By Marina Watts, People | Pete Best, the original drummer of The Beatles, is retiring. The drummer’s brother Roag Best announced the news on X on Saturday, April 5, sharing a picture of them together. “Well what an absolutely wonderful ride we’ve had. However, everything comes to pass,” he wrote.
“My brother Pete Best has announced today he is retiring from personal appearances and performing with the group. His daughter has informed me it’s due to personal circumstances.”
Best, 83, confirmed the news, reposting the announcement. “I had a blast. Thank you,” he wrote on April 6.
The drummer, often referred to as the “fifth Beatle,” performed with the band in the early 1960s when they were known as the Quarrymen. His family owned the Casbah Coffee Club, where the Beatles had some of their very first gigs.
Best, whose real name is Randolph Peter Scanland, met the band through his mother when she booked the band for the music venue. He made his debut with the band in Hamburg, Germany.
After drumming with the band for two years from 1960 to 1962, he was replaced by Ringo Starr when Parlophone Records executive George Martin wanted to sign the band without Best.
“We were rockers, we were little hardies, we could handle ourselves. But when I got back home and I told my mother what happened, behind the sanctuary of the front door, I cried like a baby,” Best told The Irish Times in 2020 about the decision. His mother, however, was “diplomatic,” said Best and still kept in touch with the Fab Four.
> > > > > > > > > >
Go here to read the full article:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/pete-best-the-beatles-original-drummer-before-ringo-starr-announces-retirement/
Photo: Pete Best with Johnny A.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1183865133150124&set=a.200810931455554