George Martin was impressed enough by The Beatles' debut session for EMI on 6 June to offer them a recording contract. However, he was less pleased with the band's drummer, Pete Best.
It fell to manager Brian Epstein to break the news to Best, who had been with the group since 12 August 1960. He was never given a reason for his dismissal, which took place on 16 August 1962 at Epstein's NEMS record shop. Epstein merely told Best: "The lads don't want you in the group anymore"
Getting rid of Best was not an easy decision. Epstein asked Cavern DJ Bob Wooler if it was a good idea, but Wooler told him that the handsome Best was too popular with the fans.
This proved to be the case. A fan of the group headbutted George Harrison at the Cavern, giving him a black eye, and for weeks the band were subjected to chants of "Ringo never, Pete Best forever!"
The decision caused ructions within The Beatles' camp too. Their assistant and road manager Neil Aspinall was reportedly furious, but was told by the group: "It's got nothing to do with you - you're only the driver".
John Lennon later said of the dismissal, "We were cowards. We got Epstein to do the dirty work for us."
I suppose I should make an effort to find an original recording with Pete (I suppose the Love Me Do from the Decca session might be a candidate). If Pete had chops and was let go despite this, one might think there was something a bit under-handed about the change. He'd been in the trenches with the band for some time, and perhaps this was forgotten. Hard to dispute GM's judgement though, and Ringo definitely fit musically.
He's on several of the Anthology 1 tracks. IMO he wasn't by any means a terrible drummer, and it was probably mainly his personality that made The Beatles want rid of him.
I read somewhere that his success with female fans led to some conflicts with the other band members, though it may be a bit more complicated than that. I can imagine Pete's awful predicament as he witnessed their rise to fame and fortune while he sat on the sidlines. At least John admits to feeling bad about their inability to face him personally and do the deed themselves.
There was 2.5 months from the on day recording session at Abbey Rd to Best being fired. If Harrison (the hawk), McCartney and Lennon had approached Best of his drumming and talked about it and Epstein approached George Martin, Best would have remained the drummer. They had been turned down by all record companies and were on a knife edge. They clearly panicked. Naivety is the word.
BTW,the contract between Epstein and The Beatles was signed in Best's house.
Saying all that. Best was too shy. He always held his head down and turned his eyes upwards, as if he didn't want to be in the public eye. He never said much. Imagine him in the Press interviews in the USA that made the Beatles stand out as personalities. He was not outwards and witty like Starr. Starr was in the end the perfect man for the job.