The Beatles - Biography

Group from Liverpool, England. One of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music.

The Beatles #1 (1960 - 1961)

John Winston Lennon : Guitar, vocals
James Paul McCartney : Guitar, vocals
George Harrison : Guitar, vocals
Stuart Sutcliffe : Bass guitar
Pete Best : Drums

The Beatles #2 (1961 - 1962)

John Winston Lennon : Guitar, vocals
James Paul McCartney : Guitar, vocals
George Harrison : Guitar, vocals
Pete Best : Drums

This incarnation of the group recorded the Hamburg Polydor tracks with producer Bert Kaempfert, 15 tracks for the Decca Auditions on 1 January 1962, and the first session with Parlophone producer George Martin on 6 June 1962.

The Beatles #3 (1962 - 1970)

John Winston Lennon (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) : Guitar, lead and backing vocals
James Paul McCartney (18 June 1942 to present) : Bass guitar, lead and backing vocals
George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) : Guitar, lead and backing vocals
Ringo Starr (Richard Starkey) (7 July 1940 to present) : Drums, lead and backing vocals

A recording history with EMI of 8 years from 1962 to 1970, when the group split up, produced official releases in their home territory of 22 singles, 13 EPs and 13 albums (12 studio and 1 compilation).

In successive years, there were several official single releases with new pairings of tracks, as well as several reissues of the original releases (notably in 1976 and 1982).

The group’s recordings were released as singles in over 40 countries throughout the world, and with many different track selections compared with their official UK single releases.

The origins of The Beatles date back to 1956 and John Lennon’s first band, The Quarry Men, which consisted of John and several school friends. Paul McCartney joined the band in 1957 and George Harrison in 1958. Other members of the band fell away, leaving the three core members of John, Paul and George. Billing themselves as Johnny and the Moondogs on several occasions, they were then joined by John’s friend Stuart Sutcliffe on bass guitar in early 1960. It was Stuart who suggested changing the band’s name to The Beetles as a tribute to Buddy Holly and The Crickets. In May they changed their name to The Silver Beetles and by early July 1960 they had changed it to The Silver Beatles. By the middle of August they had changed it once more to The Beatles.

With the opportunity of a resident band booking in Hamburg in August 1960 the band needed a drummer. They auditioned and hired Pete Best and left for Hamburg. Stuart left the band in early 1961 and Paul took up the bass. German producer Bert Kaempfert contracted the group as a backing band for Tony Sheridan, crediting the recordings to Tony Sheridan And The Beat Brothers.

In January 1962 Brian Epstein was appointed the group’s manager and, following a rejection from Decca Records in February, Epstein persuaded George Martin to listen to some of the Decca audition tracks. Martin wasn’t that impressed but felt “something there sounded quite interesting”. He insisted on meeting the group in person. When The Beatles visited Abbey Road Studios in London on 6 June they presumed it was a proper recording session, but in fact it was a test. Martin subsequently decided to sign them, and The Beatles became an EMI act on the Parlophone label. The contract was backdated to 4 June 1962, possibly to enable EMI to own the rights to the tapes of the 6 June session.

However, there was one final change in the group’s line-up still to come. Following the group’s first recording session with George Martin on 6 June 1962, John, Paul and George decided to replace Pete Best with Richard Starkey (whose stage name was Ringo Starr), the drummer with Rory Storm And The Hurricanes…………….the line-up was now complete.

Biography provided by JPGR&B on 5 May 2013.

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