Pete Shotton was
John Lennon's best childhood friend, and chief partner in mischief-making as the lads created trouble at school and in their Liverpool suburb. When
Lennon decided to form a group in 1957, the only other member to begin with was
Shotton.
Lennon would play guitar;
Shotton would play the washboard, in the fashion of many other skiffle groups of the period. The group was soon filled out by other members on guitar, drums, and other instruments, and named
the Quarry Men, in honor of their school, Quarry Bank High School for Boys.
Shotton had primarily joined the band because he was
Lennon's mate, and lacked musical skill or an aptitude for performing. It therefore came as a relief to him, he has said, when, after only a short time in the band,
Lennon smashed the washboard over
Shotton's head at an early gig, ending Pete's brief career in
the Quarry Men.
Shotton remained friendly with
Lennon throughout the rest of his life, although the ties loosened as
the Quarry Men became
the Beatles, and then became stars and moved away from Liverpool.
Lennon helped
Shotton out in the 1960s, first by buying a supermarket for him to run on Hayling Island, and then bringing him into Apple to run Apple Retail. He cowrote a book on his times with
Lennon, John Lennon: In My Life, with author
Nicholas Schaffner. He was not involved in
the Quarry Men reunion recording
Open for Engagements in 1994. But he did take a washboard onstage to play with ex-Quarry Men
Rod Davis,
Len Garry,
Eric Griffiths, and
Colin Hanton on the 40th anniversary of
the Quarry Men gig at which
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney first met.
–
Richie Unterberger, Rovi