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The Beatles Career
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The Band Was Formed
John Lennon (Aged 16) formed a group called The Quarrymen. Paul McCartney (Aged 15) joined as a guitarist and he then invited George Harrison (Aged 14) who then became the lead guitarist. -
Early Career Part 1
Lennon's fellow student Stu Sutcliffe joined on bass in January. Sutcliffe suggested changing the band name to "The Beetles" as a tribute to Buddy Holly and The Crickets. -
Early Career Part 2
They undertook a brief tour of Scotland, as backing group for pop singer Johnny Gentle.The group's unofficial manager, Allan Williams, arranged a resident band booking for them in Hamburg, Germany. -
Getting Into Trouble
The Beetles - WikipediaHarrison, only 17 years old in August 1960, obtained permission to stay in Hamburg by lying to the German authorities about his age. After he was caught, he was deportated back to England. A week later, McCartney and Best were arrested for arson after they set fire to a condom nailed to a wall in their room; they were also deported. -
First Single
The Beetles spent more time in Hamburg over the next two years. The band then released there first single "My Bonnie", recorded in June and released four months later, reached number 32 on the Musikmarkt chart.[27][28] The Beatles were also becoming more popular back home in Liverpool. -
Manager and New Label
The band appointed Epstein manager in January 1962. They then tries to sign with 'Decca Records' but they were rejected with the comment "Guitar groups are on the way out". George Martin signed the group to EMI's Parlophone label. -
Liverpool Roots and New Member
The beat music movement was gaining speed back in Liverpool. The band had their first recording session under Martin's direction at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London in June 1962. Martin complained to Epstein about Best's drumming and suggested the band use a session drummer in the studio. Instead, Best was replaced by Ringo Starr. Starr, who left Rory Storm and the Hurricanes to join The Beatles, -
Debut Live Performance
Recorded at Abbey Road Studios and released in October, "Love Me Do" was a top twenty UK hit, peaking at number seventeen on the chart. After a November studio session that yielded what would be their second single, "Please Please Me", they made their TV debut with a live performance on the regional news programme People and Places. -
Beatlemania
The band toured the UK three times in the first half of the year: a four-week tour that began in February preceded three-week tours in March and May–June. As their popularity spread, a frenzied adulation of the group took hold, dubbed "Beatlemania". -
UK Popularity and Debut Album
Released in March 1963, the album 'Please Please Me' reached number one on the British chart. This initiated a run during which eleven of their twelve studio albums released in the United Kingdom through 1970 hit number one. The band's third single, "From Me to You", came out in April and was also a chart-topping hit. It began an almost unbroken run of seventeen British number one singles for the band. -
British Invasion
The Beatles' releases in the United States were initially delayed for nearly a year when Capitol Records, EMI's American subsidiary, declined to issue either "Please Please Me" or "From Me to You" (The Beatles second album). American chart success came suddenly after a CBS news broadcast about British Beatlemania triggered great demand, leading Capitol to rush-release "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in December 1963. -
A Hard Day's Night
United Artists' film division to offered The Beatles a motion picture contract in the hope that it would lead to a record deal. Directed by Richard Lester, A Hard Day's Night had the group's involvement for six weeks in March–April 1964 as they played themselves in a mock-documentary. The film premiered in London and New York in July and August, respectively, and was an international success. -
Fourth Album, MBE and The Second Film
Beatles for Sale, the band's fourth studio album. Controversy erupted in June 1965 when Elizabeth II appointed the four Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) after Prime Minister Harold Wilson nominated them for the award. In protest, the honour was at that time primarily bestowed upon military veterans and civic leaders. The Beatles' second film, Help!, again directed by Lester, was released in July. Described as "mainly a relentless spoof of Bond", -
"More Popular Than Jesus"
The band faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the Ku Klux Klan) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter Maureen Cleave: "Christianity will go," Lennon said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right. We're more popular than Jesus now; I don't know which will go first, rock 'n' roll or Christianity". -
Solo Albums
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr all released solo albums in 1970. Further albums followed from each, sometimes with the involvement of one or more of the others. Starr's Ringo (1973) was the only album to include compositions and performances by all four, albeit on separate songs. With Starr's collaboration, Harrison staged The Concert for Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971 with sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. -
John Lennon's Death
Lennon was shot and killed on 8 December 1980, in New York City. In a personal tribute, Harrison wrote new lyrics for "All Those Years Ago", which was recorded the month before Lennon's death. With McCartney and his wife, Linda, contributing backing vocals, and Starr on drums, the song was overdubbed with the new lyrics and released as a single in May 1981. -
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, their first year of eligibility. Harrison and Starr attended the ceremony along with Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, and his two sons, Julian and Sean. -
Live at the BBC
Live at the BBC, the first official release of previously unissued Beatles performances in 17 years, appeared in 1994. -
The Long and Winding Road
That same year McCartney, Harrison and Starr reunited for the Anthology project, the culmination of work begun in the late 1960s by Neil Aspinall. Aspinall began to gather material for a documentary, The Long and Winding Road was shelved, but as executive producer for the Anthology project Aspinall was able to complete his work. Te project saw the release of many previously unissued Beatles recordings; McCartney, Harrison and Starr also added new instrumental and vocal parts -
Documenting The Bands History
1996 the project yielded a five-part television series, an eight-volume video set and three two-CD box sets. The two songs based on Lennon demos, "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love", were each released as new Beatles singles. The CD box sets featured artwork by Klaus Voormann, creator of the Revolver album cover in 1966. The releases were commercially successful and the television series was viewed by an estimated 400 million people worldwide.
