‘Fill-In Beatle’ Who Played Bass With Legendary Band Dies at 81
‘WE’LL MISS HIM’
Chas Newby, the British musician who played bass for the Beatles in 1960, died recently, friends confirmed. He was 81. A cause of death was not immediately shared. “We’ll miss him. Forever in our thoughts,” wrote Roag Best, the brother of former Beatles drummer Pete Best, in a Facebook post on Tuesday that memorialized the bassist as “laid back Chas with the big smile.” A musician who played with John Lennon in his first band, The Quarrymen, Newby was known for playing several shows with the still-fledgling Beatles as their original bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe, weighed pursuing a career as a painter. Lennon reportedly wanted Newby to continue playing with the band as they kicked off a tour in West Germany, but he declined, according to The Guardian. “Music was never going to be a living for me,” Newby said in 2012. “I wanted to do chemistry.” He later went on to become a high school mathematics teacher. “RIP Chas Newby, fill-in Beatle and fair chap,” tweeted Beatles historian Mark Lewishon. “… A charming man, always a pleasure to meet.”