Why Pete Best Was NOT Fired by Brian Epstein or The Beatles

hi this is david bedford welcome back to another video for bright moon liverpool and today i'm going to tackle something which is pretty controversial one of the biggest moments in beatles history is the 16th of august 1962 when pete best was sacked by the beatles or was he let's have a look this always provokes a lot of interest and some people take sides you know they want to protect ringo so they have a go piece you want to protect pete so they have a go at ringo i'm not going to be looking at drumming styles today comparison between the two just going to be looking at the evidence for how they got rid of pete best and how ringo joins the beatles now first of all i want to make this clear if you've seen some of my earlier videos you know the way that i work and that is forensically look at the evidence that's what we're going to do today is look at the evidence now if you want to know the full story have a look at my book finding the fourth beatle that's available in our store if you haven't seen our store yet um you click on the link above us or it'll be in the content description down below as well have a look we've got lots of books in there that related to the videos that we're doing we've also got a community if you haven't seen the community either if you go onto our channel there's a community where we can discuss these things so we've got points of view brilliant we want to have those discussions but let's get straight into what happened with the beatles getting rid of pete vest first to clear things up it was never a case of let's get rid of pete and replace it with ringo there's no evidence to suggest that these are two separate events but i will also say don't think that i'm here to have a go ringo starr because i'm not the fan in the fourth beatle book the key thing about that book was telling the journey of all the drummers that the beasles went through all 23 of them between 1956 and 1970 but finding why was ringo the guy who made it why was he in my opinion the only one who could have made it work why was he and why is he still regarded as one of the greatest drummers ever and why is he still underrated don't get it so so i'm not going to look at the styles but just to make things clear okay we'll also look at just to say with evidence pete best was not a crack drummer he was not rubbish all this kind of stuff that goes on no that's not the case let's look at the evidence what happened in august 1962 so evidence number one pete was never kicked out to be replaced by ringo that wasn't that wasn't the case bonus number two pete was a really good drummer now in my book finding the fourth people we've um interviewed many people who saw pete play live or those who played with him and the conclusion is pete was a great drummer but don't just take my word for it don't just take their word for it what did john lennon say about when the beatles are at their best they're at the best when they played the straight rock around the clubs in hamburg and liverpool that's when john said the beatles were the real beatles well that was when pete best was drawing with them paul mccartney had said in june 62 after the audition when they were thinking of replacing him no pete best is a great live drummer but maybe there's something that the producer george martin has spotted so there's plenty of positive affirmation of pete's drumming the third thing and somebody made this on an earlier video said well if you think it takes john paul and george two years to find out that somebody can't play drums what does it say about them now we know the standard of musicianship with john paul and george was so high they would not have put up with the drummer who couldn't play and certainly wouldn't have put up with him for two years so let's deal with all of that for now so let's get into it more evidence so evidence number three one of the things i discovered was in december 1961 john paul george and pete signed a partnership agreement the first band in liverpool ever to do so this tied them together as a partnership as a group so they certainly weren't thinking of getting rid of him at that moment worthy evidence number four there is nothing that happens before the audition in june 1962 to suggest they wanted to get rid of pete now if you want to know more about the june 62 audition then just click on the link you can go watch that one that proves it was an audition and at the end of it george martin was saying if we make a record contract that is when we know things changed because george martin says if i give you a contract i'm going to use a session drummer to make the record that was normal practice back then brian didn't know that john paul and george didn't know that but that's when the seeds of doubt were sown and they thought well if george martin the producer says pete's not good enough to play on the record we're gonna have to replace him now actually they didn't but that then starts the conversation okay this is our last chance for record deal if we don't do this the band's gonna split anyway if we get the deal then we're gonna have to change the drummer so you can understand them making that decision this was their last opportunity now to back that up i interviewed brian epstein's lawyer it's the next bit of evidence evidence number five now david harris explained that not long after that june 62 audition brian came to him and said find me a way for us to get pete best out of the group we need to replace him because of what's going on at emi that's when the conversation starts and david harris explains that they are a partnership so you cannot sack a partner you'd have to find a way for him either to voluntarily leave or you have to cease the partnership and start up again so it was complicated let's go to evidence number six we know the end of july the letter and the contract arrives from george martin saying that they have been offered a contract now they know that this is when the move to replace pete starts evidence number six first drummer to be asked was bobby graham now bobby graham uh ended up being one of the best session drummers in the country he reckoned he played in about 1500 songs 50 of them being number ones at the time he was playing with joe brown and the brothers who had had the number one single and one on tour why would he give all that up and bobby graham talked about this numerous times he said why would i give that up i'm based in london with my family i've got a great career as a session drummer i'm with joe brown the brothers and number one hit maker why would i give all that to move to liverpool to join a group i've never heard of you've only just been given a deal now in tune in mark lozen's book he suggests that this was an offer on a temporary basis because john paul and george were sure they wanted ringo there's no evidence to support that in fact i spoke to bobby graham's manager david barnes who'd worked with him for years this was a permanent offer from brian epstein so bobby graham became the first drummer to turn them down evidence number seven richie galvin richie allen was a local drummer very very talented playing with the earl preston and the tts he was offered the chance to replace pete he also turned them down one of the reasons and this is a common theme throughout beatles history is he couldn't get on with john lennon plus he was a friend of pete best he didn't like what was being done he just settled down just got married he decided no he didn't want to do that now again can we corroborate it richie died many years ago unfortunately now his wife has talked about this offer but i also then spoke to two members of the groups that richie had played in who both confirmed yes he was offered the chance to replace pete and this is why he turned him down exactly the same way so we know richie garvin was drummer number two evidence number eight comes from ringo now any historian will tell you the closer you can find the account of an event to when it actually occurred the more likely it is to be true so i uncovered various bits of information so the first one and this sort of goes against the whole thing that it was going to be ringo joining straight away one he was offered the chance to join jerry in the pacemakers this is around the august of 62 possibly on base not that he was a bass player obviously he turned that down he was then offered the drumming chair in king-size taylor and the dominoes who are about to go back to hamburg ringo agreed to join them at 20 pound a week having just agreed to join them that's when the beatles came in and also made an offer at 25 pound a week so now we know ringo is potentially available august 62 even though he's agreed to join king-size taylor ringo did an interview in november 1962 and he made it very clear how he joined the beatles yes he'd sat in for pete on three or four occasions but at no point had he been offered the job he had no expectation that he was going to be joining the beatles so this is what ringo said happened on a friday george housing goes to ringo's house because ringo's not there he's a butlins leaves a message with ringo's mum for him to call him ringo has the weekend off on the saturday he gets in touch with george george invites him to come down to see the beatles play at the odd spot in bowl street liverpool which he does after the gig when pete and the aspinall take all the gear back to the casbah john paul and george take ringo over to the blue angel club introducing to brian do you then talk about ringo replacing pete brian says okay if you're up for that i'll ring you on tuesday to confirm that's tuesday of the following week we know on the 14th that brian does call ringo now in between this there's the suggestion that john and paul may have driven over to butlins to offer ringo the job we can't prove but if he did it would have been the monday following that meeting but there's no confirmed evidence but it might have happened most importantly is on tuesday the 14th then brian telephones ringo and offers him the chance to join the beatles which he says yes to ryan says when can you start ringing said well obviously i'm still in this group but i can start from saturday so that is all agreed pete best is called in to see brian now peter thinks he's going just to discuss the diary discuss the bookings this is where he meets a very very nervous brian epstein brian's pacing up and down and eventually and we have this from brian and from peter he says i don't know how to tell you this but the boys want you out and ringo's joining on saturday now that wording becomes very very important because for years we've said you know how could brian sack pete what happened when brian sacked pete well having spoken to brian's lawyer and confirming what happens in law in the uk brian's got no authority to sack pete because brian doesn't employ pete pete and the beatles employ brian so he's actually employed by then so brian doesn't sack pete but secondly pete doesn't get sacked he can't be sacked again think of that conversation with brian's lawyer he said you cannot sack a partner from a group so john paul george couldn't fire peace either so brian couldn't fire him his fellow beatles couldn't fire him what is going on this is what is going on the wording from brian was the boys want you out in law your fellow partners want you out of the group and it's already been agreed that ringo's joining on saturday now if you're 21 year old pete what you're going to think well i've been sacked but he hadn't been he'd been replaced in the group but he hadn't been fired he still remembered the beatles now technically what they should have done is drew up the accounts and paid pete off and then started over again they didn't have the time to do that they had to move quickly so in the way what brian has to do is to convince pete that he's been sacked without sacking him see what where this is going pete thinks he's been sacked but he hasn't been now to complicate this further because brian had a management contract drawn up which the beatles themselves signed alistair taylor signed but brian didn't sign pete is still tied to brian legally brian still has to represent pete he has to find work for him so he offers him a job with the mercy beats but billy and tony are 15 and 16 years old he's not going to do that what briangel's then is he contacts joe flannery his friend and a fellow promoter joe's putting the group together called lee curtis and the all-stars joe flannery contacts pete invites pete to join lee curtis and the old stands as drummer by doing that pete effectively quits the beatles now i know it's semantics and i know it's all legal discussions but that is how it had to happen they had to get rid of him without sacking him because they couldn't sack him they had to trick him into thinking he was being sacked so that's pete out of the beatles but that's not the end of it because that night the beatles were playing in chester being supported by the big three now brian had said to pete would you be willing to play tonight and pete in a haze says yes obviously once he gets home he realizes what he's saying for no way am i playing with them he also has a conversation with the hospital and says look neil don't quit because neil has offered to quit because he's just become father to road best pete's half brother i know it's complicated isn't it but pete says to neil don't give it up the beatles are going somewhere and again that's the true measure of pete as a gentleman and as a friend he tells neil to stick with them the beatles were very very surprised when neil turned up that night with the equipment but of course there's no pete so because the big three are supporting them johnny hutch who was the best drummer in liverpool is asked to sit in with the beatles at night which he does the gig goes really well afterwards in the hotel johnny sat there when brian epstein and bob wolla approach him and said that you thought you were brilliant tonight you and the beatles is a perfect fit we want you to replace pete now johnny turns them down and said then now i got to know johnny really well and you could tell me the story remembered absolutely everything and he said people seem to think that i hated the wheels said i didn't i didn't like their style of music i thought the big three made a much better sound pete was a fellow drummer he was a mate i didn't like what they were doing to him so i did turn them down flat but this becomes complicated doesn't it because the day before ringo's been offered the job what does that make of the offer to ringo if johnny's offered it that night now it could only have been that night because as johnny retells the story he sat in with the beatles and he was after that in chester that he's approached that's the only time that happened so i had to be in that date one of the things that complicates it with ringo is that in a book the love you make which peter brown wrote many years ago very controversial he admitted this is with ringo's help he admitted that ringo joined on a probationary basis at 25 pounds a week ringo has said he had the 20 pound a week offer from king-size taylor but he accepted 25 pounds a week from the beatles so was ringo offered the job on a probationary basis but when he saw johnny hutch he thought no he's the guy to do it but then because johnny turn them down that's all backed up by evidence every single one of them now as we know ringo is the guy who made his debut with the beatles on the 18th of august 1962. he's the guy who became the final member of the fab four so how do we look at this all of that is backed up by evidence i have not seen any evidence to contradict any of that part of the story at all the one thing i can say is that out of the four drummers who were asked i'm not going on technical ability or whatever for me ringo is the only one who could have done that job the way i look at it is when pete best leaves the beatles that is the end of the beatles the great covers band the great rock and roll and r b group as ringo joins a new group called the fab four is formed they're a pot group they're a recording group and nobody had the versatility and the talent that ringo had to make that work to make that work in conjunction with john paul and george has always happens in the history of the beatles even if isn't a smooth transition between things between members the right choices always made ringo was the right choice unfortunately for pete that was the end of his career with the beatles now he's very philosophical these days he's moved on from that he got over it and of course as we know ringo became the great drummer the one who's inspired a generation of drummers and the fab four were complete if you find that controversial and you want to discuss anything obviously i'm very happy to either in the comments below or on the community if you've got evidence to contradict the evidence that i've discovered please let me know so this day changed everything for the beatles it changed pete's life forever and it changed ringo's life forever and as soon as you could say it changed our lives as well hope you enjoyed this one look forward to the next one don't forget check out the store for the book and join the community as well and we'll see you on the next video

Channel: Brightmoon Liverpool

Views: 49,173

Keywords: why pete best was fired, why was pete best fired from the beatles, why was pete best fired from teh beatles, Pete Best, Pete Best Beatles, Pete Best sacked from The Beatles, Brian Epstein fired Pete Best, Brian Epstein, The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, why was Pete Best sacked, why was pete best fired form the beatles, ringo starr drumming, pete best with the beatles

Id: AHa4dwhBslQ

Length: 19min 21sec (1161 seconds)

Published: Tue Aug 16 2022