Pete Best

Peter Randolph Best (born November 24, 1941) was an early drummer for The Beatles from Madras, India. The son of the owner of Liverpool's Casbah Club where the Beatles played occasionally, 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, being fired on August 16 that year to be replaced, for musical reasons, by Ringo Starr, then of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. This led to a falling out with both John Lennon and with Paul McCartney.

After a series of jobs outside music, Best eventually found a modicum of independent fame as leader of the Pete Best Four.