Drummers - Pete Best (The Beatles)
Randolph Peter Best (born 24 November 1941 in Madras,
India) is a British musician, best known as the original drummer for The
Beatles.
Role in the Beatles
Pete Best is the son of Mona Best, who was the owner of the Casbah
Club,[1] which was in the basement of their home in Liverpool,[2] where
The Beatles later played. Best was first invited to join the band in
1959, later rejoining for their 1960–1961 residency in Hamburg. He
stayed until shortly after their first audition for EMI in 1962, but was
fired on 16 August of that year, to be replaced by Ringo Starr, then of
Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
Best was told of the dismissal by the Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein.
The reason given was that George Martin, who was to become the Beatles'
producer, had been dissatisfied with Best's drumming and intended to
replace him on their recordings. (Indeed, Martin did use a studio
drummer, Andy White, on their first single session for "Love Me Do".)
The decision appears to have been a 'last straw' with the group, who
felt Best had never completely fit in as a member. While John Lennon,
Paul McCartney and George Harrison usually spent their offstage time
together, practicing their music or socialising, Best generally went off
alone. He therefore was not privy to many of the group's experiences,
references, in-jokes and developing sense of style; when the band
adopted the mop-top-style Beatle haircut, Best did not follow suit.
Starr, on the other hand, had an appealing, unique playing style (which
impressed Harrison, in particular), was already quite popular in the
Merseybeat scene, and readily joined in all the Beatles' activities. He
began to jam with the Beatles in their off hours, and filled in for Best
at a few shows. Starr's affable personality fitted more naturally with
the others, and indeed would continue to do so even after the Beatles'
breakup. Starr had worn a beard since turning professional, but shaved
it off (and changed his hairstyle) as a condition of becoming a Beatle.
Best's musicianship has been a source of debate among Beatles fans. The
Beatles were considered a tight band prior to the start of their
recording career at EMI, and Best's drumming was generally thought to be
solid. His performance on a 1962 demo of the Beatles' "Love Me Do"
(included on The Beatles Anthology) is virtually indistinguishable from
the single version released later that year, and recordings from the
German period (notably the recording of "My Bonnie" with Tony Sheridan)
show him playing a harder style than Starr would in succeeding years.
His main weakness was a lack of creativity. He keeps time in a standard
manner on several Anthology recordings and uses conventional fills.
Starr proved to be significantly more innovative with the instrument,
pioneering a new drumming style (leading with his left hand) and
composing drum parts particular to a song's needs.
It has been speculated that another reason for dismissing Best (and
hiring Starr) was to draw fans from one of their primary local rivals,
Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Aside from that, there has also always
been the assumption that the other Beatles were jealous of Best's appeal
with the female fans, since he was more conventionally handsome than the
other members, a problem that would perhaps not exist with Starr in his
place. It has also been reported that Epstein first offered the job not
to Starr, but to Johnny Hutchinson of the Big Three, who turned it down.
Ringo's old band is said to have invited Best to make the switch
reciprocal by becoming the Hurricanes' drummer, but he refused. When
word of Best's replacement broke in Liverpool (through outlets like
Mersey Beat), many Beatles fans were upset, and one gave Harrison a
black eye. Many female fans considered Best to be the band's
best-looking member – and at many early shows, Best had his own group of
female fans present in the audience. Fans would cheer "Pete forever,
Ringo never!"
Pop historian and BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Spencer Leigh devoted a
whole book chronicling Best's sacking. One of the longest chapters
explores the theories of why Best was replaced by Starr just two months
after the initial trip to Abbey Road, suggesting that the "green-eyed
monster" had spoken to the other members, McCartney in particular, that
Best was "the fairest of them all". This was then exacerbated by Mersey
Beat's report that during the Teenagers' Turn showcase: "John, Paul and
George made their entrance on stage to cheers and applause, but when
Pete walked on, the fans went wild. The girls screamed! In Manchester,
his popularity was assured by his looks alone." Pete was almost "killed
with kindness" at the stage door afterwards by attentive females from
the 400 strong audience, while the other members were allowed to board a
ticking over charabanc, after signing a few autographs. McCartney's
father Jim was present at this incident and admonished Best: "Why did
you have to attract all the attention? Why didn't you call the other
lads back? I think that was very selfish of you." McCartney's father
rubbed salt into the wounds of the dismissed Best in the Cavern Club
when a Beatles gig was being recorded for the ITV series Know the North.
"Great, isn't it! They're on TV!" Observers reported that Best bit his
tongue, and quietly left.[3]
After the Beatles
A few days after he was fired, Epstein tried to console Best by offering
to build another group around him, but Best was not interested. Best
joined Lee Curtis & the All Stars, which then broke off from Curtis and
became Pete Best & the All Stars. They signed to Decca Records — who had
previously rejected the Beatles, and signed the Tremeloes instead — and
released the single "I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door", which failed to gain
an audience.
Best then relocated to the United States — along with two songwriting
musicians from the Remo Four, Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington — as
the Pete Best Four, and did some recording for small labels. Personnel
changes in early 1965 increased the group's size to five, with the new
name the Pete Best Combo. They toured the United States with their
combination of 1950s songs and originals but had little success, hurt by
having no hit records in England or major label promotion in the United
States. Finally, they released an album on Cameo Records titled Best Of
The Beatles (a dubious play on Peter's name, leading to disappointment
for record buyers who expected a Beatles compilation), but disbanded not
long after. (Bickerton and Waddington were to find much greater success
as songwriters in the 1970s for a series of hits by the Rubettes.)
In an appearance on the American game show I've Got a Secret, Best
seemed to deny that he was dismissed from the Beatles. Asked why he
"left the band", the still-ducktailed Best replied that "I didn't think
they would go as far as they did." Best's website claims it is still a
mystery and that Best has never received the real reason for his
dismissal [4].
Best apparently tried to commit suicide in 1965 by locking himself in a
room and inhaling fumes from a gas fire. Best filed a libel suit against
The Beatles in October of that year, because Starr implied in an
interview with Playboy magazine that Best had been fired because he was
a drug user. The suit was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
Best decided to leave show business, and in Hunter Davies' 1968
authorised Beatles biography, he was portrayed as both somewhat bitter
but also unwilling to talk further about or otherwise cash in on his
Beatles association. Best became a baker, earning £8 a week and marrying
a girl named Kathy who worked at the biscuit counter at Woolworth's. He
later became a civil servant.
In time, Best began giving interviews to the media, wrote about his time
with the Beatles, and served as a technical advisor for the television
movie Birth of the Beatles. Thus, Best eventually found a modicum of
independent fame, and toured as leader of the Pete Best Band. In this
public role, Best is uniquely positioned to gratify the many fans who
are fascinated with the Beatles' early days. He has admitted to being a
fan of their music, and owning their records. [5]
When the surviving Beatles released their Anthology in 1995, which
featured a number of tracks with Best as drummer, Best received a
substantial windfall — apparently between £1 million and £4 million —
from the sales.[citation needed] Some have speculated that Apple Records
head Neil Aspinall, who reportedly remains friendly with Best, saw to it
that Best would be compensated. (Aspinall had an affair with Best's
mother, Mona, in the early 1960s, and Best's half-brother, Roag, is
Aspinall's son.) Unfortunately, some aspects of the project also seemed
to perpetuate the band's legacy of insult with regard to Best. He was
not interviewed for the book or the television documentaries, and later
disputed a statement by former bandmate Harrison in which Harrison
claimed he remembered Best missing several live gigs, with his future
replacement, Starr, sitting in for the night (this is documented to have
occurred on at least one occasion). His image on an early group photo
used on the cover was prominently and purposefully obscured by a cut-out
of Starr, contrasting with the cover collage's inclusion of fellow
former early Beatle Stuart Sutcliffe's portrait. (However, Best is
visible in another, less prominent, photo also appearing on the cover.)
Additionally, "Ain't She Sweet," one of the early tracks included on the
compilation album to feature Best on drums, was presented in its 1964
U.S. mono single mix, which had been remixed (by Atlantic Records for
release on its Atco label) with another studio drummer playing over
Best's original drumming. But Best persevered, and recently has appeared
in a television special built around him titled Best Of The Beatles,
telling his life story.
References in popular culture
* An episode of The Armando Iannucci Shows featured Armando's barber
telling him about the Bootleg Beatles, how the Bootleg Pete Best was
annoyed at being left out of the band, and how the Bootleg John Lennon
was shot by the Bootleg Mark David Chapman.
* In the Gilmore Girls episode "One's got class and the other one dyes,"
Lane Kim is asked "not to be our Pete Best" when attempting to leave the
band.
From:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Best
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