"The original 'fifth Beatle' Pete Best has spoken out about his bitter heartbreak at being dropped by The Fab Four just before they hit the big time ahead of his new album.
Pete, 67, is a world-famous music legend, not for what he managed to achieve - but for what he missed out on for the sake of a few weeks.
He was the drummer famously sacked by The Beatles in 1962, in the month before they shot into the stratosphere. He was left on the launch pad, sticks in hand.
It's rock history now, but suddenly the Pete versus Ringo debate is firing again after Sir Paul McCartney popped up on a US radio show last week to offer his version of the event.
Macca said: "Ringo was in another band, and we just fell in love with his drumming, that's the truth.
"One night he sat in for Pete, and we just went... wow!"
Pete recalled the thousands of nights spent agonising over why he was suddenly dropped without explanation and against a huge backlash from their Liverpool home-grown fans at the Cavern.
He said: "Maybe somebody just thought Ringo sounded better than Pete, maybe it was as simple as that.
"What really hurt then, and still hurts now, is that no one had the courage or the decency to tell me what they were plotting.
"It would have been nice if just once, in these last 47 years, Sir Paul had picked up a phone to make that call and explain it as that, just as one old mate to another."
It could be argued that on the other hand, he could have picked up his own phone and called Sir Paul.
"No way," he says. "We have never spoken a word since that day, and what would we talk about now? He's a superstar, a world icon, he doesn't lead the everyday life that ordinary people do, so what would we have in common?
"I have no regrets. You can lead a rich life without millions in the bank and mansions in the country."
..."
The rest is here.
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