Biography
John Lennon formed the Quarrymen in 1957 when he was still at school. Three years later, after numerous changes of personnel, the band consisted of drummer Pete Best and two more guitarists – George Harrison, and Paul McCartney. Now called The Beatles, they went to Hamburg, where they had to play 6, 7 and 8-hour long sets in Hamburg. They had to play everything, not just rock standards, but movie theme tunes, Broadway show numbers, folk songs, torch songs, novelty numbers and music hall. These were the foundations on which their later compositions were built.
In 1961, back in Liverpool, they played constantly, often at the Cavern Club, where the distinctive Liverpool style – the Merseybeat – was born. Brian Epstein became their manager at the end of that year. He signed them up for an audition at Decca, who famously turned them down. Epstein persisted, and in 1962 the band was signed to Parlophone, where George Martin became their producer. There was one more change of personnel to come: Pete Best was kicked out of the band, to be replaced by Ringo Starr. Their first single, 'Love Me Do', was released the same year and they were on their way.
What followed was Beatlemania – hordes of screaming fans – and huge success in America. At one point they had the top five best-selling singles in the USA and played to a crowd of 55,000 at Shea Stadium, New York.
They were also controversial, running into trouble with the press when John Lennon claimed that The Beatles were more popular than Jesus and changing the old ways of performing. The Fab Four made groundbreaking films like A Hard Day's Night and Yellow Submarine; they went to India to learn about Eastern music and ideas; they explored mind-changing drugs. And all the time their music developed in sophistication and influence.
The death of Brian Epstein in 1967 was the beginning of the end. Friction grew between members of the band, though they continued to work together. An impromptu performance in 1969 from the roof of their Apple headquarters in London was their last live gig – before it was stopped by the police.
They got together to make one final album, Abbey Road – a compelling, exciting record that would go on to sell more than any other they had made. Let It Be, an album which had been recorded before Abbey Road, while the group was in the process of splitting up, was finally released a few weeks after Paul MacCartney's announcement that he had left The Beatles.
In the short rollercoaster of their life together, The Beatles were not only a key element in the social, cultural and political changes of the 1960s, they changed the course of music in the 20th century.
