Ringo Starr Reflects on Why Pete Best’s Exit From The Beatles Was Unavoidable — and Why He Believed He Was the Better Drummer
Photo by Eva Rinaldi from Sydney, Australia, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Drummer Who Missed Out
Spare a thought for Pete Best — the man who nearly lived out the dream of millions. While his former bandmates became global icons, Best returned to Liverpool, working ordinary jobs like loading bread delivery vans. His story has often been told as one of rock’s cruelest twists of fate.
According to Ringo Starr, however, Best’s dismissal from The Beatles wasn’t a random act of betrayal but something that was always bound to happen.
Early Days in Hamburg
Long before The Ed Sullivan Show, before Please Please Me, and before Beatlemania swept the world, The Beatles were still a rough bar band playing in the clubs of Hamburg. The group then consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe on bass, and Pete Best on drums. These early days were far from glamorous — the band performed for gangsters, sailors, and small crowds late into the night, slowly sharpening their sound and stamina.
Sutcliffe left the group voluntarily, allowing McCartney to switch from guitar to bass. But Best’s exit was far less dignified. When The Beatles signed to EMI in 1962, producer George Martin made it clear that while the band had charm and talent, their drumming needed improvement. He wanted a player with better timing and control.
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The Sacking That Shook The Band
Rather than confronting Best themselves, Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison asked manager Brian Epstein to deliver the news. Without so much as a direct conversation, Best was told he was out of the band.
His replacement was Ringo Starr, then a drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Starr quickly fit into the group both musically and personally, helping define the rhythmic pulse that carried The Beatles to global superstardom. Within a few years, the band was headlining stadiums, topping charts worldwide, and transforming popular culture forever.
Yet the way things ended with Best continued to weigh on the band. His departure left lingering guilt among members, especially as Best struggled in the aftermath — including a well-documented suicide attempt during the height of Beatlemania.
Ringo on Joining The Beatles
For Ringo Starr, replacing another drummer wasn’t an easy task. Still, he soon became essential to The Beatles’ identity, adding swing and character to their sound. Reflecting on that era years later, Starr shared his admiration for the band even before joining them.
“They were playing better stuff,” he told Modern Drummer in 1981. “They were doing very few of their own songs then, but they were doing really great old tracks—Shirelles tracks and Chuck Berry tracks, but they did it so well. They had a good style.”
“I don’t know,” he continued, “There was a whole feel about Paul, George, and John.”
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“I Never Felt He Was a Great Drummer”
When it came to Best, though, Starr was candid in his assessment. “And Pete, it’s no offence, but I never felt he was a great drummer,” Starr admitted, echoing George Martin’s earlier judgment. “He had sort of one style, which was very good for them in those years, I suppose, but I think they felt that they wanted to move out of it more.”
Martin briefly considered hiring session drummer Andy White to take over, even having him play during The Beatles’ third EMI session. But Starr’s chemistry with the others was undeniable, and he soon became the permanent drummer.
Even after years of scrutiny from critics and fans, Starr’s contribution to The Beatles’ sound remains undeniable. His steady timing, distinctive fills, and understated creativity helped shape the songs that defined a generation — something that simply wouldn’t have been possible without that fateful change back in 1962.
