Pete Best

Born:: November 24, 1941, he's 70 and British.
Birthname:: Randolph Peter Best.
Snapshot:: An Artist with 7 releases, a member of 2 groups, and credited once on others' music.

Pete Best (b. 24 November 1941, in Madras, British India) is a British musician, best known as the drummer for The Beatles before Ringo joined. After the Beatles attained the status of top live rock band, Pete Best left the group in 1962 during recording sessions for their first studio song, "Love Me Do".

He went on to form The Pete Best Combo and record several albums of covers and originals in the 1960s, without much success. He retired from the music industry in 1968 and went into public service.

In 1988, after raising a family and earning a full pension for 20 years of service to the country as a working man, he finally returned to live music by forming a new band called The Pete Best Band. Members have included the lead guitarist for Robert Plant's solo band.

By the mid-1990s, Pete finally began receiving royalties for his work in the Beatles with the release of "Beatles Anthology". He is also featured in the 1994 movie "Backbeat", which depicts the Beatles starting off, then rising to top live rock band status; it ends with them getting a recording contract, and, Pete leaving the band.

In 2005, he threw out the first pitch for the World Championship Chicago White Sox baseball team, inside the same stadium the Beatles played at in the Sixties. Following this, The Pete Best Band played a concert at the stadium.

In 2008, following his return to music and subsequent twenty years of touring with The Pete Best Band, he finally put out his first-ever solo album titled, "Haymans Green". It featured all original music, written by Pete, with his band members (including his brother Roag). The subject matter of the songs have Pete looking back on his childhood and days with the Beatles before they became world famous. It received positive reviews and is considered one of the better solo albums ever released by an ex-Beatle.

Pete Best continues to tour and play live with his band: The Pete Best Band, which performs songs he played on with the Beatles, albeit in the tough, early and heavy rock and roll style of the Beatles before their first album.