Drum hero Andy White dead at 85

Renowned session drummer Andy White has died at the age of 85 after a “massive stroke.”

The Scottish musician, who famously replaced Ringo Starr on the recording of the Beatles’ debut single Love Me Do, died on Monday in New Jersey, USA.

His wife, the voice actress Thea White, broke the news to her husband’s friend and fellow sticksman Clive Edwards – formerly of UFO and Wild Horses.

She said she was “overwhelmingly sad” to report that her husband had suffered a “massive stroke” last week and died on Monday, having never regained consciousness.

White was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and as well as his appearance on the Beatles’ breakthrough hit, he worked with Chuck Berry, Billy Fury, Herman’s Hermits, Rod Stewart and Tom Jones in the course of a highly successful career. His drumming can be heard on Jones’ smash hit It’s Not Unusual.

He moved to America in the 1980s and latterly taught Scottish pipe band drumming.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.