Mersey Beat - Pete Best

Randolph Peter Scanland was born on the 24th November 1941 in the city of Madras in what was then known as British India. After the family had moved back to England they eventually settled in West Derby and Pete, now known as Pete Best following his mother's remarriage, studied at the Liverpool Collegiate Grammar School in Shaw Street. When he decided he wanted to be in a music group his mum Mona bought him a drum kit from Blacklers music department in Liverpool's city centre and Pete formed his own band, 'The Black Jacks'. Other members of the group were Chas Newby and Bill Barlow with Ken Brown, once a member of 'The Quarrymen', but who he had left after an argument over payment. 'The Black Jacks' became the resident group at the Casbah, a coffee club his mother had opened in the cellar of her home in Hayman's Green, West Derby after watching a programme on TV about the '2i's Coffee Bar' in London where several singers had been unearthed. Coffee bars had become 'the' place for young people to meet and she sold coffee, soft drinks and sweets there. The house, previously owned by the West Derby Conservative Club, was unusually large with 15 bedrooms set in 1 acre of land and with a very large cellar.

It was here that George Harrison first met Pete. He was playing in the area and heard about this new club and decided to make his way down and take a look. At that time George was playing occasionally with another group called 'The Les Stewart Quartet' and it was they who got an early booking at the new club. However the leader of the group, Les Stewart, following a disagreement with Ken Brown about playing there, walked out with drummer Geoff Skinner, leaving just Ken and George. Not wanting to lose the gig, George suggested his friends John and Paul join them but as three of the four were from 'The Quarrymen' they renamed themselves as such for 6 shows.

 

Paul, John and George in the living room above the Casbah

Mona agreed to this new arrangement, but told them they needed to finish painting the club first. All four took up brushes and helped Mona to finish painting the walls with spiders, dragons, rainbows and stars. In addition to the four boys' artistic contributions, Cynthia Powell, later to become Cynthia Lennon, painted a silhouette of John on the wall, which can still be seen today. For these young aspiring musicians it must have felt great being involved in the 'birth' of such a place and feeling that it was their club. Obviously Pete must have played with them a lot, what with him having his own drum kit and they not having a regular drummer, and it was no great surprise that he got the call to join them on the first trip to Hamburg.

A sombre Pete Best on stage

 

The long arduous sets they performed daily during their stays in Hamburg would probably mean that Pete has performed live on stage for more hours than Ringo ever did with The Beatles. When the on-off girlfriend of Klaus Voorman, Astrid Kirchherr, gave Stuart Sutcliffe the same hairstyle as her boyfriend, George Harrison copied it and later so did Paul and John. However Pete didn't, Astrid saying his hair was too curly; Pete stating he was never asked. There were also frequent visits to Astrid's house in order to get away from their cramped living conditions and to get cleaned up and have a meal made by her mother. Pete never appeared though and seemed to detach himself from the group when they weren't playing. Pete seemed to conduct his private life away from the others and would rather go to where the women he liked lived and not in the company of the band. As they were appearing along with 'Rory Storm & The Hurricanes', with Ringo as their drummer, it happened that he stood in several times for Pete and he started to bond with the other three.

Those Hamburg days & nights.

 

However it is one thing to have individual friendships as Pete had, especially with John Lennon, than to have the same camaraderie with the group as a whole. This seemed to be the case with Pete, who by all accounts was more of a 'loner' but nevertheless more popular with the girls than any of the other Beatles although he tended not to smile a lot and avoid looking at the audience. Cavern DJ Bob Wooler considered Pete to be 'The Beatles' biggest asset and has said that he was the one who attracted people to gigs at the Aintree Institute and Litherland Town Hall. Once he was mobbed by girls in Manchester and was accused by Paul's father of 'hogging the limelight'. Pete was also the last to know when Decca rejected the group, the others making the excuse that they thought he'd take it badly. There were other 'hints' that something wasn't right before Brian asked him to call into his office on the 16th of August 1962.
 He was informed by Brian, "The boys want you out and Ringo in. They don't think you're a good enough drummer Pete, and George Martin doesn't either." Brian then asked him if he could still fulfil the remaining three bookings until Ringo came in to which a stunned Pete agreed.

The fact that George Martin still used a session drummer, Andy White, instead of Ringo made the reason given for his dismissal a little lame. It would appear that Paul and George had made their minds up and persuaded John to go along with them. John Lennon was later to say: "We were cowards when we sacked him."

 

After he left 'The Beatles' Pete eventually settled into a new role with 'Lee Curtis and The All Stars'. With Pete as the backbone of the group, the band toured the UK and Germany, with an ever-growing fan base who were to witness a head-to-head competition between Pete's new band and their rivals, 'The Beatles'. In 1963 the band was awarded second place in the Merseybeat Poll, being beaten into second place by a narrow margin from the winners –' The Beatles'!Splitting from Lee, the manager responsible for turning down 'The Beatles' at Decca, Mike Smith, decided that Pete and The All Stars was just the band that they had been looking for. Now under contract from Decca, the band's name was changed to 'The Pete Best Four'. Finally in 1968, after playing professionally for a decade, Pete decided that family life was more important than playing and put down his sticks for the last time.

Pete has never spoken to any of 'The Beatles' since he was forced out of the band. However he has no regrets and is not bitter. He has said, "If I’d have been in the same situation and I was another member of the band, maybe I’d have been one of the bad guys. I think I’m a lucky guy. I’m very proud of what I’ve achieved as a person, of the examples I’ve set to people to get on with your life, to pick yourself up. I’ve been an inspiration. And I’m proud of that."

 

see also :- http://www.thefootballvoice.com/2017/02/mersey-beat-beatles.html