The Fifth Beatle Steals The Show

[lhoffman]

Several men have been dubbed “The Fifth Beatle”-- Stuart Sutcliffe, Nicky Hopkins, producer George Martin, just to name a few. Billy Preston also staked claim to the moniker. He came onboard with the lads ...READ MORE at http://www.littlebigsongs.com

[chris]

i'm not sure i subscribe to the notion there was ever...really...a fifth beatle. i loved billy preston. i thought he was a good singer who brought a great soulfull vibe to the band's music with his keyboard playing. and i think the band may have even been better with his musical contributions. but his "partnership" with the band was too short. however, if i HAD to pick who i thought was most worthy...of the ones mentioned...i'd suggest producer george martin would be the closest. he did have influence, some anyway, as to how the band sounded during their entire career. the band respected him, and used his playing occasionally throughout their career. 

[2 of 3]

I may go as far as saying George Martin was the 1st Beatle...by that I mean..he was equal to the others when it came to the final product.The 5 of them brought out the best in each other. I'm not sure if there would be a "Beatles" with any one of them missing from the beginning.  It is an unbelievable stroke of luck for all of us, that these guys all found each other.

[acebackwords]

If anyone was the fifth Beatle it was probably Neil Aspinall.  He was there with them from the very beginning at the Cavern, all the way to the bitter end as the head of Apple Records until his death last year.

[Paperback Writer]

All these folks - and many others - were great contributors to the Beatles' music , but dubbing only ONE of them - the FIFTH - is assuming an  old, trite and tired marketing gimmick done during Beatlemania needs to be included in historical discussions of Beatles music - NOT!

[Kylenz]

Even though he didn't actually record with The Beatles as far as I know, my pick for 5th Beatle would be Klaus Voormann. He was with them since Hamburg, he designed the Revolver cover, played bass with John with the Plastic Ono Band on the Live Peace In Toronto gig, recorded with George on All Things Must Pass and other albums, played on all John's solo releases, and played on all Ringo's albums up to the mid-70s. It's almost as if he was Paul's stand-in as such on all the other solo Beatles' albums!

He also comes across as a really cool dude. A real hip kinda character. Here's a great clip I found on youtube of Klaus recently recording with Paul and Ringo in the same studio together, and even Cat Stevens (Yusuf) covering George's All Things Must Pass! -

[2 of 3]

Very cool Kyle, thanks for that. 

[Kylenz]

Isn't it great to watch those two together, considering Paul was the only Beatle whose solo records he never played on.

[Greg]

First...amazing clip that was from Kylenz.  Sweet.

G. Martin 5th Beatle imo.  I just think too much changes without him.
I was going to go with Epstein despite the fact that I think he made some huge mistakes.  Plus he wasn't really needed after 66.  They were going to dump him anyway.  Once they got going in '64 it would have been hard to actually screw up the Beatles.  But I could go with him for the one thing he did that trumps all of the drawbacks to Epstein.  He believed in them and got them signed.  He never gave up in those early days, and for that the contribution is incalculable.

[EddieV]

Sometimes people forget that Neil Apinall was with The Beatles from 1962 or was it 1961?? He could maybe be the 6th Beatle