| Pete
Best, born Randolph Peter Best in Madras, India on
November 24, 1941, joined the Beatles, John, Paul, George,
and Stu Sutcliffe, in late 1960. Their previous drummer,
Tommy Moore, had left earlier in the year. Pete's mother,
Mona Best, ran The Casbah Club, a cellar club in Hayman's
Green, where the Beatles had been playing. When Allan
Williams got the Beatles booked to play two months in
Hamburg, Pete was asked to join the group. Pete was very
quiet in Hamburg, he did not partake of the uppers the
way everyone else did, and spent alot of his off time
out of the company of the others. The girls in Hamburg
were wild over him, and would shout at him on the stage
in English and German.
The other Beatles thought Pete was a pretty good drummer,
but then in Hamburg they heard and met Ringo. When the
Beatles and Pete returned to Liverpool, Mona acted as
the booking agent for what she considered "Pete's
band". She got them introduced into the Cavern
Club. Pete played on "My Bonnie" and the other
tracks recorded with Tony Sheridan for Bert Kaempfert
in Germany.
In November 1961, Brian Epstein became the Beatles'
manager, and in April, 1962, Brian succeeded in getting
them an audition with George Martin at Parlophone, which
happened on June 6. By this time, both Paul and George
were encouraging Brian to help them get rid of Pete,
to bring on Ringo permanently, who had been filling
in for Pete with the Beatles every now and then. In
late July, George Martin commited to recording the Beatles.
When George Martin told Brian that he didn't care for
Pete, and that they would use another drummer on the
sessions, he didn't know the Beatles were already thinking
the same thing. Brian told him during a lunch time meeting
in his office on August 15. Mersey Beat broke the news
on August 23. Pete Best fans were outraged. Petitions
signed by hundreds were received at Mersey Beat. Cries
of "Pete Best Forever---Ringo, never!" were
heard at the Cavern Club. The following Monday, one
of the many scuffles outside the Cavern Club resulted
in a black eye for George Harrison.
|
