Session drummer Andy White, best known for joining the Beatles on their 1962 single “Love Me Do”, has died at age 85. The White versions also appeared on the Beatles’ debut LP Please Please Me.
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Session musician Andy White was asked by George Martin to run through Love Me Do and its eventual B-side P.S. I Love You because the famed producer was unhappy with Starr’s rhythm tracks.
Because of his early work with the band, he was sometimes ranked among the so-called “Fifth Beatles”, along with people such as Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best.
He played on Tom Jones’ 1965 hit “It’s Not Unusual” and collaborated with stars like Rod Stewart, Chuck Berry, Burt Bacharach and Herman’s Hermits.
“White, who was born in Glasgow in 1930, is also believed to have played on the album version of Please Please Me”, BBC News reports. “That was where I got a good idea about what it was supposed to happen, drumwise”.
Ringo Starr was relegated to tambourine on that early single as he continued to find his footing as the Beatles’ newly installed drummer.
“I was working in London and doing a lot of TV”, White once told the the Daily Record. “But I didn’t know just how special it would become”, he said.
Among his pupils was The Sopranos actor Steven Van Zandt, who learned the skill for his role as Silvio Dante in the series.
The NY Metro Pipe Band, one of the bands with whom he worked, described him on Facebook as an “all round gentleman”.
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Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday, White’s family paid tribute to his “amazing humility and humbleness about his many achievements”.
