Paul McCartney letter to mystery drummer surfaces

GlobalPost
Updated on

All Sir Paul McCartney need was a little help from– a drummer.

A handwritten letter from an 18-year-old McCartney asking an unknown drummer to audition for the Beatles was found folded inside of a book at a Liverpool yard sale, ABC reports.

Dated Aug. 12, 1960, the note invited someone who placed an advertisement in the Liverpool Echo, the Beatles’ hometown daily, to audition. The ad McCartney answered was unsigned and simply stated, “Drummer-Young-Free,” the Associated Press reports.

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The letter was written just days before the Beatles would leave for a two-month gig in Hamburg, Germany, with then-drummer Pete Best. It was also two years before Best would be replaced with Ringo Starr, who rose to fame with the Fab Four and created the Beatles forever known.

At the time of the letter, the Beatles also included Stu Suttcliffe, who played the bass and McCartney was on guitar. The letter stated the drummer must be able to travel immediately to Hamburg, AP reports.

Expenses paid 18 pounds per week (approx) for two months,” McCartney wrote in the letter, ABC reports. “If interested ring Jacaranda club.”

The letter, signed, “Yours sincerely, Paul McCartney of the BEATLES,” doesn’t indicate whether the phantom drummer and the Beatles ever did come together– for an audition.

Christie’s spokeswoman Leonie Pitts said it is certain the letter was not written to Starr, who was then with Rory Storm and Hurricanes, the AP reports. Auctioneers haven’t contacted McCartney, asking whether he knew anything about the drummer in the ad, AP reports.

Christie's auction house said Monday the letter would likely draw more than 7,000 pounds ($11,000) when it is sold Nov. 15 along with other pop memorabilia, according to the AP.


 

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