The Beatles

Liverpool and Hamburg

The Beatles grew out of the Quarrymen, a group John Lennon formed in Liverpool in November 1956. Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957 and joined as rhythm guitarist. George Harrison came in as lead guitarist in 1958, aged 15. Stuart Sutcliffe suggested the spelling Beatals in January 1960 and played bass until early 1961, when McCartney took over the instrument. The name settled as the Beatles in mid-August 1960, the month Pete Best was hired on drums and the group left for the first of its Hamburg residencies.

Brian Epstein saw them at the Cavern Club in November 1961 and became their manager in January 1962. Decca turned them down after an audition on 1 January. They made their first EMI session with George Martin on 6 June 1962, and in August Ringo Starr, from Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, replaced Best. "Love Me Do" appeared that October. Please Please Me followed in March 1963, cut mostly in one session on 11 February, and spent 30 weeks at number one in Britain.

Beatlemania

After their London Palladium appearance on 13 October 1963 the press coined the word Beatlemania. Four days later they recorded I Want to Hold Your Hand, their first record made on four-track tape. It was the British Christmas number one, then became their first American number one on 1 February 1964, eight days before their Ed Sullivan Show debut. With the Beatles had arrived in November 1963, and A Hard Day's Night came in July 1964 with the film, the first album made up entirely of Lennon-McCartney songs. It spent 14 weeks at number one in the United States.

The songs kept widening. Help! (1965) carried Yesterday, which McCartney recorded alone with a string quartet. Rubber Soul followed in December 1965, and Lennon later said you did not know the band if you did not know it.

The studio years

The last paid concert was at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on 29 August 1966, an 11-song set. After that the band lived in the studio. Revolver took more than 220 hours against under 80 for Rubber Soul, and it began with Tomorrow Never Knows, built on tape loops and reversed guitar. A February 1967 single paired Strawberry Fields Forever with "Penny Lane" and was kept off the album that followed.

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band came out on 26 May 1967, spent 27 weeks at number one in Britain and won the Grammy for Album of the Year. It ends with A Day in the Life. Magical Mystery Tour gathered the 1967 songs that autumn.

Apple and the end

Apple Corps was founded in 1968, and its first release was Hey Jude in August. The White Album, a double LP of 30 songs, followed in November after tense sessions in which Starr left for about two weeks. In January 1969 the Get Back sessions went badly enough that Harrison walked out for five days. He returned on condition that they leave Twickenham for Apple Studio, and they ended the month with a rooftop concert on 30 January. Allen Klein was named manager on 8 May 1969 over McCartney's refusal to sign.

Abbey Road came out on 26 September 1969. The four last worked together in a studio on 20 August, and Lennon had told the others privately that he was leaving. McCartney announced his own departure publicly on 10 April 1970, and Let It Be was released a month later, remixed by Phil Spector. The partnership was formally dissolved on 29 December 1974.

Afterward

Lennon was shot dead in New York in December 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in November 2001. The Anthology project of 1995 and 1996 produced "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" from Lennon demos, with Jeff Lynne producing. "Now and Then" was released on 2 November 2023, became their first British number one since 1969, and won a Grammy. The band entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. Sales estimates run past 600 million, and the group has sold more singles in Britain than any other act.