He is a drummer born in Madras, India, the son of Mona Best who owned the Casbah Club in Liverpool.
He became a member of The Beatles in 1960 and played with them through their Hamburg tours but was fired shortly after their first EMI audition possibly partly because he refused to change and wouldn’t wear his hair in the mop-top style The Beatles were wearing at the time. It is said that Ringo Starr’s band offered him the job as The Hurricanes’ drummer, which he refused, to make it a direct switch. There was a lot of controversy when he left the band and the fans set up vigils at his home and started fights at the Cavern Club.
After The Beatles he joined Lee Curtis and the All Stars which then became Pete Best and the All Stars. They released the song “I’m Gonna Knock on Your Door”. He then moved to the US and fronted The Pete Best Four and The Pete Best Combo. He also led The Pete Best Band in the 1970s.
He unsuccessfully tried to commit suicide by gassing himself in 1965. He filed a libel suit against The Beatles for comments by Ringo Starr on him being a drug user which was settled out of court. He went on to become a baker and a civil servant and then served as technical adviser for the TV movie The Birth of the Beatles.
In 2007 he was inducted into the All You Need is Liverpool Hall of Fame and after playing drums in public in 2008 for the first time in 20 years at a Beatles Convention he has gone on to regularly tour with his own Pete Best Band.
The Beatles with Tony Sheridan recordings
Cry For a Shadow (George Harrison/John Lennon )
Why (Tony Sheridan/Bill Crompton )
Here he is with The Beatles on one of their first recordings, “Money”…
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