Pete Best

Pete Best

Pete Best in 2005
Background information
Birth name Randolph Peter Best
Also known as Pete Best
Born 24 November 1941 (1941-11-24) (age 69)
Madras, British India
Origin Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Genres Rock and roll, rock
Occupations Drummer, Civil Servant, Songwriter, Vocalist
Instruments Drums, Vocals
Years active 1959–1968, 1988–present
Associated acts The Beatles,
Lee Curtis & the All-Stars,
Pete Best & the All-Stars,
The Pete Best Four,
The Pete Best Combo,
The Pete Best Band
Website www.petebest.com

Pete Best (born 24 November 1941) is a British musician, best known as the original drummer in 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 where The Beatles (then known as The Quarrymen) played some of their first concerts. The club was also known as The Casbah Club, or simply The Casbah. Best played there with his first band, The Black Jacks, and later with The Beatles.

Best joined The Beatles on 12 August 1960, only one day before they were to go to Hamburg to play a season of club dates. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, who were the co-founders and nucleus of the group, elected to dispense with his service two years later, on 16 August 1962, and he was replaced by Ringo Starr. Best states that he was never given a full explanation as to the reason he was let go.

He later worked as a civil servant for 20 years, before starting The Pete Best Band. Best has been married for over 45 years to Kathy Best; they have two daughters and four grandchildren.

Contents

Early life

Best was born in Madras, India, which was a British colony at the time. Best's father, John Best, came from a family of sports promoters in Liverpool, who once owned and ran the Liverpool Stadium.[1][2] Mona Best was born in Delhi, India, and was the daughter of a British army officer. Mona was training to become a doctor in the service of the Red Cross when she met John Best. After their marriage, both Best and his younger brother, Rory Best (b.1944) were born in India.[3][4] In 1945, the Best family sailed for four weeks to Liverpool on the Georgic, which was the last troop ship to leave India, and carried single and married soldiers who had previously been a part of General Sir William Slim's forces in south-east Asia. The ship docked in Liverpool on 25 December 1945.[5][6]

The Beatles and Hamburg

In 1960, Allan Williams arranged a season of bookings for The Beatles in Hamburg, starting on 12 August 1960, but said that he was not impressed with them as a musical group, and hoped that he could find a better act to follow them.[7]

Having no permanent drummer, Paul McCartney looked around for someone to fill the Hamburg position. Best had been seen playing with The Black Jacks in The Casbah, and it was noted that he had become a steady drummer, meaning that he played the bass drum on all four beats in the bar, which pushed the rhythm.[8] Best was known in Liverpool as being "mean, moody, and magnificent" by female fans, which convinced McCartney he would be good for the group.[9] After The Black Jacks broke up, McCartney asked Best to go to Hamburg with the group, but lied by saying they would earn £15 per week each.[10][11] As Best had passed his school exams—unlike Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, who had failed most of them—he had the chance to go to a teacher-training college, but decided that playing in Hamburg would be a better career move.[12] Best had an audition in the Jacaranda club—owned by Williams—and travelled to Hamburg the next day with The Beatles.[13][14] Williams later admitted that the audition with Best was not needed, as The Beatles hadn't found any other drummer willing to travel to Hamburg, but didn't tell Best in case he were to ask for more money.[15]

An Albert Marrion photo of Best in Liverpool, 17 December 1961.

The Beatles first played at the Indra club in Hamburg, but slept in the Bambi Kino (cinema) in small, dirty rooms, which were noisy, cold, and directly behind the screen. Upon first seeing the Indra, Best remembered it as being a depressing place that was filled with a few tourists, and having heavy, old, red curtains that made it seem shabby compared to the larger Kaiserkeller.[16] As Best had been the only one to take O-Level German at school, he could communicate with Bruno Koschmider—the club's owner—and the clientele better than the rest of the group.[17] After the closure of the Indra because of complaints about the noise, The Beatles played in the Kaiserkeller.[18][19] In October 1960, they left Koschmider's club to work at the Top Ten Club, which was run by Peter Eckhorn, as he offered the group more money, and a slightly better place to sleep, though by doing so they broke their contract with Koschmider.[20][21] When Best and McCartney went back to the Bambi Kino to get their belongings they found it in almost total darkness. As a snub to Koschmider, Best found a condom in his luggage, attached it to a nail on the concrete wall of the room, and set fire to it.[22] There was no real damage done, but Koschmider reported them both for attempted arson. Best and McCartney spent three hours in a local jail and were deported, as was George Harrison, for working under the legal age limit, on 30 November 1960.[23][24][25]

Back in Liverpool, no-one contacted each other for two weeks, but Mona and Best made numerous phone calls to Hamburg to recover the group's equipment, which they eventually managed to do.[26] The ex-Black Jacks guitarist Chas Newby was invited to play bass with them for four concerts, as Stu Sutcliffe had decided to stay on in Hamburg.[27] Newby was shocked at the vast improvement of their playing and singing, and remembered Best's drumming to be very powerful, which pushed the group to play harder and louder.[28] It was probably due to McCartney that Best developed a loud drumming style, as he would often tell Best in Hamburg to "Crank it up" (play as loud as possible).[29] Newby played with the group at Litherland Town Hall and at The Casbah.[30] When the group returned to Hamburg, Best was invited to sing a speciality number called "Peppermint Twist" while McCartney played the drums, but Best always felt uncomfortable being at the front of the stage.[31]

Beatles-Platz in Hamburg includes a hybrid sculpture representing an amalgam of Best and Starr on drums, along with sculptures specifically representing Lennon, Sutcliffe, McCartney, and Harrison.

"My Bonnie"

The reunited Beatles returned to Hamburg in April 1961. While playing at the Top Ten Club they were recruited by singer Tony Sheridan to act as his backing band on a series of recordings for the German Polydor Records label, produced by bandleader Bert Kaempfert.[32][33] Kaempfert signed the group to a Polydor contract at the first session on 22 June 1961. On 31 October 1961, Polydor released the recording "My Bonnie" (Mein Herz ist bei dir nur) which appeared on the German charts under the name "Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers"—a generic name used for whoever happened to be in Sheridan's backup band.[34] The song was later released in the UK.[35] There was a second recording session on 23 June and a third session in May 1962.

Auditions with Decca and Parlophone

Brian Epstein, who had been managing The Beatles for less than a month, arranged for the group to have an audition at Decca Records on New Year's Day, 1962.[36] They played 15 songs, mostly covers,[37] and as John Lennon later admitted, were "terrified and nervous". A month later, Decca turned The Beatles down.[38]

Five months later, on 6 June 1962, The Beatles played a Parlophone audition at Abbey Road Studios for George Martin.[39] Ron Richards and his engineer Norman Smith recorded four songs, which Martin (who was not present during the recording) listened to at the end of the session. The recording convinced Martin that the group was good enough to be signed to a contract (even though he had already signed a contract with Epstein) but with one exception; Martin and his engineers wanted to use an experienced session drummer in Best's place, as was common practice amongst producers. How much this played into the subsequent sacking of Best has never been made clear. Many years later Martin himself worried that it played no small role: "I decided that the drums, which are really the backbone of a good rock group, didn't give the boys enough support. They needed a good solid beat and I said to Brian, 'Look, it doesn't matter what you do with the boys, but on record, nobody need know. I'm gonna use a hot drummer.' Brian said, 'Okay, fine.' I felt guilty because I felt maybe I was the catalyst that had changed his life, so I'm sorry about that, Pete." [40][41][42]

Dismissal

When the group heard that Martin and the engineers preferred a session drummer for their upcoming recording session, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison asked Epstein—who had taken over as manager in January—to dismiss Best from the band.[43] Before Epstein became The Beatles' manager, Best had arranged all the bookings in Liverpool, after they had parted company with Williams.[44][45] Epstein agonised about the decision. As he wrote in his autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise, he "wasn't sure" about George Martin's assessment of Best's drumming and "was not anxious to change the membership of the Beatles at a time when they were developing as personalities...so...I asked the Beatles to leave the group as it was."[46] Epstein also asked Bob Wooler for advice, to which Wooler replied that Best was too popular with the fans to be gotten rid of.[47] Ultimately, Epstein decided that "if the group was to remain happy Pete Best must go"[46] so he called Best to his office and dismissed him on 16 August 1962, which was two years and four days after Best had joined the group.[10][45]

Best's friend Neil Aspinall was waiting for Best downstairs in Epstein's NEMS record shop after the meeting at which Best was dismissed, and was the first person to talk to him after he had heard from Epstein. The two had a drink in The Grapes pub, across from The Cavern Club, where The Beatles had often played.[48] Starting in 1961, Aspinall had become good friends with Best and subsequently rented a room in the house where Best lived with his parents. Best asked Aspinall to become the band's roadie, resulting in Aspinall buying an old Commer van for 80 pounds. He had been employed as the band's road manager and personal assistant, and was furious and said that he would stop working for them as well — but Best strongly advised him not to. Aspinall asked Lennon at the next concert why they had fired Best, to which he replied, "It’s got nothing to do with you — you’re only the driver."[49]

Prior to Best's dismissal, during one of the extended business trips of Best's father, the 19-year-old[50] Aspinall became romantically involved with Best's mother, Mona Best, who was 17 years his senior. During this period, Aspinall fathered a child by Mona: Vincent "Roag" Best.[51][52] Roag Best was born in late July 1962, just three weeks prior to Best's dismissal. On 16 August 1962, Best was dismissed.[48] Despite his professed initial support for Best, after his friend's dismissal from the Beatles, Aspinall elected to stay in the employ of the group, and he ended his relationship with Mona (and their three-week-old baby, Roag).[49]

Lennon, McCartney and Harrison are all on record as stating that their first and sole choice to replace Best was Ringo Starr and they informed Epstein of this fact. Bill Harry has claimed that the vacant drummer position in The Beatles was initially offered by manager Brian Epstein to Johnny Hutchinson of The Big Three, whom he also managed. Hutchinson turned down the job, saying "Pete Best is a very good friend of mine. I couldn't do the dirty on him". Hutchinson did agree to fill in three bookings until second choice Ringo Starr could join. Starr took Best's place in the band.[53] Harry's claim has never been substantiated by the Beatles.

Starr had previously played with Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, the alternate band in the Kaiserkeller, and had stepped in to drum with The Beatles in Hamburg and Liverpool when Best was ill or unable to play.[41][54] Best's dismissal was reported on the front-page of the Mersey Beat magazine, upsetting many Beatles fans. The Beatles encountered some jeering and heckling in the street and on stage for weeks afterwards, with some fans shouting, "Pete forever, Ringo [Starr] never!" One agitated fan headbutted Harrison in The Cavern, giving him a black eye.[55][56]

Reasons for Best's dismissal

Best (top left) on stage in Hamburg, with Sutcliffe and Harrison in 1961.

Best was never told why he was dismissed from The Beatles, as the only reason Epstein stated to him was, "The lads don't want you in the group anymore".[45] Epstein subsequently claimed in his autobiography that Lennon, McCartney and Harrison thought Best "too conventional to be a Beatle, and though he was friendly with John, he was not liked by George and Paul."[46] It has been documented (notably in Cynthia Lennon's book John) that while Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison usually spent their offstage time together in Hamburg and Liverpool, writing songs or socialising, Best generally went off alone. This left Best on the outside, as he was not privy to many of the group's experiences, references, and in-jokes.[57]

On their first trip to Hamburg, The Beatles realised that the stage suits they wore could not stand up to the hours of sweating and jumping about on stage every night, so they all bought leather jackets, jeans and cowboy boots, which were much tougher. Best preferred to play in short sleeves, and so did not match the sartorial style of the group, even though he was later photographed wearing a leather jacket and jeans.[58] Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Sutcliffe were introduced to drugs in Hamburg. As they had to play for hours every night, they often took Preludin to keep themselves awake, which were given to them by German customers or by Astrid Kirchherr, whose mother bought them.[59] Lennon would often take four or five, but Best always refused to join in.[60][61]

Kirchherr asked The Beatles if they would mind letting her take photographs of them in a photo session, which impressed them, as other groups only had snapshots that were taken by friends. The next morning Kirchherr took photographs in a municipal park called "der Dom" which was close to the Reeperbahn, and in the afternoon she took them all—minus Best who decided not to go—to her mother's house in Altona.[62][63] Best was described by Dot Rhone—McCartney's girlfriend at the time, who later visited Hamburg—as being very quiet, and never taking part in conversations with the group.[64]

Best's popularity with fans was a source of friction, as many female fans considered Best to be the band's best-looking member.[65] It has been said that Epstein became exasperated with Best's refusal to adopt the mop-top-style Beatle haircut as part of their unified look, although Best later claimed that he was never asked to change his hairstyle. In a 1995 BBC Radio Merseyside interview, Kirchherr explained: "My boyfriend, Klaus Voorman, had this hairstyle, and Stuart [Sutcliffe] liked it very, very much. He was the first one who really got the nerve to get the Brylcreem out of his hair, and asking me to cut his hair for him. Pete Best has really curly hair, and it wouldn't work."[66]

Radio Merseyside presenter, Spencer Leigh, wrote a book chronicling Best's firing, suggesting that the other members, McCartney in particular, were jealous.[67] During the Teenagers' Turn showcase in Manchester, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison walked on stage to applause, but when Best walked on, the girls screamed.[65] Best was surrounded at the stage door afterwards by attentive females while the other members were ignored after signing a few autographs. McCartney's father, Jim McCartney, was present at the time and admonished Best by saying: "Why did you have to attract all the attention? Why didn't you call the other lads back? I think that was very selfish of you".[65] Mona Best's take on her son's sacking, as told to British television in 1963 with Pete by her side: "From the point of clash of personalties, well, probably that may be it because Peter did have a terrific fan club, you know, compared to the others. [Interviewer: "Too good looking perhaps, eh?"] I'll leave that for other people to say but from my point of view we haven't come here to sort of throw sticks and stones at the boys because there is no really hard feeling. There was at first, but it's just the way that it was done that has annoyed us. If it had been done a bit more straightforward it would have been more to the mark."[68] Martin was shocked that Epstein had sacked Best: "He seemed to be the most salable commodity as far as looks went. It was a surprise when I learned that they had dropped Pete. The drums were important to me for a record, but they didn’t matter much otherwise. Fans don’t pay particular attention to the quality of the drumming".[69] Martin used session musician Andy White on the third session for "Love Me Do" on 11 September, and not Starr, who was Best's replacement.[70]

Musically Best has been judged to have had a limited rhythmic vocabulary that was seen as holding the other three band members back from their collective musical growth. George Martin, as noted above, deemed Best's drumming to be inadequate for a record. As stated in Bob Spitz's 2005 biography, "All Pete could do was play 'Fours'..." a style of drumming that uses kick drum notes on every quarter note to hold down the beat. Spitz's book also contains engineer Ron Richards' account of his failed attempts to teach Best somewhat more complicated beats for different songs.[42] Critic and Beatles historian Richie Unterberger described Best's drumming at the Decca session as "thinly textured and rather unimaginative"[37] and said that Best "pushes the beat a little too fast for comfort".[38] Unterberger thought Ringo Starr to be "more talented."[71] Beatles critic Alan W. Pollack compared the Best, Starr, and Andy White versions of "Love Me Do" and concluded that Best was "an incredibly unsteady and tasteless drummer" on his version.[72]. For his part, Best has explained in an interview[73] that variations in tempo were in accordance with how the song was being performed live at the time.

All the other Beatles went on record about the dismissal of Best. Paul McCartney said that "it was a strictly professional decision. If he wasn't up to the mark... then there was no other choice". He also pronounced Best to be "a bit limited." Lennon called the accusations of jealousy a "myth", claimed that Best was only recruited for the band because the Beatles needed a drummer to go to Hamburg, and said, "We were always going to dump him when we found a decent drummer." Harrison said that "Pete kept being sick and not showing up for gigs" and claimed that "I was quite responsible for stirring things up. I conspired to get Ringo in for good; I talked to Paul and John until they came round to the idea."[74] For his part, Ringo said that "I felt I was a much better drummer than he was."[74]

Lennon, McCartney and Harrison all later stated that they regretted the manner in which they sacked Best. Lennon admitted that "We were cowards when we sacked him."[75] McCartney has stated that "I do feel sorry for him, because of what he could have been on to."[75] Harrison said "We weren't very good at telling Pete he had to go"[76] and "Historically it may look like we did something nasty to Pete and it may have been that we could have handled it better."[77] Only Ringo has remained unapologetic: "I never felt sorry for Pete Best. I was not involved."[76] Beatles authority Mark Lewisohn has concluded that "Despite his alleged shortcomings, it was still shabby treatment for Pete... the most underhand, unfortunate and unforgivable chapter in the Beatles' rise to monumental power."[78]

After The Beatles

Soon after Best was dismissed, Epstein tried to console him by offering to build another group around him, but Best turned him down. 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.[43] Best joined Lee Curtis & the All Stars, which then broke off from Curtis and became Pete Best & the All Stars. They signed to Decca Records, and released the single "I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door", which was not a hit.[79] Best later relocated to the United States along with songwriters Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington. As The Pete Best Four, and later as The Pete Best Combo (increasing their number to five) they toured the United States with a combination of 1950s songs and original tunes, recording for small labels, but had little success.[79] They ultimately released an album on Savage Records, titled Best Of The Beatles; a play on Best's name, leading to disappointment for record buyers who 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 Rubettes.

Later years

Collage of The Beatles Anthology, showing the centre photo on the far left ("The Savage Young Beatles") where Best's head was covered by another photo with Ringo's head

Best decided to leave show business, and by the time of Hunter Davies' 1968 authorised Beatles' biography, he was not willing to talk about his Beatles' association. Years later Best 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."[80] He once tried to commit suicide, but was talked out of it by his mother, Mona, and his brother, Rory.[81] In 1963,[82] he married Kathy, who worked behind the biscuit counter at a Woolworth's store. Best's marriage to Kathy has lasted for more than 45 years, and they have two daughters (Beba and Bonita) and four grandchildren.[83] Best did shift work loading bread into the back of delivery vans, earning £8 a week. His education qualifications subsequently helped him become a civil servant working at Garston Jobcentre in Liverpool[81] where he rose from employment officer to training manager for the northwest of England[84] 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'”.[85] In time, Best began giving interviews to the media, wrote about his time with The Beatles, and served as a technical advisor for the television movie Birth of the Beatles. Best found a modicum of independent fame, and has admitted to being a fan of his former band's music, and owning their records.[86] In 1995, the surviving Beatles released Anthology 1, which featured a number of tracks with Best as drummer, including songs from the Beatles' Decca and Parlophone auditions and the Pete Best edition of "Love Me Do". 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.[87][88] The collage of torn photographs on the Anthology 1 album cover includes an early group photo that features Best, but Best's head is covered by Ringo's head from the Please Please Me cover photo. (The missing section of that 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.[89]

Best appeared in an advertisement for Carlsberg lager, which 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.[90]

The Pete Best Band

Best performing in Maryland in 2006

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 for the audience and afterward, his wife and mother told him, 'You don't know it, but you're going to go back into show business.'"[91] Pete Best now regularly tours the world with The Pete Best Band, sharing the drumming with his younger brother Roag.[92] 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.[93] Their new album Haymans Green, made from entirely original material, was released on 16 September 2008 in the USA, 24 October 2008 worldwide (excluding the UK), and 27 October 2008 in the UK.[94]

Discography

Singles

Another "Peter Best" single, "Carousel Of Love"/"Want You" (Capitol 2092) is not by the Beatles drummer but an Australian performer with the same name.

LPs

CDs

Filmography

Full length films

Notes

  1. ↑ Roag and Pete Best (2003) p1
  2. ↑ Liverpool Stadium and Johnny Best lmu.livjm.ac.uk – Retrieved 1 December 2007 Archived August 7, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ Pest Best biog iol.ie/~beatlesireland – Retrieved 7 November 2007 Archived October 21, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  4. ↑ Mona Best biog iol.ie/~beatlesireland – Retrieved 7 November 2007 Archived July 12, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ↑ Roag and Pete Best "The Beatles: The True Beginnings" 2003 p17
  6. ↑ General Sir William Slim and the Georgic red-duster.co.uk – Retrieved 26 November 2007
  7. ↑ Spitz (2005) p203
  8. ↑ Spitz (2005) p204
  9. ↑ ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 – 0:39:26) McCartney talking Best’s reputation in Liverpool
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Miles (1997) p57
  11. ↑ Lennon (2006) pp69-70
  12. ↑ Spitz (2005) p6
  13. ↑ ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 0:39:49) Harrison talking about the audition with Best
  14. ↑ My Beatle Days, by Pete Best triumphpc.com - Retrieved 26 November 2007
  15. ↑ Goldsmith (2004) p46
  16. ↑ Spitz 2005 p208
  17. ↑ Lennon (2006) p77
  18. ↑ Miles (1997) pp57-8
  19. ↑ Cynthia Lennon “John” 2006 p76
  20. ↑ Lennon (2006) p93
  21. ↑ Miles (1997) pp71-72
  22. ↑ Spitz 2005 p230
  23. ↑ ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 0:49:56) Notice telling Harrison to leave Hamburg.
  24. ↑ Miles (1997) pp72-73
  25. ↑ Lewisohn (1990) p24
  26. ↑ Spitz (2005) p231
  27. ↑ Photo of Chas Newby beatlesource.com - Retrieved 5 November 2007
  28. ↑ Spitz (2005) p5
  29. ↑ Spitz (2005) p214
  30. ↑ Spitz (2005) p234
  31. ↑ Best and "Peppermint Twist" eskimo.com - Retrieved 26 November 2007
  32. ↑ Lennon (2006) p97
  33. ↑ LewisohnChronicles
  34. ↑ Spitz (2005) p250
  35. ↑ “My Bonnie“ / “The Saints“ 23 April 1962. Polydor NH 66833 (Tony Sheridan and The Beat Brothers)
  36. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. The unreleased Beatles: music & film. 2006, Hal Leonard Corp., ISBN 978-0-87930-892-6, p. 18
  37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 Unterberger, p. 19
  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Unterberger, p. 22
  39. ↑ Martin (1994) pp120-123
  40. ↑ ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 1:02:54) Martin talking about Best’s drumming.
  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Miles (1997) p90
  42. ↑ 42.0 42.1 Spitz (2005) p318
  43. ↑ 43.0 43.1 Lennon (2006) p119
  44. ↑ Lennon (2006) p106
  45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 45.2 Spitz (2005) p330
  46. ↑ 46.0 46.1 46.2 Epstein, Brian, A Cellarful of Noise. Pyramid Books, 1964, p. 63
  47. ↑ Spitz (2005) p329
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Spitz (2005) p331
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 Aspinall, The Beatles and money - Mersey Beat triumphpc.com - Retrieved 11 February 2007
  50. ↑ Williams, Richard. "Obituary - Neil Aspinall", The Guardian, 25 March 2008
  51. ↑ Lennon (2006) p44.
  52. ↑ Review of “Drummed Out” – The sacking of Pete Best iol.ie/~beatlesireland - Retrieved 11 February 2007 Archived January 13, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  53. ↑ Bill Harry on Pete Best's Sacking
  54. ↑ Best and Bill Harry on Rory Storm triumphpc.com - Retrieved 5 November 2007
  55. ↑ ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 1:04:24) Harrison talking about “Pete forever, Ringo never!”.
  56. ↑ Lennon (2006) p120
  57. ↑ The Sacking Of Pete Best iol.ie/~beatlesireland - Retrieved 31 May 2007 Archived January 13, 2007 at the Wayback Machine.
  58. ↑ Spitz 2005 pp213-214
  59. ↑ ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 0:44:28) Starr and Harrison talking about Preludins in Hamburg
  60. ↑ Miles (1997) pp66-67
  61. ↑ Spitz (2005) p219
  62. ↑ ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 0:47:16) Harrison talking about their friends: Kircherr, Voormann and Volmer.
  63. ↑ Spitz (2005) p223
  64. ↑ Spitz (2005) p246
  65. ↑ 65.0 65.1 65.2 Spitz (2005) p322
  66. ↑ Kirchherr's interview on BBC Radio Merseyside's 500th "On The Beat" programme - Saturday 26 August 1995 members.aol.com - Retrieved 21 May 2007
  67. ↑ Leigh Drummed Out!: The Sacking of Pete Best (1998)
  68. ↑ "Best of the Beatles” DVD 2005 (1:48:48) Mona and Pete reflecting on Pete's dismissal, in vintage television clip
  69. ↑ Harry 2001 - The Beatles’ Encyclopedia
  70. ↑ Spitz (2005) p353
  71. ↑ Unterberger, p. 24
  72. ↑ Notes On "Love Me Do"
  73. ↑ Citation needed
  74. ↑ 74.0 74.1 The Beatles, The Beatles Anthology. Chronicle Books, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8118-2684-6, pp. 70-72
  75. ↑ 75.0 75.1 The Beatles, The Beatles Anthology. Chronicle Books, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8118-2684-6, p. 70
  76. ↑ 76.0 76.1 The Beatles, The Beatles Anthology. Chronicle Books, 2000, ISBN 978-0-8118-2684-6, p. 72
  77. ↑ "The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episode 1 - 1:03:05) Harrison discusing Best's sacking
  78. ↑ Lewisohn, Mark (1992). The Complete Beatles Chronicle. Pyramid Books. p. 58. 
  79. ↑ 79.0 79.1 After The Beatles petebest.com/1963 - Retrieved 4 December 2007
  80. ↑ Best, Pete and Patrick Doncaster. BEATLE! The Pete Best Story. Plexus Publishing Ltd, 1985, ISBN 978-0-85965-077-9, p. 179
  81. ↑ 81.0 81.1 Pete Best is a happy man - 7 April 2007 dailymail.co.uk - Retrieved 5 November 2007
  82. ↑ Pete Best finally speaks out over bitter sacking from The Beatles, 04 Feb 2009
  83. ↑ Till there was Ringo – 13 June 2004 theage.com.au - Retrieved 26 November 2007
  84. ↑ Original Beatles Drummer Pete Best Tells His Side of the Fab Four Story - 3 September 2009.
  85. ↑ The Lost Beatle, - entertainment.timesonline.co.uk, 27 October 2008.
  86. ↑ Pete Best interview retrosellers.com - Retrieved 21 May 2007
  87. ↑ Money from sales liverpoolecho.co.uk - Retrieved 5 November 2007
  88. ↑ Money from Anthology lakeconews.com - Retrieved 5 November 2007
  89. ↑ ”The Beatles Anthology” DVD 2003 (Episodes 1 & 2 cover)
  90. ↑ "Neil Aspinall: The Times obituary". The Times. 2008-03-25. http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article3612776.ece?token=null&offset=12. Retrieved 2008-06-20. 
  91. ↑ http://www.thesouthern.com/entertainment/feature/article_87194d2b-7bd6-5f3a-ba63-c9fcca843e37.html
  92. ↑ Pete best homepage petebest.com - Retrieved 21 November 2007
  93. ↑ Best being inducted to the Hall Of Fame mccaffreysworld.com - Retrieved 5 November 2007
  94. ↑ "Haymans Green - Release Date". pete best. 2008-06-13. http://www.petebest.net/forums/showthread.php?t=2810. Retrieved 2008-09-15. 

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