Why did The Beatles sack Pete Best?

'We were cowards when we sacked him,'  John Lennon

The Beatles replaced their drummer, Pete Best, with Ringo Starr in August 1962. 


Best had been with the band for nearly two years and was shocked by the decision, relayed to him at a meeting with Brian Epstein at the NEMS office. When pressed, Epstein told Best that the decision had been hastened by George Martin's dissatisfaction with his performance at the Abbey Road recording session.


Martin always denied that he had asked for Best to be removed. In fact, the reasons were more complex, with personal and musical issues combining with the availability of a 'better Beatle' in Ringo being crucial

Full story (4-minute free read on Medium)

Popular posts from this blog

Who was the tallest Beatle?

Image
Warning! Not exactly to scale This is a surprisingly controversial question. The Beatles fan club and other 'official' sources stated that Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison as the same height: 5'11" (180cm), with Ringo Starr 5'8" (172cm) Early publicity photos emphasise a certain height uniformity. This harmonised with the identical suits and ‘Beatle’ hairstyles. It was as if you could walk over their heads without breaking step. Late 60s photos emphasised individual difference rather than collective branding. They revealed that Paul was/is fractionally taller than John, who in turn had the slightest of edges over George. Ringo was/is closer to  5'6"  (168cm) Great Hoax? A belief that the real (small) Paul was replaced by a taller 'fake Paul' or Faul is a key component of the (bonkers)  'Paul is Dead' conspiracy theory .   'Evidence' of an alleged height disparity  McCartney brazenly maintains that he is still very much aliv...
Read more