The musical and cultural phenomenon known as the Beatles had its humble beginnings at a garden party in Woolton, Liverpool. There, at the village fete at St. Peter's church on July 6, 1957, 15 year-old Paul McCartney heard the music of the day's entertainment: a band called the Quarrymen, headed by 16 year-old John Lennon. On that historic day, John chose Paul as his musical partner. Paul joined the Quarrymen and eventually, brought in 14 year-old George Harrison to play lead guitar. A college buddy of John's, Stuart Sutcliffe would join later as the bass player (although he was primarily an artist and could not play the bass).
By 1960, the name of the band had changed form "The Quarrymen" to, "Johnny and the Moondogs" to, "The Silver Beetles," to "The Beatles." Although John Lennon would later tell some rather silly tales about the origin of the group's name (one particularly famous one involving a vision of a man on a flaming pie), the true intention was to follow the same line as Buddy Holly's band, the Crickets. Beatles was spelled with an "a" in reference to the beat of the music.
That same year, the Beatles were discovered by promoter and manager Alan Williams. Williams was in the business of exporting Liverpool bands to play in the red-light district of Hamburg, Germany. The Beatles added on Pete Best as their drummer and headed over to Germany. While there, the Beatles fine-tuned their live show through a backbreaking schedule of shows at the Indra and Kaiserkeller, two Hamburg clubs. During their first trip, it was discovered that George was still under age and was deported. The Beatles returned to England but would return twice more to Hamburg. Stu Sutcliffe would soon elect to quit the band and stay in Germany with his fiancee Astrid. He died of a brain hemorrhage in April 1962.
In between trips to Hamburg, the Beatles continued to play clubs in Liverpool, especially at an establishment known as the Cavern Club. It was there, one day in 1961, that Brian Epstein, the manager of the record department in his father's store, came in to hear the Beatles play. He was so impressed that he offered to manage them. He got them an audition at Decca records on New Years Day 1962 but the Beatles were turned down, because, as Brian Epstein was told, guitar groups were, "on their way out." Undaunted, Epstein approached George Martin, a record producer who had been producing comedy records on the Parlophone label, owned by EMI. Martin agreed to produce the Beatles with the provision that they get a new drummer. Pete Best was fired (rather unceremoniously) and Ringo Starr, the drummer for another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, was invited to join. Ringo accepted and although it took him some time to properly assimilate into the band--George Martin hired a session drummer to sit in for the first recording session--he eventually became a full-fledged member and integral part of the Beatles sound.
The first Beatles single, "Love Me Do" reached #17 on the British charts thanks in large part to advance ordering by Brian Epstein to stock his record store. Depending on which record chart was used (there is not one nationally accepted chart in England) either the second single, "Please Please Me" or the third, "From Me to You" became the first number one for the group in England. Yet, as was always the case with British groups, they were not getting anywhere in America. By late 1963 however, the Beatles had become so huge in England that small, independent labels had been releasing the Beatles singles in the U.S. when EMI's own American subsidiary, Capitol, would not. Capitol finally succumbed to the rising tides of Beatlemania and released "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The record went straight to number one on both sides of the Atlantic, paving the way for the Beatles first trip to America in 1964. Their arrival in the U.S. created a media and fan frenzy unmatched before or since. The Beatles were untouchable in 1964. Every album (once repackaged especially for US release) and single went to number one. In late March / early April of 1964, the Beatles occupied all five top positions on Billboard's singles charts: a record that still stands today. Also in 1964, they shot and released their first full-length motion picture, "A Hard Day's Night." This black-and-white film, depicting a fictional day in the life of the Fab Four, is still hailed today as a cinematic masterpiece. Even their mop-top haircuts and unusual (for that time) clothing were having a wide influence on both American and British youth.
By 1965, although the Beatles were still remarkably successful (as proven by the 55,000 fans who filled New York's Shea stadium to watch the Beatles play), some of the magic of Beatlemania had started to fade. The Beatles were becoming increasingly frustrated that no one (including the Beatles themselves) could hear the music over the fans' screaming. Anti-Beatles protests erupted in Japan when the Beatles played the Budokon (an arena held sacred by the Japanese), and in the Philippines when the Beatles supposedly snubbed Imelda Marcos when she supposedly invited them to her palace. In America, comments made by John Lennon earlier in the year to a British newspaper, about the comparative influence on British teenagers of the Beatles versus Jesus were taken out of context and broadcast throughout America causing more anti-Beatles sentiment. The Beatles second film, "Help!" while still entertaining and very successful, seemed to lack the acclaim of "A Hard Day's Night." The Beatles were clearly exhausted from their grueling recording and touring schedules and were becoming very sick of life in a fishbowl.
Despite all this furor, the Beatles, and the songwriting of Lennon and McCartney in particular were showing remarkable growth. With each album, the music was growing more complex. Still, the lyrics remained boy-girl oriented and seemed to have little else to say. By 1965, John Lennon, an unfailingly honest man, was getting very tired of acting like a mindless pop idol just to remain successful. The influence of Bob Dylan led John to write more honest, introspective, thoughtful lyrics. George Harrison also began to assert his own individuality by introducing the Indian sitar to the Beatles sound on the 1965 album "Rubber Soul". Paul McCartney recorded a radically different sound for the Beatles: a solo acoustic ballad backed not by the other Beatles but by a string quartet ("Yesterday"). The Beatles were rewriting all the rules of pop music and although they were outgrowing their mop-top images, the fans were, for the most part, growing right alongside them. Yet, to frame it another way, the first signs of the splintering of the Beatles were becoming visible in 1965.
The following year, the Beatles released their "Revolver" LP. The music on this album was highly experimental, (largely due to their increasing use of LSD) and could realy only be done in the studio and not in concert. The Beatles were completely fed up with touring and with audiences not hearing the music. They played their last live show at Candlestick park in San Francisco that year and took a well-deserved hiatus during which they pursued their own interests independently of one another. There was much speculation about what would become of the Beatles now that they were no longer touring and had seemed to have gone their separate ways. However, they would reconvene in 1967 for their greatest work to date. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," was not only a revolution in recording production and record packaging and but also, a timely reflection of the youth culture's values.
George Harrison's continued fascination with Indian music and mysticism had led him to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a spiritual guru. In 1967, the Beatles were indoctrinated and taught the finer points of transcendental meditation. Upon arrival at a retreat in Bangor, Wales they were greeted with the news that Brian Epstein, their manager, had died of an apparent drug overdose. Stunned, the Beatles returned to England for the funeral and to figure out how they would continue with Brian no longer there to look out for their business affairs.
The solution was Apple Corp.: a management and publishing company, complete with a recording company (Apple Records) meant to handle the Beatles affairs and to sponsor new talent in music, films, and inventing. Although their recently released concept film, "Magical Mystery Tour" was a critical disaster, the first release on the new Apple Records Label was their most popular single ever: "Hey Jude".
Meanwhile, the Beatles continued their studies with the Maharishi. The group embarked on a retreat to Rishikesh, India. Ringo and Paul wound up leaving early but John and George stayed longer. However, they too left shortly afterward amid suspicions that their other-worldly guru was having an affair with one of the women at the retreat. The Beatles promptly announced their break with the spiritual leader. Still, their time in India was fruitful: All four Beatles had been writing songs, and the sheer number of new songs led to the double-album, "The Beatles" (also known as the "White Album" due to its plain white cover). The album was a departure from the psychedelia and experimentation of Revolver, Sgt. Pepper and Magical Mystery Tour. It was also a clear indication that all was not well among the Beatles. Many of the tracks were, for all intents and purposes, solo tracks where only some, if any, of the other Beatles played with the song's writer. The Beatles were growing as individuals and were becoming more emotionally involved with projects and relationships outside of the Beatles. Adding insult to injury, Apple Corp. was failing and the Beatles finances were a mess.
Trying to take some control of the sinking ship, Paul McCartney suggested that the Beatles try to "get back" to the old days of performing good ol' rock and roll live in the studio and going on the road with the results. The others refused to tour but it was decided that the sessions would be filmed and made into a documentary. The Beatles all remembered the period as a terrible time. The sessions began in Twikenham studios rather than their regular Abbey Road studios and Twikenham turned out to be a not-so-inviting place to record music. Even when they returned to Abbey Road studios, the sessions were miserable. The Beatles had grown too far apart for such a project to work. The cameras captured the bandmembers arguing with each other and generally looking bored and unhappy. During this period, both George and Ringo quit the band for several days at a time eventually returning, but only to find the situation as bad as when they left. The music and film were shelved indefinitely and it looked like the end was upon the Beatles.
However, the Beatles decided to go back to the studio and make one more album. Knowing that it would be the last album, the Beatles put forth their best and most cooperative album since Sgt. Pepper: Abbey Road. This album features some of the best work from all four Beatles, but it was too little too late. On April 9, 1970, Paul quit the Beatles. The news was released the next day and it was all over except for years worth of fights via the media, contract-related lawsuits, and a musical legacy the influence of which can still be felt today. For millions of music fans world-wide, the assassination of John Lennon by Marc David Chapman on December 8, 1980 was a devestating, even life-altering moment in time. The surviving members of the Beatles reunited in 1996 for the Anthology project which yielded a three CD set of out-takes and demos, a ten-hour video series and two new singles, "Free as A Bird" and "Real Love." With the release of their CD compilation of number-one singles entitled, "1," the release of numerous Beatles books and the return of Yellow Submarine and a Hard Day's Night to wide screen release, the Beatles are bigger than ever. In the year 2000, 36 years after first hitting the shores of America, the Beatles were declared the top grossing act of the year.