The Beatles

Who they are

The Beatles are a band from Liverpool. They were very popular in the sixties and they are still popular because of their new wave of music. They were one of the first bands who made pop music. The band began in 1957 and ended in 1970. The members are John Lennon, Ringo Starr, George Harrison and Paul McCartney. In the beginning Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best were also members but not longer than 2 years. The Beatles have made 19 albums with many successful hits like Yesterday, Hey Jude, Help, Yellow submarine and Let it be.

The members

-John Lennon
He was born on 9 October 1940 in Liverpool. He was a singer and a guitarist in the Beatles. In 1969 he married Yoko Ono. After the ending of the Beatles in 1970 he started his own solo career. He was murdered on 8 December 1980 in New York. After his dead he got his real breakthrough. One of his most famous hits is Imagine. He has a memorial in the Central Park in New York. On this memorial stays Imagine.

-Ringo Starr
He was born on 7 July 1940 in Liverpool. His full name is Richard Starkey. He was the drummer of the Beatles. He wasn’t actually a member of the beginning. He was asked because producer George Martin wasn’t satisfied about Pete Best. That’s the reason why Pete Best left the band and Ringo Star came instead of him. In 1965 he married Maureen Cox. They got 3 children; Zak, Lee and Jason. Zak is since 1996 the drummer of the Who and he drummed also a few years in Oasis. Ringo and Maureen divorced in 1975. In 1981 Ringo Starr married again with Barbara Bach.

-George Harrison
He was born on 25 February 1943 in Liverpool. He was a singer and guitarist in the Beatles. George Harrison married twice. First with Pattie Boyd in 1966. Pattie Boyd is later the wife of Eric Clapton. In 1978 he married again with Olivia Arias. They got a son named Dhani. George Harrison had throat cancer. In 2001 he died because of his disease in Los Angeles.

-Paul McCartney
He was born on 18 June 1942 in Liverpool. He was the bass guitarist and a singer of the Beatles. After the Beatles break-up in 1970 he started his solo career. He brought out his album named McCartney. Then he brought Ram out. This album was received not very well. But nowadays we think this album is one of the best he has ever made. In 1971 he started a new band together with his wife Linda McCartney named Wings. They scored a lot of successful hits. In 1981 the band broke up. Paul McCartney continued his own solo career.

The beginning

John Lennon met Paul McCartney in 1957 on a festival. They decided to start a band together. A friend of Paul McCartney, George Harrison came also in the band. The called themselves Johny and the moondogs. Later Stuart Sutcliff joined also the band and they changed the name in The Silver Beatles but that became The Beatles. The only thing they needed was a drummer so Pete Best joined the group. Stuart Sutcliff left the band in 1961. In 1962 they did an audition for producer George Martin of Parlophone and the got a record contract. George Martin thought that Pete Best wasn’t good enough and that’s why he left the band and Ringo Starr came instead of him.

Their breakthrough

The Beatles were really famous but only in England. In 1964 they were getting more and more famous in the rest of the world. They toured through the whole world. There was a lot of mass hysteria called Beatlemania. The American media didn’t think that the Beatles would make it in America but that wasn’t true. They performed in America and later they occupied the first five places of the Billboard top 100. On their singles the used more difficult chords and the lyrics got more complex. They also made films, in total 5 films. In 1966 the Beatles stopped with their tours because of the pressure of time and you couldn’t hear the music during their performance because of the fans who screamed very loud. Their last concert was in San Francisco. In 1969 they brought out their last album named Abbey Road. A year later appeared their last single, Let it be. In an interview declared Paul McCartney that they stopped with the band. He said: “I didn't leave the Beatles. The Beatles have left The Beatles, but no one wants to be the one to say the party's over"