Pete Best, Original Drummer of The Beatles, Retires at 83

Original Beatles' drummer Pete Best is retiring from all personal appearances and performances.The news was announced this weekend on his brother, Roag Best's, Facebook page:

"Well what an absolutely wonderful ride we’ve had. However, everything comes to pass. My brother Pete Best has announced today he is retiring from personal appearances and performing with the group. His daughter has informed me it’s due to personal circumstances.The Up Close Concert tickets for Liverpool on the 23rd of August will be refunded on Tuesday. Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to turnout for our shows over the years. We had a blast and we hope you did too", the post reads.

Best began his short term stint with the Beatles after Best's mother, Mona Best (1924–1988), opened the Casbah Coffee Club in the cellar of the Bests' house in Liverpool. The Beatles (at the time known as the Quarrymen) played some of their first concerts at the club.

The Beatles invited Best to join the band on 12 August 1960, on the eve of the group's first Hamburg season of club dates. Ringo Starr eventually replaced Best on August 16, 1962 when the group's manager, Brian Epstein, fired Best at the request of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison following the band's first recording session.

After Best Was dismissed, the Beatles went on to achieve worldwide fame with Ringo Starr behind the drumkit. Pete Best is one of several people who are referred to as a "Fifth Beatle", a phrase used to describe others including manager Brian Epstein and organist Billy Preston, who performed with the band during their rooftop concert.

Best decided to leave show business and was unwilling to discuss his association with the Beatles for several years after the Beatles shot to fame.

In 1963, Best married Kathy, a Woolworths sales clerk whom he met at an early Beatles show; they have remained married and have two daughters and four grandchildren

Eventually, Best began giving interviews to the media, writing about his time with the group and serving as a technical advisor for the television film Birth of the Beatles. He found a modicum of independent fame and has admitted to being a fan of his former band's music and owning their records.

In 1988, after twenty years of turning down all requests to play drums in public, Best finally relented, appearing at a Beatles convention in Liverpool. He and his brother Roag performed, and afterwards, his wife and mother both told him, "You don't know it, but you're going to go back into show business".

Over 30 years later, Best received a significant monetary payout for his work with the Beatles after the release of their 1995 compilation of their early recordings on Anthology 1; Best played the drums on 10 of the album's tracks, including the Decca auditions.

In 2008, The Pete Best Band released the album Haymans Green, which consisted of original material. Pete Best played drums, and co-wrote most of the tracks. Reviews of the album were mostly favourable, having described the sound as being influenced by the Beatles. Coincidentally Hayman's Green is the street in West Derby, Liverpool, where Best's mother Mona ran the Casbah Coffee Club.