BIOGRAPHY
Pete Best, born Randolph Peter Best on November 24, 1941 in Madras, British India, is a British musician, best known as the original drummer for The Beatles.
After moving from India to Liverpool in 1945, Best's mother, Mona Best (1924–1988), started The Casbah Coffee Club in the cellar of the Bests' house in Liverpool, which became very popular—the membership list grew to over a thousand—and was where The Beatles (then known as The Quarrymen) played some of their first concerts. Best played there with his first band, The Black Jacks, and later with The Beatles.
Best joined The Beatles on August 12, 1960, just one day before The Beatles were to play a season of club dates in Hamburg. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, who were the co-founders and nucleus of the group, fired Best through their manager, Brian Epstein, on August 16, 1962, replacing him with Ringo Starr. Best is one of the group of people sometimes referred to as "the Fifth Beatle". He later worked as a civil servant for 20 years, before starting The Pete Best Band.
