Pete Best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb2GIFMLgpU

Good interview with him from the 1980s here

After he left he was drumming for a support act and i think he says the Beatles blanked him when they came on

Seems a nice guy

I think he was in his 50s before he got paid anything though

I read he got millions when the beatles released early stuff with him drumming, not sure when though, depending upon how he reflects now, I would say he had a lucky escape, as when you are that famous, and they were as famous as being famous could get, your life is never your own. General theories bounce between him not being as good a drummer as Ringo and the band being jealous of the attention he got from women, as apparently he was the better looking one.

That would have been about 1995.

Seriously i think you are gonna be on your own if you think he was happy with how things turned out

the story goes the other Beatles were jealous of him because he was more popular with the girls, but George Martin didn't rate him either he said his timing was out.

The Beatles entered the recording studio three times before landing a recording contract. First when they were back up for Tony Sheridan in Hamburg, the second at their Decca audition and the third when they went to EMI to see George Martin.

In Hamburg the producer told Best not to play the bass drum at all and to use brushes rather than sticks, an unusual thing to tell a drummer playing on rock songs. The source of that information is Tony Sheridan who said Pete was a great guy but a poor drummer.

Decca engineers present at the audition have said (can’t remember where) that had they passed the audition they’d have not used Best on the recordings.

George Martin always said that there was no way he was going to be allowed to play on the recordings and that he'd replace him with a session drummer.

The stuff about his looks is largely a myth, I think, when Ringo sat in in Hamburg the music was just better. Best was always going to get the boot they were just too lazy to do it until it had to be done.

He made a lot of money from The Beatles Anthology, which must have been some compensation.

Studio drummers need to be bang the one  beat but still be versatile. Music producers struggle with drummers as they are the key to getting the track down and fitting the others in, and if communication is not forthcoming then in this instance i would suggest George Martin realised he wasn't right.

They were a much tighter band with Ringo.

Whether it is true or not, I love the Lennon quote when asked if Ringo was the best drummer in the world, he replied 'he isn't the best drummer in the band'.

Rumour has it that Paul went back and redid the drumming on one or two tracks. I think Back In The USSR was one.

Paul played drums on The Ballad Of John And Yoko as only he and John played on that song.

paul played drums on the first 2 white album tracks because ringo had quit

On a bit of a tangent but on a knowledgeable thread: Stu Sutcliffe played piano for the Rolling Stones for ten years of their infamy - yet never was pictured. Was he really ugly?Andrew Loog Oldham took the credit for ejecting Stu Sutcliffe but he was only a ponce. 'd love to hear that Sutcliffe made millions too (I don't know).

he died before the beatles made it big

he died before the beatles made it big

Stu Sutcfiffe?

brain haemorrhage in Hamburg, his paintings are now worth substantial sums

Sorry my mistake. Idiot.
I was curious about the piano player credited on Stones' albums as Stu on piano. I'm contrite now and won't google his surname. Sure the fans know who I mean.

Ian Stewart's face never fitted and you can see it here:

.
http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01866/ian-stewart_1866315b.jpg

But he did remain with the group playing on their records and was a respected musician, he's on some Zep stuff and others, so he's not in the same league as Pete Best.

Stu Sutcliffe's bass playing can be heard on three tracks on Anthology 1 and there's supposed to be a recording of him singing Love Me Tender, which (I think) his estate say is him. Singing this in Hamburg it was supposed to get the biggest cheers. Never heard it and no idea if it is authentic.

Ian Stewart, thank you, FlowerMyth.
I did read Loog Oldham's account and wondered how angered I would be to be sidelined by such Andrew Loog Oldham, but I suspect that he was just just working his passage.

Love Me Tender was it seems his nightly party piece. According to the film Backbeat he was singing this one night when Bert Kaempfert walked in, the group had been recommended to him by some publisher. He apparently virtually walked straight out as it was pretty naff, but they did eventually work with Kaempfert and Tony Sheridan when they recorded My Bonnie but without Sutcliffe.

BB, I had a copy of my Bonnie, and stupidly gave it away. It cost me £15 in an indoor market in Hampshire in the early 80s.

what a downer BF that must be worth a few bob now I bet. I saw Tony Sheridan play at a working men's club in Burton back in the 80's, but I didn't know about his Beatles connection then.

harry knows,ringo quit the band for while as too much sh1t was going down,as far as pete is concerned,yes got to feel sorry for him but he wasn't good enough

Me neither until I got the record, RECORD!!! haven't said that in years about a music recording.

Another lesser known quote is that the engineers behind the desk said
they could count with the fingers of both hands, the number of times they had to stop because of a Ringo mistake.

Great video showing why Ringo is possible the greatest drummer ever:

https://youtu.be/wJTjjAXDZSY

another lesser quote was that lennon said ringo never missed a beat

John Lennon
"Ringo's a damn good drummer. He was always a good drummer. He's not technically good, but I think Ringo's drumming is underrated the same way Paul's base-playing is underrated. Paul and Ringo stand up anywhere with any of the rock musicians." -- from a Playboy magazine interview (1980)


George Harrison
"Ringo's got the best back beat I've ever heard and he can play great 24-hours a day." -- from a 1974 interview


Paul McCartney
"Paul has been recently quoted as saying that Ringo Starr is still his favorite drummer, much to the amazement of the drumming community and the world at large. McCartney's worked with Steve Gadd, Jeff Porcaro- he can have the pick of anyone, just about, but he still loves Ringo." --- Deborah Parisi, writing for Rhythm magazine(1990)

McCartney's not a bad drummer himself but he has said often that he can't play a shuffle and if you can't you're not really a drummer. Ringo could do a shuffle and sing at the same time with ease.

Before being in the top band in world, he was drummer in the top band in Liverpool (Rory Storm and the Hurricanes) and before that in the top skiffle band in Liverpool, whoever they were. He's always been highly regarded by most drummers it's just this 'not the best drummer in the Beatles' quote from a comedy show that seems to have have stayed in the public consciousness.