He may have been sacked but he was still a Beatle.
by Lin Andrew of BeatleCity based on an article in the
Teeside Evening Gazette by Keith Newton

16th August 1962 was an ordinary day for most people including myself. I had sneaked off from college to go to the Cavern to see the Beatles. After the show there was a whisper going around that Pete Best had been sacked as the Beatles drummer. This turned out to be true as Pete confirmed in an interview with Keith Newton of the Teesside Evening Gazette.

On that day Pete said: "We had just done a show at the Cavern Club and Brian said 'Pete can you pop around to the office,' and as I had done all the bookings before he took over, I just thought it was Brian running some ides by me." It was not. It was to tell him that he was out as the Beatles drummer and Ringo Starr was in. Just like that. The group had finally won a recording contract after two years of flogging around Merseyside and Hamburg in Germany. They had been in London laying down Love Me Do, PS I love you and Besame Mucho for George Martin at Parlophone, and were due to return for more sessions. Pete had thought he was best mates with the other Beatles and now he was being told he was not wanted.
Despite all the rumours, to this day Pete says he doesn't know why but wishes he did. Nearly 40 years on, Pete relives these mysterious moments in his own stage show An Audience With Pete Best - Beatle Days. Every time the show is on, he gets asked about his sacking. He says, "You read all sorts of books and they give all sorts of reasons, but I genuinely do not know why it happened." One of the reasons that sticks in my craw is that I was not a good enough drummer. Anyone who knows me from the Merseybeat days would not agree with that. ( I know Pete and I thought he was great. He is also a nice person.) "We did Polydor and Decca recording sessions and no-one said anything. The question of my drumming did come up at EMI when we met George Martin. "He has said I was not a good enough drummer but he meant for recording purposes and he thought that of all drummers in all groups. "He did not use any of them, he used session men. He used Andy White instead of me. If that scared them or worried them, then they panicked and remember, that when they did love me do again, Ringo did not get to play on it. Andy White did it again."

Pete must be one of life's unluckiest losers and could carry a chip on his shoulder the size of the world his friends went on to conquer, but he doesn't. You may wonder why he never did anything. He says, "I just got on with my life. "I have friends who have said 'If that had been me…' I had a good family then and a good family now. They rallied round and life goes on. You cannot change the past, Live for today."