Rock band success stories usually also contain the lesser stories of spurned members who never made it to the band’s peak. Probably the most recognizable example is Pete Best, often named “the Fifth Beatle.”
It was on this day, August 16th, in 1962 that Pete Best was fired and replaced by Ringo Starr as the drummer for The Beatles.
Best was hired on 12 August 1960 when the band was desperate for a drummer. The next day, the Beatles started their series of club dates in Hamburg. Best was fired by the group’s manager, Brian Epstein, two years later. According to Spitz’s biography on the band, Epstein’s only explanation for Best’s dismissal was that “the lads don’t want you in the group anymore.”