History of creation
In 1956, a simple Liverpool guy named John Lennon heard the song "Heartbreak Hotel" by Elvis Presley and instantly fell ill with modern music. Along with the king of rock and roll, other pioneers of the genre also got into his favorites - american singers 50s Bill Haley and Buddy Holly. The 16-year-old energetic young man simply needed to throw out his energy somewhere - in the same year, with his school friends, he organized the skiffle group "The Quarrymen" (that is, "the guys from the Quarry Bank school"). 
In the images of the then popular teddy fights, they performed at parties for a year, and in July 1957, at one of the concerts, Lennon met Paul McCartney. The skinny, shy guy just amazed John with his knowledge of guitar skills - he not only played well, but knew the chords and could tune the guitar! For the self-taught Lennon, who played the banjo, harmonica and guitar rather weakly, it was almost like the art of the gods. He even doubted whether such a strong musician would take away his leadership, but two weeks later he invited Paul to the role of rhythm guitarist in The Quarrymen.
By nature, Paul and John were like mirror reflections each other: the first is an excellent student and a good boy from prosperous family, the second is a local hooligan and truant, who was abandoned by his mother in early childhood, and then raised by his aunt.
Perhaps largely due to their dissimilarity, the guys were able to make one of the most successful musical duets in the world. From the very beginning of cooperation, they became both partners and rivals. And if Paul began to compose music from the moment he took up the guitar, then for John this activity initially became a challenge from his talented partner.
In 1958, guitarist George Harrison, who at that time was only 15 years old, joined the band. Later, Lennon's classmate Stuart Sutcliffe also entered the group - initially this quartet was the main line-up of the group, while John's school friends soon forgot about their musical passion. 
After changing from a dozen different names, in the end, the Liverpool people settled on The Beatles - John Lennon wanted the word to be ambiguous and contain some game. And if in Russia it was first of all translated as “Beetles” (although another spelling is correct in English - “beetles”), then for the band members the name also referred to the Buddy Holly group The Crickets (“Crickets”) that influenced them and the word “the beat", that is, "rhythm".
The main stages of creativity
For a while, the Beatles imitated their American idols, increasingly acquiring an international sound. Having written more than 100 compositions in two years, they have accumulated material for several years to come. It was then that McCartney and Lennon agreed to indicate the dual authorship of songs, regardless of who contributed what to the work. 
It's funny that until the summer of 1960, the Beatles did not have a permanent drummer - and sometimes there were problems with the equipment and installations for performances. Everything was decided by an invitation to perform in Hamburg, which the guys received, one might say, by a lucky chance. Then they urgently invited drummer Paul Best, who plays in another band. After an exhausting tour, where the Beatles played so far only covers or improvised right on stage, they returned to England as more experienced, “mature” musicians.
Meeting with Brian Epstein and George Martin
The success of The Beatles was made up of all the main components necessary for popularity, where, in addition to talent, perseverance and charisma, one cannot do without competent production and promotion. One might even say that at the beginning of his creative way The Beatles became the first pop group on a global scale, however, the principles of promotion at that time were in many ways different from modern ones. 
The fate of the Beatles' popularity was decided by the owner of the record store, a true enthusiast of his business, Brian Epstein, who in 1962 became the official manager of the group. If before Epstein the Beatles performed on stage shaggy and even, as he said, “dirty”, then under the leadership of Brian they changed into their famous suits, put on ties and made trendy haircuts “under the pot”. After working on the image, quite a natural work on the musical material followed.
Epstein sent a demo of their first songs to George Martin of the recording studio Parlophone - at a meeting with the Beatles that followed soon after, Martin praised them but advised them to change drummers. Soon everyone unanimously (Epstein and Martin always consulted with the group) chose the charming and energetic Ringo Starr from the then popular band Rory Storm for this role. and the Hurricanes.
Crazy Success: The Beatles World Tour
In September 1962, the "seizure of the world" began: the Beatles released their first single "Love me Do", which instantly became the leader of the British charts. Soon all the members of the group moved to London and in February 1963 in one day (!) Completely recorded their first album Please, Please me with groovy hits She Loves You, I Saw Her Standing There and Twist and Shout.The Beatles
The record was overflowing with joy, lyricism and, of course, rhythmic rock and roll, and the charming members of the Beatles became the personification of youth and sincerity for fans around the world. Success was cemented by the album With the Beatles that followed the same year. "Beetles" were one of the first musicians to simply and a little naively sing about love, relationships and true romance.
It was then that the concept of "Beatlemania" arose - first it swept the UK, and then stepped into other countries and across the ocean. At Beatles concerts, fans went into a frenzy just seeing their pretty idols. The girls squealed so that the musicians sometimes did not even hear what they were singing. Their success in America in 1963-1966 could be compared to a triumphal procession. Footage of The Beatles performing on the then-popular Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 became legendary: frenzied screams, imperturbable musicians, voiceovers.
The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show (1964)
The albums A Hard Day's Night (1964) and Help! (1965) not only contained beautiful and already truly "Beatle" songs, but were also presented to the audience with parallel musical films that became gifts for real fans. , then to "Help!" has already been invented artistic plot, and the Beatles tried on new comical images.
legendary song"Yesterday" by Paul McCartney from the album Help! official version, was first recorded without the participation of other Beatles, and with the help of string quartet. This composition, along with "Michelle" and "Girl", entered the collection of the group's best lyrical songs and is known to everyone who has never even closely acquainted with the work of the Liverpool Four.
After exhausting world tours (sometimes concerts were given every day), the musicians moved on to studio work in famous studio Abbey road. At the same time, the sound of The Beatles began to change more and more. For example, the album Rubber Soul (1965) featured the first sitar, played by George Harrison for the song "Norwegian Wood". By the way, by this time the band members had already become virtuoso multi-instrumentalists.
The Revolver (1966) and Magical Mystery Tour (1967) LPs with the songs "Eleanor Rigby", "Yellow Submarine" and "All You Need Is Love" provided an exquisite bridge to the grandiose "Sgt. Pepper "s Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967), which finally lifted the group to a new level. The Beatles not only became the standard in the world of music, but "sneaked" into the just emerging world of psychedelic and progressive rock, once again reflecting and simultaneously creating a whole epoch with its creativity, in fact, a symbol of the hippie era with their anti-war protests, experiments with drugs and propaganda free love became to some extent and the Beatles.
The Beatles
At that time, the Beatles had already completely transformed from a group that collects stadiums into a chamber group recording half experimental, half acoustic albums. At Wembley Stadium in 1966, the Beatles said goodbye to their past: loud fans included. This decision helped to continue the development in musically without being distracted by hype or promotions.
Breakup of the Beatles
At the same time, contradictions within the team grew more and more - George Harrison and Ringo Starr they had to literally write to the table: most of their compositions, according to them, were simply not accepted for consideration by Paul and John. In August 1967, 32-year-old Brian Epstein, who, along with George Martin, was the “fifth Beatle” in the group, died suddenly from an overdose of sleeping pills. 
More and more factors separating musicians appeared. At the beginning of 1968, they decided to spend time together in India with the Maharishi meditation teacher - this experience affected everyone in different ways, but the Beatles returned to England without having established mutual understanding with each other.
Having released the double-sided disc “The White Album” in 1968, the group continued their experiments - the record contained diverse compositions, in some of them the musicians continued to work on the sound. At that time, in the Abbey Road studios, the Beatles were accompanied all the time by future wife John Lennon, the artist Yoko Ono, who terribly annoyed all the musicians with her antics - the atmosphere became more and more tense.
Despite all the controversy, the group was able to get together in the studio to release three more albums - "Yellow Submarine" (1968) with music for a psychedelic cartoon, "Abbey Road" and "Let it Be" (1970). "Abbey Road" with the legendary cover, where the four cross the street of the same name, was recognized by critics as one of the quartet's most perfect records. At that time, George and John had already recorded their first albums, and the recording of some songs was carried out by the group outside in full force. In 1970, Paul McCartney, without waiting for the release of "Let it Be", released his debut disc and published an official letter about the breakup of the group, which caused a flurry of indignation among fans.
Scandals
On June 12, 1965, many members of the Order of the British Empire were dissatisfied with the presentation of an honorary award to The Beatles "for their contribution to the development of British culture and its popularization around the world." Prior to this, no pop musician had received an award from the Queen. True, four years later John Lennon refused the award - thus he opposed the British intervention in the outcome civil war in Nigeria.The Beatles are more popular than Jesus
After the scandal on tour in the Philippines in 1966 (the group came into conflict with the very first lady), America was outraged by John Lennon's words that the Beatles were "more popular than Jesus" and the recognition that the musician had become disillusioned with Christianity because his "stupid and ordinary" followers. None of the band members could have expected that these words would cause mass burning of Beatles records in the southern states and even protests by the Ku Klux Klan. Then Brian Epstein had to cancel the planned tour in the United States, and Lennon had to make a public apology.
Discography
- "Please Please Me" (1963)
- "With The Beatles" (1963)
- "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
- Beatles For Sale (1964)
- Help! (1965)
- "Rubber Soul" (1965)
- "Revolver" (1966)
- "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" (1967)
- "Magical Mystery Tour" (1967)
- The Beatles (also known as the White Album) (1968)
- "Yellow Submarine" (1968)
- Abbey Road (1969)
- "Let It Be" (1970)
Films about the Beatles
- "A Hard Day's Night" (1964)
- Help! (1965)
- "Yellow Submarine" (1968)
- "Let It Be" (1970)
- Imagine: John Lennon» (1988)
- "Becoming John Lennon" (2009)
- "George Harrison: Life in material world» (2011)
- "The Beatles: Eight Days a Week" (2016)
Solo projects of The Beatles members
Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney released his first solo album before the breakup of The Beatles, modestly calling it "McCartney" (1970). Despite the fact that the gap between the members of the legendary group at that time was already obvious, for McCartney this became a source of serious feelings. After some seclusion, the musician released the album "Ram" (1971), the composition of which was awarded the Grammy. At the same time, Paul's early creations were smashed by both critics and his former partner, John Lennon. 
Feeling insecure about being a soloist, McCartney created The Wings, with whom he released 7 albums from 1971 to 1979. Solo Sir Paul recorded 16 studio albums, many of which went platinum. Last on this moment ex-Beatle record - "New" 2013. World stars, such as Natalie Portman and Johnny Depp, have repeatedly starred in McCartney's videos.
John Lennon
Perhaps the most striking and at the same time transient among the former members of the Beatles was the solo career of John Lennon. It seems that it could not be otherwise - John has always been distinguished not only by a complex character, but also by the desire to create something categorically new and sometimes avant-garde. No less significant for him was the expression political position through creativity. Together with his second wife, Yoko Ono, he staged various performances, the most famous of which was the "bed interview" Give Peace a Chance (Give this world a chance) in 1969. 
For a conditional 10 years of a solo career (Lennon was shot dead on December 8, 1980 at the entrance to his house), the legendary Beatle released 9 studio albums, many of which were recorded in collaboration with Ringo Starr, George Harrison, Phil Spector and Yoko Ono. After the tragic death of the musician, through the efforts of his relatives, several more discs with previously unreleased songs were released.
John Lennon – Imagine
Lennon's work had a huge impact on culture, music, people's views both during his lifetime and after the death of the musician. His most successful records are Imagine (1971) and Double Fantasy (1980).
Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr, like George Harrison, during the existence of the Beatles, of course, was in the shadow of Paul and John. Although he, like the rest of the members, composed a lot of music, his compositions were practically not involved in the group's repertoire. Not everyone also knew that it was Ringo who sang the most popular song Yellow Submarine. However, after the breakup of the group, Starr immediately continued his solo career. 
By 2018, Ringo had already released 19 records, many of which went platinum. Throughout his career, Starr has continued to collaborate with ex-Beatles, for example, Paul McCartney took part in the recording of his latest album “Give More Love” (2017).
In 2012, Ringo Starr was named the richest drummer in the world - his fortune at that time was already about $ 300 million.
George Harrison
Guitarist George Harrison, who is not very noticeable in the group, also did not often receive "white light" for the use of his compositions in the group, however, some of them belong to his authorship. best songs their later work "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun". 
In Harrison's solo work, no one could slow down: for example, he recorded 10 studio albums in total, the best of which is the triple disc "All Things Must Pass" (1970), among the compositions of which the song of the same name and the song "My Sweet Lord" are especially noted. Harrison, who converted to Hinduism in the late 60s, was strongly influenced by Indian sacred music and religious texts in his work. The musician died of lung cancer in November 2001.
The popular group the Beatles, it is far from being short biography, the composition of The Beatles and the history of the group over the decades since its collapse do not lose their relevance. New reports about the Beatles appear briefly or extensively at frequent intervals. There is a short message about the Beatles on the net and vice versa, we tried to combine all the available information about The Beatles into one, short and informative.
Absolutely everyone has heard about the Beatles, even if only a brief summary. This team of 4 guys has become so firmly merged into the history of mankind that it still provides food for research for everyone who cares about music, be it a music lover or a critic.
The magnitude of popularity, which still makes itself felt today, a deep love for creativity, is really difficult to explain, but the fact remains that in the sixties the four turned the whole world upside down.
How it all began
For almost twenty years, the Beatles were considered the standard of musicians. The Beatles spawned a huge wave of imitation - both among ordinary fans and among other bands. The band's music inspired entire generations. It is she who is responsible for the fact that the movement for peace, for love and freedom actively flourished in Europe.
It is impossible to fully appreciate the importance The Beatles played in the culture of mankind, and it is unlikely that at least one of the team fully understood where the joint work would lead.
Liverpool, the city that was home to the founders of the team, was in fact for the musicians of England interesting place. It was here that fresh ideas were brewed, which inspired Paul and John to study music.
In 1957, Paul McCartney met Lennon for the first time. John was already considered the leader of the Quarrymen, even though he was only seventeen. The style of creativity belonged to the British version of rock and roll - skiffle. McCartney charmed a new acquaintance, because he turned out to be a multi-instrumentalist - trumpet, piano and guitar, and besides, he was oriented in the chords and lyrics of all greatest hits that time. But besides that, Paul showed John the first compositions, and John also wanted to create his own songs. The competitive spirit made them both work hard. They became close later as a result of tragic events - the death of their mothers.
In less than a few months, they not only played together, but also took to the stage. Helped them in this Harrison, George was a close friend of Paul. A little later, Stuart Sutcliffe, who studied with Harrison at the same college, joined the team that had just appeared.
It should be noted that the parents practically did not know what their sons were doing. They were really convinced that they wanted to get a working specialty. However, all the members of the foursome were too keen musical theme. Only Harrison's mother was warm to their studies.
What would you name the boat
A number of successful performances led the musicians to the idea that it was time to pick up appropriate name. The ambitions of all members of the team were great, and even though it was difficult to call all their appearances on stage concerts, and no one would offer to record their music, they were still full of enthusiasm.
To do this, I had to join the Liverpool club life. Speaking under the name Quarrymen, they tried their hand at creative competitions, but nothing like a success did not work. As a result, we had to think about which version of the name would better describe their approach to creativity.
Reflections led to The Beatles, and today there are disputes about how it appeared. Members of the team have repeatedly mentioned that the name was invented by Stuart and John. It occurred to them to create a name with a double meaning. Taking off from beetles, they changed the letter to make a reference to beat, because this particular style of music was especially popular.
Whether the name was responsible for the fact that the Beatles were noticed among others, no one can say for sure, but young people really began to be approached for performances.
The 1960s had barely begun when the group was called on a brief tour of the cities of Scotland, and this became the starting point that helped to rise above the numerous bands that performed similar music in Liverpool. The team was supposed to work on the same stage with Johnny Gentle, a popular singer at that time.
Unfortunately, the Scottish tour brought not only positive impressions. During the concerts, the team quarreled with the manager, did not receive payment on time. IN hometown they returned earlier than the treaty suggested. The drummer, who received a concussion on the tour, left the team.
big start
From the summer of 1960 The Beatles received an invitation to a concert in Hamburg. For all the members of the Beatles, this was a great chance to showcase themselves outside home country, to reach Europe, as they would say today. The most curious thing is that in fact such a choice was quite strange. The band did not have a permanent drummer, which made it difficult to work, and it was not particularly known to anyone. However, it so happened that at that time the more popular bands could not go on a long tour, and Allan Williams managed to push the beginners forward. Before the tour, a long search for a drummer led Pete Best to the team - almost by accident.
Of course, it was not without difficulties - the tour to Germany was a big test. For almost seven months abroad, the Beatles performed at the Indra and Kaiserkeller clubs. The schedule of concerts turned out to be very busy, because the concerts then went on without stops, and in no case was it possible to lose face. Leaving their own compositions for a more convenient occasion, the team hit on the performance of variations, improvisations and arrangements.
It was impossible to relax. The Beatles played the blues, processed folk songs, performed blues, rock and roll, selected and sang pop songs. It turned out to be a good experience: in the seven months of the tour, the skill has grown noticeably.
The return of the team was also appreciated in familiar clubs. The Beatles sounded different.
However, not only this trace was left by the first tour in the history of the team. Stuart Sutcliffe met and started a relationship with Astrid Kirchherr. She owns a photo shoot in the Hamburg Park. And it was she who suggested that the team pick up a new image.
Stylish new hairstyles and neat jackets without collars and lapels from Cardin have become an updated image of the team. It can be considered that german girl acted as an image maker.
Epstein era
Back in Liverpool, the team began playing regularly at the Cavern. More experienced musicians quickly moved forward, and the city became known quite widely. However, they also had competitors, such as Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Ringo Starr sat on drums in this very popular group at that time.
Everyone managed to get acquainted with the Beatles team on the same German tour. With these guys, they jointly recorded a record - playing along as session players. However, in the end it was a fateful event.
By the way, remembering in Hamburg, the Beatles went there for the second time in 1961. This time the tour took three months. Germany gave the band the opportunity to record in the studio for the first time, as they performed with Tony Sheridan. On the record, the band was referred to as The Beat Brothers.
In Cavern, the team was noticed by Brian Epstein, who worked in one of the record stores. He was so enthusiastic that he began negotiations with record companies, but received many rejections, until finally Parlophone decided to sign a contract with a group that few had heard of.
George Martin, who was the studio's producer, said it wasn't the quality of the music or the craftsmanship that attracted him. "The Beatles" took wit, openness and even a little arrogance. They so fascinated Martin that he opened the way for them to Abbey Road, the famous London studio.
By mid-autumn 1962, Love Me Do appeared. No one can say whether the single would have sold worse if Epstein had not personally bought 10,000 records, which caused a buzz around rising stars.
This brought the team to TV screens, and, of course, the number of fans began to grow at an unprecedented rate. Now singles appeared, concerts were organized, and yet the first album saw the light of day. This was also a wonderful event: Please Please Me rose to the top of the national charts and did not leave the top lines for six months.
We can say that in 1963 a new phenomenon appeared - Beatlemania.
The next record, called With The Beatles, appeared a little later and brought new record. Only pre-orders for this album collected 300 thousand. Over a million records were sold within a year!
Greatest Composers
Great Britain adored the four, but in America no one has yet heard of it. The hit re-releases that Epstein tried to negotiate didn't happen. However, when I Want To Hold Your Hand was recorded, Richard Buckle spoke about it in the very popular The Sunday Times. Speaking about the work of musicians, he expressed the opinion that the names of McCartney, Lennon will rise in the history of music immediately after the name of Beethoven. Such praise aroused interest, and so the songs of the Beatles sounded in the United States.
Not much time passed, as the first five compositions of the national hit parade of America belonged to them.
Albums continued to be recorded, and the team even made films. When Help! appeared, the whole world unanimously recognized Yesterday as the most magnificent composition. Covers sounded from all over, and today there are at least two thousand variations.
Studio work
In 1965, rock 'n' roll experienced a renaissance and turned from entertainment music into something new. The Beatles led the wave with Rubber Soul. A year later, they released Revolver, which had so many effects that it would have been impossible to perform the compositions live.
So the tour went into the background, and the team began to work seriously in the studios. In 1966 the recording of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which lasted almost 130 days.
This album is still considered the evolution of the genre, a musical triumph. However, things got worse after that.
Epstein died of an overdose of sleeping pills in 1967.
White Album today is called the first signal of the breakup of the team.
Unfortunately, at that time tension was growing in the group, the music was not created jointly, but became a reason for competition among themselves. In addition, John had Yoko, and the other members of the team did not like her at all.
Sunset
Lennon had a new project, although he was still listed in The Beatles, McCartney hit the solo work. By mid-1969, there was no co-creation, but the fans seemed to be unaware of such an unpleasant situation.
When in 1970 McCartney announced that he was leaving the project, everyone was shocked. However, the team broke up safely - each musician found his own path.
Fans dreamed of a reunion, but Lennon died in 1980, and it became clear that the era of The Beatles had gone unconditionally, which did not affect the scale of popularity at all. And today the band's albums are listened to and known everywhere.
Some facts
Great Britain in 1965 awarded all members of the team with the Order of the British Empire.
The popular music magazine Rolling Stone named the Beatles the greatest performers of all time. 1st place out of 500 best albums It was the Beatles album that took over.
The performance of The Beatles, which took place in 1967, was watched by 400,000,000 spectators. It was shown in Our World. It was there that All You Need Is Love received a video version.
1969: an unusual format at that time appeared - Yellow Submarine, a full-length cartoon. Many songs sounded in it, especially Hey Jude, which Lennon dedicated to his son Julian, was remembered by everyone.
Ringo and Paul can please fans with new music even today.
50 years ago, on October 5, 1962, the Beatles' first record, Love Me Do, went on sale.
The Beatles ("The Beatles") - British rock band, which made a huge contribution to the development and popularization of both rock music and rock culture in general. The ensemble became one of the brightest phenomena of the world culture of the 60s of the XX century.
On June 20, 2004, as part of the European tour 04 Summer Tour, Paul McCartney's only concert took place in St. Petersburg on Palace Square.
On April 4, 2009, former Beatles members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed in New York City. The concert featured both solo songs by the musicians and several Beatles' hits. The money from their joint concert was used to promote spiritual values among young people.
They last performed together at the 2002 George Harrison Tribute Concert.
In February 2012, it became known that at home in Liverpool, where members of the legendary Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney spent their childhood,. Organization for protection historical monuments, attractions and scenic spots previously restored both buildings so that they look the same as in the days of the musicians' childhood.
Since 2001, according to the decision of UNESCO, January 16 is celebrated annually as the World Day of The Beatles. Music lovers in various countries world honor the best group of the past XX century.
In the USSR, from 1964 to 1992, the Krugozor magazine and the Melodiya Firm released records in the form of flexible gramophone records, including music by Western musicians, so during 1974 five The Beatles records were released.
The material was prepared on the basis of information from RIA Novosti and open sources
The work of the Beatles is one of the greatest bands in history contemporary music- and the personal life of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison over the years since the group's triumphal march around the world has been thoroughly investigated. The gigantic array of materials about the Beatles can be safely called, by analogy with Beatlemania, "Beatlology" - the science of the Beatles.
And yet, in the biography of the group and its members, one can still find not too replicated interesting, funny, and sometimes tragic facts.
1. From February 1961 to August 1963, the Beatles played 262 times on the stage of one of the Liverpool clubs. The dynamics of the then fees of the four is impressive - from 5 pounds for the first concert to 300 for the last.
2. In 1962, Decca Records refused to sign a contract with the group, telling the musicians that guitar bands were already out of fashion.
3. The Beatles' first album, Please Please Me, was recorded in 10 hours of studio time. Now, with powerful electronics and computers, it takes months to record an album. The Beatles themselves in 1966 only recorded the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" for exactly 30 days.
4. It's hard to imagine now, but there were no stage monitors in the era of Beatlemania. Speaking in a large hall or at a stadium, the Beatles simply did not hear themselves in the squealing and singing of a crowd of thousands. According to the apt expression of one of the musicians, the organizers could well carry wax figures on tours instead of living people.
5. For the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, the Nippon Budokan sports complex was built, which became a Mecca for Japanese fans of sumo and martial arts. In 1966, one Beatles concert was enough to turn the Budokan from a martial arts center into Japan's premier concert venue.
The Beatles Concert at the Nippon Budokan
6. Lennon, McCartney and 8 other musicians performed the final chord of the song “A Day in the Life” on one piano in 10 hands. The chord sounded for 42 seconds.
7. Almost all the drums in the songs of the Beatles were performed by Ringo Starr. But there are exceptions. Paul McCartney played drums on "Back in the U.S.S.R", "The Ballad Of John And Yoko" and "Dear Prudence".
8. In the song "All You Need is Love", first performed as the final composition of the world's first worldwide television satellite show "Our World", there are bars from the song "La Marseillaise", some time in 1917 the former unofficial anthem Russia.
9 Asteroids 4147 - 4150 Named full names members of the Liverpool Four. And Lennon also has a personal lunar crater.
10. This is nothing more than an accident, but by the time the Beatles broke up, they had recorded 13 albums. However, in what is considered the most complete collection There are 15 of the group's albums - the Magical Mystery Tour and Past Masters are added to the authentic ones - a collection of unreleased songs.
11. In fact, the Beatles can be considered the inventors of the video clip. During the group's most prolific period in 1965, the musicians began to feel sorry for the time spent on traditional weekly television shows. On the other hand, participation in these shows was necessary element promoting singles and albums. The Beatles began to record performances in own studio and send the resulting videos to the offices of TV companies. Of course, not for free.
12. By own confession Steven Spielberg, one of his movie editing aids was The Beatles' Magic Mystery Tour. Having watched a very weak film, it is difficult to understand what its editing could teach the future master of cinema.
Young Steven Spielberg
13. In 1989, a high-profile trial between the former Beatles and EMI ended. The musicians accused the music label of selling Beatles songs intended for non-commercial distribution for charity purposes. EMI's philanthropic neglect has netted McCartney, Starr, Harrison and Yoko Ono $100 million each. Three years earlier, unpaid royalties for the musical "Beatlemania" brought the band members only 10 million in total.
14. According to a rather popular legend, Paul McCartney crashed in a car accident back in 1967, and his place in the group was taken by former employee Police Bill Campbell. Supporters of the version have found a lot of evidence of its truth in the design of album covers and the lyrics of the songs of the Beatles.
15. The first to land on the land of countries that were part of the USSR during the heyday of the Beatles was Ringo Starr. The drummer with his group "All-Starr Band" gave concerts in both capitals of Russia in 1998.
16. At the suggestion of homegrown rock stars, Western music critics write seriously about the Beatles' contribution to the destruction of the communist system. The “Great Four”, in their opinion, influenced Makarevich, Grebenshchikov, Gradsky and other rock musicians so much that the USSR was simply doomed. However, back in the 1970s, journalists put Lennon on a par with Mao Zedong and John F. Kennedy
17. Rivalry "The Beatles" and " Rolling Stones"existed and exists exclusively in the heads of band managers and their fans. There were friendly relations between the musicians. In 1963, John and Paul came to the Rolling Stones concert. After the performance, Keith Richards and Mick Jagger complained to them that it was time to release a single, but they didn't have enough songs. McCartney had the melody for a song that Starr was supposed to sing with the Beatles. After a little refinement right on the sidelines of the concert, the Rolling Stones received the missing song. It was called "I Wanna Be Your Man".
18. John Lennon's mother was special, far from Christian virtues. From the age of four, John lived and was brought up in his aunt's house. The sisters did not break off relations, and John often met with his mother. After one of the meetings, a drunk driver knocked Julia Lennon to death, which was a very hard blow for the 18-year-old Lennon.
At Clapton's wedding
19. Eric Clapton secretly dated George Harrison's wife Patti Boyd for a long time. This love triangle could well revive the Beatles in 1979. Harrison was so grateful to Clapton for saving him from a tedious divorce from Patty and "bashing plates, squabbles and division of property" that he decided to gather all four at Eric and Patty's wedding. Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney arrived and played a few songs, but Lennon ignored the invitation. John's death was one year away.
20. Misfortune in the face of Yoko Ono let the wife of John Cynthia into the Lennons' house. She took pity on the fragile Japanese woman who had been guarding John at the doorstep for hours and invited her to warm up. John brought a Japanese woman to the Beatles studio himself. Soon both Lennon's marriage and the Beatles ceased to exist.
Biography of the Beatles - young years.
legendary band The Beatles were born in 1959 in the UK, in the city of Liverpool. The very first line-up of the group included Paul McCartney (bass guitar, guitar, vocals), John Lennon (guitar, vocals), George Harrison (guitar, vocals), Stuart Sutcliffe (bass guitar), 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 at that time was very famous performer rock and roll. 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 joint project with Sheridan, Brian Epstein, owner of a record store, became interested in the group. From the autumn of 1961 he became their manager. When Stuart Sutcliffe left the group in December 1961, the Beatles became a quartet. Then the composition of the group underwent another change: the record company with which Epstein was negotiating, for their agreement to cooperate with the Beatles, demanded to change drummer Pete Best.
The first author's single of the Beatles, called "Love me do", was recorded at the then little-known recording studio "Parlofon" in December 1962. Brian Epstein, in an effort to arouse public interest in the group's new hit, took a rather risky step - he bought the first ten thousand copies himself. This commercial ruse was a success - interest in the instantly scattered record 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 "Beatlemania" phenomenon is considered to be the day the Beatles performed at the London Palladium on October 13, 1963. Their concert was televised and attracted about fifteen million viewers. At the same time, thousands of the group's fans, instead of watching a TV show, preferred to gather near the concert hall building, hoping to see their idols in real life.
On November 4 of that year, the Beatles performed at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Their performance became the highlight of the program of the Royal Variety Show. The Queen Mother herself expressed admiration for the song "Till There Was You" performed by the Beatles.
Soon the Beatles' second album, With The Beatles, was released, breaking all existing records for the number of pre-purchase requests. By 1965, over one million copies of the album had been sold.
In 1963-1964, the Beatles conquered America. They became the first English band to have such resounding success"over the ocean". Moreover, the Parlofon company did not dare to release the group's singles in the USA, precisely because of the short-lived popularity in the States of almost all musicians from Great Britain. Brian Epstein tried to attract the attention of the American public by releasing 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". One of the famous music critics after this song called Lennon and McCartney "the greatest composers since Beethoven". In January 1964, the album "Meet the Beatles!" was released in the United States, which in February received the status of "gold".
The quartet went on tour in the United States, where they gave three concerts, and also twice became participants in the popular television program The Ed Sullivan Show. The Beatles brought together forty percent of the US population in front of 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 television audiences was recorded for the first time in the history of television.
This was the height of the "Beatlemania": their next creative project, musical film A Hard Day's Evening and the self-titled album received three million pre-orders, and overseas tours were a triumph. The Beatles were called "the best songwriters since Schubert."
However, the quartet soon had to put an end to concert performances: the public was ready to tear apart their idols, the fans did not let the musicians pass, so the Beatles were practically isolated from the whole world. In 1965, world popularity showed its reverse side: protests began against the Beatles, their records, portraits, clothes were burned. The careless statements of the members of the group led to scandals on a national scale. In addition, the stage limited their creative development - day after day they performed the same songs, under the terms of the contract they did not have the 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 recorded a monumental and innovative album called Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club. It was a real revolution in the world of rock music: the album was the first impetus to the new musical directions that subsequently appeared, such as art rock, 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 one has ever achieved such a grandiose success musical ensemble. 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 business went into decline.
In 1968, the band released a double album, which would become known among the band's fans as the "white album" due to the cover artwork. The album was very popular, but it was during the work on it that the first signs of a subsequent collapse appeared in the group. The atmosphere began to heat up, between the musicians from time to time there were scandals. contributed to the improvement of the group.
In 1969, the group released one of their best songs, "Hey Jude". The single reached the top of the charts around the world and sold six million copies.
In February 1969, relations in the group finally went wrong due to disagreements over a new manager. McCartney sued his own group. However, later the group released another masterpiece of their work - the album "Abbey Road", which is considered their last collaboration (the album "Let It Be", released in 1970, included old recordings of the group).
In April 1970, at the same time as the release of the solo disc, Paul McCartney officially announced that the Beatles were no more. The world's greatest rock band has broken up. In 1979, McCartney made attempts to reunite the group in the same lineup. But this was never destined to happen - a year later, John Lennon was killed.
