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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.
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