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Pete Best

Pete Best (Source: Wikipedia (Ex-Beatles drummer Pete Best))

While the association of The Beatles with India is relatively well known thanks to their time spent with "giggling guru" Mahesh Yogi, Pandit Ravi Shankar et al., it is less widely known that one of The Beatles was actually born in India. Pete Best was born Randolph Peter Best on the 24th of November, 1941, in Madras, British India. He spent the first four years of his life in India before his family returned to England and Liverpool.

Pete Best's mother - Mona Best - converted the basement of their home in Liverpool into The Casbah Coffee Club, a venue for rock and roll music. The first band to play at The Casbah were The Quarrymen (the precursors to The Beatles) and the last band to play there were The Beatles in 1962. It was in 1960 that Pete Best was asked to join The Beatles as their drummer and travelled to Hamburg with them. He remained with the band until his dismissal in August, 1962. He was replaced by Ringo Starr.

He is often referred to as the "fifth Beatle".

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