About Jimmie Nicol
James George Nicol (born 3 August 1939) is an English drummer and business entrepreneur. He is best known for sitting in for Ringo Starr in the Beatles for eight concerts of the Beatles' 1964 world tour during the height of Beatlemania. Elevating him from relative obscurity to worldwide fame, Nicol had hoped that his association with the Beatles would greatly enhance his career, but instead found that the spotlight moved away from him once Starr returned to the group. In 1965 his subsequent lack of commercial success culminated in bankruptcy. After having worked with a number of different bands which included a successful relationship with the Spotnicks, and several more while living in Mexico, he left the music business in 1975 to pursue a variety of entrepreneurial ventures. Over the decades, Nicol increasingly shied away from media attention, preferring not to discuss his connection to the Beatles nor seeking financial gain from it. His son, Howie Nicol, is a BAFTA award-winning sound engineer. We didn't call them groupies, then; I've forgotten what we called them, something like 'slags'." Nicol discovered that, aside from acting as a Beatle, he could behave much as any tourist could: "I often went out alone. Martin suggested Jimmie Nicol as he had recently used him on a recording session with Tommy Quickly. I would do the arrangements and then go into the studio and record 'sound a-likes'; the first EP (extended play) released got to number 30 in the charts.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.