Pete Best

Randolph Peter Best (Pete Best) was born in November 24,1941 in India; he was the drummer for The Beatles from 1960-1962. The Beatles had problems getting a drummer before they got to Hamburg, so Paul McCartney suggested Pete Best after hearing him play at the Casbah Club, a club owned by Best's mother, with Pete's own band. Best was also friends with the Beatles' road manager Neil Aspinall. While in Hamburg, the Beatles performed at the Indra Club and later the Kaiserkeller Club. They then went off to the Top Ten Club, breaking their contract with the Kaiserkeller Club causing the owner, in retaliation, to report George Harrison for working underage. On November 21 1960, Harrison was expelled from Germany for breaking immigration laws by working underage (he was 17) at the nightclub. Then, on November 29, Paul McCartney and Pete were arrested for attempted arson. While accounts differ, McCartney recalls in The Beatles Anthology series that him and Best set a condom alight in the concrete corridor of the Bambi Theatre for a bit of fun and rebellion. They spent three hours in jail and on December 1 were deported back to England. John Lennon and Stuart Sutcliffe followed soon after, Sutcliffe flying home due to his sickness with tonsilitis.

When they returned to Liverpool, their first performance was the Casbah, where Neil Aspinall was living at the time. During his time in Hamburg, Best had been writing to Aspinall, his friend from the Liverpool Institute, about how well the band was doing which encouraged Aspinall to advertise the Beatles' return. After a few months' confusion, they played at the Casbah and were very much improved thanks to their time in the Hamburg clubs. They began to develop a small fanbase during their time there. Eventually in February 1961, they started to play in a club named the Cavern Club, a bigger club closer to the centre of Liverpool. On August 16, 1962 Best was expelled from the band because, officially, their music producer George Martin was dissatisfied with Best's drumming; although recent events and testimonials put this claim in doubt, the real reason of Pete's outset being considered by many to be still a mystery. He was replaced in the band by Ringo Starr.