Video: 'The Beatles Interviews: Meeting George Martin and Ringo Joining The Band'

(Thursday, August 16, 1962, 10:00 a.m. BST) — Pete Best, the drummer of the English rock music band The Beatles, was fired from the group today after he was summoned to the Liverpool office of the group’s manager, Brian Epstein.

The other three members of the group (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison) had decided to replace Best with another Liverpudlian drummer, Ringo Starr. The quartet went on to become one of the most successful and critically-acclaimed bands in history.

Best had joined The Beatles, who were then called The Silver Beatles, on Aug. 12, 1960, after getting a call from Paul McCartney just before the band went on tour in Germany.

In June 1962, after capturing success in Liverpool and Hamburg, the band secured a record contract with EMI and met George Martin at Abbey Road Studios for their first recording.

Video: 'The OBVIOUS REASON PETE BEST Was FIRED by the BEATLES | #032'

When Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison learned that Martin and the engineers preferred replacing Best with a session drummer for their upcoming recording session on Sept. 4, 1962, they considered using it as a pretext to permanently dismiss Best from the group.

Eventually, after a very long delay, they asked Epstein to dismiss Best from the band, which he did today.

Epstein had secured Richard Starkey, better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, as Best’s replacement the day before.

Johnny Hutchinson filled in on the drums until Starr’s debut as a permanent member of the group on Aug. 18, 1962.