Biography of the Beatles – young years

The legendary group “The Beatles” was born in 1959 in the UK, in the city of Liverpool. The very first line-up of the band included Paul McCartney (bass, guitar, vocals), John Lennon (guitar, vocals), George Harrison (guitar, vocals), Stuart Sutcliffe (bass), Pete Best (drums).

At first, the group was known only in Liverpool, then when the musicians left for Germany in 1960, they were noticed by Tony Sheridan, who was at that time a very famous rock and roll performer. Together with the Beatles, Sheridan recorded the studio album Tony Sheridan and the Beatles. It was then that the first serious debut at the international level took place in the creative biography of the Beatles.

After a joint project with Sheridan, the group became interested in Brian Epstein, the owner of a record store. In the fall of 1961, he became their manager. When Stuart Sutcliffe left the band in December 1961, the Beatles became a quartet. Then the band’s line-up underwent another change: the recording company, with which Epstein was negotiating, demanded to change drummer Pete Best for its agreement to cooperate with the Beatles.

The Beatles’ first author’s single, “Love me do”, was recorded in December 1962 at the then little-known recording studio “Parlophone”. Brian Epstein, seeking to arouse public interest in the band’s new hit, took a rather risky step – he bought the first ten thousand copies himself. This commercial trick succeeded – interest in the instantly scattered disc attracted a lot of buyers. The first independent album in the Beatles’ biography was released in early 1963. By 1964, the whole world was crazy about the Beatles.

The official “birthday” of the phenomenon of “Beatlemania” is considered the day of the Beatles’ performance at the London Palladium Hall on October 13, 1963. Their concert was broadcast on television and attracted about fifteen million viewers. At the same time, thousands of fans of the group, instead of watching the TV show, preferred to gather at the building of the concert hall, hoping to see their idols in life.

On November 4 of the same year, the Beatles performed at the Prince of Wales Theater. Their performance became the highlight of the Royal Variety Show. The Queen Mother herself expressed her admiration for the song “Till There Was You” performed by the Beatles.
Soon after, the Beatles’ second album, With The Beatles, was released, breaking all existing records for the number of preliminary purchase requests. By 1965, the album had sold over one million copies.

In 1963-1964, the Beatles conquered America. They became the first English band to have such a resounding success overseas. Moreover, the Parlophone company did not dare to release the singles of the group in the USA, precisely because of the short-term popularity in the States of almost all musicians from Great Britain. Brian Epstein tried to get the attention of the American public with the singles “Please Please Me” and “From Me To You” and the album “Introducing The Beatles”, but they were not successful.

Popularity came after the release in the United States at the end of 1963 of the single “I Want To Hold Your Hand”. After this song, one of the famous music critics called Lennon and McCartney “the greatest composers since Beethoven.” In January 1964, the album “Meet the Beatles!” Was released in the USA, which received the “gold” status in February.

The quartet went on tour in the United States, where they gave three concerts, and also twice participated in the popular television program The Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles have collected forty percent of the US population on television screens – that’s about seventy-three million people. This fact of the Beatles’ biography is one of the most significant: such a number of TV audience was recorded for the first time in the history of television.

It was at the height of Beatlemania, with their next work, the music film A Hard Day’s Night and the album of the same name, received three million preliminary applications, and overseas tours were a triumphant success. The Beatles were named “Best Songwriters Since Schubert. “.

However, soon the quartet had to end their concert performances: the audience was ready to tear their idols to pieces, the fans did not give the musicians a pass, so the Beatles were practically isolated from the whole world. In 1965, world popularity showed its opposite side: protests began against the Beatles, their records, portraits, clothes were burned. Careless statements by members of the group led to scandals on a national scale. In addition, the stage limited their creative development – from day to day they performed the same songs, under the terms of the contract they had no right to deviate from the program. The stage biography of the Beatles ended, and the musicians decided to devote themselves entirely to studio work. On August 5, 1966, one of The Beatles’ best albums, Revolver, was released. The album was distinguished primarily by the fact that most of its songs did not involve stage performance – the studio effects used here are so complex.

In 1967, the Beatles’ monumental and groundbreaking album, Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club, was recorded. It was a real revolution in the world of rock music: the album was the first impetus to the new musical directions that appeared later, such as apt-pok, hard rock and psychedelia.

Biography of the Beatles – mature years.

In June 1967, the Beatles’ concert was broadcast around the world. In this they also became the first – about four hundred million people saw their performance, no other musical ensemble has ever achieved such a tremendous success. During the performance, a video version of the song “All You Need Is Love” was recorded. Shortly after this triumphant success, the tragic death of the “fifth Beatle” of the band’s manager Brian Epstein occurred. The group’s affairs began to decline.

In 1968, the band released a double album, which later became known to fans of the group as the “White Album” due to the design of the cover. The album was very popular, but it was during the work on it in the group that the first signs of the subsequent breakup appeared. The atmosphere began to heat up, scandals occurred between the musicians from time to time. helped to improve the condition of the group.

In 1969 the band released one of their best songs, “Hey Jude”. The single peaked at the top of the charts around the world and sold six million copies.

In February 1969, relations in the group finally fell apart due to disagreements over the new manager. McCartney is suing his own group. However, the band subsequently released another masterpiece of their creativity – the album “Abbey Road”, which is considered their last joint work (the album “Let It Be”, released in 1970, included old recordings of the group).

In April 1970, simultaneously with the release of his solo disc, Paul McCartney officially announced that the Beatles were no more. The world’s greatest rock band has disbanded. In 1979, McCartney attempted to reunite the group with the previous lineup. But this was never destined to happen – a year later, John Lennon was killed.