Pete Best, The Beatles’ drummer from 1960 to 1962, has announced his retirement at the age of 83.
The news was posted on X by Best’s half-brother Roag. Best of luck to Pete from the Beatles Bible.
Best’s mother Mona ran the Casbah Coffee Club in the cellar of their home in Haymans Green in the West Derby area of Liverpool. The venue became popular, and hosted some of The Quarrymen’s first performances. Best played drums there with his first band, The Black Jacks.
It was there at a gig in a club in Haymans Green in West Derby that I heard about another club being built at number eight Haymans Green. I was taken down there and I looked into the cellar that was to become the Casbah. That’s when I first met Pete Best. It was some months later that I remembered Pete and the fact that he had his own drum kit, and got him to join us so we could go to Hamburg.
Pete Best’s group The Black Jacks split in 1960. He joined The Beatles on 12 August 1960, the day before their first trip to Hamburg, at the invitation of Paul McCartney.
Best was fired from The Beatles by their manager Brian Epstein on 16 August 1962. The band later expressed regret at the way in which it was handled.
We weren’t very good at telling Pete he had to go. But when it comes down to it, how do you tell somebody? Although Pete had not been with us all that long – two years in terms of a lifetime isn’t very long – when you’re young it’s not a nice thing to be kicked out of a band and there’s no nice way of doing it. Brian Epstein was the manager so it was his job, but I don’t think he could do it very well either. But that’s the way it was and the way it is.
Best later joined Lee Curtis and the All Stars, which later reformed without the frontman as Pete Best and the All Stars. The group signed to Decca Records, although their debut single ‘I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door’ was not a hit.
Best later moved to the US where he played with the Pete Best Four, which later became the Pete Best Combo. An album, Best Of The Beatles, was released by Cameo Records, disappointing many record buyers expecting a Beatles compilation.
Pete Best married Kathy in 1968; they had two daughters, Babs and Bonita. He became a civil servant for 20 years and in 1988 formed the Pete Best Band. Eventually he began to talk once more about The Beatles, giving interviews and working as technical advisor for the TV film Birth Of The Beatles.
In 1995 the Anthology 1 album contained a number of tracks with Best on drums. He is estimated to have made up to £4 million in royalties, although he did not participate in the book or documentary series. Poignantly, on the cover artwork Best’s head was obscured by a picture of Ringo Starr, although he was pictured leaning against Neil Aspinall’s van outside the Cavern.
The Pete Best Band regularly performed in the US and elsewhere, in which Best shared drumming duties with his younger brother Roag. Their repertoire included songs from The Beatles’ early set, including ‘My Bonnie’, ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘Money (That’s What I Want)’, and ‘One After 909’.
The group’s 2008 album, Haymans Green, consisted entirely of new material, and was named after the area of Liverpool where the Casbah Coffee Club is located.