Did Pete Best receive Beatles royalties?

Pete Best was sacked from The Beatles in August 1962. Six months later they were were number one in the UK.  


For thirty-three years, Best did receive any royalties for the recordings he made with The Beatles It was the release of Anthology 1 (1995) that finally resulted in a pay day. Pete featured on nine recordings prior to their first official studio album, plus on the 1962 Decca audition version of Love Me Do.


Best had played on the Tony Sheridan recordings, including My Bonnie (the song which led Brian Epstein to the Beatles via a customer enquiry at his NEMS record shop.


Which tracks was Best owed royalties for?

Polydor recordings with Tony Sheridan & the Beat Brothers (Hamburg, 1961. Produced by Bert Kampfert



  • "My Bonnie"
  • "Ain't She Sweet" 
  • "Cry for a Shadow"

Best also played on the Hamburg Ain’t She Sweet but not the adapted version featured on Anthology


Decca Audition recordings (form January 1, 1962)

  • "Searchin'"
  • "Three Cool Cats"
  • "The Sheik of Araby"
  • "Like Dreamers Do" 
  • "Hello Little Girl" (Paul McCartney’s first song)


EMI Artist test recordings (from June 6. 1962

  • "Bésame Mucho"
  • "Love Me Do" 

How much has he been paid?

The  initial payment has been estimated to have been between $6 and $9 million. 


More on this story here (4 min 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