The Beatles

The Beatles were a legendary rock group that formed in Liverpool, England, in 1960, and went on
to transform popular music as a creative, highly commercial art form over the next decade. The
Beatles were one of the most popular bands of all time, producing songs like "Yesterday, "Hey
Jude," "Penny Lane, "With A Little Help From My Friends," "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has
Flown)," "Day Tripper" and "Come Together." Learn more about the "Fab Four"—John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—by exploring our Beatles collection.

Born Richard Starkey on July 7, 1940, in Liverpool, England, Ringo Starr, known for his easygoing
personality, rose to fame in the early 1960s as a member of the legendary rock group the Beatles.
Primarly a drummer, Starr also sang and occasionally wrote songs for the group, singing "With a
Little Help from My Friends" and writing "Octopus's Garden."

Paul McCartney was born June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England. His work as a singer/songwriter
with the Beatles in the 1960s helped transform popular music into a creative, highly commercial art
form, with an uncanny ability to blend the two. He is also one of the most popular solo performers
of all time, in terms of both sales of his recordings and attendance at his concerts.

Born on February 25, 1943, in Liverpool, England, George Harrison formed a band with
schoolmates to play clubs around Liverpool and in Hamburg, Germany. The Beatles became the
biggest rock band in the world, and Harrison's diverse musical interests took them in many
directions. Post-Beatles, Harrison made acclaimed solo records and started a film production
company. He died of cancer in November 2001.

John Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England. He met Paul McCartney in 1957
and invited McCartney to join his music group. They eventually formed the most successful
songwriting partnership in musical history. Lennon left the Beatles in 1969 and later released
albums with his wife, Yoko Ono, among others. On December 8, 1980, he was killed by a crazed
fan named Mark David Chapman.

The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The line-up of John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr led them to be regarded as the most influential
band of all time.[1] With a sound rooted in skiffle, beat and 1950s rock and roll, the group were
integral to the evolution of pop music into an art form, and to the development of the
counterculture of the 1960s.[2] They often incorporated elements of classical music, older pop, and
unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways, and they experimented with a number of
musical styles in later years, ranging from pop ballads and Indian music to psychedelia and hard
rock. As they continued to draw influences from a variety of cultural sources, their musical and
lyrical sophistication grew, and they came to be seen as embodying the era's socio-cultural
movements..

The Beatles are the best-selling band in history, with estimated sales of over 800 million albums
worldwide. They are the best-selling music artists in the US, with certified sales of over 178 million
units, and have had more number-one albums on the British charts, and have sold more singles in
the UK, than any other act. The group were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988,
and all four main members were inducted individually between 1994 and 2015. In 2008, the group
topped Billboard magazine's list of the all-time most successful artists; as of 2019, the Beatles hold
the record for most number-one hits on the Hot 100 chart with twenty. The band have received
seven Grammy Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 film Let It
Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were also collectively included in Time magazine's
compilation of the twentieth century's 100 most influential people.

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr began playing together as the
Beatles in 1962. Their break-up was a cumulative process marked by rumours of a split and by
ambiguous comments by the members themselves regarding their future as a band. In September
1969, Lennon privately informed his bandmates that he was leaving the band. There was no public
acknowledgement of the break-up until 10 April 1970, when McCartney announced he was also
leaving the group.

There were numerous causes for the band's break-up, including their resignation from touring in
1966 and the death of their manager Brian Epstein in 1967.[1] Conflicts also arose from differences
in artistic vision.[2] Both Harrison and Starr temporarily left the group at various points during 1968
and 1969; by 1970 all four members had begun working on solo projects after realising the
likelihood that the band would not regroup. Ultimately, animosity made it impossible for the group
to continue working together.[3]

In the ensuing years, there were sporadic collaborative recording efforts among the band
members, but never with all four Beatles simultaneously collaborating as a recording or performing
group again. After Lennon's death in 1980, the remaining three reunited for the Anthology project
in 1994, using two unfinished Lennon demos – "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" – as a basis for
new songs recorded and released as the Beatles.[4]

Difficulty in collaboration

After the band had stopped touring in August 1966, each of the members began to pursue his own
musical tastes to varying degrees. When the group convened to record Sgt. Pepper's Lonely
Hearts Club Band in November 1966, there was still a camaraderie and desire to collaborate as
musicians; however, their individual differences were becoming more apparent. To a greater
extent than the others, McCartney maintained a deep interest in the pop musical trends and styles
emerging both in Britain and the United States, whereas Harrison developed an interest in Indian
music, and Lennon's compositions became more introspective and experimental. [8][5]
Consequently, McCartney began to assume the role of the initiator and leader of the artistic
projects of the Beatles.[4]

Each band member began to develop individual artistic agendas, which eventually compromised
the enthusiasm in the group, and soon each band member became impatient with the others. This
became most evident on The Beatles, in which personal artistic preferences began to dominate
the recording sessions, which in turn further undermined the band's unity.[17]