Pete's Theme - Music

Randolph Peter "Pete" Best Born 24 November 1941 Is A British Musician Principally Known As The Original Regular Drummer In The Beatles. He Was Born In The City Of Madras Then Part Of British India. After Best's Mother Mona Best 1924–1988 Moved To Liverpool In 1945 She Opened The Casbah Coffee Club In The Cellar Of The Bests' Large House In Liverpool. It Became Very Popular With British Youths Having A Membership Of Over 1 000. The Beatles At The Time Known As The Quarrymen Played Some Of Their First Concerts At The Club. Best Played There With The Beatles As Well As His First Band The Black Jacks.
The Beatles Invited Best To Join On 12 August 1960 On The Eve Of The Group's First Hamburg Season Of Club Dates. He Was Eventually Replaced By Ringo Starr On 16 August 1962 When The Group's Manager Brian Epstein Dismissed Best Under The Direction Of John Lennon Paul McCartney And George Harrison Following Their First Recording Session At Abbey Road Studios. After Working In A Number Of Commercially Unsuccessful Groups Best Gave Up The Music Industry To Work As A Civil Servant For 20 Years Before Starting The Pete Best Band. He Has Been Married For Over 50 Years To Kathy Best They Have Two Daughters And Four Grandchildren.Soon After Best Was Dismissed Epstein Attempted To Console Him By Offering To Build Another Group Around Him But Best Refused. Feeling Let Down And Depressed He Sat At Home For Two Weeks—not Wanting To Face Anybody Or Answer The Inevitable Questions About Why He Had Been Sacked. Epstein Secretly Arranged With His Booking Agent Partner Joe Flannery For Best To Join Lee Curtis & The All Stars Which Then Broke Off From Curtis To Become Pete Best & The All Stars. They Signed To Decca Records Releasing The Single "I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door" Which Was Not Successful.
Best Later Moved To The United States Along With Songwriters Wayne Bickerton And Tony Waddington. As The Pete Best Four And Later As The Pete Best Combo A Quintet They Toured The US With A Combination Of 1950s Songs And Original Tunes Recording For Small Labels But Had Little Success. They Ultimately Released An Album On Savage Records Best Of The Beatles A Play On Best's Name Leading To Disappointment For Record Buyers Who Neglected To Read The Song Titles On The Front Cover And Expected A Beatles Compilation. The Group Disbanded Shortly Afterwards. Bickerton And Waddington Were To Find Greater Success As Songwriters In The 1970s Writing A Series Of Hits For The American Female Group The Flirtations And The British Group The Rubettes. Best Decided To Leave Show Business And By The Time Of Hunter Davies' Authorised Beatles' Biography In 1968 He Was Not Willing To Talk About His Beatles Association. Years Later He Stated In His Autobiography "the Beatles Themselves Certainly Never Held Out A Helping Hand And Only Contributed To The Destruction With Their Readily Printed Gossip That I Had Never Really Been A Beatle That I Didn't Smile That I Was Unsociable And Definitely Not A Good Mixer. There Was Not A Single Friendly Word From Any One Of Them". This Culminated In A Beatles' Interview Published In Playboy Magazine In February 1965 In Which Lennon Stated That "Ringo Used To Fill In Sometimes If Our Drummer Was Ill. With His Periodic Illness." Starr Added "He Took Little Pills To Make Him Ill." Best Sued The Beatles For Defamation Of Character Eventually Winning An Out-Of-Court Settlement Although Damages Awarded Were Less Than He Had Originally Sought. Hunter Davies Recalled That While Working With The Beatles On Their Authorized Biography In 1968 "...When The Subject Of Pete Best Came Up They Seemed To Cut Off As If He Had Never Touched Their Lives. They Showed Little Reaction...I Suppose It Reminded Them Not Just That They Had Been Rather Sneaky In The Handling Of Pete Best's Sacking Never Telling Him To His Face But That For The Grace Of God Or Brian Epstein Circumstances Might Have Been Different And They Could Have Ended Up Like Pete ." During The Height Of Beatlemania Best Attempted To Commit Suicide But Was Talked Out Of It By His Mother Mona And His Brother Rory.
In 1963 He Married Kathy Who Worked Behind The Biscuit Counter At A Woolworth's Store. Their Marriage Has Lasted For 50 Years They Have Two Daughters Beba And Bonita And Four Grandchildren. Best Did Shift Work Loading Bread Into The Back Of Delivery Vans Earning £8 A Week. 98 His Education Qualifications Subsequently Helped Him Become A Civil Servant Working At The Garston Jobcentre In Liverpool Where He Rose From Employment Officer To Training Manager For The Northwest Of England And Ironically Remembered "a Steady Stream Of Real-Life Yosser Hughes Types" Imploring Him To Give Them Jobs. The Most He Could Do He Recalls Was To Offer To Retrain Them In Other Fields "which Was An Emotional Issue For People Who Had Done One Kind Of Work All Their Lives."
In Time Best Began Giving Interviews To The Media Writing About His Time With The Group And Serving As A Technical Advisor For The Television Film Birth Of The Beatles. He Found A Modicum Of Independent Fame And Has Admitted To Being A Fan Of His Former Band's Music And Owning Their Records. In 1995 The Surviving Beatles Released Anthology 1 Which Featured A Number Of Tracks With Best As Drummer Including Songs From The Decca And Parlophone Auditions. Best Received A Substantial Windfall—between £1 Million And £4 Million—from The Sales Although He Was Not Interviewed For The Book Or The Documentaries. The Collage Of Torn Photographs On The Anthology 1 Album Cover Includes An Early Group Photo That Featured Best But Best's Head Was Removed Revealing A Photo Of Starr's Head Taken From The Please Please Me Cover Photo. The Missing Section Of The Photograph Appears On The Cover Of The Album Haymans Green . A Small Photograph Of Best Can Be Seen On The Left Side Of The Anthology Cover. 104 Best Appeared In An Advertisement For Carlsberg Lager That Was Broadcast During The First Commercial Break Of The First Episode Of The Anthology TV Series On ITV In November 1995. The Tag Line Was "Probably The Pete Best Lager In The World" A Variation Of Carlsberg's Well Known Slogan. In 1988 After Twenty Years Of Turning Down All Requests To Play Drums In Public Best Finally Relented Appearing At A Beatles Convention In Liverpool. He And His Brother Roag Performed And Afterwards His Wife And Mother Told Him "You Don't Know It But You're Going To Go Back Into Show Business". 106 Best Now Regularly Tours The World With The Pete Best Band Sharing The Drumming With His Younger Brother Roag. The Pete Best Band's Album Haymans Green Made Entirely From Original Material Was Released On 16 September 2008 In The US 24 October 2008 Worldwide Excluding The UK And 27 October 2008 In The UK.
On 6 July 2007 Best Was Inducted Into The All You Need Is Liverpool Music Hall Of Fame As The Debut Charter Member. Best Was Presented With A Framed Certificate Before His Band Performed. Liverpool Has Further Honoured Best With The Announcement On 25 July 2011 That Two New Streets In The City Would Be Named Pete Best Drive And Casbah Close. read less