Few things are more exciting than getting to go on the road with your band, let alone a world tour, but in early June 1964, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr had to wait a little while longer to join in on the fun. Indeed, as exciting as embarking on a tour can be, it can be equally devastating when you find out that circumstances beyond your control will be keeping you from following through with your plans.
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And frankly, it’s never great for your bandmates, either.
Why Ringo Starr Missed The Start Of The Beatles’ First World Tour
Beatlemania was in full swing as the Beatles set off for what would be their first world tour in early June 1964. The band began in Denmark on June 4, and from there, they traveled to the Netherlands, then-British Hong Kong, Australia, New Zealand, England, Sweden, and back home again to England. It was a massive trek for the Liverpudlian band, lasting from June 4 to August 16. But for the first six performances, they were notably missing a member of the Fab Four: Ringo Starr.
The morning before the Beatles left for Denmark (it’s always the morning before, right?), the drummer fainted during a photoshoot. After team members rushed him to the hospital, doctors diagnosed Starr with acute tonsillitis and pharyngitis. He had a notable fever, and other likely symptoms included a very sore throat, headache, body aches, and a cough. Not exactly the best shape for going on the road—at least, that’s what the doctors thought when they ordered him to rest. He wouldn’t be leaving with the rest of his band, and that was that.
Producer George Martin suggested the band reach out to Jimmie Nicol, a talented session drummer who had recently played on a Beatles cover album called Beatlemania. “I was having a bit of a lie down after lunch when the phone rang,” Nicol later recalled, via BeatlesBible. “It was EMI asking if I could come down to the studio to rehearse with the Beatles. Two hours after I got there, I was told to pack my bags for Denmark.”
Not Everyone In The Band Was Happy About The Decision
The hiring of Jimmie Nicol was bittersweet. On the one hand, the stand-in drummer effectively saved the massive world tour from cancellation. But on the other hand, the decision made many members of the band feel uncomfortable. Ringo Starr, of course, was one of them. But the ever-loyal George Harrison was another. “I was very against that,” Harrison later told Derek Taylor in Fifty Years Adrift. “I didn’t want to do the tour without Ringo. It’s stupid. It’s like Cliff Richard getting sick and putting someone else in his place. The Beatles were, always will be, the Four Fabs, and so three Fabs and not-so-Fab is not the Beatles.”
Meanwhile, Starr was recovering in the hospital, trying to push fears of his firing from the band out of his mind. In the end, Starr had nothing to worry about. He would recover from his sickness in a little over a week and reunite with the band in Australia. Starr continued the tour from there with no hiccups. In the end, it was Nicol who got the cold shoulder.
“The boys were very kind, but I felt like an intruder,” he recalled. “They accepted me, but you can’t just go into a group like that. They have their own atmosphere, their own sense of humor. It’s a little clique, and outsiders just can’t break in.” Nicol left in the middle of the night without saying goodbye to the band, gaining an engraved watch from Brian Epstein as a thank-you gift and a once-in-a-lifetime story to tell.
Photo by Everett/Shutterstock
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