Colin Hanton

• Active: '60s
• Genres: Rock
• Instrument: Drums

Biography

Colin Hanton was the drummer for the Quarry Men, the group founded by John Lennon in 1957 that eventually evolved into the Beatles. In those days the primary requirement for drumming in a band was owning a kit. Eric Griffith, a guitarist in the Quarry Men, came to Hanton's house to ask if he was interested in drumming in the Quarry Men, although Hanton, unlike several of the other guys in the band, didn't go to the Quarry Bank High School for Boys. He is drumming in the group on the earliest known studio recording of the Quarry Men, the demo disc "That'll Be the Day"/"In Spite of All the Danger," recorded in Liverpool in 1958, and issued on the Beatles' Anthology 1. His short stay in the band ended around the end of 1958, after he had a fight with Paul McCartney on the bus home from a show. Tired up lugging his drums around to gigs on buses, he didn't turn up to any more Quarry Men shows, and in fact was never even contacted by the other members and asked to play with them again. Filling the drum chair would prove a vexing problem for John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison for about the next two years, until they got Pete Best in the group just before setting off to Hamburg in August 1960, as the Beatles. Hanton was not involved in the Quarry Men reunion recording Open for Engagements in 1994, but did play with ex-Quarry Men Rod Davis, Len Garry, Pete Shotton, and Eric Griffiths on the 40th anniversary of the Quarry Men gig at which John Lennon and Paul McCartney first met. ~ Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

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