The Beatles: the most successful singers and songwriters in history. They were the first band to become successful in Europe and America. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were the four Beatles who took the world by surprise. The Beatles first started out as a local Liverpool band called The Quarry Men. On May 5th, 1960, The Quarry Men officially changed their name to The Silver Beatles. Around this time, Alan Williams, a club owner, became their part time manager. He set up auditions for them, which didn’t work out, so they did a small nine-day tour in Scotland instead. On June 2nd of that year, The Silver Beatles had their first professional performance at the Neston Institute. Later, in August, Pete Best left his former band The Blackjacks, to join John, Paul, George and Stuart as the drummer for The Silver Beatles. On this date, the group also traveled to Hamburg, Germany to do a series of performances. However, their visit was cut short because George, Paul and Pete were all arrested and forced to leave Germany that night. After their visit to Hamburg, The Silver Beetles changed their name again to The Beatles.In 1961, The Beatles started to play at a small club called The Cavern. Their pay there was a mere $42.00 a night, but the exposure would soon get them a new manager and a record deal. Brian Epstein, a music manager, first saw The Beatles on November 9th when he visited The Cavern. Almost a month later, on December 3rd, Epstein offered to manage The Beatles. John Lennon said, "Right then Brian, manage us now. Where’s the contract, I’ll sign it!" Finally, on April 8th, 1962, Parlophone offered The Beatles a record contract. After learning of the good news from Brian, the band wrote to Paul who was away. Sadly, however, only two days later on April 10th, Stuart Sutcliffe died of a brain hemorrhage. The Beatles were devastated, but having a demanding schedule ahead of them, they were forced to continue without Stuart. Later that year in August, more bad news arrived. The Beatles’ music producer George Martin, in formed the band that Ringo Starr was to be joining them as their new drummer, and that they would be firing Pete Best. So with both Stuart and Pete gone, all that was left of The Beatles was John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and newcomer Ringo Starr. In October, The Beatles made their first television appearance on the British television show "People and Places". Many of the show’s producers thought that The Beatles were too scruffy and untidy, but they liked them, so they kept them on the show again and again. Even though The Beatles had become extremely successful in Europe, they wanted to try their luck in America. It wasn’t an easy decision for the band to make since No British act had ever been successful in the U.S., however The Beatles were up for the challenge. On March 7th, 1963, The Beatles first album Please Please Me was released. The singles "She Loves You" and "From Me to You" were also released in England of that year. In January of 1964, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" made it to the number one spot on the Australian charts. This song also became the fastest selling British single in America, selling 500,00 units of the record sold in only ten days. In February, "I Want to Hold Your Hand" also made it to the number spot on the U.S. music charts. On February 9th, 1964, The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York, which was watched by an estimated 73 million people (or 23,240,000 households.) Two days later was The Beatles first ever U.S. concert at the Coliseum in Washington, where 200,000 fans attended the performance. The next day they also had two concert appearances at Carnegie Hall. Also on February 14th 1964, The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show for the second time where 70 million viewers watched. They appeared on the show for the third time on February 23rd of the same year where they performed "Twist and Shout", "Please Please Me" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". In March, The Beatles began work on their very first movie Hard Days Night where they would be portrayed as prisoners of their success. The total cost for making this movie was $500,000 dollars. On August 11th of the same year Hard Days Night was released and played in 500 cinemas across the U.S. It earned 1.3 million dollars in its first week. At the Grammy Awards that year, The Beatles won the Best New Artist and Best Performance by a Vocal Group awards. In 1965 The Beatles again took time off their singing careers to film their second movie Help in the Bahamas. It was released in August of that year. The cost of the movie was $1,250,000 dollars. On August 15th, The Beatles performed at Shea Stadium where waiting for them was the largest crowd on any of their tours. Things were going great for The Beatles in America. At the height of their success, the reaction of their fans was referred to as "Beatlemania". In 1967, The Beatles album Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band was released. After the release of this album, people began to talk about their songs. They believed that one of their songs "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" was really a hymn to LSD. Parents thought The Beatles were a bad influence on their children because of their relationship with drugs. Their music was not welcomed in many homes and countries across the globe. The fact that during one interview John Lennon said, "We’re more popular than Christ now, and I don’t know what will go first, Rock and Roll or Christianity," didn’t help The Beatles popularity. Because of this remark, Christians burned their LP’s, dozens of radio stations banned their music, influential groups boycotted their products, and The Beatles were even banned in Africa and Spain. After all of the controversy, John finally apologized for his remark stating that he was only making a comparison and that he had nothing against Christians. In 1968 and 1969, The Beatles also filmed two other movies Yellow Submarine and Let It Be. After The Beatles manager Brian Epstein passed away of a drug overdose, The Beatles had a feeling their career would soon be coming to an end. John Lennon said, "The Beatles were finished when Eppy died. I knew, deep inside me, that that was it. Without him, we’d had it."The Beatles started out as a group of young musicians hoping to make it big and ended up as the most successful singers and songwriters in history. The Beatles came, they conquered, and they left behind twenty-seven #1 singles. People around the globe loved them. Some say the 1960’s were a time of change. Maybe that’s why The Beatles were so popular, because they brought to America something that no one had ever heard. Whether you love them or hate them, The Beatles came to America for fame and that’s exactly what they got. Bibliography Emmens, Carol. An Album of the Sixties. New York: Franklin Watts, 1981. Turbulent Years, 1960’s. Alexandria, Virginia: Time Life Inc., 1998. Woog, Adam. The History of Rock and Roll. San Diego: Lucent Books Ins., 1988. Woog, Adam. The Importance of The Beatles. San Diego: Lucent Books Inc., 1988.
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