INTRODucing...THe BEatles
the Quarry Men
John Lennon, 17, formed his first band, The Black Jacks which was made up entirely of classmates at Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool. Almost right after they started, they changed their name to The Quarry Men. They played a mixture of folk, jazz, and blues- which was popular in England at that time. Summer of ‘57, The Quarry Men were setting up for a performance when another member of the band introduced John to Paul McCartney, 15, left-handed guitar player. He auditioned for the band when The Quarry Men finished their set. Paul was immediately invited to join. By February ‘58 John Lennon was moving toward rock 'n' roll. This prompted the band's banjo player to leave, giving Paul McCartney the opportunity to introduce John to his friend George Harrison. The band (John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Duff Lowe-piano player and Colin Hanton-drummer) recorded a demo consisting of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" and a John Lennon- Paul McCartney original, "In Spite of All the Danger." The Quarry Men broke up in the early 1959. John and Paul continued writing songs, and George joined a group called The Les Stewart Quartet. The Quarry Men reunited when George's group fell apart, and he recruited John and Paul to help him fulfill a contract with Liverpool's Casbah Coffee Club. When that gig ended, the trio continued performing as Johnny and the Moondogs.
Pre-Beatles
In 1960, John, Paul, and George were joined by Pete Best the drummer –his mom owned The Casbah Coffee Club- and Stu Sutcliffe on bass guitar- a friend of John. They went through a whole lot of names- Long John and The Beatles, The Silver Beetles, The Beat Brothers. In the end they chose to keep it as The Beatles. Stu left the band after 18 months to follow his art studies so it was just the remaining four who met and auditioned for Parlophone Records for producer George Martin in June of ‘62, at the Abbey Road Studios where they would eventually do most of their recording. Producer George liked everything about the band except their drummer. Ringo Starr, the drummer for another popular Liverpool band, was recruited to replace Pete. In September 1962, the band's first single, "Love Me Do" was released, eventually reaching #17 in the UK..Their first alum, Please Please Me was released in the UK in March 1963. After their second album, With The Beatles, Vee Jay Records, mainly an R&B label, gained the US rights to most of the songs from Please Please Me, and released them on an album titled Introducing ... The Beatles in January 1964.
Bit of Beatlemania
The fact that the band had two #1 albums in the UK the previous year convinced Capitol Records to sign The Beatles to a US record deal. By April, 1964, the band's singles occupied the top five spots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. That summer, they toured New Zealand and Australia. The first Beatles movie, A Hard Day's Night was released in ‘64. The band released seven albums in the US and UK in 1964, all but three of them charting at #1. Beatlemania was responsible for the concept of the stadium concert. More than 55 thousand screaming fans packed New York's Shea Stadium in August of ‘65. Two months later, the ‘Fab Four’ (another nickname) became Members of the Order of the British Empire. In the summer ’66, the band was attacked by an angry crowd in the Philippines after turning down an invitation to breakfast at the Presidential Palace. That disastrous tour had ended when John set off protests of record burning when he suggested in an interview that "Christianity is dying" and that the Beatles "are more popular than Jesus now." In August 1966, the band last publicly preformed at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, lasting barely over a half hour. The decision was made to stop touring and concentrate on writing and recording. Although they had lost some of their luster, The Beatles continued to produce successful albums.
IS it the end?
Disputes and disagreements among band members was gradually increasing. The band's last performance together outside the studio came in January 1969. Their last recording session for Abbey Road followed in August. In September ‘69, John told the band that he was leaving. The others convinced him not to go public until they made one more effort to get an acceptable version of their final album, Let It Be, which had been recorded several months before Abbey Road. Phil Spector, who produced John's "Instant Karma" single, was enlisted to make a last effort at producing Let It Be. Paul was unhappy with the way several of the songs were produced, and tried -without success- to stop the album's release. The band's breakup was announced in April 1970, a month before Let It Be was released. Documents filed on December 31, 1970 officially ended the amazing band known as The Beatles.
Afterlife
All four of The Beatles carried on with successful solo careers after the breakup.
John Lennon released seven albums between 1970 and 1980, the last one just three weeks before he was murdered, at age 40, outside his New York City apartment in December 1980.
George Harrison released a dozen solo and produced films through his company, Handmade Films. He died of cancer at the age of 58 in November 2001.
Ringo Starr has released nearly two dozen albums and appeared in about the same number of films since the breakup of The Beatles. He continues to tour every few years with his All Starr Band.
Paul McCartney has been the most productive as a solo artist, with his late wife, Linda and with his band Wings. He continues to tour and record, and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful musician in history.
Stu Sutcliffe died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 22, shortly after he left the band.
Pete Best continues to perform with The Pete Best Band, and does frequent personal appearances and interviews about the history of The Beatles.
In addition to the 23 albums released during the band's life (1960-1970) there have been more than 150 compilations, recorded interviews and videos issued. Hundreds of books have been written about their personal lives, their music, and their influence on pop culture and rock music. They have had an enormous impact on the average life.
John Lennon released seven albums between 1970 and 1980, the last one just three weeks before he was murdered, at age 40, outside his New York City apartment in December 1980.
George Harrison released a dozen solo and produced films through his company, Handmade Films. He died of cancer at the age of 58 in November 2001.
Ringo Starr has released nearly two dozen albums and appeared in about the same number of films since the breakup of The Beatles. He continues to tour every few years with his All Starr Band.
Paul McCartney has been the most productive as a solo artist, with his late wife, Linda and with his band Wings. He continues to tour and record, and is listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful musician in history.
Stu Sutcliffe died of a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 22, shortly after he left the band.
Pete Best continues to perform with The Pete Best Band, and does frequent personal appearances and interviews about the history of The Beatles.
In addition to the 23 albums released during the band's life (1960-1970) there have been more than 150 compilations, recorded interviews and videos issued. Hundreds of books have been written about their personal lives, their music, and their influence on pop culture and rock music. They have had an enormous impact on the average life.