Original Beatles drummer Pete Best plays on

Written By: Adam Gonshor of AndPop.com

The original Beatles drummer may never know why he was kicked out of the most influential rock band of all time.

In 1962, just before The Beatles hit mega-fame, Pete Best was replaced with Ringo Starr. 43 years later, he still has never been contacted by any of the surviving Beatles to let him know why.

Over the years, there have been several theories: he wasn't a good enough drummer; he was better looking than the other Beatles; and he was difficult to work with.

"Unless someone actually comes out and says it's definitive and that was the reason, it's going to go on like the mystery of the sphinx," Best tells andPOP, on the line from his office above the famous Casbah club in Liverpool, England.

Tired of people believing some of the unflattering theories – and perhaps tired of people asking him why was axed from the band and not having an answer for them – Best produced the recently released DVD, "Best Of The Beatles."

The DVD explores the early years of the Beatles, and discusses in depth the theories of his ousting.

"Before, it's just been me dispelling the myths. The DVD goes in depth and it's not just my impressions. It's others' impressions who were around at that time. You've got musicians, journalists, fans, club owners, sound engineers, record people, A&R men; they're all contributing. When you take all of those things into consideration, it does put a different slant on people."

Two or three people still alive, he says, know the real reason why was kicked out of the band. Many years ago, he attempted to contact them with no success. So why won't they clear things up?

"I wish I knew," Best says. "It always makes me feel that I was the one that created the injury where in fact I was the injured party."

This rock mystery may never be solved, and Best realizes that.

"There comes a time when you live with it. With your strength of character, you wake up one day and you turn around and realize it's no good reflecting on what happened yesteryear. It's very much about today and tomorrow. Once you actually come to terms with that, then your priorities and goals in life, they take on a far more important meaning."

But Best didn't always have such a positive attitude.

A month after his dismissal, he joined Lee Curtis and The All Stars, but even though they toured the UK and Germany and signed a record deal, they were never able to become nearly as popular as his old band, and barely made a dent in the North American music scene. In 1965, he locked himself in a room and began to inhale fumes from a gas fire in an attempt to commit suicide. His mother found him before it was too late.

"That suicide attempt was something which was futile when I think back about it," Best says. "I've asked myself when it did happen and I survived it, 'what the hell did you do that for in the first place?' And you can't come up with a reason for it. It's just some bloody stupid thing that gets into your mind."

He said to himself, "I'm going to take a vow that it never happens again. There's much more to live through. I've got a wife, I've got a child, I've got to look towards their future. That is your driving factor."

So in 1968, he hung up his sticks and retired from music.

It wasn't until 20 years later, when he agreed to appear at a Beatles tribute gathering, that he had the desire to drum again.

After that one-off appearance, Best formed The Pete Best Band and still tours today (they'll play in Hamilton on October 25, in Brantford on October 26, and at Toronto's Drake Hotel on October 27.).

"A lot of people think that because it's the Pete Best Band, we're going to be a tribute band. And we're not."

The band's live shows try to capture the intensity and power from the early days of The Beatles, without actually copying them.

After all, that powerful style was created by Best, he says, when The Beatles toured Germany in 1960.

Had he never been part of The Beatles, "I think there would have been a much different sound from Liverpool bands, to be quite honest," Best explains. "The style that I created was very much a style which was needed, which worked well for the band, and it gave it a powerhouse sound, a lot of energy, a lot of force. The Liverpool invasion, a lot of that was the drum sound that I initiated way back in the '60s."

Although he has never received a call from Paul McCartney, Starr or Beatles producer George Martin, he did receive what he considers a "thank you" in the form of his inclusion on the Beatles Anthology (Volume 1), which was released in 1995. Included on the CD set were 10 tracks from the early days, featuring Best on drums.

"Financially it was great. I'm still getting residuals," he says. Some reports say he earned several million dollars from that release. "You've lived your life and then all of a sudden you get this fairy tale ending which comes out of the blue."

If all works out, the Anthology won't be the only recordings people can purchase featuring Best. He plans to record new material with his band and release an album next spring.

Best had a role in the British Invasion of the '60s and was a member of the most popular rock band ever, but his career highlight is his return to the music business in 1988.

And his return wasn't possible until he cast aside the first part of his career, and realized that maybe his firing was supposed to happen that way.

"Maybe at that time, I didn't know it but it was karma. It was really hurtful at the time, but it wasn't destined that I was bound to be there. It was something else that was allocated around my life. The pain you went through at the time, you go, 'why me?' But many years down the line you look back and go, maybe it happened for a reason."