Pete Best finally speaks out over bitter sacking from The Beatlesby Pierce King. Published Wed 04 Feb 2009 14:12, Last updated: 2009-02-04
BLACKPOOLJIMMY
Pete Best finally speaks out over bitter sacking from The Beatles by
Pierce King. Published Wed 04 Feb 2009 14:12, Last updated:
2009-02-04
Pete Best has spoken out about his bitter heartbreak at being dropped
by The Fab Four just before they hit the big time ahead of his new
album.
Pete, 67, is a world-famous music legend, not for what he managed to
achieve - but for what he missed out on for the sake of a few weeks.
He was the drummer famously sacked by The Beatles in 1962, in the
month before they shot into the stratosphere. He was left on the
launch pad, sticks in hand.
It's rock history now, but suddenly the Pete versus Ringo debate is
firing again after Sir Paul McCartney popped up on a US radio show
last week to offer his version of the event.
Macca said: "Ringo was in another band, and we just fell in love with
his drumming, that's the truth.
"One night he sat in for Pete, and we just went... wow!"
Pete recalled the thousands of nights spent agonising over why he was
suddenly dropped without explanation and against a huge backlash from
their Liverpool home-grown fans at the Cavern.
He said: "Maybe somebody just thought Ringo sounded better than Pete,
maybe it was as simple as that.
"What really hurt then, and still hurts now, is that no one had the
courage or the decency to tell me what they were plotting.
"It would have been nice if just once, in these last 47 years, Sir
Paul had picked up a phone to make that call and explain it as that,
just as one old mate to another."
It could be argued that on the other hand, he could have picked up his
own phone and called Sir Paul.
"No way," he says. "We have never spoken a word since that day, and
what would we talk about now? He's a superstar, a world icon, he
doesn't lead the everyday life that ordinary people do, so what would
we have in common?
"I have no regrets. You can lead a rich life without millions in the
bank and mansions in the country."
Pete has finally put down on the record his own feelings about the
split, and the dream abruptly snatched away from him, in a song on his
new CD by the Pete Best Band.
It's a track called Broken. A bitter-sounding lament about betrayal,
deceit and tears behind closed doors while you put on a macho face to
the world.
The album is being launched this month in the Casbah Club, the
Liverpool coffee bar opened by Pete's mum Mona with her winnings from
the 1954 Derby.
People think that The Beatles story started at The Cavern, but it
didn't. The real beginning was in this cramped basement where the
city's fledgling beat groups used to play to 200 fans inside while
1,000 more crowded into the back garden.
The Beatles tour buses don't stop here. Only diehard fans visit by
appointment, to be shown around by Pete's brothers Roag and Rory.
They see the original Dansette record player propped on a stool, the
upright piano the bands thumped away at, the ceilings painted by
Lennon and McCartney, and there, chiselled into one wall, a single
name... John.
It's where Pete still practises, amid the memories. Hayman's Green,
his album's title, is the address of the street outside.
Pete is a grandfather of four now, but he's still recognisable as that
moodily handsome, leather-jacketed kid who attracted his own following
of adoring groupies back then.
It has also been argued that he was just too handsome and deemed a
threat to Paul and John.
Pete joined another band and struggled for two more years, but with a
young family to support he abandoned showbiz for regular wages. First
in a bakery. Then working in a local Job Centre for 20 years.
Standing by him all the way was Cathy, the girl he had spotted from
behind his drumkit as she danced in The Cavern, the girl who married
him a year after The Beatles sacked him, the girl who gave him his two
daughters.
"We were living in a two-up two-down by the end of the 1960s after The
Beatles had conquered the world, but none of that ever mattered to
Cathy," he says.
"Let's face it, if she was ever going to leave me, it would have been
the day I became an ex-Beatle, but she chose to stay.
"I fell in love with her from the start and I still love her as deeply
today. I idolise her.
I only wish I could be given another 45 years to spend on this planet
with the same girl."
But it wasn't always easy. Pete suffered depression and even made a
bungled suicide attempt - turning on the gas fire and blocking the
doors before he was rescued by his brothers.
"There have been times when we were struggling to pay the bills, when
we were deep in the red and had to borrow from relatives," he adds.
"Then news about a Beatle would pop up on TV and Cathy would say,
'Look, if only you were still one of them.' Then we'd laugh it off.
You can live in a terraced house with a loving wife like Cathy and
you're in a palace with your princess."
It was Cathy and mum Mona who convinced him to pick up his music
career once more.
He played at a Beatles convention in 1988 to a rave reception, and
when he came off stage they said: "You're heading back into showbiz."
Now the Pete Best Band tour the world, for up to six months a year. As
much as old rockers can manage, he jokes.
So what does he think now of the band that left him behind? Ringo, he
says, turned out to be a first-class drummer. But he was astonished at
his outburst last autumn, when his replacement threw a hissy-fit
online, telling fans he wouldn't be signing autographs any more.
Pete goes out of his way to meet his audiences after shows.
John Lennon? A genius just beginning to come to terms with his role as
a world leader, when he paid the ultimate price of success.
George Harrison? He came to the end of his life doing what he wanted
to do, still the private secluded person he had always been.
And Sir Paul? "He's an exceptional talent, he has proved that so
often, but alongside his creativity he has always been good at public
relations. The image is important. You have to think, he always gets
someone to do his dirty work for him."
It was The Beatles' manager and mentor Brian Epstein who wielded the
knife, that day in 1962 when Pete was cut loose. He was nervous,
stammering the words: "The boys want you out and Ringo in..." he said.
Years later John, once Pete's best friend, would confess they had been
cowardly.
"I believe that only three people knew the real reason why I was
sacked," Pete says.
"And only one of them is left alive now to tell the story."
BLACKPOOLJIMMY
Pete Best, Original Drummer of The Beatles speaks out ...
Pete Best, Original Drummer of The Beatles speaks out. Tue, 08 Sep
2009 20:03:02 . The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Pete Best,
John Lennon ...
Stephen X. Carter
<Blackpo...@aol.com> wrote:
>
>"I believe that only three people knew the real reason why I was
>sacked," Pete says.
Duh! Four if you include Danny! :-)
I await Danny's fevered rationalisation of this interview with his
(Danny's) perspective.
--
steve.hat.stephencarter.not.com.but.net
Nothing is Beatle Proof!!
Mr Kite posters and more at http://www.zazzle.com/mr_kite*
Mr Kite posters and more at http://www.zazzle.co.uk/mr_kite*
The Walrus was Danny
> On Thu, 1 Oct 2009 18:12:27 -0700 (PDT), BLACKPOOLJIMMY
>
>
> >"I believe that only three people knew the real reason why I was
> >sacked," Pete says.
>
> Duh! Four if you include Danny! :-)
>
> I await Danny's fevered rationalisation of this interview with his
> (Danny's) perspective.
I'll reply tonight when I get back from work..I still await an apology
for suggesting my picture was on the cafe after 2001!!!
Danny
Jeff
If Pete didn't keep saying the same thing over and
over again, no one would give a damn who he is.
He keeps saying he's made peace within
himself, and then..here we go again. I Do
feel bad for him though.
Jeff
Eric Ramon
but Jeff, he made a ton of money from Anthology so he's financially
set for life, unless he spends the money like a prizefighter.
Lots of guys get canned just when the group is about to get popular
but what makes his case more feeling-sorry-for-able is that this
particular group got more popular than any other group before or
since.
You know how rockers like to adopt mannerisms of successful rockers?
This is really evident in all the Elvis type singing in the 50s, or
the Beatle style groups immediately after the Ed Sullivan show. But
also you've got guitarists making funny faces while they play because
they saw some other guitarist do it. These days they hop around the
stage in imitation of each other....anyway, for awhile younger
producers who admired George Martin would get it into their heads to
tell groups to replace their drummers. I remember one group, 20/20, in
Los Angeles, that was really good. A 3 piece and they rocked. They got
a record deal and the producer pulled that trick. And the other two
went along with it! In that case you never heard much about it because
20/20 didn't go on to become the greatest group of the late 70s/early
80s. But if they had we'd be writing about Mike Gallo.
richforman
>
> - Show quoted text -
Haha, he guy has made a lifetime career of "finally speaking out"!
richforman
The Walrus was Danny
> Pierce King. Published Wed 04 Feb 2009 14:12, Last updated:
> 2009-02-04
>
> Pete Best has spoken out about his bitter heartbreak at being dropped
> by The Fab Four just before they hit the big time ahead of his new
> album.
Right....
>
> Pete, 67, is a world-famous music legend, not for what he managed to
> achieve - but for what he missed out on for the sake of a few weeks.
Right....
>
> He was the drummer famously sacked by The Beatles in 1962, in the
> month before they shot into the stratosphere. He was left on the
> launch pad, sticks in hand.
Not sacked..left by mutual agreement...
>
> It's rock history now,
So the cover up was extremely successful..it is rock history now, same
way that Jesus Christ was the son of dog...
but suddenly the Pete versus Ringo debate is
> firing again after Sir Paul McCartney popped up on a US radio show
> last week to offer his version of the event.
>
> Macca said: "Ringo was in another band, and we just fell in love with
> his drumming, that's the truth.
I wonder why Macca has to verify that this is the "truth"? Because of
nutters like me??
>
> "One night he sat in for Pete, and we just went... wow!"
Rubbish. It must have come to him on a flaming pie.
>
> Pete recalled the thousands of nights spent agonising over why he was
> suddenly dropped without explanation and against a huge backlash from
> their Liverpool home-grown fans at the Cavern.
Very emotional language there from Mr King the journo..thousands of
night agonising indeed.
>
> He said: "Maybe somebody just thought Ringo sounded better than Pete,
> maybe it was as simple as that.
Pete Best refers to himself in the third party...always thinks Danny
thinks this a bit odd..
>
> "What really hurt then, and still hurts now, is that no one had the
> courage or the decency to tell me what they were plotting.
I wonder why he doesn't just fess up...I guess it would be that RS
indeed *was the luckiest man of the 20th century!!*
>
> "It would have been nice if just once, in these last 47 years, Sir
> Paul had picked up a phone to make that call and explain it as that,
> just as one old mate to another."
Sigh..keep it going Pete...
>
> It could be argued that on the other hand, he could have picked up his
> own phone and called Sir Paul.
>
> "No way," he says. "We have never spoken a word since that day, and
> what would we talk about now? He's a superstar, a world icon, he
> doesn't lead the everyday life that ordinary people do, so what would
> we have in common?
Sigh....
>
> "I have no regrets. You can lead a rich life without millions in the
> bank and mansions in the country."
>
> Pete has finally put down on the record his own feelings about the
> split, and the dream abruptly snatched away from him, in a song on his
> new CD by the Pete Best Band.
How poetic of him. Paul McCartney wrote Another Day about a secretary
and a towel.
>
> It's a track called Broken. A bitter-sounding lament about betrayal,
> deceit and tears behind closed doors while you put on a macho face to
> the world.
Right....
>
> The album is being launched this month in the Casbah Club, the
> Liverpool coffee bar opened by Pete's mum Mona with her winnings from
> the 1954 Derby.
Right..we know this..
>
> People think that The Beatles story started at The Cavern, but it
> didn't. The real beginning was in this cramped basement where the
> city's fledgling beat groups used to play to 200 fans inside while
> 1,000 more crowded into the back garden.
Yes...Ok...
>
> The Beatles tour buses don't stop here. Only diehard fans visit by
> appointment, to be shown around by Pete's brothers Roag and Rory.
OK....
>
> They see the original Dansette record player propped on a stool, the
> upright piano the bands thumped away at, the ceilings painted by
> Lennon and McCartney, and there, chiselled into one wall, a single
> name... John.
Confirming the fact that the boys were all mates etc...
>
> It's where Pete still practises, amid the memories. Hayman's Green,
> his album's title, is the address of the street outside.
OK...
>
> Pete is a grandfather of four now, but he's still recognisable as that
> moodily handsome, leather-jacketed kid who attracted his own following
> of adoring groupies back then.
Right...
>
> It has also been argued that he was just too handsome and deemed a
> threat to Paul and John.
It has been argued that yes...I imagine that Pete quite likes that
excuse...
>
> Pete joined another band and struggled for two more years, but with a
> young family to support he abandoned showbiz for regular wages. First
> in a bakery. Then working in a local Job Centre for 20 years.
OK...well done Pete...
>
> Standing by him all the way was Cathy, the girl he had spotted from
> behind his drumkit as she danced in The Cavern, the girl who married
> him a year after The Beatles sacked him, the girl who gave him his two
> daughters.
Nice...
>
> "We were living in a two-up two-down by the end of the 1960s after The
> Beatles had conquered the world, but none of that ever mattered to
> Cathy," he says.
It wouldn't have particulary, as his leaving was a mutual agreement.
>
> "Let's face it, if she was ever going to leave me, it would have been
> the day I became an ex-Beatle, but she chose to stay.
Well..yes...
>
> "I fell in love with her from the start and I still love her as deeply
> today. I idolise her.
Nice...
>
> I only wish I could be given another 45 years to spend on this planet
> with the same girl."
Nice...
>
> But it wasn't always easy. Pete suffered depression and even made a
> bungled suicide attempt - turning on the gas fire and blocking the
> doors before he was rescued by his brothers.
The suicide attempt is not specifically because he left the Beatles
though...maybe his cornflakes got too soggy or something...maybe his
missus started playing away...who knows..
>
> "There have been times when we were struggling to pay the bills, when
> we were deep in the red and had to borrow from relatives," he adds.
There we go. It was due to financial issues..I imagine that it was
lucky that Nell (Roag's dad) was around to help him out.
>
> "Then news about a Beatle would pop up on TV and Cathy would say,
> 'Look, if only you were still one of them.' Then we'd laugh it off.
> You can live in a terraced house with a loving wife like Cathy and
> you're in a palace with your princess."
Nice...
>
> It was Cathy and mum Mona who convinced him to pick up his music
> career once more.
I thought Eppy attempted to put him in the Merseybeats? Which is in
fact strange if he was supposed to be so shite.
>
> He played at a Beatles convention in 1988 to a rave reception, and
> when he came off stage they said: "You're heading back into showbiz."
>
> Now the Pete Best Band tour the world, for up to six months a year. As
> much as old rockers can manage, he jokes.
>
> So what does he think now of the band that left him behind? Ringo, he
> says, turned out to be a first-class drummer. But he was astonished at
> his outburst last autumn, when his replacement threw a hissy-fit
> online, telling fans he wouldn't be signing autographs any more.
Well we're we all?
>
> Pete goes out of his way to meet his audiences after shows.
OK...
>
> John Lennon? A genius just beginning to come to terms with his role as
> a world leader, when he paid the ultimate price of success.
>
> George Harrison? He came to the end of his life doing what he wanted
> to do, still the private secluded person he had always been.
>
> And Sir Paul? "He's an exceptional talent, he has proved that so
> often, but alongside his creativity he has always been good at public
> relations. The image is important. You have to think, he always gets
> someone to do his dirty work for him."
None of this has any baring of what occurred in 62.
>
> It was The Beatles' manager and mentor Brian Epstein who wielded the
> knife, that day in 1962 when Pete was cut loose. He was nervous,
> stammering the words: "The boys want you out and Ringo in..." he said.
Again this is all untrue. It's a continuation of the myth..there must
be some reason for this piloshite to continue...I'm just not
convinced...
>
> Years later John, once Pete's best friend, would confess they had been
> cowardly.
.....I have said it before...
>
> "I believe that only three people knew the real reason why I was
> sacked," Pete says.
>
> "And only one of them is left alive now to tell the story."
There are quite a few people who know the real reason...it will out,
clearly Feb 2009 wasn't the time to do it.
Danny