Pete Best.
He was the Beatles' original drummer from1960 to 1962. He was asked to join the Beatles because their band was required to have a drummer while they were performing in Hamburg, Germany. In the early years of the Beatles, John, Paul, George, Pete, and Stu Sutcliffe (who died of a brain aneurysm in August 1962; he was 21) were the original members of the band. Pete was later sacked by the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, in August of 1962.
Rumors about why he was sacked abound. And despite his assertion of either not knowing why he was sacked or that he was sacked because the other three Beatles were jealous of him for being the best-looking and most popular member of the band, John, Paul, George, and Ringo, as well as their producer Sir George Martin, tell a different story. In 1995, when the Beatles' compilation album Anthology 1 was released, Pete received his share of royalties. He has never mentioned the amount, but it is speculated that he received somewhere around $9 million or more. He was well compensated.
In The Beatles Anthology 1, Paul talked about when he, George, and John met Ringo and how impressed they were with his drumming. They would go see him perform when he was still playing drums for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. In fact, both Paul and George, in interviews, mentioned that he was the top drummer in Liverpool at the time. Brian Epstein asked Ringo to join the band about a week before he sacked Pete. Ringo became the drummer two days after Pete was sacked, on August 16, 1962. The story is that John, Paul, and George were put out with Pete because he kept missing their gigs, so they hired Ringo to fill in for Pete whenever he missed a show, and they felt like Ringo fit better in the band than Pete did. And the rest is Beatles' history.
John Lennon on why he got “sick” of The Beatles drummer Pete Best
The Beatles Paul McCartney: 'After Pete Best, Ringo Starr felt like magic'
Did John Lennon really say Ringo “Wasn’t Even The Best Drummer In The Beatles”?
- John, Paul, George, and Pete.
- John, Paul, George, Pete, and Stu.