The Beatles | Artist
The Beatles were an English pop-rock band formed 1960 in Liverpool by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison. In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School in Liverpool. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that another local group were already using the name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957, and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison, then fifteen, to join the band as lead guitarist. In the very early days Stewart Suttcliffe played bass and Pete Best played drums. In 1962 Ringo Starr was brought in to replace Best as permanent drummer, Sutcliffe tragically died and McCartney switched to playing bass. Lennon and McCartney were the band's main songwriting team but many excellent songs were contributed by Harrison. In their first two years, they spent a great deal of time playing the seedy clubs of Hamburg's red-light district. It was during this time, plus playing residencies at The Cavern club in Liverpool, that they created a strong and enduing musical chemistry between the four band members. Back in the UK, within the short space of Eight years between 1962-70, The Beatles became the most famous and highest selling band in music history, releasing 17 studio albums and 17 number one singles, plus a plethora of movies, TV footage, merchandise, compilations and archival releases. The Beatles also formed Apple Records company which handled the Beatles' film productions plus music releases for many other artists. George Martin was often referred to as the "Fifth Beatle" due to his important role of producing, engineering and playing keyboards on every Beatles studio album. Everything the Beatles recorded is of musicological value, including many outstanding albums such as A Hard Day's Night (1964), Help! (1965), Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), Magical Mystery Tour (1967), The Beatles [White Album] (1968), Abbey Road (1969) and Let it Be (1970). Also the following compilations are highly recommended: 1962-1966 [Red Album] (1973), 1967-1970 [Blue Album] (1973) and "1" (2000). The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is widely considered one of the greatest musical collaborations ever. Between 5 October 1962 and 8 May 1970, the partnership published approximately 180 jointly credited songs, of which the vast majority were recorded by the Beatles, forming the bulk of their catalogue. George and, to a lesser extent Ringo, also contributed songwriting. Rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock 'n' roll, the Beatles' sound incorporated elements of classical music and traditional pop in innovative ways; the band also explored music styles ranging from folk and indian music to psychedelia and hard rock. In February 1964 whilst on their first tour of the USA, the Beatles gave their first live US television performance on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was watched by approximately 73 million viewers in over 23 million households, or 34% of the entire American population. According to the Nielsen rating service, it was the largest audience that had ever been recorded for an American television program.
Artist Website: thebeatles.com
Featured Albums: The Beatles
Related Artists: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, George Martin
Collections: Music Visionaries
