Pete Best

Randolph Peter Best (né Scanland; born 24 November 1941) is a British retired musician who was the drummer for the Beatles from 1960 to 1962. He was dismissed shortly before the band attained global fame and is one of several people referred to as a fifth Beatle.

Best's mother, Mona Best (1924–1988), opened the Casbah Coffee Club in the cellar of the Bests' house in Liverpool. The Beatles (at the time known as the Quarrymen) played some of their first concerts at the club. The Beatles invited Best to join the band on 12 August 1960, on the eve of the group's first Hamburg season of club dates. Ringo Starr replaced Best on 16 August 1962 when the group's manager, Brian Epstein, fired Best at the request of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison following the band's first recording session. Over 30 years later, Best received a significant monetary payout for his work with the Beatles after the release of their 1995 compilation of their early recordings on Anthology 1; Best played the drums on 10 of the album's tracks, including the Decca auditions.

After six years of being a member of several commercially unsuccessful groups, Best left the music industry to pursue a career as a civil servant for 20 years before forming the Pete Best Band, active from 1988 until 2025.