40s/50s Choir boy at Honeywell Road School, Battersea, London 50s The Boys Brigade (percussion instruments) 50s schoolband with 1 saxophone + 2 trumpet players and Jimmie as drummer 50s Army Cadet Military Band (percussion and xylophone)
50's working as drum repair man for UK musical instrumental distributor Boosey & Hawkes
1957/1958 Colin Hicks & The Cabin Boys
Colin Hicks is the younger brother of British rock'n' roll pioneer Tommy Hicks aka Tommy Steele. Colin never sold many records despite following Tommy's footsteps to the famous 2-'I's coffee bar in Soho London. Tommy Steele's manager, John Kennedy, signed him up to sing in a nightclub in London's posh Mayfair district. Then three TV guest spots and a top-of-the-bill tour. A recording contract with Pye records and TV appearances with his backing group 'The Cabin Boys' in 1958. Jimmie Nicol used to get up regularly at the 2 I's and Bobby Green arranged an audition for Colin's backing group The Cabin Boys. Pye 7N15114 1957 Wild Eyes And Tender Lips / Empty Arms Blues Pye 7N15125 1958 La Dee Dah / Wasteland Pye 7N15163 1958 Little Boy Blue / Jamabalaya
1959 Colin Hicks & The Cabin Boys appeared in the Italian film Europa Di Notte (Europe By Night / Nuits D'Europe ) with Giddy Up A Ding Dong, which had proved to be a big hit in Italy, resulting in a lucrative invitation to tour there. The Cabin Brothers consisted of Jimmie Nicol (drums), Mike O'Neill (piano), Dave 'Zom' Tick (lead gt.) and Rod 'Boots' Slade (bass gt). In Italy they had rave reviews about their rock'n'roll show, the Italians loved them and Colin and his group recorded eight songs for the Italian Broadway label.
Broadway Int. 1022 1959 Brand New Cadillac / ? Broadway Int. 1028 1959 Sexy Rock / Johnny B. Goode + Giddy Up A Ding Dong / Book Of Love / 20 Flight Rock / Iea Iea / Oh Boy / Tutti Frutti
1960 Vince Eager & The Quiet Three
Tex Makins (bass gt.), Jimmie Nicol (drums), Colin Green (lead gt.) replaced by Kenny Packwood
1960 Oscar Rabin Band (big band, weekly radioshow "Come and Go") 1961 Cyril Stapleton (big band) 1961-1964 session work with musicians from the orchestras of Ted Heath and Johnny Dankworth.
Jimmie was very much inspired by the legendary British jazz drummer Phil Seamen. Jimmie and Phil were both often booked together for sessions by the famous fixer Charlie Katz. Jimmie was booked as substitute for Phil Seamen in case of his prevention.
1964 The Shubdubs (Jimmie's own band) Jimmie Nicol (drums), Quincy Davis (tenor sax), Bob Garner (bass gt.), Roger Coulam (organ), Johnny Harris (trumpet), Tony Allen (vocals)
Pye 7N15623 2/1964 Humpty Dumpty / Night Train Mar-Mar 313 1964 Humpty Dumpty / Night Train (US) Pye 7N15666 6/1964 Husky / Please Come Back Pye 7N15699 10/1964 Baby Please Don't Go / Shubdubery
1964 April/May: Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames
Georgie Fame (vocals, keyboards), Tex Makins (bass), Micke Eve (sax), Peter Coe (sax), Speedy Acquaye (percussion), Jimmie Nicol (drums)
The Beatles (stand-in for Ringo Starr)
June 3, 1964: The Beatles in the studio (Studio Two, EMI Studios, London). That morning, during a photo session, Ringo Starr had become seriously ill and had to be hospitalized. Since The Beatles were scheduled to leave on a world tour the very next morning, it was too late to cancel the tour. Brian Epstein and George Martin arranged for a temporary drummer to take Ringo's place for the first part of the tour, and the drummer selected was Jimmy Nicol, someone who they knew to be talented but who was unknown enough not to be mistaken as a permanent replacement for Ringo. On the spur of a last-minute phone call from George Martin, Nicol rushed over to EMI Studios, where he and The Beatles ran through six songs from their tour repertoire in a quick rehearsal ("I Want to Hold Your Hand", "She Loves You", "I Saw Her Standing There", "This Boy", "Can't Buy Me Love", and "Long Tall Sally"). Just 27 hours later, drummer Jimmy Nicol was performing live with The Beatles in Copenhagen, Denmark.
June 04, 1964: KB Hallen, Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen, Denmark June 05, 1964: Treslong, Hilversum, Holland, (recording TV show, VARA) June 06, 1964: Auction Hall (Veilinghal), Blokker, Holland June 09 ,1964: Princess Theatre, Kowloon, Hong Kong June 12, 1964: Centennial Hall, Adelaide, Australia June 13, 1964: Centennial Hall, Adelaide, Australia
June 13, 1964: The Beatles perform two more shows at Centennial Hall, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia. For the four shows that The Beatles performed in Adelaide there were 12,000 tickets, for which 50,000 requests had been placed. The two shows on this day are drummer Jimmy Nicol's last as a "temporary Beatle". Ringo Starr will meet The Beatles in Melbourne the next day and perform with them right away. Jimmy Nicol's brief stint as a 'member' of the world's most popular musical group is over.
1964/1965 Jimmy Nicol & The Shubdubs
Sept. 1965 - Feb. 1967 THE SPOTNICKS
In September 1965 Jimmie was invited to join the legendary Swedish guitar group The Spotnicks. He was also offered a job for the musical West Side Story. On 7th. of October, Jimmie played with The Spotnicks in Oslo, and later on in his first gig in Sweden (Kungälv). The Spotnicks rush-released a single, The Spotnicks Introducing Jimmie Nicol, with Husky and Drum Diddley.
In November that year, The Spotnicks started a world tour until March 1966. They visited the USA (New York), Mexico (Mexico-City), USA (Los Angelos), Hawaii, Japan (Tokyo), Japan (tour of one month; Karelia made No.1 in Japan in January 1966), Hong Kong, Manilla, Bangkok, Beirut, Italy (Rome - TV show), Germany (Berlin), Denmark (Copenhagen). After coming home they toured Sweden nationally. The albums "Spotnicks in Tokyo" and "Spotnicks Around The World" were released that year with Nicol on drums. Jimmie Nicol (& The Spotnicks) released a single Stagger Lee / C'mon Everybody (SweDisc SWES 1160) under his name James George. In October 1966, The Spotnicks visited Germany. "Spotnicks In Winterland" was released in Sweden, Japan and Mexico shortly before Christmas.
In January 1967, The Spotnicks started another world tour during which they returned to Japan and Mexico. The first live album of The Spotnicks was recorded at the Sankei-Hall in Tokyo and released as "The Spotnicks Live In Japan"
DISCOGRAPHY: THE SPOTNICKS WITH JIMMY NICOL
1965 SweDisc SWES 1111: (45) The Spotnicks Introducing Jimmie Nicol
HUSKY / DRUM DIDDLEY
1966 SweDisc SWELP 38 (Mono) SWELPS38 (Stereo): (LP) The Spotnicks in Tokyo
AUTUMN IN JAPAN / CRYING IN A STORM / DRUM DIDDLEY / FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE / HAPPY SILENCE / HUSKY / LOOK UP TO THE EVENING STAR / MEMORY OF SUMMER / ODE TO DAWN / PIERCING THE UNKNOWN / PLAYBOY'S BUNNY HOP / THE LONESOME PORT / THE OLD LOVE LETTERS
1966 SweDisc SWELP C 42: (LP) The Spotnicks around the world
CASTING MY SPELL / GEISHA GIRL / GREEN EYES / HONGKONG BLUES / MOOD OF ASIA / PLÄTTLAGGEN / RECADO / SENTIMENTAL GUITAR / STEEL GUITAR RAG / SUBJECT IN ORBIT / TURISTA / USKA DARA / WHAT NOW MY LOVE / WORRYING KIND
1966 Phono-Pop P 119: (3” tape) The Spotnicks Around the world
AUGUSTINE
1966 SweDisc SWES 1160: (45) James George
C'MON EVERYBODY / STAGGER LEE
1966 SweDisc SWELP C 48: (LP) The Spotnicks in Winterland
AULD LANG SYNE / FROSTY THE SNOWMAN / HERE COMES SANTA CLAUS / I SAW MAMA KISSING SANTA CLAUS / JINGLE BELLS / PARADE OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS / RUDOLF THE REDNOSED REINDEER / SILENT NIGHT / SLEIGH RIDE / WHITE CRISTMAS / WINTER WONDERLAND / WINTERLAND
1967 Polydor SLPM 1313 + SweDisc SWELP C 53 (LP) The Spotnicks Live in Japan
CRYING IN A STORM / HAPPY SILENCE / HAVA NAGILA / HEY GOOD LOOKING / JOHNNY GUITAR / KARELIA / LAST SPACE TRAIN / LOOK UP TO THE EVENING STAR / MEMORY OF SUMMER / OVER AND OVER / THE SPOTNICKS THEME / WABASH CANNON BALL / WHAT DID I SAY / WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN
1967 SweDisc SWELP C 60: (LP) The Spotnicks in Acapulco
WHAM / EL TORO BRAVO / MOSCOW (only 3 tracks with Jimmie Nicol)
The Spotnicks - I'm Comin' Home (Italian TV show 1966)
In Mexico was Jimmie since 1967 working with a samba & bossa-nova group. He married and had a son, Howard, who was to win a prestigious award for his work as sound engineer on a BBC collection of Beatles recordings in the 1990s. In 1969 he recorded Jumpin' Jack Flash (Rolling Stones) sung in Spanish for Discos Orfeon with his own band "Jimmie Nicol Show".
1969 Discos Orfeon LP-E-12-623 (Mexico) (LP) Era Psicodelica Del A Go Go Jimmie Nicol Show: Jumpin' Jack Flash (sung in Spanish)
Later he gave jazz concerts, composed film music and worked for universities. He also started a button factory in Mexico. In 1975 he returned to England, where he had a building trade specialised in renovation of old houses.
Jimmie was invited by the Swedish TV for an interview about a documentary of The Spotnicks in 1983. A year later he was traced by the Dutch fanclub Beatles Unlimited. Twenty years later he came to Amsterdam as special guest for the Beatles convention of 1984. Stayed at the same Hotel as in June 1964 and played some Beatles songs together with The Clarks at Treslong, Hilversum.
Jimmie on a Swedish documentary about The Spotnicks in 1983
Jimmie Nicol in 2005
I just want you to reassure him - talk to him, make him see the error of his ways. Then I'll hit him.
Wow, great entry, BM! I really enjoyed reading this.
The clip under June 13, 1964 was amazing. All those people dancing and pushing forward and falling down-- just awesome to see. Thanks for taking the time to construct and post this wonderful entry. Cheers.
All you've got to do is choose love. That's how I live it now. I learned a long time ago, I can feed the birds in my garden. I can't feed them all. -- Ringo Starr, Rolling Stone magazine, May 2007
For all I know, Ringo might be a yogi disguised as a drummer! - George Harrison
I've been doing it on and off for a couple of days. Mostly off! I never realised that he'd done so much. And how often his name was misspelt. Even the engraving on the watch that they gave him: "From the Beatles and Brian Epstein to Jimmy -- with appreciation and gratitude."
I just want you to reassure him - talk to him, make him see the error of his ways. Then I'll hit him.
Excellent work my man. I like the way Jimmie attacks his drums when playing - to his credit he doesn't try and "be" Ringo. His voice suprised me - quite posh (compared to The Beatles). His inclusion fulltime (if Ringo had not comeback) would definately have cracked the Beatlemania image. I'm wondering more about how much the apparent interchangeabilty (phew) of the band enhanced their image (and success). They look the same, dress the same, talk the same, and for all intents and purposes say the same things. I know John is trademarked as witty and George as quiet, but in those Beatlemania interviews they all share the duties of throwing out sharp one liners. Not once do they seem to deviate. I need to ponder more.)
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