The Beatles Biography

news-details Using numerous words to describe The Beatles is probably still not sufficient enough, since they are obviously a great phenomenon in music industry and happen to be the greatest pop/rock band the world ever has. The Beatles has become the most successful music group with over 1.1 billion copies sold worldwide, making them rule as the best selling music artist of all-time in the universe based on RIAA's issue. It is generally known that they are the most influential band which inspires many other musicians, such as Neil Sedaka, Alice Cooper, Extreme, 10,000 Maniacs, Aerosmith, Cream, Michael Nesmith, and many more. Therefore, their being as a pop/rock icon is undeniable and worth to be deserved.

The Beatles was formed in Liverpool, England, along with members: John Winston Lennon (1940-1980) as the band's rhythm guitarist, Richard Starkey or Ringo Starr (born July 7, 1940) as the drummer, James Paul McCartney (born June 18, 1942) as the bassist, and George Harrison (1943-2001) as the guitarist. The establishment of The Beatles could be traced from a band named "The Quarry Men" formed by John Lennon in the summer of 1956. On July 6, 1957, after their performance at St. Peter's Parish Church, Woolton, John met Paul McCartney and later asked him to join the band. Paul's friend, George Harrison, came in as the new member of the band in the following year. These three young people then added two more personnel, Stuart Sutcliffe as bassist and Randolph Peter Best as drummer in 1960. After replacing names for several times, the band finally came up with the name "The Beatles."

With their manager Allan Wiliams, The Beatles started performing on stage in Hamburg, Germany, for about 4 months before George was deported to England for being too young to work in nightclubs. The rest of the members shortly thereafter followed going back to England, except Stuart, who decided to quit the band and remain in Hamburg. They continued to perform at The Cavern Club in Liverpool where they met Brian Epstein for the first time. The band then signed a formal agreement to make Epstein as their manager, replacing Allan Williams, in December 1961. On January 1, 1962, the band went to audition at Decca Records, but unfortunately they were unsuccessful. Apparently, that was a blessing in disguise because their audition tapes were listened by George Martin of EMI/Parlophone Records who later offered them a recording contract on May 9, 1962.

An important change inside The Beatles happened in August 1962 before the band made their debut. Without any distinct reasons, which caused speculation since, Peter Best was fired as the band's personnel, replaced by Ringo Starr. This new formation began to record their first single entitled "Love Me Do"/"P.S I Love You." The single was released in October 1962 in the United Kingdom and entered British Top 20 with its highest position at number 17, quite a good beginning for the newcomer. However, it was their next single "Please Please Me/Ask Me Why" which led them to popularity as it topped the British charts after one month of its launching on January 11, 1963, and amazingly lasted in the charts for 30 weeks. The band finally released their first album, "Please Please Me" in March 1963, starting to establish themselves as one of greatest bands in the world. Their appearance at London Palladium on October 13, 1963, caused huge sensation and hysteria called "Beatlemania," a term which was created by the British morning press.

Beatlemania happened not only in Britain, but also broaden its hold to United States by the year of 1964. The band first appeared at the 35th rank of U.S. Billboard Chart with the single "I Want To Hold Your Hand/I Saw Her Standing There," thus made their way through the second album entitled "Meet the Beatles!" which was released on January 20, 1964. Either the single or album resulted extremely wonderful by reigning the top position of U.S. charts, leading them to get two gold awards. The Beatles became exceedingly popular afterwards and received worldwide success. They appeared for three times in "The Ed Sullivan Show" while at the same time raised what has been called as "The British Invasion" since The Beatles had deeply affected other people with their music and appearances, making their being a world phenomenon.

During the year of 1964 to 1966, The Beatles enjoyed their tremendous success. Their singles and albums kept reaching the highest position at U.K. and U.S. charts, as well as Australian's. Nevertheless, this glory was tainted in 1966 when John Lennon issued controversial statements, saying that Christianity was dying and that The Beatles was more popular than Jesus. This raised vigorous objections by many religious groups along with the banning and burning of The Beatles' records, besides the threats from Ku Klux Klan. John eventually asked for an apology on August 12, 1966, when the band held their last tour. Seventeen days later, The Beatles performed live for the last time at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California, since they wanted to concentrate on recording. This decision proved worthy for their next album entitled "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" became one of their masterpieces.

In 1967, The Beatles' manager, Brian Epstein, passed away. Since his death, members of the band began to deal with their own individual affairs and rarely got together. Despite that kind of condition, they still produced two last albums, "Abbey Road" (1969) and "Let It Be" (1970), after receiving a Grammy Award in 1968. In early 1970, the band carried out their last recording sessions at EMI studios before Paul McCartney finally announced their separation on April 10, 1970. After the band's split, each member established his own careers, which were fairly successful. To everyone's shock, a tragic accident happened to John Lennon as he was murdered in New York City on December 8, 1980, vanishing any hopes for the band reunion. However, a virtual reunion was held in 1995 with the release of John's two original records which were mixed in by the remaining members, creating two hit singles: "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love." In 1995, the three albums of The Beatles', containing unreleased materials and studio outtakes, were compressed and launched with the title known as "Anthology 1."

Following the success of the album, the remaining members published their first memoir "The Beatles Anthology" book on October 5, 2000. On November 14, they released their greatest hits package entitled "The Beatles 1" with the purpose of introducing The Beatles to the new generation. In spite of having been separated for 30 years, The Beatles still possessed its charm in the new century since both the book and album resulted in phenomenal sales, making the band named the Highest Earning Music Act of 2000 by Heat Magazine in late January 2001. "The Beatles 1" itself has reached the first position in 28 different countries, plus scored fantastic selling of 12 million copies worldwide, thus claiming The Beatles as the fastest seller ever in pop music industry. Despite the joy and glory of the accomplishment, the band mourned over George Harrison who on November 9 of the same year left the world eternally after his long battle with cancer.

Throughout their career, The Beatles has developed a genuine music band that writes and performs their own materials. They also had created innovations into popular music, which have given a great contribution to the development of music industry. Not only being involved in music, The Beatles also possessed a limited career in film industry. They appeared in "A Hard Day's Night" (1964), "Help!" (1965), "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967), and the animated one, entitled "Yellow Submarine" (1967). As for their achievement, they had received 8 Grammy Awards along with 13 multi platinums based on their albums' selling in U.S. only. Even though The Beatles is no longer exist, its being as a pioneer in the music industry will still be recalled and honored.