Why was Beatles drummer Pete Best replaced by Ringo Starr?
George Martin, after hearing their demo tape and listening to them live in studio was “less than impressed” with Pete’s drumming abilities. He told Brian Epstein that while he wouldn’t interfere with their live shows, he wanted to do what was done quite often in those days: replace a so-called “lesser” player in a band with a studio musician when recording. According to The Beatles Anthology book, this was the proverbial last straw for Pete in the eyes of John, Paul, and George – George Harrison mentions that Pete was starting to “…not turn up for gigs,,,” and Paul McCartney said that the rest of the band was growing a “…bit disillusioned…” with Pete’s playing. The irony of this was that whenever Pete wasn’t available or didn’t turn up, they would get their mate Ringo to sit in (Ringo was in the Liverpool band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and knew the Beatles from both bands playing in Hamburg in the early 60’s).
