Original Beatles Drummer Pete Best Announces Resignation: “I Had an Explosion. Thank You”

Pete Best Retires from Performing

Pete Best, the original drummer of the Beatles, has officially announced his retirement.

Background on Pete Best’s Career

Initially, Best joined forces with long-standing members of The FAB FOUR—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison—but was let go by manager Brian Epstein and replaced by Ringo Starr in August 1962. A letter from Epstein confirming his dismissal has recently surfaced and is up for auction.

Since then, Best has made appearances at conventions and performed live with the Pete Best Band alongside his brother Roag Best. They were scheduled for a show at the Liverpool Beatles Museum on Matthew Street this August, but Roag has confirmed that the 83-year-old former drummer has now stepped back.

He shared on X: “We had an absolutely wonderful trip. However, everything happens. My brother Pete Best announced today that he has resigned from personal performances and from the group. His daughter informed me that this is due to personal circumstances.”

I had an explosion. Thank you. https://t.co/p9drtpwbv1

– Pete Best (@beatlespetebest) April 6, 2025

In his tweet, Best wrote: “I had an explosion. Thank you.”

History of the Casbah Coffee Club

Last year, the duo transformed the venue where the Beatles held some of their earliest performances into an Airbnb rental.

Located at 8 Haymans Green, West Derby, Liverpool, the Casbah Coffee Club is where the Fab Four performed over 40 times at the start of their career and 13 more times as they progressed. The club first opened in 1956 in the basement of Best’s mother Mona’s family home.

The renovation of the house into an Airbnb began in 2020, and it now offers five suites, each named after an original Beatle, including Lennon, McCartney, Best, and the group’s first bassist, Stuart Sutcliffe. You can book a reservation here.

Despite the absence of Ringo Starr from the lineup, Best has indicated that there is no animosity between them.

Meanwhile, Lennon’s half-sister recently mentioned that an actor from Liverpool should portray John Lennon in the upcoming Beatles biopic directed by Sam Mendes.