Is this the drummer Paul McCartney was writing to?
A LETTER from Paul McCartney inviting a Liverpool drummer to audition for The Beatles is to be sold at auction.
The singer/songwriter dropped the line to the potential band member after seeing an advert in the Daily Post’s sister paper, the Echo, from the musician.
It was found at a car boot sale in Bootle earlier this year, tucked inside a book – along with a photo of a band on stage at a similar time, which is not for auction.
The letter, dated August 12, 1960, invited the mystery drummer to an audition at the Jacaranda Club, on Slater Street.
This was just three days before the group, including John Lennon, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best, travelled to Hamburg, Germany, for a residency that would kick-start their career.
It is not known if the audition even took place, but the letter, which experts predict will attract between £7,000 and £9,000 when it goes on sale at Christie’s on November 15, sheds new light on the early part of the band’s history.
It suggests that, even though the band was committed to going abroad, there were still reservations about the line-up.
Pete Best, who played the drums with the band, did travel to Hamburg, but was replaced by Ringo Starr in 1962, the year Sutcliffe died.
The advert, which ran on August 8, 1960, read “Drummer – Young – Free”.
