’t the first to be approached for this one-off task (he was the third, actually), but he recognized a good opportunity and checked a lot of the boxes for a quick-fix Ringo doppelganger. He was familiar with the Beatles’ playlist. He was adaptable and took direction well. He even sported the imperative mop top and fit into Ringo’s suit, though a bit snugly. He bid his wife and young son farewell and off he went, eager to make rock history with hopes of furthering his burgeoning drumming career.

There’s no question that Nicol came through in fine style while poor Ringo languished in Middlesex University College Hospital with a case of laryngitis and pharyngitis. An introverted but engaging chap, Nicol matched the energy of those around him and delivered dynamic drumming. He spent thirteen days as an actual billed Beatle on the Fab Four’s first-ever world tour in the Netherlands, Hong Kong, and Australia. Nicol was stunned by the violent adulation of the young female fans, saying: “The day before I was a Beatle not one girl would look me over…the day after, when I was suited up and riding in the back of a limo with John Lennon and Paul McCartney, they were dying just to get a touch of me.”

https://youtu.be/dR8guQ8RYqw?si=GczHXyqQ7qvlM5dv

He was a game participant in the press conferences, wittily answering questions and being a Beatle amongst Beatles during his 13-day stint before a fully recovered Ringo showed up in Australia.

 

He was presented with 500 pounds, an engraved gold watch, and a swift trip to the airport by manager Brian Epstein, with whom there was no love lost. His brief tenure of fame yielded a decidedly mixed blessing. His stardom turned to mist and he faded from the headlines.

Author Jim Berkenstadt, a passionate music maven and former trial attorney, has parlayed his lawyerly skills into becoming “The Rock and Roll Detective.” He dug into arcane archives and interviewed friends, bandmates, and family to riddle out the causes of Jimmie Nicol’s inability to sustain his one-time fame. No easy task, given Nicol’s quiet bitterness that he neither remained a Beatle nor stayed in the spotlight. He continued to make music, forming short-term bands in the UK and Mexico, eventually becoming an entrepreneur and builder. He grew so detached from his former life that, in 1988, a rumor of his death at age 49 began making the rounds. At this point, nothing of his life – or possible demise – was known.

The Beatle Who Vanished is a well-researched, abundantly illustrated, and empathetic account of Jimmie Nicol’s odyssey from session drummer to brief icon and eventual man of mystery. The book ends with elusive details but acknowledges that, while reports of his 1988 death were truly exaggerated, his current whereabouts were unknown.

In honor of the 60th anniversary of that fateful 1964 Beatles World Tour (an extraordinary endeavor back in those non-digital days), Jim Berkenstadt has re-released The Beatle Who Vanished with a lengthy, moving update on the true fate of Jimmie Nicol. No spoilers here, but kudos to Berkenstadt for giving Nicol his due, and not just as the “classiest footnote in music history” for his fleeting gig as a participating Beatle. Berkenstadt honors the impressive achievements of a virtuoso percussionist who brought his skills to bands such as Colin Hicks & His Cabin Boys, Vince Eager & The Quiet Three, The Shubdubs and The Spotnicks, among others.

The psychological ramifications of having the fame and fortune rug so brutally pulled out from under him are nothing short of Shakespearean. A photo of Jimmie Nicol, all alone in an airport waiting to return to London after The Beatles reunited with Ringo and Brian Epstein whisked him away from the adoring hordes, is wrenching.

The updated edition of The Beatle Who Vanished (with an elegant foreword by the late Chas Newby, an earlier “Fifth Beatle”) is written with affection, humor, and sensitivity.  Berkenstadt’s years of dedicated research flesh out a shadowy, complicated man and provide him with the respect he deserves.

-Ellen Fagan

Photo: Jimmy Nicol with the Beatles, 1964 (VARA via Wikimedia Commons)