Andy White, the Scottish drummer who famously replaced the newly-hired Ringo Starr on the Beatles’ song Love Me Do has died at age 85, the BBC reported, citing his family.

White, a session musician who had played swing, jazz and Scottish pipe and drum music before turning to rock and roll, died after suffering a stroke, the news agency said.

The musician later said he was paid £5 for three hours of work in 1962 with the Beatles, then a relatively new band, the BBC said.

His work was featured on the US version of the single for Love Me Do and also on P.S. I Love You. He is one of several musicians dubbed ‘Fifth Beatles’, meaning they were involved in the band but were not the four famous members who defined the group: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison or Starr.

On Love Me Do, White played drums and Starr played the tambourine. White later played drums on Tom Jones’s 1965 hit It’s Not Unusual and toured with Marlene Dietrich, Burt Bacharach and Rod Stewart, the BBC said.

In New Jersey, he taught drumming and worked with pipe and drum bands, which feature bagpipes and a corps of drummers, the BBC said.

He was married to the voiceover actress Thea Ruth.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.