Pete Best, Beatles Original Drummer, Is Retiring

Pete Best is stepping away from the spotlight. On Sunday, Best — who was the original Beatles’ drummer before Ringo Starr — confirmed that he is stepping away from public appearances and performances.

“Well, what an absolutely wonderful ride we’ve had,” wrote Best’s younger brother Roag on the social media platform X. “However, everything comes to pass. My brother Pete Best has announced today he is retiring from personal appearances and performing with the group. His daughter has informed me it’s due to personal circumstances.”

Best, now 83, shared the post and wrote on his own account: “I had a blast. Thank you.” Best’s band was scheduled to perform a concert at Liverpool Beatles Museum, but it has now been canceled.

To many, Best is known as “the fifth Beatle” for his time in the group. His family owned the Casbah Coffee Club, which hosted the Beatles’ first shows and has been known as the band’s “birthplace.” It’s now been converted into a Beatles-inspired Airbnb space.

Best was the first drummer in the Beatles, who were previously known as the Quarrymen, and also played with the Beatles between 1960 and 1962 during a string of Hamburg, Germany shows while the group had no permanent drummer.

“I thought I wanted to start a group of my own,” Best once said in an I’ve Got a Secret interview in the Sixties. “And at that time, I didn’t think they’d go as big as they are now.” 

In the Nineties, the Beatles dropped a compilation album, Anthology 1, which included some of Best’s drumming. Since then, he’s had his own band called the Pete Best Band, releasing the album Haymans Green in 2008.