What Happened To Pete Best, The Original Beatles Drummer?

Pete Best played drums for The Beatles during their early Hamburg years and was popular with fans there. The band replaced him with Ringo Starr in August 1962, before the release of their first single.

Best was the band’s regular drummer before they achieved widespread success. After leaving The Beatles, he started his own band and played with other groups as well.

After legal battles with his former mates and decades spent far away from the music industry, Pete Best managed to scroll off the “failed Beatle” label people had put on him, forming a band of his own and touring the world with his original songs.

But how did it all start?

The Casbah Coffee Club

Randolph Peter Scanland was born in Madras, British India, in 1941. When his father died and his mother remarried Johnny Best, Pete decided to take his stepfather’s family name. There’s no doubt: Best is quite a good name for an aspiring musician!

The family soon relocated from Madras to Liverpool, where his mother Mona opened the famous Casbah Coffee Club.

This tiny yet crowded room soon became a hot spot for musicians and music lovers all around Liverpool. That’s where the young Beatles, still known as the Quarrymen, performed for the first time in 1959 and later secured a steady gig.

At that time, Pete Best was playing the drums in a band called Black Jacks, who became the regular Saturday performers at the Casbah Coffee Club after the Quarrymen project failed.

Between the end of 1959 and the beginning of 1960, Quarrymen became The Beatles, with the addition of George Harrison, but, right after Tommy Moore resigned from his role, they were left without a drummer.

A real shame, considering that their manager Allan Williams, had secured the band a series of gigs at the famous Indra Club in Hamburg. The request of the venue owner, however, was for a five-piece band.

Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe needed a drummer, as Paul’s attempts at filling in for the missing member weren’t as successful as they had hoped.

Just before leaving for Hamburg, they auditioned Best. He left the Black Jacks and joined The Beatles in August 1960.

Life in Hamburg

Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Sutcliffe, and Best played their first gig in Hamburg on August 17th, 1960. This was the first one in a rich series of long, tiring shows, happening at least six nights a week and leaving the band members exhausted and nervous.

After a break in Liverpool, the band returned to Hamburg in 1961. Sutcliffe played with them again that year before leaving to concentrate on art. Best also played on the group’s recordings with Tony Sheridan in Hamburg, including “My Bonnie,” issued by Polydor as Tony Sheridan and the Beat Brothers.

Pete Best, on the other hand, was gaining a lot of popularity.

Some old footage shows that, at some point, Best had moved his drum kit on the front of the stage, pushing Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison to the back.

In 1962, the Liverpool music paper Mersey Beat put Best on the front page in its coverage of the band. Some later accounts have read jealousy into his popularity, though the coverage itself only shows that he was a recognizable part of the lineup.

Brian Epstein and Richard Starkey

Back in Liverpool, the band started to play at the legendary club The Cavern, gathering more and more fans. Brian Epstein noticed them and offered to become their manager.

After an unsuccessful Decca audition early in 1962, Epstein took the band to EMI. On June 6, Best played at their first Abbey Road session, where they recorded “Love Me Do” and “Besame Mucho,” among other songs.

At this point, Martin showed some doubts about Best’s drumming.

The band replaced Best with Richard Starkey, better known as Ringo Starr, in August. Starr played on the September 4 recording of “Love Me Do.” Session drummer Andy White played on the September 11 recording. Best’s June take was first released decades later on Anthology 1.

A strange goodbye

Pete Best, interviewed by David Letterman in 1982, stated that his former bandmates never explained why they decided to fire him. In other interviews, he often said he was shocked to hear their decision.

Best later spoke about how hard those years were for him. His account describes the impact of the dismissal, while the people around the band offered different explanations for the decision.

By analyzing interviews and statements from different people involved with the band at that time it is possible to isolate four possible reasons behind the decision to fire Best.

First of all, Best was quieter and more “conventional” than the other three Beatles. He didn’t socialize much with his bandmates, apart from the time spent together during concerts. Harrison highlighted that Best would often call sick and not show up at gigs either.

Secondly, his mother Mona had assumed quite a prominent role on the band’s managerial and promotional side after their time in Hamburg. This led to contrasts with Epstein, once he officially became the band’s manager. Other band members, besides, thought that Mona was acting only to her son’s benefit, without considering the career of the band as a whole.

The third point involves Lennon and McCartney’s jealousy towards Best. He was surely the most handsome one and the most successful with girls, but this theory was (of course) strongly contrasted by the other three Beatles.

Lastly, some statements by Lennon and George Martin simply refer to Best’s drumming ability, which was considered inadequate compared to the professional level the other musicians in the band had reached by 1962.

What’s the right answer? Nobody knows.

The accounts differ on how much each factor mattered. The recording dates and the change in lineup are easier to pin down than a single reason for the decision.

Where is Pete Best now?

In 1988, after years away from performing, Best returned to the stage and went on to record and tour with The Pete Best Band. In April 2025, he confirmed his retirement from live appearances and thanked fans for their support.

In 1995, Anthology 1 gave listeners a chance to hear Best on early Beatles recordings including “My Bonnie,” “Ain’t She Sweet” and the June 1962 take of “Love Me Do.”

Summary

Best was The Beatles’ drummer through their Hamburg residencies and their first Abbey Road session. Ringo Starr took over in August 1962, and Best later returned to performing with his own band.

The early recordings are the easiest way to hear Best’s part in that history. Start with “My Bonnie” for the Hamburg years and the Anthology 1 version of “Love Me Do” for the EMI session.