Help! When The Beatles Met Bob Dylan

Published on

July 18, 2018

On 28th Aug 1964, after playing a show at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, New York, The Beatles met Bob Dylan for the first time at The Delmonico Hotel. Dylan and mutual journalist friend Al Aronowitz introduce the Fab Four to marijuana.

I need to be careful what I say here, but as we all know, some people with artistic tendencies like the odd puff on a herbal.

According to cannabis historian Ernest Abel, the connection between music and marijuana began with jazz musicians in New Orleans around 1910. It was with these musicians that marijuana became an integral part of the jazz era. Unlike alcohol, which dulled and incapacitated the senses, marijuana enabled musicians whose job required them to play long and exhausting sets. Taking the drug also seemed to make their music sound more imaginative and unique, at least to those who played and listened while under its influence.

Dylan had wrongly assumed that the Fab Four were already pot heads, after mishearing the lyrics to “I Want To Hold Your hand” which he thought were “and when I touch you I get high, I get high…” The actual words are ‘I can’t hide, I can’t hide, I can’t hide…'”

So, Bob and mutual journalist friend Al Aronowitz introduced the Fab Four to marijuana. “Till then we’d been hard scotch and Coke men,” admitted Paul McCartney. Dylan rolled the first joint and passed it to John Lennon who immediately passed it to Ringo Starr, whom he called his “Royal Taster.” Because the drummer didn’t know the etiquette of sharing a joint, he finished the whole thing himself. More joints were rolled and the Beatles spent the next few hours in hilarity, with Dylan watching in amusement.

The Beatles were hooked. John Lennon later stated, “The Beatles had gone beyond comprehension. We were smoking marijuana for breakfast. We were well into marijuana and nobody could communicate with us, we were just glazed eyes, giggling all the time.”

This was the swinging ’60s, and everyone was at it, but the trick was not to get on the wrong side of the law. In 1967 Rolling Stone Keith Richard was found guilty of allowing his house to be used for the illegal smoking of cannabis. He was sentenced to one year in jail but his conviction was quashed by appeal court. Both Mick Jagger and Brian Jones were also arrested for possession. (I’m told you can see Jagger smoking a rather large cigarette in the Beatles “All You Need Is Love” promo film.)

In 1973 Paul McCartney was fined £100 ($170) for growing cannabis at his farm in Campbeltown, Scotland. McCartney hilariously claimed some fans gave the seeds to him and that he didn’t know what they would grow.

Well, would you believe it?

We have a book! The Beatles – I Was There which contains over 400 eyewitness accounts from fans who saw The Beatles live in concert. Available in print and all digital formats.

Important Dates In The Life Of The Beatles:

On this day in music

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12 Mar 2022 Stereophonics scored their eighth UK No.1 with their 25th anniversary album Oochya! The achievement made them one of the most successful chart acts of all time, tying with Taylor Swift, Oasis, Kylie Minogue and R.E.M. - who also have had eight chart toppers. The Beatles have the most, with 15, followed by Elvis Presley and Robbie Williams, both of whom have 13.
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24 Dec 2021 LadBaby made chart history when his song 'Sausage Rolls for Everyone', a sausage roll-themed parody of Ed Sheeran and Elton John's No.1 single 'Merry Christmas' and also featuring Sheeran and John, debuted at No.1 in the UK Singles Chart. It gave the Nottingham-born YouTuber and musician his fourth consecutive Christmas No.1 single. LadBaby became only the second act in history, after The Beatles, to secure four Christmas No.1 singles, but was the very first to achieve four consecutive Christmas chart-toppers, surpassing the records of both The Beatles and The Spice Girls.
15 Dec 2021 American singer Wanda Young died at the age of 78. She was a member and after 1965, the lead singer of the Motown all-female singing group the Marvelettes. They gave Motown their first No.1 Pop single in late 1961 with ‘Please Mr. Postman’. The Beatles later recorded ‘Please Mr. Postman’ on their second studio album With the Beatles and in 1975, the Carpenters' remake of ‘Please Mr. Postman’ was a No.1 hit around the world.
21 Aug 2021 Don Everly, the surviving member of the rock 'n' roll duo The Everly Brothers, died at the age of 84. Everly and his brother, Phil, had worldwide hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including 'Bye Bye Love' and 'All I Have To Do Is Dream'. They were known for their close harmonies, and influenced groups like The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel. The Beatles based the vocal arrangement of 'Please Please Me' on The Everly's hit 'Cathy's Clown'.
16 Jan 2021 American producer Phil Spector died in prison age 81. Known for his 'Spector Wall Of Sound’ he was a member of Teddy Bears, who had the 1958 US No.1 single 'To Know Him Is To Love Him'. He went on to produce many classic songs including; Ben E King, 'Spanish Harlem', The Crystals, 'Da Doo Ron Ron', The Ronettes, 'Baby I Love You', The Righteous Brothers, 'You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling', Ike and Tina Turner, 'River Deep, Mountain High'. He also produced albums for The Ramones, John Lennon, (produced the 1970 hit 'Instant Karma!, George Harrison, The Beatles, and Harry Nilsson. The 2003 shooting of actress Lana Clarkson in his Alhambra, California home led to his 2009 conviction of murder in the second degree.
3 Jan 2021 English musician Gerry Marsden died age 78 after being diagnosed with a blood infection in his heart. With Gerry And The Pacemakers he had the 1963 UK No.1 single 'How Do You Do It' and the 1965 US No.6 single, 'Ferry Cross The Mersey'. In common with The Beatles they came from Liverpool, were managed by Brian Epstein, and were recorded by George Martin. Their cover of 'You'll Never Walk Alone' was released in 1963, peaking at No.1. After becoming a chart hit the song gained popularity on the Anfield terraces, and the song quickly became the football anthem of Liverpool F.C., which adopted 'You'll Never Walk Alone' as its official motto on its coat of arms.
6 Dec 2019 Robbie Williams became the joint most successful solo act in UK album chart history after scoring his 13th No.1, with The Christmas Present - level with Elvis Presley. The Beatles hold the overall record with 15 UK No.1 albums.
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4 Oct 2019 The Beatles' Abbey Road returned to No.1 in the UK, 50 years after it first topped the album charts after the release of an expanded anniversary edition. The feat also sees the album set a record - the gap of 49 years and 252 days since its initial chart-topping run ended in early 1970 is the longest gap before returning to No.1.
12 Apr 2019 John Hutch drummer with the Liverpudlian group The Big Three died age 79. The Big Three rivalled The Beatles for popularity before the Mersey sound became a national and international phenomenon in the early Sixties. Hutch filled in on drums behind Lennon, McCartney and Harrison in both 1960 and 1962 and later claimed he was offered the opportunity to become Pete Best’s successor before Ringo Starr was given the job in The Beatles.
27 Mar 2019 Beatles' booking manager Joe Flannery, also known as "Secret Beatle", died aged 87. He was the band’s booking manager from 1962-63 and according to Flannery, members of The Beatles would often sleep at his flat and he would drive them home the next morning. He is also said to have given a young George Harrison driving lessons.
23 Feb 2019 Ariana Grande became the first solo artist to hold the top three spots on the US Hot 100 in the same week, a feat previously accomplished only by The Beatles. The songs: No.1: '7 Rings', No.2: 'Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored' and at No.3: 'Thank U, Next'.
20 Jan 2017 Sir Paul McCartney was suing Sony over control of The Beatles' back catalogue. McCartney had gone to a US court, seeking to regain the publishing rights to 267 of the band's classic songs. He had been trying to get them back since the 1980s, when Michael Jackson famously out-bid him for the rights. Jackson's debt-ridden estate sold the songs to Sony in 2016.
13 Jan 2017 Magic Alex (Alexis Mardas) a Greek electronics engineer died aged 74. He is best known for his close association with the Beatles. His nickname was given to him by John Lennon when he was involved with the group between 1965 and 1969, during which time he became head of Apple Electronics. Mardas often said that the Abbey Road studio was "no good", much to producer George Martin's annoyance. He allegedly said that he could build a 72-track tape machine and was then given the job of designing the new Apple Studio in Savile Row, London. His schemes lost Apple at least £300,000 (£3 million in 2017 pounds).
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30 Dec 2016 Allan Williams the first manager of The Beatles died at the age of 86. Williams worked with The Beatles from 1960 to 1961, getting the band gigs in Britain, and in Hamburg. Williams personally drove the van to take the Beatles to Hamburg in 1960, which didn't have seats; The Beatles had to sit on their amplifiers in the back of the van.
19 Nov 2016 A furious letter from John Lennon to Paul McCartney and his wife, Linda, written after The Beatles' break-up sold for nearly $30,000 (£24,200), to an anonymous collector in Dallas. In the two-page typed draft with handwritten notes, Lennon criticises the couple for their treatment of him and his wife, Yoko Ono. The attack is said to be in response to Linda's criticism of him not publicly announcing his departure from the band.
27 Oct 2016 A letter John Lennon wrote to the Queen explaining why he was returning his MBE was found tucked in a record sleeve from a £10 car boot haul. The anonymous owner took the document to a valuation day at The Beatles Story in Liverpool and discovered it was worth about £60,000. Lennon had returned the MBE in protest at Britain's involvement in a civil war.
30 Aug 2016 The latest edition of Guinness World Records said that Ringo Starr's copy of The Beatles' White Album was officially the most expensive LP ever sold at auction. Guinness confirmed that a December 2015 sale at Julien's Auction House set a new high for album prices when the first-edition copy with the catalog number 0000001, which was kept in a vault in perfect condition by Starr for more than 35 years, sold for $790,000.
21 Jul 2016 Ivanka Trump made a speech in support of her father Donald at the Republican National Convention, taking the podium as The Beatles 'Here Comes The Sun' was playing. The estate of George Harrison, who wrote the song, Tweeted: "The unauthorised use of #HereComestheSun at the #RNCinCLE is offensive & against the wishes of the George Harrison estate. If it had been 'Beware Of Darkness,' then we may have approved it! #TrumpYourself"
22 May 2016 A guitar that Elvis Presley was given by his father sold for $334,000 (£230,000) at an auction in New York. It was thought that Vernon Presley changed the finish on the Gibson Dove to black after his son earned a black belt in karate. Presley later gave the guitar to a fan during a concert in North Carolina in 1975. Auctioneers Julien's also sold John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for The Beatles' 'Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite!' for $354,400 (£244,000) and a red neoprene vinyl jacket which Michael Jackson wore for his 1996-97 HIStory world tour which sold for $256,000.
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14 May 2016 The Beatles' former press officer, Tony Barrow, who coined the term 'The Fab Four' to describe the band, died aged 80. Barrow represented the band between 1962 and 1968 and also wrote sleeve notes for their early albums, as well as the strip cartoon for the Magical Mystery Tour booklet.
14 Mar 2016 Sony ATV Music Publishing announced that it would buy out Michael Jackson's share of a joint music publishing venture for $750m. The purchase gave Sony the rights to about three million songs, including works by The Beatles, Bob Dylan and Taylor Swift, but did not include Jackson's master recordings.
9 Mar 2016 A study by The Journal of Advanced Nursing reported that pop records set a bad example by portraying ageing and old people in a negative light, focusing on dying and physical decline. Researchers trawled the musical archives from the 1930s to the present day for any tracks mentioning old age. The majority, 55 out of 76 songs, focused on 'bad' aspects of ageing. The Beatles and Elton John featured on the 'negative list', along with Pulp and The Who.
8 Mar 2016 English record producer, arranger, composer, conductor, audio engineer and musician, Sir George Martin died aged 90. He worked as EMI records in-house record producer and became known as the so-called fifth Beatle. Martin produced all but one of The Beatles albums giving him 30 No.1 hit singles in the UK and 23 No.1 hits in the US. He also produced many other acts including: Matt Monro, Cilla Black, Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, The Fourmost, Jeff Beck, Ultravox, Kenny Rogers, UFO, Cheap Trick, Elton John and Celine Dion. Martin received a Knighthood in 1996.
4 Dec 2015 Justin Bieber scored his third UK No.1 single with 'Love Yourself', which knocked his previous chart-topper, 'Sorry', to No.2.The last living artists to achieve the feat were The Beatles in 1963 with 'She Loves You' and I Want to Hold Your Hand.
4 Dec 2015 A new statue of The Beatles was unveiled in Liverpool - 50 years after their last show in Merseyside. The bronze sculpture, by Andy Edwards which weighed 1.2 tonnes, had been given to the city by The Cavern Club the venue synonymous with the Fab Four in the 1960s.
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9 Nov 2015 Scottish session drummer Andy White died aged 82. He was affectionately christened "the fifth Beatle" as he was best known for replacing Ringo Starr on drums on the The Beatles' first single, ‘Love Me Do’. White was featured on the American 7" single release of the song, which also appeared on the band's debut British album, Please Please Me. He also played on ‘P.S. I Love You’, which was the B-side of ‘Love Me Do’. White also worked with Chuck Berry, Billy Fury, Herman's Hermits and Tom Jones.
1 Oct 2015 An original tape of The Beatles performing at The Cavern Club in Liverpool in 1962 was found after 50 years languishing in a desk drawer. It featured the Fab Four playing 'Some Other Guy' in September 1962, four weeks before their debut single came out. It was recorded after the group were filmed for Granada TV's Know The North, but was never broadcast.
29 Sep 2015 The original contract signed by The Beatles and manager Brian Epstein sold at Sotheby's for £365,000, ($548.000). The 1962 document was said to be one of the most important contracts in popular music, marking the beginning of the band's journey to international fame.
7 Jul 2015 Climate scientists from five leading universities found that 163 of Bob Dylan's 542 songs reference the climate – almost a third – making him the musician most likely to mention the weather in his lyrics. The Beatles came in at number two, mentioning the weather in 48 of the 308 songs they wrote.
1 Apr 2015 Cynthia Lennon, first wife of The Beatles' John Lennon died at her home in Spain following a short battle with cancer. At the height of The Beatles' early success she was, at the insistence of the band's management, kept in the background so their legions of female fans were not aware of her existence. The couple divorced in 1968 after Cynthia discovered her husband's affair with Yoko Ono.
7 Mar 2015 Drake had 14 songs in the Hot 100, after the release of his mixtape 'If You're Reading This It's Too Late'. The Beatles are the only other act to accomplish this, with 14 songs on the chart for a week in April 1964. Drake went on to place 27 songs on the chart dated July 14, 2018.
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22 Dec 2014 Joe Cocker died of lung cancer in Crawford, Colorado aged 70. The Sheffield-born singer was known for his gritty voice, spasmodic body movement in performance and definitive versions of popular songs of varying genre. Cocker had a career lasting more than 40 years, with hits including his cover of The Beatles' With a Little Help from My Friends, 'You Are So Beautiful' and 'Up Where We Belong'. He was made an OBE in 2011. In the early Sixties Cocker was performing as Vance Arnold. The name was a combination of Vince Everett, Elvis Presley's character in Jailhouse Rock (which Cocker misheard as Vance) and country singer Eddy Arnold.
20 Oct 2014 The childhood home of former Beatle George Harrison sold at an auction at The Cavern Club for £156,000, ($250,000). The three-bedroom mid-terrace home was where The Quarrymen held some of their first rehearsals before the band evolved into the The Beatles in 1960.
3 Oct 2014 A mint-condition copy of The Beatles' Please Please Me album, signed by George Harrison, Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Ringo Starr sold for $36,655 at an auction held in the US.
30 Aug 2014 Kate Bush followed her stage comeback by becoming the first woman to have eight albums in the UK charts at the same time. Two of the singer's albums were in the top 10, and eight overall in the top 40. It came after she returned for her first live concerts for 35 years. The only artists ahead of Bush are Elvis Presley, who had 12 entries in the top 40 after his death in 1977 and The Beatles who had 11 in 2009.
3 Feb 2014 Bruce Springsteen was at No.1 on the US chart with his eighteenth studio album High Hopes. His eleventh No.1 album in the US, placed him third all-time for most No. 1 albums only behind The The Beatles and Jay-Z. The album is a collection of cover songs, out-takes and re-imagined versions of tracks from past albums, EPs and tours.
19 Jan 2014 Bruce Springsteen scored his 10th UK No.1 album with High Hopes, putting him ahead of the likes of Abba, David Bowie and Michael Jackson. The achievement puts him on level pegging with The Rolling Stones and U2, who also have 10 UK No.1's. The Beatles lead the way, with 15, followed by Madonna on 12, while Elvis Presley and Robbie Williams both had 11 each.
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9 Jan 2014 Rolling Stone magazine published their Readers Poll: The 10 Greatest Double Albums of All Time. The top 5 were: Led Zeppelin Physical Graffiti, Bruce Springsteen, The River, The Rolling Stones, Exile on Main Street, Pink Floyd, The Wall, and winning the poll was The Beatles, with their ninth studio album and only double album released in November 1968 The White Album.
3 Jan 2014 Phil Everly, one half of the Everly Brothers, died of complications from lung disease aged 74, in California. In their heyday between 1957 and 1962, the Everly Brothers had 19 Top 40 hits, including 'Bye Bye Love', 'Wake Up Little Susie' and 'All I Have to Do Is Dream' and influenced acts such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys. The Everly Brothers had 35 Billboard Top-100 singles, 26 in the top 40. They hold the record for the most Top-100 singles by any duo. In the UK, they had 30 chart singles, 29 in the top 40, 13 top 10, and 4 at No. 1 between 1957 and 1984.
23 Dec 2013 The Mail On Sunday reported that documents they obtained from the Cabinet Office via the Freedom Of Information Act showed that George Harrison, who passed away in 2001, turned down the chance to be included in the New Year's Honours List in 2000. The OBE was recommended by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport who said that Harrison should be recognised for his contribution to the music industry. The citation read: "He was a member of a band that many people would say is the best thing that Britain has ever produced, and possibly the best in the world, The Beatles".
28 Nov 2013 It was reported that George Harrison's sister was living in a pre-fabricated home and "struggling for money" since her allowance from The Beatles star's estate was cut off about a year after he died. 82-year-old Louise Harrison admitted that she had no access to her brother's multi-million dollar fortune and was cash-poor living in rural Missouri. She never challenged her brother's estate, adding "I don't care about the money, it's been over ten years and I haven't made any ripples."
4 Nov 2013 Rihanna joined The Beatles and Elvis Presley as one of just three acts to top the UK singles chart seven times over seven years. The singer made the No.1 spot, as the featured artist on Eminem's new track 'The Monster'.
29 Oct 2013 John Lennon's first home, in Liverpool, was sold for £480,000 at an auction held at The Cavern Club. The red brick terrace at 9 Newcastle Road, Wavertree, was where the member of The Beatles lived from birth, in 1940, until he was five. The property has a rear yard and is a few streets away from Penny Lane, made famous by The Beatles.
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24 Oct 2013 NME published their latest '500 Greatest Albums of All Time' list. The top 5 read: 1. The Smiths - 'The Queen Is Dead', 2. The Beatles - 'Revolver' 3. David Bowie - 'Hunky Dory', 4. The Strokes - 'Is This It' and at 5. The Velvet Underground & Nico - 'The Velvet Underground'.
21 Oct 2013 Sid Bernstein, the concert promoter who staged early US shows by The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, died aged 95. Bernstein booked The Beatles for their legendary show at Shea Stadium in New York in 1965, which was the first concert to be staged in a stadium. Bernstein also promoted the Fab Four's gigs at Carnegie Hall in New York on their first US tour in 1964. He also arranged The Rolling Stones first five US gigs and shows for Judy Garland, Ray Charles and Tony Bennett.
16 Sep 2013 Jackie Lomax died at his home in England aged 69. He first gained notice as the vocalist and bass player with The Undertakers, which were part of the Mersey Beat movement. He was later one of the first artists to sign with The Beatles label, Apple, with George Harrison penning his single 'Sour Milk Sea'.
21 Aug 2013 Legendary concert promoter Sid Bernstein, best known for booking The Beatles at Carnegie Hall and later Shea Stadium, died at the age of 95. Bernstein changed the American music scene in the 1960s by bringing The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, The Moody Blues, and The Kinks to America. He was the first impresario to organise rock concerts at sports stadiums.
19 May 2013 A guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison sold for $408,000 (£269,000) at auction. The custom-made instrument, built in 1966 by VOX was bought by an unidentified US buyer in New York. Harrison played ‘I Am The Walrus’, on the guitar in a scene from Magical Mystery Tour in 1967. Lennon used it in a video for Hello, Goodbye later that year. After playing the guitar, Lennon gave it as a 25th birthday present to Alexis "Magic Alex" Mardas, a member of The Beatles' inner circle in the 1960s.
28 Apr 2013 Emeli Sande set a new record for the most consecutive weeks on the UK's Official Album Chart top 10 of any debut album. 'Our Version Of Events' was released in February 2012 and went on to become the biggest selling album that year. The album hadn't dropped out of the top 10 since its release and had been in the UK's Official Album Chart for 63 weeks. The 26-year-old singer had overtaken The Beatles who previously held the record.
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27 Apr 2013 A blue plaque was unveiled at Swansea railway station, Wales, honouring Peter Ham who co-wrote 'Without You', a hit for both Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey. Ham who was a member of Badfinger were signed to The Beatles Apple Records label, (and enjoyed their biggest hit in 1970 with a Paul McCartney penned, 'Come And Get It'. Ham took his own life in 1975 at the age of 27.
2 Apr 2013 Coldplay beat the likes of Pink Floyd and The Beatles to the top of a BBC Radio 2 poll to find listeners' favourite album of all time. A Rush Of Blood To The Head, came top of the list. Keane's Hopes And Fears took second place, with Duran Duran's Rio in third. Pink Floyd's The Dark Side Of The Moon came fourth, while The Beatles' 1967 classic Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band could only manage eighth place. The poll was held to tie in with the recent BBC season The Golden Age of the Album.
1 Apr 2013 A signed copy of The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sold at Dallas-based Heritage Auctions for $290,500 (£191,000). The selling price far exceeded the $30,000 (£19,700) originally estimated for the rare LP record. The UK Parlophone copy of the album included a high gloss cover and vinyl gatefold sleeve.
24 Mar 2013 Pictures of The Beatles' 1965 Shea Stadium concert, taken by an amateur photographer who bluffed his way backstage, sold for £30,000 at auction. Marc Weinstein used a fake press pass to get next to the stage for the historic New York show. His 61 black and white images with copyright fetched £30,680, the successful bidder was a South American gentleman currently living in Washington who is a huge collector of Beatles memorabilia.
6 Feb 2013 It was announced that Warner Music was set to buy the record label Parlophone which was formerly a part of EMI Music from Universal Music for £487m ($765m). The Parlophone label group also included the Chrysalis and Ensign labels, but The Beatles part of Parlophone, was exempted from the sale.
1 Jan 2013 Ultravox's 1981 hit 'Vienna' was voted the UK's favourite number two single. The song topped a poll by BBC Radio 2 and the Official Charts Company to find the greatest track to miss out on the number one spot. Vienna was held off by novelty track 'Shaddup You Face' by Joe Dolce. 'Fairytale of New York' by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl was voted into second place. Other songs to feature included The Beatles 'Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever', The Who's 'My Generation' and Don McLean's 'American Pie'.
23 Nov 2012 According to a new list of the 200 rarest records published in Record Collector magazine, the original acetate of the pre Beatles demo by the Quarrymen of 'That'll Be The Day' was worth £200,000 ($320,630). Several other Beatles records figured in the top 20. Low-numbered copies of The Beatles The White Album was said to be worth £7,000 ($11,222 USD), though a copy of a mono White Album #0000005 sold for £19,201 ($30,782 USD) in 2009.
13 Nov 2012 The original collage that was reproduced and included in copies of The Beatles' 1967 classic Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band record sold for $87,720. The piece, which was designed by Peter Blake, was sold to an unnamed bidder as part of an auction of modern British art at Sotheby’s in London.
8 Oct 2012 Record label bosses at EMI recalled a vinyl, anniversary edition of The Beatles' hit single 'Love Me Do' after discovering they had accidentally pressed a version that included session musician Andy White playing drums instead of Ringo Starr. Copies of the disc featuring the wrong version were reportedly selling on eBay.
27 Jul 2012 The Beatles returned to the Top 40 of the Billboard albums chart with the iTunes-exclusive compilation Tomorrow Never Knows. The set included 14 classic songs by the band and marked the first time The Beatles released an album exclusively to iTunes that had never been previously issued.
16 Jul 2012 Queen's 1975 classic Bohemian Rhapsody was voted as the UK's "Favorite No. 1 Single," narrowly beating out Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' for the top spot. The poll conducted by the Official Charts Company had The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ at No.5, with Adele's hit 'Someone Like You' at No.3.
15 Jul 2012 Queen were crowned top of the patriotic pops in a survey of 100,000 music fans. The band's anthem 'We Are The Champions' was named number one by fans who were asked what song made them proud to be British. The track, which got to number two in 1977, picked up 13,000 votes in the survey carried out among users of the Lucky Voice website. It was followed by the Oasis hit 'Wonderwall' which was nominated by 11,000 karaoke singers and then 'Let It Be' by The Beatles which got 10,000 votes. Elton John's 'Candle In The Wind' and 'London Calling' by The Clash rounded off the top five.
27 Jun 2012 The chief medical officer of Russia said that The Beatles were to blame for the country's drug problem. Yevgeny Bryun, the nation's medical chief, said that the country's youth first got introduced to the idea of drug-taking when The Beatles traveled to India to "expand their minds". Bryun added that it was after this news entered public consciousness that people in Russia realised you could make money from the sale of drugs. When business then realised it was possible to make money from this, goods associated with pleasure, that was when the growth in the demand for drugs started."
18 Apr 2012 An original and extremely rare 1963 mono copy of The Beatles ‘Please Please Me’ album, signed by the Fab Four, sold on an eBay auction for nearly $25,000. Paul McCartney and John Lennon both signed their names with "love" in royal blue ink whereas George Harrison and Ringo Starr signed their names in midnight blue ink. The autographs were signed in May of 1963.
22 Jan 2012 Adele broke an American chart record that has stood for years after being set by The Beatles and Pink Floyd. The singers second album 21 clocked up 16 weeks at No.1 on the US chart matching the success of the Titanic original soundtrack. 21, released last January had now beaten The Beatles' Sgt Pepper's and Pink Floyd's The Wall which had previously held the accolade with runs of 15 weeks at No.1.
10 Dec 2011 A copy of The Beatles 'Love Me Do' 1962 Demonstration Record sold for $17,339.31 during a 10-day eBay auction. According to the seller, this original demo was the ‘Holy Grail’ of Beatles items.
22 Sep 2011 Research conducted by car maker SEAT found that Queen’s 'Bohemian Rhapsody' was the song most likely to be found on British iPods, with more than 40% of owners having the hit on their players. The Beatles had four songs in the list, a feat also matched by Coldplay. Other favourites included U2, The Killers and Rihanna.
21 Sep 2011 A contract revealing that The Beatles refused to perform in front of a segregated audience at the Cow Palace in Daly City, California on August 31st, 1965, sold for $23,033 at an auction in Los Angeles. In addition to the desegregation clause, the contract guaranteed the band $40,000 and at least 150 police officers to provide security at the show.
20 Jul 2011 Never-before seen photographs of The Beatles' first US concert in Washington DC sold in New York for more than $360,000 (£223,600). The Fab Four played their first US concert on February 11 1964, at the Washington Coliseum, two days after their debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. Mike Mitchell, of Washington, was 18 at the time and took photographs just feet away. Among the highlights was a backlit photograph Mitchell shot while standing directly behind the Fab Four which sold for more than $68,000 dollars.
18 May 2011 John Lennon's handwritten lyrics for the 1967 Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' sold for $237,132 (£145,644) at an auction in the US. The sale of the sheet, which featured the song's third verse and the opening words to 'She's Leaving Home', took place at the Saban Theatre in Beverly Hills. Both songs feature on the 1967 album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was speculated the song was about the drug LSD, however, The Beatles denied this, with Lennon saying the inspiration had come from a picture his son Julian had drawn of a classmate named Lucy Vodden - who died of the immune system disease Lupus in 2009.
29 Mar 2011 A website that illegally sold Beatles songs online for 25 cents each agreed to pay record companies almost $1m (£625,000) to settle a legal case. BlueBeat.com, based in the US, streamed and sold music by The Beatles, Coldplay and others until it was sued in 2009. In the few days before it was forced to shut down, it had distributed more than 67,000 Beatles tracks.
18 Mar 2011 Organisers of an attempt to reunite 19 people who watched The Beatles play in a town hall in 1963 had claims from 24 people who said they were there. Billy Shanks was helping to lead the search for the audience members of the gig in Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland in 1963. He said some who turned up thought the music was rubbish and left to join an audience of 1,200 watching a local band in nearby Strathpeffer.
5 Mar 2011 61 year-old Charles Mulchrone's teenage love for The Beatles paid dividends when he sold his old autograph book at Sheppard's auction house, Durrow, for 1,300 euros. It contained the signatures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono when the couple stayed at a hotel in Mulranny in the summer of 1968. Charles plucked up the courage to approach them and got their signatures, he said they were.
25 Jan 2011 A former Miss Canada finalist became the first person in the world to graduate with a Masters degree in The Beatles. Canadian singer Mary-Lu Zahalan-Kennedy, 53, was one of the first students to sign up for the course on the Fab Four when it launched at Liverpool Hope University in March 2009. The ground-breaking course looked at the studio sound and composition of The Beatles and how Liverpool helped to shape their music as well as examining the significance of the music of The Beatles and their impact on Western culture.
22 Dec 2010 The Abbey Road zebra crossing in north London, made famous after appearing on a Beatles album cover was given Grade II listed status. The crossing, the first of its kind to be listed, was being recognised for its "cultural and historical importance" following advice from English Heritage. The Beatles were photographed on Abbey Road in Ian Macmillan's iconic cover shot for the 1969 album Abbey Road.
22 Nov 2010 After just one week of availability on the iTunes store, The Beatles music sold more than 450,000 albums and 2 million individual songs. The Fab Four's debut on iTunes was accompanied by an extensive world-wide marketing campaign.
16 Nov 2010 The Beatles back catalogue was finally made available on iTunes, after years of negotiations. For the first time consumers would now be able to purchase some of the Fab Four's most popular songs via the store. Apple and record label EMI had been in talks for years about getting the catalogue online. Apple chief executive and Beatles fan Steve Jobs said it had "been a long and winding road to get here. We love the Beatles and are honoured and thrilled to welcome them to iTunes."
25 Aug 2010 A selection of previously unseen photographs of The Beatles went on display in Liverpool at the Victoria Gallery and Museum. The images were taken by Astrid Kirchherr the former girlfriend of original bass player Stuart Sutcliffe, who took pictures of the band's early years after meeting them in Hamburg in 1960. The exhibition included images of the Beatles on holiday in Tenerife and of the making of their film A Hard Day's Night in 1964 in Liverpool.
18 Jun 2010 John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to The Beatles song 'A Day In The Life' sold for $1.2m (£810,000) at an auction at Sotheby's in New York. The double-sided sheet of paper with notes written in felt marker and blue ink also contained some corrections and other notes penned in red ink.
5 Jun 2010 Led Zeppelin were officially voted the nation’s favourite band by the BBC’s ‘I’m In A Rock ‘N` Roll Band’, coming ahead of both The Beatles and Queen in a phone-in vote. The show also featured Best Singer, Guitarist, and Drummer live phone-in votes which saw Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Bonham all nominated in their categories. John Bonham was crowned top drummer ahead of Dave Grohl and Keith Moon, whilst Jimmy and Robert were runners up to Jimi Hendrix and Freddie Mercury respectively.
19 Apr 2010 A week after Catholic Church officials published an article in the Vatican's L'Osservatore Romano newspaper that said they forgive John Lennon's remarks about The Beatles being "bigger than Jesus", Ringo Starr rejected their forgiveness. The newspaper's editors had written, "The Beatles said they were bigger than Jesus and put out mysterious messages, that were possibly even Satanic... (but) what would Pop music be like without the Beatles?" Ringo was unimpressed and replied "Didn't the Vatican say we were Satanic or possibly Satanic? And they've still forgiven us? I think the Vatican, they've got more to talk about than the Beatles."
12 Apr 2010 The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Ramano published a story praising The Beatles and saying that it forgave John Lennon for his 1966 comment that the group was 'bigger than Jesus.' Lennon told a British newspaper in 1966 - at the height of Beatlemania - that he did not know which would die out first, Christianity or rock and roll.
10 Mar 2010 Pink Floyd won a court battle with EMI that prevented the record company from selling single downloads and ringtones on the Internet from the group's albums. Pink Floyd's back catalogue was second only in sales to The Beatles.
23 Feb 2010 London's Abbey Road studios was made a listed building, protecting it from plans to radically alter it. Culture Minister Margaret Hodge listed the studios on the advice of English Heritage saying it had "produced some of the very best music in the world". The Beatles used Abbey Road for 90% of their recordings. The studio was originally named EMI Studios, they changed the name to Abbey Road Studios in 1970 because of The Beatles album.
14 Feb 2010 American singer-songwriter-musician Doug Fieger died after a long battle with cancer. He was the rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist of The Knack, and co-wrote 'My Sharona', the biggest hit song of 1979 in the USA, and was Capitol Records' fastest gold status debut single since The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand in 1964. When Fieger was 25, he met 17-year-old Sharona Alperin, who he wrote the song for, as well as later becoming Fieger's girlfriend for the next four years.
13 Jan 2010 A plaque of The Beatles iconic yellow submarine, which was stolen six months ago from Liverpool's Albert Dock, was set to be replaced by a new creation. The 5ft (1.5m) design featured the faces of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison peering through its portholes. The new submarine would hang outside the museum dedicated to the band, The Beatles Story.
7 Jan 2010 According to Nielsen SoundScan's final 2009 figures, Michael Jackson was the best selling artist of the year, moving 8,286,000 units. Forty years after their break-up, The Beatles were still the best selling group, thanks to their remastered catalog which sold 3,282,000 copies. Digital downloads however, were a different story. Lady Gaga was the queen of the downloads, selling 15,297,000 digital tracks. The Black Eyed Peas, Michael Jackson and Taylor Swift all finished in the vicinity of 12 million digital units.
28 Sep 2009 Lucy Vodden, the childhood pal of John Lennon's son Julian, passed away at the age of 46 after losing her battle with auto-immune disease lupus. She was the inspiration for The Beatles track 'Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds', written mostly by John after Julian showed his father a nursery school drawing he called Lucy - in the sky with diamonds, depicting his classmate.
26 Jul 2009 AC/DC singer Brian Johnson appeared as the Star in a Reasonably Priced Car on the BBC television programme Top Gear. His time of 1:45.9 tied him with Simon Cowell for the second fastest time. He was introduced by host Jeremy Clarkson as "a man who has sold more albums than The Beatles and I bet almost none of [the audience] have ever heard of him."
11 Jul 2009 The Black Eyes Peas ‘I Gotta Feeling’ started a 14-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart ending the 12-week run of the band’s previous single ‘Boom Boom Pow’. It made the band only the fourth to replace themselves at No.1 in chart history, following The Beatles, Boyz II Men and OutKast.
4 Jul 2009 77-year-old Allen Klein, the former manager of The Rolling Stones and later The Beatles, died after a battle with Alzheimer's disease. The assets of his company, ABKCO Music & Records, include recordings by The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Herman's Hermits, Bobby Womack, The Kinks, Chubby Checker, Bobby Rydell and many others.
2 Mar 2009 Liverpool University launched a Masters degree on The Beatles, popular music and society. Liverpool Hope University claimed the course which looked at the studio sound and compositions of The Beatles was the first of its kind in the UK.
26 Feb 2009 A 10-minute version of The Beatles 'Revolution 1' was leaked onto the internet, giving fans a never-before-heard listen of what The White Album sessions must have been like. Only two copies of the take were made when the song was completed on June 4th, 1968. One copy left the studio with Lennon that day and the other remained behind. It was unclear which copy appeared on the bootleg, nor how anyone acquired it.
11 Feb 2009 Ronettes singer Estelle Bennett died at her home in Englewood, N.J. She was 67. The 60s girl group best known for their work with producer Phil Spector had the 1963 hit 'Be My Baby' which epitomised the famed "wall of sound" technique. The Ronettes opened for the The Beatles on their 1966 US tour, becoming the only girl group to tour with them, before splitting up in 1967
9 Feb 2009 Ringo Starr became the 2,401st person to be added to the Hollywood Walk Of Fame during a ceremony that marked the 50th anniversary of the attraction. The Beatles as a group were given a star in 1998.
4 Sep 2008 The first guitar torched on stage by Jimi Hendrix sold for £280,000 at an auction of rock memorabilia. The Fender Stratocaster was burned at the end of a show at the Astoria in Finsbury Park, north London, in 1967. The sale held in London also included The Beatles first management contract, signed in 1962 by all four members of the group and manager Brian Epstein, sold for £240,000.
10 Jul 2008 The drum skin used on the cover of The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album sold for £541,250 ($1m) at Christie's Memorabilia auction in London. Other items sold included John Lennon's lyrics for 'Give Peace a Chance' which sold for £421,250 ($832,257) and a pair of tinted prescription sunglasses belonging to Lennon, which he wore for the cover of the single 'Mind Games', sold for £39,650 ($79,000). A rare 1/4 inch reel to-reel master tape recording of the Jimi Hendrix Experience performing at the Woburn Music Festival in 1968 went for £48,050 ($95,000), a Marshall amplifier used by Hendrix in concert fetched £25,000 ($50,000).
26 Jun 2008 Total Guitar magazine voted Celine Dion’s rendition of the AC/DC track ‘You Shook Me All Night Long’ as the world's worst cover version ever. In the best cover versions list, Jimi Hendrix was voted into first place with his version of the Bob Dylan song ‘All Along the Watchtower,’ The Beatles rendition of Twist and Shout (first recorded by the Top Notes), was in second place, followed by the Guns N' Roses version of the Wings song ‘Live and Let Die’.
15 Jun 2008 Liverpool was voted England's most musical city in a national campaign set up by the Arts Council. The home of The Beatles Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark and The Zutons took 49% of the vote in an online poll set up by the funding body. Sheffield - which brought the world the Arctic Monkeys and Pulp - came second, while Manchester with Oasis, Stone Roses and The Smiths came third.
3 Apr 2008 Mariah Carey smashed Elvis Presley's US chart record by scoring the 18th number one of her career with ‘Touch My Body’, from her new album E=MC2. Carey had now surpassed Elvis Presley's 17 number ones, The Beatles still held the record with 20 US No.1 hit singles.
23 Mar 2008 Neil Aspinall, who ran the Apple Corps music empire for the Beatles from 1970 - 2007 died at a hospital in New York from cancer aged 66. A school friend of Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he was regarded by some of the band as the 'fifth Beatle' becoming The Beatles road manager in 1961 before becoming their personal assistant. He led the legal battle with Apple computers over the use of the Apple name and a royalties dispute between the Beatles and record label EMI. Aspinall had also played background instruments on Beatles tracks including 'Magical Mystery Tour', 'Within You Without You' and 'Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite.'
19 Feb 2008 Two releases by Oasis were voted the best British albums ever recorded in a poll of 11,000 people. Their 1994 album Definitely Maybe came top, while their 1995 follow-up (What's the Story) Morning Glory was second in the vote for Q magazine and HMV. Radiohead's OK Computer finished third, followed by Revolver by The Beatles and the Stone Roses' self-titled debut. The full list of 50 British albums included five by The Beatles.
15 Feb 2008 A flat once rented by The Beatles in London went up for sale for £1.75m. The band shared the three-bedroom top floor property in Green Street, Mayfair in the autumn of 1963. A publicity photo of the Fab Four peering over a banister, used as the cover for the December 1963 edition of The Beatles Book, was taken at the top of the property's communal stairwell.
1 Feb 2008 US space agency Nasa announced that 'Across the Universe' by The Beatles was to become the first song ever to be beamed directly into space. The track would be transmitted through the Deep Space Network - a network of antennas - on the 40th anniversary of the song being recorded, being aimed at the North Star, Polaris, 431 light-years from Earth. In a message to NASA, Paul McCartney said the project was an "amazing" feat."Well done, Nasa," he added. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."
15 Nov 2007 Jay-Z went to No.1 on the US album chart with American Gangster his 10th No.1 album. This made the rapper joint second with Elvis Presley for the most No.1 albums on the chart; only The Beatles have had more, with 19. Since 1998, all eight of Jay-Z's solo studio albums had hit No. 1, in addition to his Collision Course project with Linkin Park and his Unfinished Business collaboration with R. Kelly.
5 Aug 2007 Beatles fans feared the misuse of the Fab Four’s music had hit rock bottom following the decision to license ‘All You Need Is Love’ for use in a nappy advert. Procter & Gamble had purchased the rights to use the song from Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which now owned Northern Songs, the Beatles’ catalogue. The ad featured a baby jumping on a teddy bear in a disposable nappy which offered ‘ultimate leak protection.’
14 Jul 2007 A pair of glasses worn by former Beatle John Lennon sparked a bidding war after being offered for sale online. The circular sunglasses were worn by Lennon during The Beatles 1966 tour of Japan, where the band played some of their last ever live dates. Anonymous rival bidders had pushed the price as high as £750,000 at online auction house 991.com.
26 May 2007 Contemporary musicians recorded their own versions of songs from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper album to mark 40 years since it was released. Acts including Oasis, Travis, The Fray, Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Bryan Adams and The Magic Numbers all worked with Geoff Emerick - the engineer in charge of the original 1967 sessions, using the original analogue 4-track equipment to demonstrates the techniques employed for the recording at Abbey Road studios in 1967.
13 Apr 2007 Julian Lennon sold a 'significant' stake of his share in the songs his father John wrote for The Beatles to US music publishing company Primary Wave. The firm would now receive payments when any Lennon compositions were sold on CD, performed live or played on the radio. The company, who were about to market Julian Lennon's new music project, declined to reveal how much the deal was worth.
12 Apr 2007 The Beatles company, Apple Corps, settled a £30 million ($59.2 million) royalties dispute with the band's label, EMI. The suit alleged unpaid royalties on Beatles albums based on an audit of sales between 1994 and 1999, a period which included the release of three Anthology compilations. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
1 Jan 2007 Queen beat The Beatles to be crowned greatest British band of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners in the UK.They pipped the Fab Four in a live contest, trouncing other finalists The Rolling Stones, Oasis and Take That.The bands were judged on song-writing, lyrics, live performances, originality and showmanship.More than 20,000 listeners voted by email, text and phone.
19 Nov 2006 A guitar played by George Harrison was set to fetch more than £100,000 at a London auction. The Maton MS500 guitar was used on The Beatles first album.
16 Nov 2006 Queen's ‘Greatest Hits’ album was declared the Best Selling UK album of all time by The Official UK Charts Company. The chart which was made up of sales figures from the last fifty years showed their Greatest Hits compilation had sold 5,407,587 copies. The Beatles occupied second place with Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.
15 Sep 2006 The Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool where The Beatles played their first gig was given a Grade II listed building status after a recommendation from English Heritage. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison played in the converted coal cellar of the house in West Derby, in August 1959 as The Quarrymen.
29 Aug 2006 The Beatles' ‘Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band’ was voted the best No.1 album of all time by the British public. The album released in 1967, topped the poll to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UK album chart. The Beatles had a total of four albums in the top 10, with Revolver at six, Abbey Road at eight and The Beatles The White Album at 10.
6 Jun 2006 Billy Preston died of kidney failure. The Grammy-winning keyboard player collaborated with some of the greatest names in the music industry, including The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Nat King Cole, Little Richard, Ray Charles, George Harrison, Elton John, Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. Preston is among those sometimes known as the "Fifth Beatle". After befriending the group in 1962, Preston joined the Get Back sessions in January 1969. At one point John Lennon proposed the idea of having Preston join the band.
1 Jun 2006 The 1994 debut album by Oasis, Definitely Maybe was voted the greatest album of all time in a survey to mark 50 years of the Official UK Albums Chart. The Beatles came in second and third place with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver, OK Computer by Radiohead was fourth and (What's the Story) Morning Glory by Oasis was voted fifth.
2 Apr 2006 A John Lennon schoolbook containing the 12-year-old's drawing of Lewis Carroll's poem The Walrus and the Carpenter was sold at auction for £126,500, ($239,733). The poem inspired Lennon to write The Beatles' 1967 song ‘I Am The Walrus’. Also sold for £12,000, ($22,741) was a ship's log book written by Lennon during a stormy trip to Bermuda in 1980, and a letter from Paul McCartney to his bandmates Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr failed to reach its £50,000, ($94,742) reserve price.
31 Dec 2005 The John Lennon song Imagine was voted the nations favourite song a quarter of a century after his death. A UK radio station conducted the poll of 7,000 listeners. The Beatles were voted into second and third place with ‘Hey Jude’ and 'Let It Be.'
10 Dec 2005 Queen overtook The Beatles to become the third most successful act of all time. Sales in 2005 showed that Queen had now overtaken The Beatles to make it into third place, spending 1,755 weeks on the British singles and album charts. The Beatles slipped to fourth place, with 1,749 weeks. Elvis spent 2,574 weeks on the singles and album charts, making him number one in the Top 100 most successful acts of all time. Sir Cliff Richard remained in second place, clinching 1,982 weeks.
25 Nov 2005 Madonna achieved her sixth number one on the US album charts with ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’ her third consecutive US album chart topper. The album went to No.1 in 40 countries setting a new record. The Beatles previously held this record when The Beatles 1 went to No.1 in 36 countries in 2000.
31 Oct 2005 The white suit worn by John Lennon on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road album sold for $118,000 (£66,385) at an auction in Las Vegas. And an Austin Princess hearse driven by the late star in the documentary Imagine sold for $150,000 (£84,388). A portion of the proceeds from the sale of the items went to Amnesty International.
29 Oct 2005 A set of waxwork heads of The Beatles from their Sgt. Pepper's album cover sold for £81,500. The "pepperheads" were auctioned off after recently being discovered in a back room at London's Madame Tussauds. They were used in 1967 by artist Sir Peter Blake in the backdrop of the "Lonely Hearts Club Band" album with the actual Beatles posing at the front.
14 Sep 2005 The newly refurbished Grateful Dead's original tour bus went on display at the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois. The 1965 Gillig bus, which Jerry Garcia and the rest of the Dead dubbed ‘Sugar Magnolia’ was used by the band on their frequent tours across the US between 1967 and 1985. The ceiling was lined with hundreds of vintage rock posters featuring The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and others who had visited the bus.
2 Sep 2005 Mariah Carey became only the fifth act ever to hold the top two positions in the US singles chart. The singer's ‘We Belong Together’ notched a 10th consecutive week at No.1 on the Billboard chart while ‘Shake It Off’ jumped two places to second place. The feat put Carey in a select group of acts to hold the top two with Nelly, OutKast, The Bee Gees and The Beatles. ‘We Belong Together’ was Carey's 16th number one, giving her the third highest number of chart-toppers in the US behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley.
26 Aug 2005 A plaque was unveiled by fellow Quarrymen John Duff Lowe and Colin Hantonat at the site where the band which was to become The Beatles made their first recordings. John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison recorded a version of Buddy Holly's 'That'll Be The Day' and a Lennon-Harrison song, 'In Spite Of All The Danger' as The Quarrymen at the Percy Philips studio in Liverpool in 1958.
15 Jun 2005 Coldplay went straight to No.1 on US album chart with their third album 'X&Y', having already entered at number one in the UK. The last time a British artist had a simultaneous US and UK number one was in November 2000 with '1', a compilation of hits by The Beatles. The last studio album to reach number one on both sides of the Atlantic was Radiohead's 'Kid A' in October 2000. 'X&Y' went on to top over 30 global charts.
15 Apr 2005 John Fred Gourrier, singer from John Fred and his Playboy Band died after a long battle with kidney disease aged 63. Had the 1967 US No.1 single 'Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)', a parody of The Beatles song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'.
16 Jan 2005 Elvis Presley's single ‘One Night’ made chart history by becoming the 1,000th UK No.1. Elvis, who led last week's chart with ‘Jailhouse Rock’, had now scored more No.1 UK hits than any other artist with 20, beating The Beatles 17 chart toppers.
12 Jan 2005 It was announced that the Strawberry Field children's home immortalised by The Beatles was to close. The home in Woolton, Liverpool was made famous when John Lennon wrote 'Strawberry Fields Forever' after playing there as a child.
11 Jul 2004 UK band McFly went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Room On The 3rd Floor.’ They broke the record set by The Beatles as the youngest group ever to debut at No.1 on the album charts.
8 Jul 2004 Mark Purseglove known as the world's ‘biggest bootlegger’ was sentenced to 3 years 6 months jail by Blackfriars Crown Court. Purseglove had built up a £15 million pirate CD empire by bootlegging live concerts of some of the world's biggest stars including The Beatles, David Bowie and Pink Floyd
6 Jul 2004 On the 40th anniversary of the world premiere of The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night, a private reunion of the cast and crew was hosted in London by DVD producer Martin Lewis. The screening was attended by Paul McCartney actors Victor Spinetti (the television director), John Junkin (the band's road manager), David Janson (the small boy met by Ringo on his "walkabout") and many of the crew members.
20 Jun 2004 Organisers at a Paul McCartney gig hired three jets to spray dry ice into the clouds so it wouldn't rain during the concert. The gig in Petersburg, Russia, was McCartney's 3,000 concert appearance. He had performed 2,535 gigs with the Quarrymen and The Beatles, 140 gigs with Wings and 325 solo shows.
6 May 2004 A sale at Christie's in London, England became the most successful pop auction in the company's history after Beatles memorabilia sold for a record £788,643. The auction included a leather collar worn by John Lennon which sold for £117,250. A signed copy of a management deal with The Beatles and manager Brian Epstein sold for £122,850. A Vox Kensington guitar used by Lennon and Harrison went for £100,000. Also sold - a coloured felt-pen drawing by Lennon (£10,000), a letter with his signature (£5,500), and a pen-and-ink drawing called Happy Fish (£9,500).
16 Feb 2004 US singer Doris Troy died. She had been a session singer with Dionne Warwick, sang on Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of the Moon and released an album on The Beatles Apple label. She had a 1964 UK No.37 single 'Whatcha Gonna Do About It' and a 1963 US No. 10 hit 'Just One Look'. She sang backup for many acts including The Rolling Stones, (‘You Can't Always Get What You Want’), Carly Simon's ('You're So Vain'), George Harrison, (‘My Sweet Lord’).
22 Dec 2003 The annual list of all-time music greats by the Guinness book of hit singles was again topped by Elvis Presley. The list based on the number of weeks spent on the UK singles chart looked like this; 1. Elvis Presley (1193), 2. Cliff Richard (1152), 3. The Shadows (771), 4. Elton John (623), 5. Madonna (606), 6. Diana Ross (560), 7. Michael Jackson (509), 8. Rod Stewart (477), 9. The Beatles (456) and 10. David Bowie (452).
21 Nov 2003 An acoustic guitar on which the late Beatle George Harrison learned to play fetched £276,000 at a London auction. His father originally bought the Egmond guitar for Harrison for £3.50. Another item auctioned was a signed invitation to the post-premiere celebrations for The Beatles Hard Days Night film, which went for £17,250.
2 Oct 2003 A pair of trousers worn in 1984 by the late Queen star Freddie Mercury were sold to the Hard Rock Cafe for £4,230 at a Christie's auction of pop memorabilia held in London, England. A wooden sculpture of a cupboard, designed by John Lennon, claimed the highest price of the day, £28,200. Hundreds of items related to The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Jimi Hendrix also went under the hammer at the sale.
15 Sep 2003 ABBA tribute acts overtook Elvis Presley impersonators in the battle of British covers singers according to a survey. The Swedish group jumped from third most tributed act in 2001 to top in 2002 with imitators like Abba Fever and Voulez Vous putting on Abba shows. Elvis dropped to number two while The Beatles dropped to three. The Performing Right Society carried out the research.
18 Jun 2003 Pop Idol creator Simon Fuller became the first British music manager since The Beatles Brian Epstein to hold the top three positions in the US singles chart. Fuller, who steered the Spice Girls and S Club 7 to success, was in charge of bestselling artists Clay Aiken and Ruben Studdard, together with the American Idol 2 Final 10. During 2003 Fuller sold more than ten million records around the world and has had 96 No.1 singles and 79 top-placed albums in both the US and UK during his career. He was named in the latest Sunday Times Rich List as the 359th wealthiest person in the UK with assets of £90 million ($153 million).
5 Jun 2003 A Grandfather who set up his own pirate radio station in Wakefield, Yorkshire was under investigation by local broadcasting authorities. The man known as Ricky Rock had erected a 32ft transmitter in his garden and had been playing hits by The Beach Boys, The Beatles and Elvis Presley. Ricky said he set the station up because 'talent-less boy bands and dance music' featured on local stations did not cater to the tastes of his generation.
22 Apr 2003 Songwriter Felice Bryant died of cancer. Wrote many hits with her husband Boudleaux including; The Everly Brothers, 'Bye Bye Love', 'All I Have To Do Is Dream', 'Wake Up Little Susie' and 'Raining In My Heart' a hit for Buddy Holly. Other acts to record their song include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Tony Bennett, Simon And Garfunkel, Sarah Vaughan, Grateful Dead, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Elvis Costello, Count Basie, Dean Martin, Ruth Brown, Cher, R.E.M. and Ray Charles.
13 Apr 2003 The Beatles Apple Corp company was listed as Britain's fastest profit-growth firm with an annual profit growth of 194%.
14 Feb 2003 Stolen reel-to-reel studio recordings by The Beatles were found in Australia. Police recovered the tapes of the bands 1968 The White Album and the Abbey Road album after they were advertised for sale in a Sydney newspaper. Australian police had been tipped off by British detectives from Operation Acetone, an investigation into thefts of original Beatles music from Abbey Road studios in London in the 1960s.
31 Jan 2003 Robbie Williams topped a chart based on UK album sales from the past 5 years. The former Take That singer had sold 9.7 million albums in Britain, an average of more than 5,000 every day. The Corrs were in second place with 5.8m sales, Westlife in third with 5.1, Madonna in fourth with 5m and The Beatles in fifth with 4.7m.
7 Jan 2003 The Beatles Book Monthly closed down after 40 years. Author Sean O'Mahony who set up the magazine in 1963 said there was nothing more to say as the number of things the former Beatles were doing gets less and less as the years go on.
5 Oct 2002 Kelly Clarkson's 'A Moment Like This' went from No. 52 to No. 1 on the US Hot 100, breaking the record for the biggest leap to the top spot. The previous record was held by The Beatles, whose 'Can't Buy Me Love' went from No. 27 to No. 1. Maroon 5 beat Clarkson's record in 2007 when 'It Makes Me Wonder' went to the top from No. 64.
15 Jun 2002 A rare autographed copy of The Beatles' album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band sold at auction for £34,000 ($57,800), more than five times the estimated price.
29 May 2002 A 16ft by 6ft mosaic designed by John Lennon went on display at The Beatles Story museum in Liverpool. The mosaic had been built into Lennon's swimming pool at his Kenwood home in Surrey where he lived between 1964 and 1968.
6 May 2002 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by Queen was voted the UK's favourite single of all time in a poll by the Guinness Hit Singles book. 'Imagine' by John Lennon was voted in at No.2 and ‘Hey Jude’, The Beatles No.3, 'Dancing Queen' by ABBA was fourth and Madonna 'Like A Prayer' was in fifth place.
8 Feb 2002 Bob Wooler died aged 76. He was the resident DJ and booker at The Cavern Club in Liverpool during the early 1960s. Wooler introduced The Beatles to their manager, Brian Epstein.
29 Nov 2001 Beatles guitarist George Harrison died in Los Angeles of lung cancer aged 58. Following the breakup of The Beatles Harrison had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys. The youngest member of The Beatles, (aged 16 when he joined), his compositions include ‘Taxman’, ‘Here Comes the Sun’, ‘Something’, and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. Harrison released the acclaimed triple album, All Things Must Pass, in 1970, from which came the worldwide No.1 single 'My Sweet Lord.'
3 Jul 2001 American singer, songwriter Johnny Russell died aged 61. He wrote 'Act Naturally' covered by The Beatles and Buck Owens. Jim Reeves, Jerry Garcia, Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt had all covered his songs.
19 May 2001 Mike Sammes founder of The Mike Sammes Singers died aged 73. He worked with Tom Jones, Cliff Richard and featured on The Beatles, ‘I Am The Walrus’ and 'The Long And Winding Road.'
14 Mar 2001 Peter Blake, who designed The Beatles classic Sgt. Pepper album cover sued the group's record company for more money. Blake was paid £200 ($340) for the famous figures in 1967, but was now 'cheesed off' that EMI had never offered to pay more money. Blake also made sleeves for the Band Aid single, Do They Know It's Christmas? (1984), Paul Weller's Stanley Road (1995) and the Ian Dury tribute album Brand New Boots and Panties (2001).
12 Mar 2001 Judy Garland's 'Over The Rainbow' was voted the Song Of The Century in a poll published in America. Musicians, critics and fans compiled the list by the RIA. The highest placed UK act was The Rolling Stones ’(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction’ in 16th place. The Beatles had I Want to Hold Your Hand at No. 28.
19 Jan 2001 It was reported that Paul McCartney was set to become the world's first pop star billionaire. McCartney was said to be worth £725 million and was expected to become a billionaire after huge sales from The Beatles compilation hits album. His company MPL Collections owns the copyright to more than 25,000 songs and his fortune made him the 11th richest person in the UK, motor racing tycoon Bernie Ecclestone was the richest with a reported £3.2bn.
28 Nov 2000 David Bowie was crowned the musician's musician. Bowie beat The Beatles and alternative rockers Radiohead in a survey by the NME that asked hundreds of top rock and pop stars to name their biggest musical influence.
26 Nov 2000 The Beatles went to No.1 on the US album chart with 'Beatles 1.' The album features virtually every number-one single released from 1962 to 1970. Issued on the 30th anniversary of the band's break-up, it was their first compilation available on one CD. The world's best-selling album of the 21st century, 1 has sold over 31 million copies.
19 Nov 2000 The Beatles started an eleven-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with The Beatles 1. The album features virtually every number-one single released from 1962 to 1970. Issued on the 30th anniversary of the band's break-up, it was their first compilation available on one CD. The world's best-selling album of the 21st century, 1 has sold over 31 million copies.
17 Nov 2000 It was reported that Andy White who played drums on The Beatles track 'Love Me Do' which was featured on the new Beatles Greatest Hits album would not earn enough from it to buy his own copy. White would get no more than his original session fee of £7.
13 Nov 2000 The Beatles launched their first official website www.thebeatles.com. The site went live on the same day as the release of their retrospective 'Compilation 1' album.
5 Oct 2000 UK TV show Top Of The Pops issued a Top 40 chart based on singles that had spent the longest time on the UK chart. No.3 was 'My Way' by Frank Sinatra, No.2 'She Loves You', The Beatles and No.1 'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood'.
2 Aug 2000 Liverpool music store Rushworth and Dreaper closed down after 150 years of trading. The store had become famous after supplying The Beatles and other Liverpool groups with musical instruments.
12 May 2000 Thieves stole the gates to Strawberry Fields the Merseyside landmark immortalised by The Beatles song. The 10' high iron gates were later found at local scrap metal dealers in Liverpool.
17 Feb 2000 John Lennon's Steinway piano, on which he composed 'Imagine', went on display at the Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool, England. The piano was set to be auctioned on the Internet later in the year and was expected to fetch more than £1 million ($1.7 million).
20 Jan 2000 Tourism chiefs in Liverpool were banned from putting up motorway signs saying 'Liverpool, the Birthplace Of The Beatles' because the Highways Agency thought the signs would distract motorists.
30 Dec 1999 George Harrison and his wife Olivia were attacked when an intruder broke into their home in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire. Olivia beat off the attacker with a poker and heavy lamp. Harrison who was stabbed in the chest was admitted to hospital and treated for a collapsed lung and various minor stab wounds. His wife, Olivia, was treated for cuts and bruises she had suffered in the struggle with the intruder. Police later arrested Michael Abram from Liverpool who had nursed an irrational obsession with The Beatles.
24 Nov 1999 During a Bonhams of London rock auction, Buddy Holly's first driving licence sold for £3,795; and a copy of The Beatles 1968 The White Album numbered 00000001, sold for £9,775.
17 Aug 1999 Led Zeppelin topped a chart of Britain's most bootlegged musicians, compiled by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), after identifying 384 bootleg titles featuring Led Zeppelin performances. The bootleg chart was complied from the BPI's archive of some 10,000 recordings seized over the past 25 years. The Beatles came in second with 320 entries, other acts listed included The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Pink Floyd.
26 Dec 1998 The Spice Girls scored their 8th UK No.1 single with 'Goodbye', (the first single without Geri Halliwell). It gave the group the Christmas No.1 for the third year in a row equaling the record set by The Beatles from 1963, 64 and 65.
10 Dec 1998 A recording of a 1963 Beatles concert was sold at auction at Christies in London for £25,300, ($41,500). The tape of The Beatles' 10-song concert was recorded by the chief technician at the Gaumont Theatre in Bournemouth during one of six consecutive nights which The Beatles had played. Also sold for £5,195 ($8,500), was a set of autographs of five Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best, and Stuart Sutcliffe. The autographs had been obtained by a fan in Liverpool in 1961.
6 Oct 1998 A music industry poll was published by London Magazine 'Time Out', naming the top stars from the past 30 years. 5th place was Marvin Gaye, 4th; James Brown, 3rd; Bob Marley, 2nd; The Beatles and first place went to David Bowie
19 Jan 1998 American singer, songwriter Carl Perkins died aged 65 from throat cancer. He wrote the classic rock & roll song 'Blue Suede Shoes', the first record on the Sun label to sell a million copies. His songs were recorded by Elvis Presley, The Beatles Jimi Hendrix and Johnny Cash. Paul McCartney claimed that "if there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles."
8 Sep 1997 Derek Taylor the publicist for The Beatles died aged 67. Taylor had been responsible for many of the legends surrounding their career and had also worked with The Beach Boys and The Byrds. In 1967 he helped organise the Monterey Pop Festival together with Lou Adler and John Philips. He helped launch the Beatles Anthology trilogy in the 90s.
16 Nov 1996 The Beatles 'Anthology 3' went to No.1 on the UK album chart. The album included rarities and alternative tracks from the final two years of the band's career, ranging from the initial sessions for The Beatles (also known as The White Album) to the last sessions for Let It Be and Abbey Road in later 1969 and early 1970.
22 Oct 1996 It was announced that, "The Beatles were now bigger than The Beatles". The statement was based on sales so far this year, having sold 6,000,000 albums from their back catalogue and a combined total of 13,000,000 copies of ‘The Beatles Anthology 1’ and ‘The Beatles Anthology 2’. With the release of ‘The Beatles Anthology 3’ a week away, it was anticipated that total Beatles album sales for 1996 would exceed 20 million. A poll showed 41 percent of sales were to teenagers who were not born when The Beatles officially called it quits in 1970.
10 Sep 1996 Music journalist Ray Coleman died of cancer. Coleman had worked with The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and had been the editor of the UK music weekly Melody Maker throughout the heyday of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones into the era of Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin.
19 Mar 1996 The second Beatles Anthology series was released. The album featured 'Real Love', a track the remaining members of the Beatles recorded using an old demo track of John Lennon's. The song was first recorded by Lennon in 1977 with a handheld tape recorder on his piano at home. It originated as part of an unfinished stage play that Lennon was working on at the time entitled 'The Ballad of John and Yoko.'
17 Mar 1996 American singer and songwriter Terry Stafford died of liver failure, at the age of 54. He is best known for his 1964 US Top 10 hit, ‘Suspicion’, (also recorded by Elvis Presley) and the 1973 country music hit, ‘Amarillo by Morning’. ‘Suspicion’ had the distinction of being sixth on the Billboard Hot 100 on April 4, 1964, when the Beatles held down the top five spots. 'Amarillo by Morning', was later covered by George Strait on his 1982 album Strait from the Heart. The song was once named the No.12 country song of all-time by Country Music Television.
9 Dec 1995 Michael Jackson scored his 6th solo UK No.1 single when 'Earth Song' started a 6-week run at the top of the charts. It gave Jackson the UK Christmas No.1 of 1995 and his best-selling UK single ever. The song kept the first single released by The Beatles in 25 years, 'Free as a Bird', off the No.1 position.
20 Nov 1995 The Beatles Anthology 1 was released in the US, featuring 60 tracks including the track 'Free As A Bird', a song originally composed and recorded in 1977 as a home demo by John Lennon. In 1995 a studio version of the recording, incorporating contributions from Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr was released as a single by The Beatles.
14 Sep 1995 The lyrics to The Beatles song 'Getting Better' hand-written by Paul McCartney sold for £161,000 at a Sotheby's auction in London.
23 Apr 1995 Peter Hodgson, from Liverpool found a tape in his attic containing 16 of The Beatles earliest recordings made in 1959. The tape included 'Hello Little Girl', a Lennon-McCartney composition that the Beatles never recorded and Ray Charles 'Hallelujah, I Love Her So'. The sessions had been made on a reel-to-reel recorder that Hodgson's father had lent to Paul McCartney.
6 Dec 1994 Tower Records released The Beatles 'Live At The BBC', a 69 track, double album of tunes recorded for BBC shows such as Top Gear, Easy Beat, Saturday Club and Pop Go The Beatles. The LP will rise straight to the top of the UK chart, selling over 600,000 copies by the end of the year and 2,000,000 in the US four weeks later.
6 Sep 1994 English keyboard player Nicky Hopkins died aged 50, in Nashville, Tennessee, of complications from intestinal surgery. Was a highly respected session musician, worked with The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, The Beatles, The Who, The Kinks, Small Faces, Led Zeppelin, John Lennon, George Harrison, and the Jerry Garcia Band. The Kinks song 'Session Man' from Face to Face is dedicated to (and features) Hopkins.
8 Jan 1994 Jamaican reggae/rap (ragga) duo Chaka Demus and Pliers were at No.1 in the UK with their version of Twist and Shout. The song was originally recorded (and produced by Phil Spector) by the Top Notes in 1961 and then covered by The Isley Brothers. It was also covered by The Beatles on their first album Please Please Me.
26 Aug 1993 A double sided acetate of The Beatles performing live at The Cavern Club in Liverpool sold for £16,500 at Christies, London, a world record price for a recording.
31 May 1993 Sister Lovers, 18 Wheeler, Boyfriend and Oasis appeared at King Tuts in Glasgow, Scotland. Creation Records boss Alan McGee who was in the audience declared after seeing Oasis, 'I've found the greatest rock 'n' roll band since The Beatles'. McGee had missed a train at nearby Queen Street station, and decided to head to Tuts to kill time before the next one. He signed Oasis to his Creation label.
16 Apr 1993 Paul McCartney headlined a concert at the Hollywood Bowl to celebrate 'Earth Day' along with Ringo Starr, Don Henley and Steve Miller. McCartney had last performed there as a member of The Beatles in 1965.
9 Feb 1993 British broadcaster Bill Grundy died of a heart attack aged 69. He conducted the famous Sex Pistols interview on Thames Television on December 1, 1976; when Grundy provoked the band into using obscenities on live TV. The broadcast wrecked Grundy's television career. He was also the first television presenter to present The Beatles on Granada Television on October 17, 1962.
27 Aug 1992 John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to The Beatles song 'A Day In The Life' from Sgt. Pepper sold in an auction at Sotheby's London for $100,000 (£56,600). The lyrics were put up for sale again in March 2006 by Bonhams in New York. Sealed bids were opened on 7 March 2006 and offers started at about $2 million. The lyric sheet was auctioned again by Sotheby's in June 2010 when it was purchased by an anonymous American buyer who paid $1,200,000 (£810,000).
11 Oct 1991 Apple Computers settled a lawsuit launched by The Beatles record company, Apple Corporation, over name and logo rights. The computer company reportedly paid $29 million to settle the suit.
26 Jan 1991 Queen had their second UK No.1 with 'Innuendo'. At 6 minutes 30 seconds, it exceeded their epic 'Bohemian Rhapsody' by 35 seconds and became the third longest UK No.1 song of all time, behind The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ and Simple Minds 'Belfast Child' (subsequently the 9 minutes 38 seconds 'All Around The World' by Oasis took over the top slot and demoted Innuendo to fourth place). For 'Innuendo's' flamenco guitar solo, Brian May was joined by Yes guitarist Steve Howe.
12 Apr 1990 The Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre announced that Asteroids 4147-4150, would be named Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr after the four members of The Beatles.
8 Feb 1990 Suffering from depression American singer songwriter Del Shannon died of self inflicted gunshot wounds. He scored the 1961 UK and US No.1 single 'Runaway', plus nine US and 12 other UK Top 40 singles. In 1963, he became the first American to record a cover version of a song by the Beatles: his version of ‘From Me to You’ charted in the US before The Beatles' version. Shannon had been working with Tom Petty and Jeff Lynne and was rumoured to be replacing Roy Orbison who had recently died, in the Traveling Wilburys supergroup.
23 Jul 1989 Ringo Starr kicked off his first tour since the break-up of the Beatles with a show in Dallas. His backup band included guitarist Joe Walsh, organist Billy Preston and Bruce Springsteen's saxophonist Clarence Clemons.
25 Feb 1989 Simple Minds were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Belfast Child.' The song uses the music from the Irish folk song 'She Moved Through the Fair', but has completely different words. At 6 minutes 39 seconds it became the second-longest running No.1 after The Beatles ‘Hey Jude’.
23 Apr 1988 Whitney Houston smashed a chart record held by The Beatles and The Bee Gees when 'Where Do Broken Hearts Go', became her seventh consecutive US No.1, a No.14 hit in the UK.
20 Jan 1988 The Beatles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Yoko, Sean, and Julian Lennon all attend. Paul McCartney did not attend, sending instead a letter stating that continuing business differences with the other ex-Beatles was the reason for his absence.
16 Jan 1988 24 years after The Beatles first topped the chart, George Harrison went to No.1 on the US singles chart with Got My Mind Set on You an old favourite of George's that was originally recorded by James Ray in 1962. In the UK, Harrison's version spent four weeks at No.2 on the chart.
25 Jun 1987 Songwriter Boudleaux Bryant died. Wrote with his wife Felice, The Everly Brothers hits, 'Bye Bye Love', 'All I Have To Do Is Dream', 'Wake Up Little Susie' and 'Raining In My Heart' a hit for Buddy Holly. Other acts to record their song include Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Simon And Garfunkel, Grateful Dead, Dolly Parton, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Roy Orbison, Dean Martin, Ruth Brown, Cher, R.E.M. and Ray Charles.
26 Feb 1987 The first five The Beatles albums, Please Please Me, With the Beatles, A Hard Day's Night, Beatles for Sale and Help! were released on Compact disc. Capitol Records decided to release the original UK mixes of the Beatles albums, (the first four CDs were released in mono). This marked the first time that many of these mono mixes were available in the US.
27 Sep 1986 The Beatles track Twist and Shout re-entered the US singles chart over twenty-five years after it first appeared after the song was featured in the film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
6 Jun 1986 A&R man Dick Rowe died of diabetes. Rowe became famous for not signing The Beatles to Decca records and made the classic quote 'Nobody cares about guitar group's anymore.' He did however sign The Rolling Stones to Decca.
31 Mar 1986 O'Kelly Isley of The Isley Brothers died of a heart attack, aged 48. He had a hit in 1962 with the original version of Twist and Shout, (later covered by The Beatles) and the 1968 UK No.3 single 'This Old Heart Of Mine' and 1969 US No.2 single 'It's Your Thing'.
1 Feb 1986 Music publisher Dick James died of a heart attack aged 65. Worked with many UK 60s acts including The Beatles. James signed Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin as unknown artists in 1967 and was the founder of the DJM record label.
7 Feb 1985 English singer Matt Monro died from liver cancer age 54. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice" he scored the 1964 UK No.4 & US No.23 single 'Walk Away' plus 10 other UK Top 40 hits including the 1965 hit with his version of The Beatles' 'Yesterday'. He also recorded several film themes such as 'From Russia with Love' for the eponymous James Bond film, the theme to 'Born Free' and 'On Days Like These' for The Italian Job.
26 Apr 1984 Mike McCartney unveiled the £40,000 statue of The Beatles by John Doubleday at the new £8 million Cavern Walks shopping centre in Liverpool, England. John's first wife, Cynthia, was also in attendance.
14 Jan 1984 Paul McCartney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pipes Of Peace.' With this release McCartney made chart history by becoming the first artist to have a No.1 in a group, (The Beatles), in a duo, (with Stevie Wonder) in a trio, (with Wings) and as a solo artist.
10 Dec 1983 Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Say Say Say'. It was Jackson's 10th No.1 (solo & The Jackson's) and McCartney's 29th, (solo and The Beatles).
28 Jan 1983 British Rock & Roll singer Billy Fury died of heart failure aged 42. An early British rock and roll (and film) star, he equalled the Beatles' record of 24 hits in the Sixties , and spent 332 weeks on the UK chart, without a chart-topping single or album. His We Want Billy (released in 1963, with The Tornados) was one of the first live albums in British rock history. Fury later played rock 'n' roller "Stormy Tempest" in the film That'll Be The Day along side David Essex and Ringo Starr.
13 Feb 1982 The Jam became the first band since The Beatles to play two numbers on the same edition of Top Of The Pops when they performed 'A Town Called Malice', and 'Precious', their latest double A sided No.1.
21 Jun 1980 German orchestra leader and songwriter Bert Kaempfert died aged 56. Both Frank Sinatra (Strangers In The Night) and Elvis Presley (Wooden Heart) covered his songs. Kaempfert released over 50 albums. In 1961, he hired The Beatles to back Tony Sheridan on recording sessions for Polydor, (these were the Beatles' first commercial recordings).
2 Jan 1980 US singer Larry Williams was found dead from a gunshot wound to his head in his Los Angeles, California home aged 45. Williams had the 1957 US No.5 & UK No. 21 single 'Short Fat Fannie.' Also known for 'Bony Moronie' and 'Dizzy Miss Lizzy.' The Beatles, Rolling Stones, Dr. Feelgood, Flying Burrito Brothers, Johnny Winter, Little Richard, The Who, Ritchie Valens and Bill Haley & His Comets all covered his songs.
17 Mar 1979 The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their fifteenth studio album release Spirits Having Flown, the group's first album after their collaboration on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. The album's first three tracks were released as singles and all reached No.1 in the US, giving the Bee Gees an unbroken run of six US chart-toppers and tying a record set by The Beatles.
28 Oct 1978 Queen played the first night on their 79-date ‘Jazz’ tour at the Dallas Convention Center, Dallas, Texas. Many other acts have appeared here, including, The Beatles, Elvis Presley, Santana and Led Zeppelin.
3 Sep 1977 The month after his death, Elvis Presley had 27 albums and 9 singles in the Top 100 charts in the UK. 'Moody Blue' was the No.1 album while 'Way Down' was No.1 on the singles chart, (putting him equal with The Beatles each amassing 17 No.1 hits).
22 Jan 1977 Paul McCartney went to No.1 on the US album chart with the triple live album Wings Over America, Paul McCartney's sixth US No.1 after The Beatles. The album cover was designed by Hipgnosis, who were nominated in 1978, for a Grammy Award for Best Album Package for this album and depicts an airliner about to open its cabin door.
22 May 1976 Wings started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Silly Love Songs', McCartney's fifth US No.1 since leaving The Beatles. Paul McCartney had often been teased by music critics as well as former Beatle and friend, John Lennon, for writing lightweight songs and he wrote this number in response.
26 Apr 1976 'Wings At The Speed Of Sound' went to No.1 on the US album chart. Paul McCartney's fifth No.1 album after The Beatles became his most successful American chart album, spending seven unconsecutive weeks at No.1. The album featured the hits 'Let 'Em In' and 'Silly Love Songs'.
24 Apr 1976 Paul and Linda McCartney spent the evening with John Lennon at his New York Dakota apartment and watched Saturday Night Live on TV. Producer of the show Lorne Michaels made an offer on air asking The Beatles to turn up and play three songs live. Lennon and McCartney thought about taking a cab to the studio, but decided they were too tired. This was the last time Lennon and McCartney were together.
7 Mar 1976 Elton John was immortalised in wax at Madame Tussauds in London. The first rock star to be so since The Beatles.
5 Jan 1976 Former The Beatles roadie Mal Evans was shot dead by police at his Los Angeles apartment. His girlfriend called police when she found Evans upset with a rifle in his hand; he pointed the gun at the police who opened fire. Friends later said that Evans was depressed about his separation from his wife Lil Evans — who had asked for a divorce before Christmas.
9 Sep 1975 Paul McCartney and Wings kicked off their historic 13-month world tour. US performances were recorded for the triple live album Wings Over America. The North American leg constituted McCartney's first live performances there since the The Beatles' final tour, in 1966.
19 Jul 1975 Paul McCartney and Wings went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Listen To What The Man Said', his fourth US No.1, and No.6 hit in the UK, (the track features Tom Scott playing the saxophone solo). It would go on to sell a million copies in America and reach No.6 in the UK. Wings also had the US No.1 album chart with 'Venus And Mars'. Paul McCartney's fourth No.1 album since The Beatles.
24 Apr 1975 Peter Ham, British singer, songwriter with Badfinger committed suicide by hanging himself in the garage of his Surrey home, aged 27. Ham co-wrote 'Without You', with band mate Tom Evans (who also later committed suicide). The song won an Ivor Novello award for Song Of The Year in 1973, and was a hit for Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey. Ham was a founder member of The Iveys, who became Badfinger, were signed to the Beatles' Apple label, their first hit 'Come And Get It' was written by Paul McCartney.
24 Mar 1975 Paul McCartney held a party on the Queen Mary at Long Beach in California to celebrate the release of the Wings album Venus And Mars. Among the 200 guests on board were George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Carole King, Marvin Gaye, The Faces and The Jackson 5. The party was the first time McCartney and Harrison had been seen in public since the Beatles break-up.
4 Jan 1975 Elton John started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of The Beatles 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds'. His third US No.1, the song featured John Lennon on guitar.
13 Oct 1974 TV host Ed Sullivan died. Leader of the Ed Sullivan Singers and Orchestra. Introduced The Beatles and other UK acts to America via his Ed Sullivan TV show, from New York City, which ran from June 20, 1948 to June 6, 1971, on CBS every Sunday night at 8pm. The Beatles appearance on February 9th 1964 is considered a milestone in American pop culture and the beginning of the British Invasion in music. The broadcast drew an estimated 73 million viewers.
5 Dec 1973 Paul McCartney and Wings released Band On The Run, his fifth album since his departure from The Beatles. Two hit singles from the album – 'Jet' and 'Band on the Run' made it McCartney's most successful album. The majority of Band on the Run was recorded at EMI's studio in Lagos, Nigeria, as McCartney wanted to make an album in an exotic location. McCartney went into the studio with just his wife Linda and Denny Laine, doubling on drums, percussion and most of the lead guitar parts himself as well as bass.
6 Mar 1973 Slade scored their fourth UK No.1 single with 'Cum On Feel The Noize', the first single to enter the charts at No.1 since The Beatles 'Get Back' in 1969. Elton John had the No.1 album with 'Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player'.
3 Mar 1973 Slade's 'Com On Feel The Noize', entered the UK at No.1, making Slade the first act to achieve this since The Beatles.
6 Jan 1973 Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain', (with Mick Jagger on backing vocals), started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart. The distinctive bass guitar intro is played by Klaus Voormann who designed the cover of The Beatles 1966 album Revolver. In 2015, after keeping quiet for more than 40 years, Carly Simon admitted that 'You're So Vain' was about Warren Beatty, but only one verse of it. Simon said the other verses were about two other men.
14 Dec 1972 Born To Boogie the Ringo Starr directed movie premiered in London. The film was based around a concert at Wembley Empire Pool, London, England starring Ringo Starr, Marc Bolan and T. Rex and was released on The Beatles Apple Films label.
27 Sep 1972 Rory Storm singer from UK 60s group Rory Storm and the Hurricanes died aged 32 after taking an overdose of sleeping pills in a suicide pact with his mother. Ringo Starr played drums with Storm before joining The Beatles.
9 Jul 1972 Paul McCartney and Wings kicked off their first European tour in the small French town of Ollioules. The band included Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, Henry McCullough and Paul's wife, Linda. It was McCartney's first time on the road since The Beatles quit touring in 1966. The band travelled on a double Decker London bus with a psychedelic interior.
31 Mar 1972 The Beatles Official Fan Club closed. The Beatles Monthly magazine had ceased three years previously.
8 Oct 1971 Led Zeppelin II was enjoying its 100th week on the UK album charts. It was the band's first album to hit No.1 in the US, knocking The Beatles' Abbey Road twice from the top spot, where it remained for seven weeks. When first released the album had advance orders of 400,000 copies in the USA, (the advertising campaign was built around the slogan Led Zeppelin II Now Flying).
17 Jul 1971 John Lennon and Yoko Ono appeared on the BBC late night talk show, Parkinson, where John chastised the British media for calling Yoko "ugly" and for saying that she broke up The Beatles.
5 Jun 1971 American blues rock band, Grand Funk Railroad smashed the record held by The Beatles when they sold out New York's Shea Stadium in 72 hours.
5 Jun 1971 Paul McCartney's second solo album Ram started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK chart. Featuring the US No.1 single 'Uncle Albert / Admiral Halsey' the album was recorded amid Paul McCartney’s legal action in Britain’s High Court to dissolve the Beatles’ partnership, following their break-up the year before. John Lennon believed that a number of songs on Ram contained jibes aimed at him, particularly 'Too Many People' and 'Dear Boy'.
14 Apr 1971 The Illinois Crime Commission issued a list of 'drug-oriented records' including 'White Rabbit' by Jefferson Airplane, ’A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ by Procol Harum and The Beatles 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.'
19 Jan 1971 Tracks from The Beatles White Album (including 'Helter Skelter'), were played in the courtroom at the Sharon Tate murder trial to find out if any songs could have influenced Charles Manson and his followers to commit murder. Actress Sharon Tate who was married to film director Roman Polanski, was eight and a half months pregnant when she was murdered in her home, along with four others, by followers of Charles Manson.
2 Jan 1971 The George Harrison album 'All Things Must Pass' started a seven week run at No.1 on the US album chart, making Harrison the first solo Beatle to score a US No.1 album. The triple album included the hit singles 'My Sweet Lord' and 'What Is Life', as well as songs such as 'Isn't It a Pity' and the title track that were turned down by The Beatles.
31 Dec 1970 Paul McCartney filed a suit against the rest of The Beatles to dissolve their partnership. According to the court documents, McCartney's main reason for wanting to legally break up the group stemmed from the decision taken by the others to to appoint Rolling Stones manager Allan Klein as their manager. McCartney didn't trust Klein and had wanted his new in-laws, Lee and John Eastman, to look after their affairs. The suit took more than four years of court hearings, with the group officially disbanding in January 1975.
27 Nov 1970 George Harrison released All Things Must Pass which includes the hit singles 'My Sweet Lord' and 'What Is Life', as well as songs such as 'Isn't It a Pity' and the title track that had been turned down for inclusion on releases by the Beatles. The triple album would go on to be certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA, making it the best selling album by a solo Beatle.
16 Sep 1970 Led Zeppelin won 'best group' in the Melody Maker readers Poll. This was the first time in eight years that The Beatles hadn't won 'best group.'
13 Jun 1970 The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'The Long And Winding Road', the group's 20th US No.1. The album 'Let It Be' started a four-week run at No.1 the US album chart on the same day. The 12th and final studio album by The Beatles, was recorded in January 1969, before the recording and release of Abbey Road.
23 May 1970 The Beatles 12th and final studio album 'Let It Be' started a three week run at No.1 on the UK chart, featuring 'The Long And Winding Road', 'Across The Universe' and the title track.
20 May 1970 Let It Be, the final feature film involving The Beatles was premiered simultaneously in London and Liverpool a week after the film's US release.
13 May 1970 The world premiere of The Beatles film 'Let It Be' took place in New York City. The film which was originally planned as a television documentary features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public. Released just after the album, it was the final original Beatles release.
8 May 1970 The Beatles twelfth and final album, Let It Be was released, (it was recorded before the Abbey Road album, and was originally to be called 'Get Back'). The album came in a deluxe-boxed edition with a 'Get Back' book.
11 Apr 1970 The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Let It Be'. It became the group's 19th US No.1 in 6 years. The track was a No.2 hit in the UK.
10 Apr 1970 27 year-old Paul McCartney issued a press statement, announcing that The Beatles had split, (one week before the release of his solo album). McCartney said, 'I have no future plans to record or appear with The Beatles again, or to write any music with John'. John Lennon, who had kept his much-earlier decision to leave The Beatles quiet for the sake of the others, was furious. When a reporter called Lennon to comment upon McCartney's resignation, Lennon said, 'Paul hasn't left. I sacked him'.
7 Apr 1970 On this week's US Top 5 singles chart; No.5, 'Bridge Over Trouble Water' by Simon and Garfunkel, No.4, 'Spirit In The Sky', Norman Greenbaum', No.3, 'Instant Karma!' by John Lennon, No.2, 'ABC' The Jackson 5 and at No.1, 'Let It Be', The Beatles.
2 Apr 1970 Phil Spector completed final editing and mixing for The Beatles Let It Be album, 16 months after the Get Back project had begun. Released a month after the Beatles' break-up, the album topped the US and UK charts. It also yielded the No. 1 US single 'The Long and Winding Road'. Spector's overdubbing of 'The Long and Winding Road' infuriated its composer, Paul McCartney .
1 Apr 1970 50 musicians recorded the orchestral scores for The Beatles tracks 'The Long And Winding Road' and 'Across The Universe' for the Phil Spector produced sessions. The bill for the 50 musicians was £1,126 and 5 shillings, ($1.914). When released 'The Long and Winding Road' became a US No.1 hit.
4 Jan 1970 The Beatles (without John Lennon) re-record vocals and a new guitar solo on the Paul McCartney song 'Let It Be' at Studio Two, EMI Studios, London. This session will be the final studio appearance for The Beatles, as a group. (The final date that all four of The Beatles were in the studio together is August 20, 1969).
19 Dec 1969 The Beatles latest Christmas record, 'The Beatles' Seventh Christmas Record' was released to members of their fan club in the UK and the US.
29 Nov 1969 The Beatles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with their twenty-sixth release in the United States.'Come Together / Something', which became the group's 18th US No.1. Lennon was inspired by Timothy Leary's campaign for governor of California titled "Come together, join the party" against Ronald Reagan giving him the idea for the track. ’Something’ was the first Beatles song written by George Harrison to appear as an A-side.
15 Nov 1969 The Carpenters released their debut album, Offering, (later re-named as Ticket To Ride) on A&M Records. It was a commercial failure and produced only one minor hit single, a ballad version of The Beatles song 'Ticket to Ride'.
1 Nov 1969 The Beatles scored their 13th US No.1 album with Abbey Road. The final studio recordings from the group featured two Harrison songs; 'Something' & 'Here Comes The Sun'. The cover supposedly contained clues adding to the ‘Paul Is Dead’ phenomenon: Paul is barefoot and the car number plate ‘LMW 281F’ supposedly referred to the fact that McCartney would be 28 if he was still alive. ‘LMW’ was said to stand for ‘Linda McCartney Weeps.’ And the four Beatles, represent; the priest (John, dressed in white), the Undertaker (Ringo, black suit), the Corpse (Paul, barefoot), and the Gravedigger (George, in jeans and a denim shirt).
12 Oct 1969 A DJ on Detroit's WKNR radio station received a phone call telling him that if you play The Beatles 'Strawberry Fields Forever' backwards, you hear John Lennon say the words "I buried Paul." This started a worldwide rumour that Paul McCartney was dead.
4 Oct 1969 The Beatles Abbey Road album went to No.1 on the UK chart. The final studio recordings from the group supposedly contained clues adding to the ‘Paul Is Dead’ phenomenon: Paul is barefoot and the car number plate ‘LMW 281F’ supposedly referred to the fact that McCartney would be 28 years old if he was still alive. ‘LMW’ was said to stand for ‘Linda McCartney Weeps.’ And the four Beatles, represent; the priest (John, dressed in white), the Undertaker (Ringo in a black suit), the Corpse (Paul, in a suit but barefoot), and the Gravedigger (George, in jeans and a denim work shirt).
26 Sep 1969 The Beatles released Abbey Road in the UK. The final studio recordings from the group featured two George Harrison songs ’Something’ (Harrison's first A-side single), and 'Here Comes The Sun'. In their interviews for The Beatles Anthology, the surviving band members stated that, although none of them ever made the distinction of calling it the "last album", they all felt at the time this would very likely be the final Beatles product and therefore agreed to set aside their differences and "go out on a high note".
25 Sep 1969 John Lennon recorded the track 'Cold Turkey', with Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Klaus Voorman and Yoko. Lennon presented the song to Paul McCartney as a potential single by The Beatles, but was refused and released it as a Plastic Ono Band single with sole writing credits to him.
20 Sep 1969 UK music paper Melody Maker readers poll results were published. Winners included Eric Clapton who won best musician, Bob Dylan best male singer and best album for 'Nashville Skyline'. Best group went to The Beatles, Best single went to Simon And Garfunkel for 'The Boxer' and Janis Joplin won Best female singer.
20 Sep 1969 During a meeting in London between John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Lennon announced he was leaving The Beatles.
22 Aug 1969 The Beatles met at John Lennon's Tittenhurst Park home in England for their final ever photo session. Three shots from this session (by Ethan Russell) formed the front and back covers of the Capitol compilation album Hey Jude. Yoko Ono and a pregnant Linda McCartney (she was to give birth to daughter Mary six days later) appeared in some photographs with The Beatles.
20 Aug 1969 After finishing ‘I Want You, (She’s So Heavy)', The Beatles worked on the running order for the Abbey Road album. A preliminary master tape was compiled, the medley was originally slated for side one of the album, and the placement of ‘Octopus's Garden’ and ‘Oh! Darling’ were reversed from the final version. The album was to end with the slashed guitar chord that finishes ‘I Want You (She's So Heavy)’. This was the last time all four Beatles were together in Abbey Road studios.
8 Aug 1969 The photo session for the cover of The Beatles Abbey Road album took place on the crossing outside Abbey Road studios. Photographer Iain McMillan, balanced on a step-ladder in the middle of the road took six shots of John, Ringo, Paul, and George walking across the zebra crossing while a policeman held up the traffic. The band then returned to the studio and recorded overdubs on ‘The End’, ‘I Want You (She's So Heavy)’ and ‘Oh! Darling’.
5 Aug 1969 George Harrison had his new Moog synthesizer brought into the studio for The Beatles to use in finishing their forthcoming album Abbey Road. Moog overdubs were recorded onto the new song 'Because'.
30 Jul 1969 The Beatles continued working on Abbey Road recording overdubs on ‘Come Together’, ‘Polythene Pam/She Came In Through the Bathroom Window’, ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ and ‘Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight’. The Beatles began to assemble the "medley" that would make up side two of the album. Paul McCartney told tape operator John Kurlander to discard ‘Her Majesty’, but Kurlander tacked it onto the end of the tape, about 20 seconds after the end of ‘The End’. Hearing it like this, Paul decides to keep it, including the lengthy silence preceding it.
24 Jul 1969 Paul McCartney recorded a demo of his new song ‘Come and Get It’ at Abbey Road studios in London. McCartney gave the song to The Iveys, (soon to become known as Badfinger). The song was later used as the theme for the movie The Magic Christian. The Beatles also recorded ‘Sun King/Mean Mr. Mustard’ for their forthcoming Abbey Road album.
21 Jul 1969 The Beatles started work on the John Lennon song 'Come Together' at Abbey Road studios in London. The track became the opening song on The Beatles Abbey Road album and was later released as a double A-sided single with ’Something’, their twenty-first single in the UK and twenty-sixth in the US where it reached the top of the charts.
18 Jul 1969 During sessions at Abbey Road studios, London, Ringo Starr recorded his vocal to 'Octopus's Garden', for the Abbey Road album. Starr had written the song when he 'quit' The Beatles the previous year and was staying on actorPeter Seller’s yacht in the Mediterranean.
16 Jul 1969 During recordings for their Abbey Road album, The Beatles worked on two new George Harrison songs, 'Here Comes The Sun' and 'Something.' Harrison was inspired to write 'Here Comes The Sun' when taking a day off from Apple business and spending the day walking around the garden at Eric Clapton's house.
13 Jul 1969 Over 100 US radio stations banned The Beatles new single 'The Ballad Of John and Yoko' due to the line 'Christ, you know it ain't easy', calling it offensive.
9 Jul 1969 Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles recorded ‘Maxwell's Silver Hammer.’ John Lennon returned to the studio after recovering from a car crash in Scotland, and a bed was installed in the Abbey Road studio for Yoko, who was pregnant, and who had been more seriously injured in the car accident.
11 Jun 1969 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'The Ballad Of John and Yoko'. Written by Lennon the song chronicles the events surrounding the wedding of Lennon and Yoko Ono. The only two Beatles that played on the track were John Lennon (lead vocal, lead guitars, acoustic guitar) and Paul McCartney (bass guitar, drums, piano, maracas, harmony vocal). The song was the Beatles' 17th UK No.1 single and their last for 54 years until 'Now and Then' in 2023. In the United States, it was banned by some radio stations due to the lyrics' reference to Christ and crucifixion. The 'B' side was the George Harrison song 'Old Brown Shoe'.
1 Jun 1969 The Plastic Ono Band recorded 'Give Peace A Chance' during a 'bed-in' at the Hotel La Reine in Montreal, Canada. Record Producer Phil Spector, poet Allan Ginsberg and writer Timothy Leary all sang in the song. Released as a single in July 1969 by the Plastic Ono Band on Apple Records, it is the first solo single issued by John Lennon, released while he was still a member of the The Beatles, and became an anthem of the American anti-war movement during the 1970s. It peaked at No.14 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the British singles chart.
24 May 1969 The Beatles with Billy Preston started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Get Back', the group's 17th US No.1. Credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston", it was the Beatles' only single that credited another artist, 'Get Back' was also the Beatles' first single release in true stereo in the US.
5 May 1969 The Beatles single 'Get Back' was released in the US. John Lennon claimed in 1980 that "there's some underlying thing about Yoko in there", claiming that Paul McCartney looked at Yoko Ono in the studio every time he sang "Get back to where you once belonged."
2 May 1969 The Beatles recorded a re-make of the new George Harrison song ’Something’ at Abbey Road Studios in London. They recorded 36 takes of the song, which included Billy Preston on piano. The track is featured on the Abbey Road album.
23 Apr 1969 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Get Back' the group's 16th UK No.1. Credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston", it was the Beatles' only single that credited another artist, 'Get Back' was also the Beatles' first single release in true stereo in the US.
20 Mar 1969 John Lennon married Yoko Ono in Gibraltar. They spent their honeymoon in Amsterdam campaigning for an international 'Bed-In' for peace. They planned another 'Bed-in' in the United States, but were denied entry. The couple then went to Montreal, and during a 'Bed-in' at the Queen Elizabeth Hotel recorded ‘Give Peace a Chance’. Lennon also detailed this period in The Beatles ‘The Ballad of John and Yoko’, recorded by Lennon and McCartney on April 14, 1969.
30 Jan 1969 The Beatles with Billy Preston, played their lunchtime rooftop gig on top of the Apple building on Savile Row, London. Lasting for just over 40 minutes it was the last time The Beatles performed live. The played ‘Get Back’, ‘Don’t Let Me Down’, ‘I’ve Got A Feeling’, ‘The One After 909’ and ‘Dig A Pony’. Traffic was brought to a standstill as crowds of people gathered below and watched from windows in nearby buildings. John Lennon ended the performance by saying "I’d like to say ‘Thank you’ on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition."
23 Jan 1969 Working at Apple studios in London, The Beatles (with Billy Preston on keyboards) recorded ten takes of a new song called 'Get Back'.
22 Jan 1969 The Beatles moved from Twickenham Film Studios to Apple Studios in London to start recording the Get Back LP. Billy Preston was brought into the sessions (John, Paul, and George knew Preston from 1962 when he was a member of Little Richard's backing group). The Beatles were determined to record the album "live", flaws and all.
15 Jan 1969 George Harrison had a five-hour meeting with John, Paul and Ringo where he made it clear that he was fully prepared to quit The Beatles for good. Harrison wasn't happy with plans for live performances and the current Let It Be film project.
4 Jan 1969 UK music weekly Disc and Music Echo reported that The Beatles were to release five new albums. One would be their first ever live album plus four separate LP's, each one the choice of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr.
2 Jan 1969 Filming began at Twickenham studios in England of The Beatles rehearsing for the 'Let It Be' album. The project ran into several problems including George Harrison walking out on the group on January 10th.
1 Jan 1969 Marmalade were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of The Beatles song 'Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da', which features on The White Album.
28 Dec 1968 The Beatles went to No.1 on the US album chart with The White Album the group's 12th US No.1 album. A double album, its plain white sleeve has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed, which was intended as a direct contrast to the vivid cover artwork of the band's earlier Sgt. Pepper's. No singles were issued from the album in Britain and the United States, the songs 'Hey Jude' and 'Revolution' originated from the same recording sessions and were issued on a single in August 1968.
20 Dec 1968 The Beatles sixth Christmas record 'The Beatles' 1968 Christmas Record', was sent to fan club members in the UK and the US. It included the song ‘Nowhere Man’ sung by Tiny Tim.
7 Dec 1968 The Beatles White Album started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK chart. The double set was the first on the Apple label and featured 'Back In The USSR', 'Dear Prudence', and the Harrison song 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps.'
24 Nov 1968 Diana Ross and The Supremes were at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Love Child', their 11th No.1 in the US. The song is also notable for knocking off and keeping The Beatles massive ‘Hey Jude’ off the top spot in the US.
22 Nov 1968 The Beatles double White Album was released in the UK. Featuring 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da', 'Dear Prudence', 'Helter Skelter', 'Blackbird' 'Back In The USSR' and George Harrison's 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. Priced at £3.13 shillings, ($8.76), it spent eight weeks as the UK No.1 album.
6 Nov 1968 Joe Cocker was at No.1 in the UK singles chart with his version of The Beatles song With a Little Help from My Friends. His version featured drums by Procol Harum's B.J. Wilson, guitar lines from Jimmy Page was a radical re-arrangement of the original song.
3 Oct 1968 Working at Trident Studios in London, The Beatles recorded the new George Harrison song ‘Savoy Truffle’. George, Paul, and Ringo recorded just one take of the basic track (drums, bass, and lead guitar). The song was inspired by Eric Clapton's love of chocolates, particularly Mackintosh's Good News.
28 Sep 1968 The Beatles started a nine week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Hey Jude’. The Paul McCartney song written about John Lennon's son Julian gave the group their 16th US No.1 and the biggest selling single of 1968. In 1996, Julian paid £25,000 for the recording notes to the song at an auction.
25 Sep 1968 Welsh singer Mary Hopkin was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Those Were The Days'. Hopkins had signed to The Beatles Apple label after appearing on UK TV talent show Opportunity Knocks.
23 Sep 1968 Working on new songs for their forthcoming 'White Album' The Doors came to visit The Beatles in the studio and watched them recording.
21 Sep 1968 Madame Tussaud's Waxworks in London gave The Beatles their fifth image change of clothes and hair in four years.
18 Sep 1968 Working at Abbey Road studios on new songs for their forthcoming album, The Beatles recorded 20 takes of ‘Birthday.’ Roadie Mal Evans added handclaps, and Yoko Ono and Pattie Harrison contributed backing vocals on the track.
8 Sep 1968 The Beatles were seen performing ‘Hey Jude’ on the UK television show 'Frost On Sunday' in front of an invited audience. The song was the first single from The Beatles' record label Apple Records and at over seven minutes in length, 'Hey Jude' was, at the time, the longest single ever to top the British charts. It also spent nine weeks as No.1 in the United States—the longest run at the top of the American charts for a Beatles' single.
4 Sep 1968 The Beatles recorded promotional videos for ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Revolution’ at Twickenham Film Studios. The vocals are recorded live over the pre-recorded instrumental tracks to get round the current British Musicians Union ban on lip-sync performances. For ‘Hey Jude’, The Beatles were accompanied by a 36-piece orchestra and 300 fans and other assorted extras who join in singing the long refrain.
3 Sep 1968 After a two week absence, Ringo Starr rejoined The Beatles. Upon Ringo's return to the studio, he found his drum kit covered with flowers to welcome him back.
28 Aug 1968 Working at Trident Studios, London, The Beatles started recording a new John Lennon song ‘Dear Prudence’. They built the song instrument by instrument, utilizing the 8-track equipment at Trident. John and George played guitars, while Paul played drums to compensate for Ringo Starr who had quit The Beatles on August 22.
22 Aug 1968 Ringo Starr quit The Beatles during The White Album sessions when the constant bickering and tension became too much for him. The news of Ringo's departure was kept secret, and he rejoined the sessions on September 3rd. After Ringo walked out, the remaining Beatles recorded 'Back In the USSR', with Paul on drums and John playing bass.
31 Jul 1968 Working at Trident studios in London, England, (with its 8-track equipment, EMI was still using 4-track recorders), The Beatles recorded four takes of a new Paul McCartney song '‘Hey Jude’.
30 Jul 1968 The Beatles closed their Apple Boutique in London after seven months of business, giving away all the stock to passers-by and Apple staff. John Lennon's friend Peter Shotton managed the store which was a financial disaster because theft was endemic and customers helped themselves to the stock, as did staff members.
29 Jul 1968 The first recording session of The Beatles seven-minute epic ‘Hey Jude’ took place. The Paul McCartney song was written about John Lennon's son Julian. When released it became the Beatles' first single on their Apple record label and was a No.1 hit in many countries around the world and became the year's top-selling single in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada.
23 Jul 1968 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded 'Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey' for their forthcoming double album The Beatles.
18 Jul 1968 Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles recorded 'Cry Baby Cry' and 'Helter Skelter'. One take of 'Helter Skelter' lasted 27' 11'', the longest Beatle recording ever.
17 Jul 1968 The animated film Yellow Submarine, premiered at The London Pavilion. The Beatles made a cameo appearance in the film but didn't supply their own voices for the characters.
28 Jun 1968 Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles recorded ‘Good Night’, John Lennon’s lullaby for his 5-year-old son Julian with Ringo singing the lead vocal. The track appeared on The White Album.
31 May 1968 Working on what will become The White Album, The Beatles added overdubs of bass and vocals on ‘Revolution’. After numerous overdubs have been added, the final six minutes of the song evolved into chaotic, jamming, with Lennon repeatedly shouting "alright" and Yoko Ono speaking random phrases. The jam becomes the basis for ‘Revolution 9’, and this session is the first that Yoko attends.
30 May 1968 The Beatles began recording what became known as The White Album. The double-LP whose official title was simply ‘The Beatles’ became the first Beatles album released with the Apple label. The first track they recorded was ‘Revolution’.
20 May 1968 The Beatles armed with a bunch of new songs after their visit to India, met at George Harrison's home in Esher, Surrey. They taped 23 new songs on George's 4-track recorder, many of which would end up on The Beatles' next two albums, (The White Album) and Abbey Road. The demos include: ‘Cry Baby Cry’, Revolution’, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Child of Nature’ (a Lennon song that became ‘Jealous Guy’).
4 May 1968 Mary Hopkin won her heat on the ITV talent show 'Opportunity Knocks'. She later signed with The Beatles owned Apple Records, Paul McCartney produced her UK No.1 single 'Those Were The Days', which also made No. 2 in the US. Hopkin later married record producer Tony Visconti.
24 Apr 1968 The Beatles new company, Apple Records turned down the offer to sign new artist David Bowie. (Apple later signed Mary Hopkin, James Taylor, Badfinger and Billy Preston).
14 Mar 1968 The promotional film for The Beatles 'Lady Madonna' was broadcast in black and white on Top Of The Pops on UK television. The video portion of the film clip was shot while the group were performing the song 'Hey Bulldog', but the 'Lady Madonna' audio track was paired with the video for the promo release.
29 Feb 1968 The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band won album of the year, best cover and best-engineered and recorded album at this year's Grammy Awards.
15 Feb 1968 Lennon Lennon and his wife Cynthia along with George and Patti Harrison, flew to India to study meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr joined them a few days later, but Starr would become bored and leave on March 1st, comparing the experience to be like a 'Butlins holiday camp.' 19 songs which would later appear on The Beatles White Album were written during March and April 1968 at a Transcendental Meditation course in Rishikesh, India.
4 Feb 1968 Working at Abbey Road studios, London, The Beatles recorded 'Across The Universe'. John and Paul decided the song needed some falsetto harmonies so they invited two girl fans into the studio to sing on the song. The two were Lizzie Bravo, a 16-year-old Brazilian living near Abbey Road and 17-year-old Londoner Gayleen Pease.
3 Feb 1968 The Beatles started work on their new single 'Lady Madonna' at Abbey Road studios in London. Recording three piano and drum takes with overdub bass, fuzz guitars, drums, and vocals.
20 Jan 1968 One Hit Wonders John Fred and the Playboy Band started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Judy In Disguise, (With Glasses)', it made No.3 in the UK. The song was inspired by The Beatles 'Lucy In The Sky'.
6 Jan 1968 The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour started an eight week run at No.1 on the US album chart, the group's 11th US chart topper.
30 Dec 1967 The Beatles scored their 15th US No.1 with ‘Hello Goodbye’, Gladys Knight and the Pips were at No.2 with 'I Heard It Through The Grapevine' and The Monkees at No.3 with 'Daydream Believer'
26 Dec 1967 BBC Television broadcast The Beatles movie ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ in black and white. The next day, the British press and the viewing public pronounce the film an utter disaster. The negative reaction was so strong that a US television deal for broadcasting the movie was cancelled.
21 Dec 1967 The Beatles held a party at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London to preview their new movie ‘Magical Mystery Tour’.
7 Dec 1967 The Beatles Apple boutique on 94 Baker Street, London, opened its doors. The store closed seven months later when it fell foul of council objections over the psychedelic mural painted on the outside. All the goods from the shop were given away free to passers by and to people who had queued throughout the night for a chance of getting a free item.
1 Dec 1967 Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, The Move, Nice, Outer Limits and Amen Corner played at the Central Hall, Chatham. The Chatham Standard later reported: ‘Hendrix opened his act with the Beatles’ number Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and the three-piece group made as much of an impression as a studio full of musicians. He did several of his own numbers, including unfaultable versions of 'Hey Joe' and 'Purple Haze' and The Troggs 'Wild Thing'.
28 Nov 1967 The Beatles recorded their last fan club record as a group; 'Christmas Time Is Here Again!' The Beatles' Christmas records were spoken and musical messages from the group that were posted out on flexi disc at Christmas time to members of their official fan-clubs in the United Kingdom and the United States.
26 Nov 1967 The promotional film of The Beatles 'Hello, Goodbye' was aired on The Ed Sullivan show in the US. It was never shown at the time in the UK due to a musician's union ban on miming.
10 Nov 1967 The Beatles filmed three promotional films for their new single ‘Hello Goodbye’ at the Saville Theatre in London. Each of the three film clips featured different costumes and Beatle antics. In the first film they wear their Sgt. Pepper uniforms, for the second The Beatles are wearing everyday clothes, the third film clip features shots from the first two films, plus additional shots of (especially John) doing the twist. A Musician's Union ban on lip-sync broadcasts prevented the films being used on British television.
7 Nov 1967 The Beatles finished recording ‘Blue Jay Way’, ‘Flying’ and ‘Magical Mystery Tour.’ The Beatles have only six songs, not enough for an album so decided to issue a double-EP. Capitol Records didn’t think the double-EP format would be acceptable for the US market, so they decide to put out an album instead. The six "Magical Mystery Tour" songs with five of the six songs from The Beatles' 1967 singles went on side two.
6 Nov 1967 Working at Abbey Road studio in London, The Beatles mixed four songs, ‘Hello Goodbye’, ‘Your Mother Should Know’, ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ and ‘I Am the Walrus’. Due to the radio feed used in ‘I Am The Walrus’ being recorded in mono, the song changes from stereo to mono at the line "Sitting in an English garden".
3 Nov 1967 The filming for The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour was completed finishing with a sequence at Ringo's country house in Weybridge, Surrey, BBC television bought the rights to broadcast the film twice, the first broadcast, in black-and-white was scheduled for December 26, 1967. The second showing, on the color channel BBC2, was not yet available to all Britons, was set for January 5, 1968.
2 Nov 1967 The Beatles completed recording their next single ‘Hello Goodbye’ at Abbey Road studios London with a second Paul McCartney bass line. The McCartney song had been selected for the A-side for The Beatles next single, the flip side to be Lennon’s ‘I Am The Walrus’.
18 Oct 1967 Ode to Billie Joe the debut album by Bobbie Gentry was at No.1 on the US chart. It was the only album to displace The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from its 15-week reign at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart. The recording of the title track 'Ode to Billie Joe' generated eight Grammy nominations, resulting in three wins for Gentry and one win for arranger Jimmie Haskell.
7 Oct 1967 The Beatles rejected an offer of $1 million from promoter Sid Bernstein to make a second appearance at New York's Shea Stadium. Bernstein had originally brought the group to Shea in August 1965. Sid Bernstein had actually successfully contracted the Beatles to play at Shea Stadium in both 1965 and 1966.
29 Sep 1967 Working at Abbey Road in London, The Beatles mixed the new John Lennon song ‘I Am The Walrus’, which included the sound of a radio being tuned through numerous stations, coming to rest on a BBC production of William Shakespeare's "King Lear". Lennon composed the song by combining three songs he had been working on. When he learned that a teacher at his old primary school was having his students analyse Beatles' lyrics, he added a verse of nonsense words.
27 Sep 1967 Working on new songs The Beatles recorded various parts for the new John Lennon song ‘I Am The Walrus’ and the new Paul McCartney song ‘Fool On The Hill.’ Lennon received a letter from a pupil at Quarry Bank High School, that mentioned an English teacher was making his class analyse Beatles' lyrics. Lennon, amused that a teacher was putting so much effort into understanding the Beatles' lyrics, decided to write in his next song the most confusing lyrics that he could.
24 Sep 1967 Filming continued for The Beatles 'Magical Mystery Tour' at West Malling Air Station, Maidstone, Kent with the shooting of the 'Your Mother Should Know' ballroom finale. With The Beatles all dressed in white suits and shoes, gliding down a glittery staircase as 160 members of Peggy Spencer's dance team swirled round about.
16 Sep 1967 Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles recorded 11 takes of 'Your Mother Should Know', giving the song a stronger beat, but this version of the song was discarded in favour of the original recording.
15 Sep 1967 Filming continued for The Beatles 'Magical Mystery Tour'. Lunch was at James and Amy Smedley's fish and chip shop in Taunton, Somerset with The Beatles being filmed and photographed eating their fish and chips.
14 Sep 1967 Filming continued for The Beatles 'Magical Mystery Tour' in South West England. The Beatles searched for a quiet, secluded field in which they could conduct filming but once they'd disembarked from the bus and set up for shooting, scores of onlookers began to crowd around, causing a traffic jam that required the police to step in.
13 Sep 1967 The Beatles formed an electronics company called Fiftyshapes, Ltd. appointing John Alexis Mardas (Magic Alex) to be the company's director. Alex claimed he could build a 72-track tape machine, instead of the 4-track at Abbey Road (this never materialised). One of his more outrageous plans was to replace the acoustic baffles around Ringo Starr's drums with an invisible sonic force field. George Harrison later said that employing Mardas was "the biggest disaster of all time."
12 Sep 1967 Filming continued for The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour. The bus headed for Widecombe on the Moor, where a local fair was being held but the bus driver (Alf Manders) took a shortcut to bypass heavy traffic and ended up stuck on a bridge, the coach ended up having to drive in reverse for a half-mile before it could turn around. They then head for Plymouth, followed by a 20-car convoy of journalists and photographers.
11 Sep 1967 Filming began for The Beatles ‘Magical Mystery Tour’. There was no script, nor a very clear idea of exactly what was to be accomplished, not even a clear direction about where the bus was supposed to go. The ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ bus set off for the West Country in England stopping for the night in Teignmouth, Devon were hundreds of fans greeted The Beatles at their hotel.
5 Sep 1967 Working at Abbey Road studios, London, The Beatles began recording John Lennon’s new song ‘I Am The Walrus’, recording 16 takes of the basic backing track.
27 Aug 1967 British music entrepreneur and the manager of The Beatles, Brian Epstein was found dead, locked in a bedroom at his London home. A coroner's inquest concluded that Epstein died from an overdose of the sleeping pill Carbitrol. He also managed several other artists including Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black and The Remo Four. The first contract between The Beatles and Epstein was auctioned in London in 2008, and was sold for £240,000.
26 Aug 1967 The Beatles held a press conference at University College in Bangor, North Wales with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Beatles announced that they had become disciples of the guru and that they renounced the use of drugs. The four had become members of the Maharishi's 'Spiritual Regeneration Movement', which obligated them to donate one week's earnings each month to the organization.
19 Aug 1967 The Beatles scored their 14th US No.1 single with 'All You Need Is Love'. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Keith Moon, Graham Nash, Marianne Faithfull and Walker Brother Gary Leeds all sang backing vocals on the track.
4 Aug 1967 Pink Floyd released their debut album The Piper At the Gates of Dawn on which most songs were penned by Syd Barrett. In subsequent years, the record has been recognised as one of the seminal psychedelic rock albums of the 1960s. When reviewed, by the two main UK music papers in the UK, Record Mirror and NME both gave the album four stars out of five. The album which was recorded at Abbey Road studios, London during the same time that The Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper peaked at No.6 on the UK album chart and failed to chart in the US.
24 Jul 1967 The Beatles meet Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whose lecture on Transcendental Meditation (TM) they had gone to hear at the Hilton Hotel in London. TM involved the silent repetition of a word or sound to produce a state of mind that reduces stress, calms the mind, and energizes both mind and body. The Maharishi invited The Beatles to travel with him to Bangor, in North Wales, to attend more lectures. They accepted his invitation.
22 Jul 1967 Pink Floyd appeared at The Beach Ballroom, Aberdeen, Scotland. The venue is home to one of Scotland's finest dance floors - famous for its bounce - which floats on fixed steel springs. During the 1960s The Beatles (in 1963), Small Faces and Cream all appeared at the Beach.
19 Jul 1967 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'All You Need Is Love' the group's 12th UK No.1 single. The Beatles had been selected to represent the UK for the first-ever global-wide satellite broadcast. The group agreed to be shown in the studio recording a song written especially for the occasion, (which was aired on June 25). John Lennon wrote ‘All You Need is Love’ which was thought to sum up the 1967 'summer of love' and The Beatles' sympathies.
17 Jul 1967 The Beatles single 'All You Need Is Love / Baby You're A Rich Man' (originally called 'One Of The Beautiful People') was released in the US. It became The Beatles 14th US No.1.
1 Jul 1967 The Beatles started a 15 week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the group's 10th US No.1 album. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, the album widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, includes songs such as 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and 'A Day in the Life'.
25 Jun 1967 400 million people saw The Beatles perform 'All You Need Is Love', live via satellite as part of the TV global link- up, 'Our World'. Mick Jagger Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, Keith Moon and Gary Leeds provided backing vocals.
10 Jun 1967 The Beatles Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band went to No.1 in the UK. Costing £25,000 ($42,500) to produce the album was recorded over 700 hours of studio time. It was also the first album to print the lyrics on the sleeve. The album spent 27 weeks at No.1 on the UK chart.
4 Jun 1967 The Beatles started a 23 week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, the album widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time, includes songs such as 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' and 'A Day in the Life'.
26 May 1967 The Beatles released Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, in the UK. Recorded over a 129-day period beginning in December 1966, the album is widely regarded as one of the greatest of all time and was the first Beatles album where the track listings were exactly the same for the UK and US versions. As of 2011, it has sold more than 32 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums in history.
20 May 1967 The Beatles new album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band had a special preview on the Kenny Everett BBC Light program, 'Where It's At', playing every track from the album, (except 'A Day In The Life' which the BBC had banned saying it could promote drug taking).
19 May 1967 The Beatles held a press party at manager's Brian Epstein's house in London for the launch of the Sgt. Pepper album. Linda Eastman was hired as the press photographer for the event.
18 May 1967 The Beatles were selected to represent the UK for the first-ever global-wide satellite broadcast. The group agreed to be shown in the studio recording a song written especially for the occasion, scheduled for June 25. John Lennon wrote ‘All You Need is Love’ which was thought to sum up the 1967 'summer of love' and The Beatles' sympathies. With the satellite broadcast being broadcast to many non-English-speaking countries, the BBC asked The Beatles to 'keep it simple'.
17 May 1967 Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles began recording a new John Lennon song ‘You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)’. The song was not finished until November 1969, and was not released until March 1970 (as the B-side of the ‘Let it Be’ single).
13 May 1967 The Monkees second album More Of The Monkees, went to No.1 on the UK charts. In 1967 only four albums reached No.1; The Sound Of Music which spent 17 weeks at No.1, The Beatles Sgt. Pepper, 25 weeks at No.1 and The Monkees first and second albums spent 9 weeks at No.1.
25 Apr 1967 Just days after the completion of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles embarked upon their next project, recording the theme to 'Magical Mystery Tour' at Abbey Road studios in London.
21 Apr 1967 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles completed the sessions for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The final recordings were a short section of gibberish and noise which would follow 'A Day in the Life', in the run-out groove. They recorded assorted noises and voices, which engineer Geoff Emerick then cut-up and randomly re-assembled and edits backwards. At John Lennon's suggestion, they also added a high-pitch 15 kilocycle whistle audible only by dogs. These were omitted from the American version of the album.
14 Apr 1967 Polydor Records released The Bee Gees 'New York mining Disaster 1941' It was released with a promotional slogan announcing 'The most significant talent since The Beatles. The record became a Top 20 hit in the UK and US.
6 Apr 1967 The first master tape of The Beatles new album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was made. The song order on side one is different from the final product at this point, the last five songs on that side being initially ordered as follows: ‘Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite’, ‘Fixing a Hole’, ‘Lucy In the Sky with Diamonds’, ‘Getting Better’, and ‘She's Leaving Home’. The Beatles had specified that there were to be no gaps between songs - a unique idea at the time.
3 Apr 1967 Working on The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album at Abbey Road studios in London, George Harrison recorded his lead vocal on his song 'Within You Without You' as well as a sitar part, and some acoustic guitar parts.
30 Mar 1967 The photo session took place at Chelsea Manor studios in London with Michael Cooper for the cover of The Beatles Sgt. Pepper album. After the shoot The Beatles resumed work at Abbey Road studios on With a Little Help from My Friends adding guitars, bass, tambourine, and backing vocals. The session began at 11:00 pm and ends at 7:30 am.
29 Mar 1967 Working at Abbey Road studios The Beatles finished recording ‘Good Morning Good Morning’. They then started work on a new song ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’, (originally titled ‘Bad Finger Boogie’), recording 10 takes of the rhythm track, then Ringo overdub a double-tracked lead vocal.
23 Mar 1967 At a ceremony held at the Playhouse Theatre in London, The Beatles were awarded three Ivor Novello awards for 1966: Best-selling British single ‘Yellow Submarine’, most-performed song ‘Michelle’, and next-most-performed song 'Yesterday'. None of the Beatles attended and the winning songs were played by Joe Loss and his Orchestra. The lead vocal for ‘Michelle’ was sung by Ross MacManus, whose son would go on to become the professional musician Elvis Costello.
18 Mar 1967 The Beatles scored their 13th US No.1 single with 'Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever'. The song's title is derived from the name of a street near Lennon's house, in Liverpool. McCartney and Lennon would meet at Penny Lane junction in the Mossley Hill area to catch a bus into the centre of the city.
17 Mar 1967 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles finished the recording of 'She's Leaving Home' after adding backing vocals to the track. Harpist Sheila Bromberg who was part of the string section on the track became the first woman to play on a Beatles recording.
13 Mar 1967 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, six members of Sounds, Inc. recorded the horn parts for The Beatles song 'Good Morning Good Morning' (three saxophones, two trombones, and one french horn).
7 Mar 1967 Working on their next album The Beatles recorded additional overdubs for 'Lovely Rita', including harmony vocals, effects, and the percussive sound of a piece of toilet paper being blown through a haircomb.
6 Mar 1967 The Beatles recorded sound effects onto the song ''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' at Abbey Road studios in London. The beginning audience murmurs and sounds of a band preparing for a performance were added, along with screams from a tape of The Beatles in concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
5 Mar 1967 Pink Floyd, Jeff Beck, The Ryan Brothers and Lee Dorsey all appeared at the Saville Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue, London, England. Brian Epstein, manager of The Beatles leased the theatre in 1965, presenting both plays and music shows. The venue became notorious for its Sunday night concerts.
1 Mar 1967 Working at Abbey Road studios, London, The Beatles started recording a new John Lennon song 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'. The song was inspired by a drawing his 3 year-old son Julian returned home from school with one day. The picture, which was of a little girl with lots of stars, was his classmate - Lucy O’Donnell, who also lived in Weybridge, and attended the same school as Julian.
22 Feb 1967 Pink Floyd continued working on their debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn at Abbey Road Studios, London. The Beatles were also working at Abbey Road, recording the giant piano chord for the end of 'A Day In The Life' for their Sgt. Pepper's album.
21 Feb 1967 Pink Floyd started their first sessions at the EMI Studios, St. John's Wood, London on their debut album The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, working on the song 'Matilda Mother'. While Pink Floyd were recording their album with former Beatles engineer Norman Smith, The Beatles themselves were working in the studio next door, recording 'Fixing A Hole' for their Sgt. Pepper album. Micky Dolenz from The Monkees attended the mixing session during the day.
17 Feb 1967 The Beatles started recording a new John Lennon song 'Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite' at Abbey Road studios, London. John's lyrics for the song came almost entirely from an antique poster advertising a circus performance scheduled to take place in Rochdale, Lancashire, in February 1843. John had purchased the poster in Sevenoaks on January 31 while The Beatles were on location for the filming of the 'Strawberry Fields Forever' promotional film.
13 Feb 1967 The Beatles released the double A sided single 'Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane' on Capitol Records in the US. The single spent 10 weeks on the chart peaking at No.1. The video for the track presented the Beatles' new group image, since all four now sported moustaches, following Harrison's lead when he left for India in September 1966. In addition to a horseshoe moustache, Lennon wore his round "granny" glasses for the first time as a member of the Beatles.
10 Feb 1967 The Beatles recorded the orchestral build-up for the middle and end of 'A Day in the Life'. At the Beatles' request, the orchestra members arrived in full evening dress along with novelty items. One violinist wore a red clown's nose, while another, a fake gorilla's paw on his bow hand. Others were wearing funny hats and other assorted novelties. The recording was filmed for a possible 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' television special which was ultimately abandoned. Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mike Nesmith from The Monkees and Donovan also attended the session.
5 Feb 1967 The Beatles filmed part of the promo clip for 'Penny Lane' around the Royal Theatre, Stratford, London and walking up and down Angel Lane in London. Together with the video for 'Strawberry Fields Forever', this was one of the first examples of what later became known as a music video.
1 Feb 1967 At Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles started work on a new song 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. It wasn't until The Beatles had recorded the song that Paul McCartney had the idea to make the song the thematic pivot for their forthcoming album.
31 Jan 1967 The Beatles spent a second day at Knole Park, Sevenoaks, Kent, England to complete filming for the 'Strawberry Fields Forever' promotional video. The film was shot in colour, for the benefit of the US market, since UK television was still broadcasting only in black and white. Taking time out from filming John Lennon bought an 1843 poster from an antique shop in Surrey which provided him with most of the lyrics for The Beatles song Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite.
25 Jan 1967 The Beatles made a last-minute remix of 'Penny Lane' before the pressing of their next double A sided single 'Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane'. Both songs were originally intended for the forthcoming Beatles album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
19 Jan 1967 Pink Floyd and Marmalade played at The Marquee Club, London, England. Marmalade went on to score a No.1 UK hit with their version of The Beatles' Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da in 1968.
19 Jan 1967 The Beatles began recording 'A Day In The Life' at Abbey Road studios London, recording four takes of the new song. According to John Lennon the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune who had crashed his Lotus Elan on 18 December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens, London.
17 Jan 1967 The Daily Mail ran the story about a local council survey finding 4,000 holes in the road in Lancashire inspiring John Lennon's contribution to The Beatles song 'A Day In The Life'. Under the headline "The holes in our roads", the brief stated: "There are 4,000 holes in the road in Blackburn, Lancashire, or one twenty-sixth of a hole per person, according to a council survey. If Blackburn is typical, there are two million holes in Britain's roads and 300,000 in London." Lennon had a problem with the words of the final verse, however, not being able to think of how to connect "Now they know how many holes it takes to" and "the Albert Hall". His friend Terry Doran suggested that the holes would "fill" the Albert Hall, and the lyric was eventually used.
18 Dec 1966 Tara Browne was killed when driving at high speed in his Lotus Elan after it collided with a parked lorry in South Kensington, London. A close friend of The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger and Brian Jones his death was immortalized in The Beatles song 'A Day In The Life’ after John Lennon read a report on the coroner's verdict into Browne's death.
8 Dec 1966 Working at Abbey Road in London, Paul McCartney overdubbed his lead vocal for ‘When I'm Sixty-Four’. Then The Beatles set about remaking a new John Lennon song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever.’
6 Dec 1966 The Beatles recorded Christmas and New Year's greetings for pirate radio stations Radio Caroline and Radio London. Both stations were broadcasting from ships anchored off the British coastline.
25 Nov 1966 The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their UK live debut at the Bag O'Nails Club, London, where they played using the clubs DJ booth. Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, The Hollies, and the Small Faces would all hang out at the club.
24 Nov 1966 The Beatles got together for the first time since their return from the summer tour of the United States, ready to record a new album. The first song selected for recording was John Lennon's 'Strawberry Fields Forever', which would not end up on the album, but as The Beatles' next single. This day's session was devoted entirely to ‘Strawberry Fields Forever.’
5 Nov 1966 The Monkees were at the top of the Billboard singles chart with ‘Last Train To Clarksville’, the group’s first No. 1. Bobby Hart who co-wrote the song got the idea for the lyrics when he turned on the radio and heard the end of The Beatles' 'Paperback Writer'. He thought Paul McCartney was singing "Take the last train", and decided to use the line when he found out McCartney was actually singing 'Paperback Writer'.
22 Oct 1966 The Supremes became the first female group to have a No.1 album on the US char with 'The Supremes a Go Go', knocking The Beatles Revolver from the top of the charts.
10 Sep 1966 The Beatles started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Revolver the group's ninth US chart topper. The title ' Revolver ', like Rubber Soul before it, is a pun, referring both to a kind of handgun as well as the "revolving" motion of the record as it is played on a turntable.
5 Sep 1966 John Lennon started work on his role as Private Gripweed in the film 'How I Won The War'. The black comedy directed by Richard Lester, was filmed in Spain in Almería Province and saw Lennon, taking a long-overdue break from The Beatles after nearly four years of constant touring.
29 Aug 1966 The Beatles played their last concert before a paying audience, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California to a sold-out crowd of 25,000. John and Paul, knowing what the fans do not (that this will be the last concert ever) bring cameras on stage and take pictures between songs. During this tour, The Beatles have not played a single song from their latest album.
28 Aug 1966 Nearing the end of their final tour of America, The Beatles performed one show at Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, California, before a crowd of 45,000. The Beatles' attempt to escape from the stadium in an armored truck is thwarted when the main gate was found to be locked, and The Beatles had to spend two hours in the back of the truck before they could leave the stadium.
25 Aug 1966 During their last US tour, The Beatles played two shows at the Coliseum in Seattle, Washington. The first show at 3pm was attended by only 8,000 fans (the arena seated 15,000), but the evening show was a sell-out.
23 Aug 1966 On their final tour of America, The Beatles performed at Shea Stadium in New York City, New York. Unlike the previous year's performance, which had sold out, there were 11,000 empty seats in the 55,600 seat stadium. The Beatles earn more than the previous year, receiving $189,000 for their performance.
23 Aug 1966 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with the double a sided 'Yellow Submarine - Eleanor Rigby'. The group's eleventh No.1. Paul McCartney said he came up with the name Eleanor from actress Eleanor Bron, who had starred with The Beatles in the film Help! Rigby came from the name of a store in Bristol, Rigby & Evens Ltd, Wine & Spirit Shippers.
22 Aug 1966 New York City teenagers Carol Hopkins and Susan Richmond climbed out onto the ledge on the second floor of a city hotel and threatened to jump unless they could get to meet The Beatles. Police talked then down.
21 Aug 1966 On their last ever US tour The Beatles performed in two cities due to a cancellation due to rain the previous day. First they performed at Crosley Field in Cincinnati, Ohio. Then they flew to St. Louis, Missouri, for a concert at Busch Stadium, where they performed under a tarpaulin due to heavy rain. It was this gig that convinced Paul McCartney that The Beatles should stop performing live.
20 Aug 1966 The Beatles touring America for the last time, were forced to cancel and reschedule their performance in Cincinnati's open-air stadium, Crosley Field. Heavy rain (and no cover provided) made electrocution a virtual certainty if The Beatles had attempted to perform.
15 Aug 1966 During a US tour The Beatles appeared at the D.C. Stadium in Washington DC to over 32,000 fans. Tickets cost $3. Five members of the Ku Klux Klan, led by the Imperial Wizard of Maryland, picketed the concert.
13 Aug 1966 Revolver, The Beatles' seventh album release in three years, started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK charts. It spent a total of 34 week's on the UK chart and was also a US No.1. The title Revolver like Rubber Soul before it, is a pun, referring both to a kind of handgun as well as the "revolving" motion of the record as it is played on a turntable.
12 Aug 1966 The Beatles performed two shows at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois. This was the first stop on what would turn out to be The Beatles' final US tour. Support acts were the Remains, Bobby Hebb, Cyrkle, and the Ronettes.
11 Aug 1966 At a press conference held at The Astor Towers Hotel in Chicago, John Lennon apologised for his remarks that The Beatles were ‘more popular than Jesus'. Lennon told reporters "Look, I wasn’t saying The Beatles are better than God or Jesus, I said ‘Beatles’ because it’s easy for me to talk about The Beatles. I could have said ‘TV’ or ‘Cinema’, ‘Motorcars’ or anything popular and would have got away with it’’.
8 Aug 1966 In response to John Lennon's remark about The Beatles being bigger than Jesus, The South African Broadcasting Corporation banned all Beatles records. Also on this day The Beatles LP Revolver was released in the US, the bands seventh album featured: ‘Taxman’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘I'm Only Sleeping’, ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, ‘She Said She Said’, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. It spent 77 weeks on the Billboard chart peaking at No.1.
5 Aug 1966 The Beatles Revolver was released in the UK. The bands seventh album featured: ‘Taxman’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘I'm Only Sleeping’, ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, ‘She Said She Said’, ‘And Your Bird Can Sing’ and ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’.
30 Jul 1966 The Beatles started a five week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Yesterday...And Today', the group's 8th No.1 album. Issued only in the United States and Canada, the album is remembered primarily for the controversy surrounding its original cover image, the "butcher cover" featuring the band dressed in white smocks and covered with decapitated baby dolls and pieces of meat.
8 Jul 1966 The Beatles released the ‘Nowhere Man’ 4-track EP in the UK, which included: ‘Drive My Car’, ‘Michelle’ and ‘You Won't See Me’. All four tracks were taken from The Beatles sixth UK studio album, Rubber Soul.
7 Jul 1966 The Kinks were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Sunny Afternoon', the group's third and last UK No.1. Like its contemporary 'Taxman' by The Beatles, the song references the high levels of tax taken by the British Labour government of Harold Wilson. In America, the track peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart early autumn 1966.
4 Jul 1966 The Beatles played two shows at Rizal Memorial Football Stadium, Manila, in the Philippines to over 80,000 fans. The Beatles failed to appear at a palace reception hosted by President Marcos' family, who were not informed that the Beatles had declined their invitation. The Philippine media misrepresent this as a deliberate snub and when Brian Epstein tries to make a televised statement, his comments are disrupted by static. The next day, as The Beatles make their way to the airport they were greeted by angry mobs, the Philippine government had retaliated by refusing police protection for The Beatles.
30 Jun 1966 The Beatles played the first of three concerts at the Nippon Budokan Hall, Japan. The concert was filmed with The Beatles wearing black suits. The following day's first performance was also filmed; with The Beatles wearing white suits. There was a strict police presence with 3,000 police observing each concert played in front of 10,000 fans.
25 Jun 1966 The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Paperback Writer', the group's 12th US No.1. The track is marked by the boosted bass guitar sound throughout, partly in response to John Lennon demanding to know why the bass on a certain Wilson Pickett record far exceeded the bass on any Beatles records. It was also cut louder than any other Beatles record, due to a new piece of equipment used in the mastering process.
23 Jun 1966 The Beatles had their tenth consecutive UK No.1 single with 'Paperback Writer' / 'Rain.' The track is marked by the boosted bass guitar sound throughout, partly in response to John Lennon demanding to know why the bass on a certain Wilson Pickett record far exceeded the bass on any Beatles records. It was also cut louder than any other Beatles record, due to a new piece of equipment used in the mastering process.
21 Jun 1966 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded from start to finish, a new John Lennon song ‘She Said She Said’. The song was reportedly based on a bizarre conversation that Lennon had with Peter Fonda while John and George Harrison were tripping on LSD.
16 Jun 1966 The Beatles made a surprise live appearance on the UK television program Top Of The Pops performing 'Paperback Writer' and ‘Rain’. It became The Beatles' last live musical television appearance, with the sole exception of the June 1967 worldwide transmission of ‘All You Need Is Love’.
1 Jun 1966 During a 12 hour session at Abbey Road studios, The Beatles added overdubs on 'Yellow Submarine', with John Lennon blowing bubbles in a bucket of water and shouting "Full speed ahead Mister Captain!" Roadie Mal Evans played on a bass drum strapped to his chest, marching around the studio with The Beatles following behind (conga-line style) singing "We all live in a yellow submarine."
26 May 1966 The Beatles recorded 'Yellow Submarine' at Abbey Road studios in London. Recovering from a case of food poisoning, producer George Martin missed this recording, EMI engineer Geoff Emerick worked on the session. The track features John Lennon blowing bubbles in a bucket of water, shouting "Full speed ahead Mister Captain!"
16 May 1966 The Beach Boys released the classic album Pet Sounds widely ranked as one of the most influential records ever released and has been ranked at No.1 in several music magazines lists of greatest albums of all time, including New Musical Express, The Times and Mojo Magazine. In 2003, it was ranked No.2 in Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, (The Beatles Sgt. Pepper's came first).
6 May 1966 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded overdubs on 'I'm Only Sleeping' and worked on various mixes of the track. The song features the then-unique sound of a reversed guitar duet played by Harrison who perfected the part with the tape running backwards so that, when reversed, it would fit the dreamlike mood.
1 May 1966 The Beatles played live for the last time in the UK when they appeared at the NME Poll Winners concert at Wembley Empire Pool. The Beatles set included; 'I Feel Fine', 'Nowhere Man', 'Day Tripper', 'If I Needed Someone' and 'I'm Down'. Also on the bill, The Spencer Davis Group, The Fortunes, Herman's Hermits, Roy Orbison, The Rolling Stones, The Seekers, The Small Faces, Dusty Springfield, The Walker Brothers, The Who and The Yardbirds.
27 Apr 1966 The Beatles started recording the new John Lennon song 'I'm Only Sleeping' at Abbey Road studios London, England. The song features the then-unique sound of a reversed guitar duet played by George Harrison. It was released two months earlier in the United States on the album Yesterday And Today and did not feature on the original US version of Revolver .
20 Apr 1966 During a 12 hour session at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles worked on a new John Lennon song 'And Your Bird Can Sing', and a new George Harrison song 'Taxman'. The Beatles first recorded 'And Your Bird Can Sing' in the style of the Byrds. This discarded version was released on the 1996 Anthology 2 and includes the sound of Lennon and McCartney laughing their way through a vocal overdub and being unable to sing.
7 Apr 1966 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded overdubs on the new John Lennon song 'Tomorrow Never Knows' and the new Paul McCartney song 'Got to Get You Into My Life' for the forthcoming Revolver album.
6 Apr 1966 The first session of what would become The Beatles album Revolver started in the evening at Abbey Road studios London, with the recording of the basic track of a new John Lennon song 'Tomorrow Never Knows.'
25 Mar 1966 At a photo session at Bob Whitaker's studio in London, The Beatles posed in white coats using sides of meat with mutilated and butchered dolls for the cover of their next American album, Yesterday and Today. After advance copies were sent to disc jockeys and record reviewers, negative reaction to the cover photo was so strong Capitol recalled 750,000 copies from distributors to replace the cover. The total cost to Capitol to replace the cover and promotional materials was $250,000, wiping out their initial profit.
4 Mar 1966 John Lennon's statement that The Beatles were 'more popular than Jesus Christ' was published in The London Evening Standard. His opinions drew no controversy when published in the UK, but when republished in the US a few months later, angry reactions flared up in Christian communities. Extensive protests broke out with some radio stations banning Beatles songs and their records were publicly burned.
28 Feb 1966 Police were called after over a 100 music fans barricaded themselves inside Liverpool's Cavern Club to protest at the clubs closure. The club had run up debts of over £10,000. The Beatles made a total of 292 appearances at The Cavern Club, their final performance at the club was on 3 August 1963.
21 Jan 1966 George Harrison married Patti Boyd at Leatherhead Register Office in Surrey with Paul McCartney as Best man. George had first met Patti on the set of The Beatles movie A Hard Day's Night. She left Harrison in the mid-'70s and started an affair with Harrison's friend Eric Clapton, who wrote the song 'Layla' about her. The two married in May 1979 but split in 1988. Harrison and Clapton remained close friends with Harrison, taking to calling Clapton his "husband-in-law".
8 Jan 1966 The Beatles started a six-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Rubber Soul the group's seventh US chart-topper, which went on to spend 56 weeks on the chart. Rubber Soul was the group’s first release not to feature their name on the cover. The group also started a three-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'We Can Work It Out' the group's 11th US No.1 single.
24 Dec 1965 The Beatles had the No.1 album in the US for the third Christmas in a row. Rubber Soul was at the top of the LP chart, following Beatles For Sale in 1964 and With The Beatles in 1963. The Fab Four would repeat this feat again in 1968 with The Beatles (The White Album) and again in 1969, with Abbey Road.
16 Dec 1965 Released as a double A side The Beatles 'Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out', became their ninth UK No.1 and their third Christmas chart topper in a row. The single was a US No.1 in January 1966.
12 Dec 1965 The Beatles sixth album Rubber Soul started a 42-week run on the UK albums chart. It was the second Beatles LP to contain only original material. For the first time in their career, the band were able to record the album over a continuous period, uninterrupted by touring commitments.
5 Dec 1965 The Beatles played their last ever show in their hometown of Liverpool when they appeared at The Liverpool Empire during the group's final UK tour. Only 5,100 tickets were available, but there were 40,000 applications for tickets. The group also had the UK No.1 single with 'We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper.'
3 Dec 1965 The Beatles set out on what would be their last ever UK tour at Glasgow's Odeon Cinema. Also on the bill, The Moody Blues The Koobas and Beryl Marsden. The last show was at Cardiff's Capitol Cinema on 12th December.
3 Dec 1965 The Beatles sixth studio album Rubber Soul was released. Often referred to as a folk rock album, Rubber Soul incorporates a mix of pop, soul and folk musical styles. The title derives from the colloquialism "plastic soul", which referred to soul played by English musicians.
25 Nov 1965 Harrods department store in London, England, closed to the public so The Beatles could do their Christmas shopping in private.
11 Nov 1965 The final recording session for The Beatles Rubber Soul album took place, at Abbey Road, London. They needed three new songs to finish the album so an old song ‘Wait’ was pulled off the shelf and the group recorded two new songs from start to finish. Paul's ‘You Won't See Me’ and John's ‘Girl’, the basic tracks for both songs being completed in two takes. Rubber Soul was completed, and finished copies of the album were in the shops by December 3 in the UK and December 6 in the US.
8 Nov 1965 The Beatles worked on a new George Harrison song ‘Think For Yourself’ at Abbey Road for their forthcoming Rubber Soul album. After rehearsing the song, they recorded the basic instrumental track in one take.
6 Nov 1965 The Rolling Stones started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Get Off Of My Cloud', the group's second US No.1. The song knocked The Beatles 'Yesterday' from the No.1 position.
26 Oct 1965 Queen Elizabeth II invested The Beatles with their MBE's at Buckingham Palace, London. According to an account by John Lennon the group smoked marijuana in one of the palace bathrooms to calm their nerves. Many former recipients gave their MBE's back in protest, to which John Lennon responded "Lots of people who complained about us receiving the MBE received theirs for heroism in the war, for killing people." He continued: "We received ours for entertaining other people. I'd say we deserve ours more."
21 Oct 1965 Wanting to improve on a previous recording session The Beatles started from scratch on a new song called 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)', finishing recordings in three takes. They also begin working on another new John Lennon song 'Nowhere Man.'
16 Oct 1965 The Beatles recorded 'Day Tripper' at Abbey Road studio's London in three takes, they then added vocals and other overdubs, completing the song before the end of the day.
12 Oct 1965 The Beatles began recording their sixth UK album, Rubber Soul recording takes of new songs 'Run For Your Life' and 'Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)'.
9 Oct 1965 The Beatles started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with the Paul McCartney ballad 'Yesterday' giving the group their tenth US No.1. The track was not released as a single in the UK until 1976.
28 Sep 1965 The Rolling Stones played the first of two nights at the Capitol Theatre, Cardiff, Wales. During the 1960s The Capitol Theatre saw all the major acts of the era performing here including The Beatles and The Kinks.
25 Sep 1965 The Beatles cartoon series premiered on ABC TV in the US. The first story was titled I Want to Hold Your Hand and had the group exploring the ocean floor in a diving bell where they met a lovesick octopus.
13 Sep 1965 The Paul McCartney song 'Yesterday' was released as a Beatles single in the US. McCartney's vocal and acoustic guitar together with a string quartet essentially made for the first solo performance of the band. The final recording was so different from other works by The Beatles that the band members vetoed the release of the song as a single in the United Kingdom. (However, it was issued as a single there in 1976.)
11 Sep 1965 The Beatles started a nine-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with Help!, the group's sixth US chart topper.
29 Aug 1965 During a US tour The Beatles appeared at the Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, California. Tickets cost $3.00. The Beatles at the Hollywood Bowl became a live album released in May 1977, compiled from two live performances at the Hollywood Bowl during August 1964 and August 1965.
27 Aug 1965 On the last day of a five-day break from their North American tour, The Beatles attended a recording session for The Byrds. Later that afternoon, The Beatles met Elvis Presley at his mansion in Beverly Hills. It was an awkward meeting, leaving The Beatles with the impression that Presley's personality was decidedly "unmagnetic". John Lennon remarked soon after, ‘Where’s Elvis’ It was like meeting Engelbert Humperdinck.’
25 Aug 1965 Two female Beatles fans hired a helicopter to fly over the house The Beatles were renting in Beverly Hills, California and jumped from the helicopter into the swimming pool.
15 Aug 1965 The Beatles set a new world record for the largest attendance at a pop concert when they played in front of 55,600 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City. The Beatles were paid $160,000 for the show, the set list included: ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘She's a Woman’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzie’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, ‘Baby's In Black’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day's Night’, ‘Help!’, and ‘I'm Down’. Two of the Rolling Stones were among the audience, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and later that evening; Bob Dylan visited The Beatles at their hotel.
14 Aug 1965 The Beatles taped an appearance for CBS-TV's The Ed Sullivan Show at Studio 50, New York City. They performed ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘I'm Down’, ‘Act Naturally’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, 'Yesterday' and ‘Help!’ Also today, The Beatles fifth album Help! started a nine-week run at No.1 on the UK charts.
13 Aug 1965 The Beatles arrived at Kennedy International Airport for a tour of North America. The set list for the tour was ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘She's a Woman’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzie’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’, ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, ‘Baby's in Black’, ‘Act Naturally’, ‘A Hard Day's Night’, ‘Help!’, ‘I'm Down’ and ‘I Wanna Be Your Man.’ The tour was not a happy one for The Beatles, John Lennon took to screaming off-microphone obscenities at the audiences.
6 Aug 1965 The Beatles released their fifth album and soundtrack to their second film Help! which included the title track, ‘The Night Before’, ‘You've Got to Hide Your Love Away’, ‘You're Going to Lose That Girl’, ‘Ticket to Ride’ and 'Yesterday'.
5 Aug 1965 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Help!' the group's eighth consecutive UK No.1 single. John Lennon later stated he wrote the lyrics of the song to express his stress after the Beatles' quick rise to success. "I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for 'Help'."
29 Jul 1965 The Beatles second feature film Help! had its UK premiere at The Pavilion in London. The Beatles later said the film was shot in a "haze of marijuana".
12 Jul 1965 The Beach Boys released 'California Girls' which Brian Wilson had conceived during his first acid trip. Written by Wilson and Mike Love the song reached No.3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was a top 10 hit in several other countries, becoming one of the band's most successful songs globally. The track inspired The Beatles' parody Back in the U.S.S.R. and many songs with similar or identical titles, including Big Star's 'September Gurls', the Magnetic Fields' 'California Girls', and Katy Perry's 'California Gurls'. In 1984, David Lee Roth recorded a cover version that peaked at No 3.
20 Jun 1965 The Beatles began a 14-day European tour with two performances at the Palais Des Sports in Paris, France. The Beatles' set list for this tour: ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘She's a Woman’, ‘I'm a Loser’, ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, ‘Baby's In Black’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘A Hard Day's Night’, ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’, ‘Rock and Roll Music’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Ticket to Ride’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’.
17 Jun 1965 Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles completed work on the new Paul McCartney song 'Yesterday' with the overdubbing of an additional vocal track by McCartney and a string quartet. They also recorded ‘Act Naturally’ for Ringo's vocal contribution on the Help! album and the song ‘Wait’, in four takes. ‘Wait’ will not be included on Help!, it was included on the following LP, Rubber Soul.
12 Jun 1965 The Beatles were included in the Queen's birthday honours list to each receive the MBE. Protests poured into Buckingham Palace, MP Hector Dupuis said 'British Royalty has put me on the same level as a bunch of vulgar numbskulls'.
22 May 1965 The Beatles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Ticket To Ride', the group's eighth US No.1. The American single's label declared that the song was from the United Artists release Eight Arms to Hold You. This was the original title of the Beatles' second movie; the title changed to Help! after the single was initially released.
9 May 1965 During a UK tour Bob Dylan played the first of two sold out nights at London's Royal Albert Hall. All four members of The Beatles were in the audience.
3 May 1965 The Beatles spent the day filming for their forthcoming film Help!, on Salisbury Plain, England, with the British Army's Third Tank Division.
22 Apr 1965 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Ticket To Ride.' Taken from the film Help! it was the group's seventh UK No.1.
19 Apr 1965 The Beatles single 'Ticket to Ride' was released on Capitol records in the US. The single's label stated that the song was from the upcoming movie 'Eight Arms to Hold You' (the original name for the movie Help!).
13 Apr 1965 The Beatles record the song ‘Help!’ during an evening recording session at Abbey Road in London. During an interview with Playboy Magazine in 1980, John Lennon recounted: "The whole Beatles thing was just beyond comprehension. I was subconsciously crying out for help".
11 Apr 1965 Performing at the New Musical Express poll winners concert, at London's Wembley Empire Pool, England, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Animals, The Kinks, Herman's Hermits, Moody Blues, Them, Cilla Black, The Seekers and Donovan.
10 Apr 1965 British acts started a run of seven weeks at the top of the US charts when Freddie and the Dreamers went to No.1 with 'I'm Telling You Now', followed by Wayne Fontana's 'Game Of Love', Herman's Hermits 'Mr's Brown' and The Beatles 'Ticket To Ride.'
24 Mar 1965 The Beatles continued filming Help! at Twickenham Studios, England. They shot the interior temple scenes, including the one where they dive through a hollow sacrificial altar and into water. That scene was then cut to the swimming pool scene filmed in the Bahamas on February 23.
13 Mar 1965 The Beatles started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Eight Days A Week', the group's 7th US No.1. Paul McCartney would later say the name of the song came from a chauffeur who drove him one day. 'I said, 'How've you been?' 'Oh working hard,' he said, 'Working eight days a week.'
23 Feb 1965 Filming began on The Beatles follow up to 'A Hard Day's Night' on location in the Bahamas with the working title of 'Eight Arms To Hold You.' Other locations for filming included London, Salisbury Plain, the Austrian Alps, New Providence Island and Twickenham Film Studios. The Beatles said the film was inspired by the classic Marx Brothers film Duck Soup and was also directly satirical of the James Bond series of films.
19 Feb 1965 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded a new John Lennon song 'You're Going To Lose That Girl' in two takes. The track was released on the Help! album.
18 Feb 1965 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded two new songs: John Lennon's 'You've Got to Hide Your Love Away' and a new Paul McCartney song 'Tell Me What You See'. Both were released on the album Help! in August 1965.
12 Feb 1965 Pye Records announced that they'd signed 'the British Bob Dylan', when they added Donovan to the label. The Scottish singer-songwriter produced a series of hit albums and singles between 1965 and 1970 and became a friend of leading pop musicians including Joan Baez, Brian Jones and The Beatles. He influenced John Lennon when he taught him a finger-picking guitar style in 1968.
9 Jan 1965 The Beatles started a nine week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Beatles 65', the group's fourth No.1. Beatles '65 includes eight of the fourteen songs from Beatles for Sale and also includes 'I'll Be Back' from A Hard Day's Night and the single 'I Feel Fine'/'She's a Woman'.
26 Dec 1964 The Beatles started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'I Feel Fine'. It was the group's 6th No.1 of the year in which they had 30 entries on the chart, giving them a total of 18 weeks at the top of the charts.
25 Dec 1964 The Beatles recorded six songs for the BBC radio program Saturday Club in London: ‘Rock and Roll Music’, ‘I'm a Loser’, ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’, ‘I Feel Fine’, ‘Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey’ and ‘She's a Woman.’
19 Dec 1964 The Beatles fourth album 'Beatles For Sale' started a seven-week run at No.1 on the UK album charts. Recorded when Beatlemania was just past its peak 'Beatles for Sale' was The Beatles' fourth album in just 21 months.
4 Dec 1964 The Beatles released their fourth album 'Beatles For Sale'. The album featured: ‘No Reply’, ‘I'm a Loser’, ‘Baby's in Black’, ‘Rock and Roll Music’, ‘I'll Follow the Sun’, ‘Mr. Moonlight’, ‘Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey’, ‘Eight Days a Week’, ‘Words of Love’, ‘Honey Don't’, ‘Every Little Thing’, ‘I Don't Want to Spoil the Party’, ‘What You're Doing’, and ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’. It spent 11 weeks as the UK No.1 album.
18 Oct 1964 Taking a day off from their British tour The Beatles went into the studio and completed the recording of six album tracks and the A-side of their next single: ‘I Feel Fine’. They also completed ‘Eight Days a Week’, ‘Kansas City/Hey Hey Hey Hey’, ‘Mr. Moonlight’, ‘I'll Follow the Sun’, ‘Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby’. ‘Rock and Roll Music’ and ‘Words of Love.’
10 Oct 1964 During a UK tour The Beatles appeared at De Montfort Hall in Leicester. Ringo Starr drove himself to the venue after taking delivery of a brand new Facel Vega, apparently reaching speeds of 140 MPH on the M6 motorway.
8 Oct 1964 Working at Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles recorded their next single ‘She's a Woman’ in seven takes plus overdubs, recording the song from start to finish in five hours.
6 Oct 1964 The Beatles spent the afternoon recording 'Eight Days A Week' at Abbey Road studios in London. Late evening was spent at The Ad Lib Club, London, partying with The Ronettes and Mick Jagger.
30 Sep 1964 The Beatles continued recording sessions at Abbey Road for their fourth UK album Beatles For Sale, recording various takes of 'Every Little Thing', 'What You're Doing' and 'No Reply', which became the opening track on Beatles For Sale.
20 Sep 1964 At the end of the North American tour The Beatles played a Charity concert at the Paramount Theatre in New York City, the 3,682 audience each paid $100 a ticket.
17 Sep 1964 During a US tour The Beatles appeared at the Municipal Stadium in Kansas City. The Beatles were paid $150,000 for the show, which was more than any other act had ever been paid for a live show. Tickets cost $4.50.
15 Sep 1964 The Beatles on tour in the USA, appeared at the Public Auditorium in Cleveland, Ohio. During the performance a group of fans managed to break through the line of police fronting the stage and get up on-stage. Police ordered The Beatles off-stage in the middle of a song, and the concert only resumed after Derek Taylor got on the PA system and pleaded for order to be restored so that the rest of the performance would not be cancelled by the police.
2 Sep 1964 On tour in the USA The Beatles appeared at The Convention Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Days before the concert, Philadelphia had experienced race-riots, The Beatles, who were Civil Rights supporters, were shocked to see that their audience of 13,000 was completely white.
28 Aug 1964 After playing a show at Forest Hills Tennis Stadium, New York, The Beatles met Bob Dylan for the first time at The Delmonico Hotel. Dylan and mutual journalist friend Al Aronowitz introduce the Fab Four to marijuana.
19 Aug 1964 The Beatles kicked off a North American tour at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, California, to a crowd of 17,130. Playing 12 songs which made up their repertoire for the entire tour: ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘You Can't Do That’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Things We Said Today’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, ‘If I Fell’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘Boys’, ‘A Hard Day's Night’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’. Supporting acts were The Righteous Brothers, The Bill Black Combo, The Exciters, and Jackie DeShannon.
18 Aug 1964 Over 9,000 frenzied fans met The Beatles as they arrived in San Francisco, to begin an American tour. The Beatles were driven into a protective fence enclosure so that photographers could take pictures. As the 9,000 fans pressed against the fencing, it gave way, with The Beatles managing to get out split-seconds before it came crashing down.
12 Aug 1964 The Beatles first film A Hard Day's Night opened in 500 American cinemas to rave reviews. The film was a financial and critical success. Time magazine rated it as one of the all-time great 100 films.
11 Aug 1964 The Beatles started recording their fourth album ('Beatles For Sale', not yet titled), at EMI studios in London, England. The album marked a departure from the upbeat tone that had characterised the Beatles' previous work, partly due to the band's exhaustion after a series of tours that had established them as a worldwide phenomenon in 1964. Beatles for Sale was not widely available in the US until 1987, when the Beatles' catalogue was standardised for release on CD.
10 Aug 1964 The Beatles had four singles re-released in the US: ‘Do You Want To Know A Secret’, ‘Please, Please Me’, 'Love Me Do' and 'Twist and Shout'.
8 Aug 1964 The single by The Young World Singers called 'Ringo For President' was released in the US. Such was The Beatles drummer appeal that fans launched a "Ringo for President" campaign in the midst of the Johnson/Goldwater race. A well-organized contingent – most of whose members were below the voting age of 21 – banded together to enter the drummer as a third-party write-in candidate for Commander in Chief.
2 Aug 1964 The Beatles appeared at the Gaumont Cinema in Bournemouth. One of the supporting acts, billed as a 'new and unknown London group', was The Kinks.
1 Aug 1964 The Beatles scored their fifth US No.1 single in seven months when 'A Hard Day's Night' went to the top of the charts. The group had now spent seventeen weeks at the No.1 position in this year.
1 Aug 1964 Billboard Magazine reported that the harmonica was making a comeback in a big way thanks to its use by Stevie Wonder, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles and Bob Dylan.
28 Jul 1964 On their second visit to Sweden, The Beatles played two shows at an ice hockey arena, the Johanneshovs Isstadion, Stockholm. During the first show, both Paul McCartney and John Lennon received mild electrical shocks from ungrounded microphones. Supporting acts included The Kays, The Moonlighters, and The Streaplers.
25 Jul 1964 The Beatles third album 'A Hard Day's Night' started a twenty-one week run at the top of the UK charts. This was the first Beatles album to be recorded entirely on four-track tape, allowing for good stereo mixes.
23 Jul 1964 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'A Hard Day's Night', the group's fifth UK No.1.
12 Jul 1964 The Beatles appeared at the Hippodrome Theatre in Brighton with The Fourmost and the Shubdubs (whose drummer, Jimmy Nicol, who had filled in for an ill Ringo Starr on The Beatles' world tour). Also in the US The Ed Sullivan Show re-broadcast The Beatles' first live television appearance on the Sullivan show (from February 9). On the way to tonight's gig George Harrison was involved in a minor crash in his brand new E-Type Jaguar in Kings Road, Fulham, London. Passing pedestrians collected bits of broken glass as souvenirs.
11 Jul 1964 The Beatles appeared live on the ABC Television program "Lucky Stars (Summer Spin)", performing ‘A Hard Day's Night’, ‘Long Tall Sally’, ‘Things We Said Today’ and ‘You Can't Do That’. To avoid the crowd of fans waiting for them, The Beatles arrived at the Teddington Studio Centre by boat, traveling down the River Thames.
10 Jul 1964 200,000 Liverpudlians took to the streets to celebrate The Beatles return to Liverpool for the northern premiere of the group's first film 'A Hard Day's Night.' The group were honored in a public ceremony in front of Liverpool Town Hall and as The Beatles stood on a balcony looking at the large crowd gathered below, John Lennon gave a few Nazi "Sieg Heil" salutes. Not everyone appreciated his sense of humor.
6 Jul 1964 The Beatles film A Hard Day's Night premiered at The Pavilion in London. Filmed during the height of Beatlemania, and written by Alun Owen, the film was made in the style of a mockumentary, describing a couple of days in the lives of the group.
29 Jun 1964 Touring Australia The Beatles played two shows at the Festival Hall, Brisbane. Over 8,000 fans had waited until after midnight to greet the group as they landed at Brisbane Airport.
26 Jun 1964 During a world tour, The Beatles played two shows at Town Hall, Dunedin, South Island, New Zealand. The flight from Auckland to Dunedin was tense due the receipt of an anonymous threat that a "germ bomb" had been placed on board the aircraft.
22 Jun 1964 The Beatles played their first ever show in New Zealand at Wellington Town Hall. The local Chief Constable refused a police escort for The Beatles leaving just two policemen to control over 5,000 fans.
18 Jun 1964 Touring Australia The Beatles played at Sydney Stadium in Sydney. This was Paul McCartney 22nd birthday and after the show his guests included 17 girls who were winners of the Daily Mirrors 'Why I would like to be a guest at a Beatles birthday party' competition.
14 Jun 1964 Touring Australia The Beatles arrived in Melbourne and were greeted at the airport by over 5,000 fans. Another 20,000 fans lined the route from the airport to the hotel, army and navy units were brought in to help control the crowds, cars were crushed, hundreds of girls fainted and over 50 people were admitted to hospital with broken bones.
13 Jun 1964 The Beatles performed another two shows at Centennial Hall, Adelaide, South Australia. For the four shows that The Beatles performed in Adelaide there were 12,000 tickets, for which 50,000 requests had been placed. The two shows on this day were drummer's Jimmy Nicol's last as a "temporary Beatle". Ringo Starr (who had been ill), re-joined The Beatles in Melbourne the next day.
12 Jun 1964 The Beatles arrived in Adelaide, Australia and were greeted by an estimated 300,000 fans, (the biggest welcome the band would ever receive), who lined the ten-mile route from the airport to the city centre. The group gave their first four shows in Australia at the Centennial Hall, Adelaide over two nights, playing: I Saw Her Standing There, I Want To Hold Your Hand, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, Can't Buy Me Love, This Boy, Long Tall Sally and Twist And Shout. Temporary member Jimmy Nicol was standing in for Ringo on drums who was recovering from having his tonsils removed.
10 Jun 1964 On their first world tour The Beatles took a flight from Hong Kong to Australia making an unscheduled fuel stop in Darwin, where over 400 fans greeted their aircraft. The Beatles then flew on to Sydney, where they arrive in the middle of a heavy downpour. The group were required to appear in an open-top truck in the pouring rain to wave at the 1,000's of fans greeting them at the airport.
7 Jun 1964 During a world tour, The Beatles flew from Amsterdam to Hong Kong. When the plane stopped to refuel in Beirut, police turned firefighting foam on hundreds of fans who had invaded the runway at the airport.
4 Jun 1964 The Beatles played two performances at the KB Hallen, Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, Denmark on the first date of a 27-day world tour. Drummer Jimmy Nicol replaced Ringo Starr who was ill in hospital.
3 Jun 1964 During a photo session Ringo Starr was taken ill suffering from tonsillitis and pharyngitis, days before a world tour was about to start. After a last-minute phone call from George Martin, session drummer Jimmy Nichol rushed over to EMI Studios, where he and The Beatles ran through six songs from their tour repertoire in a quick rehearsal. Nichol replaced Ringo and became a Beatle for eleven days.
30 May 1964 The Beatles went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Love Me Do', the group's fourth US No.1 in five months. The version released in America had Andy White playing drums while Ringo played the tambourine. The British single was a take on which Ringo Starr played the drums.
8 May 1964 The Beatles had held the No.1 position on the US singles chart for fourteen weeks with three No.1's in succession. I Want to Hold Your Hand for seven weeks, 'She Loves You' for two weeks and 'Can't Buy Me Love', for five weeks.
1 May 1964 The Beatles received $140,000 dollars for the rights to having their pictures included in packages of bubble gum in the USA.
30 Apr 1964 During a UK tour The Beatles played two shows at The Odeon Cinema in Glasgow. They were also interviewed by BBC Scotland and STV for the evening news programs.
28 Apr 1964 The Beatles recorded the TV special ‘Around The Beatles’ at Wembley studios England. As well as performing songs they played Act V Scene 1 of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Nights Dream’ with John playing the female role of Thisbe, Paul as Pyramus, George as Moonshine and Ringo as Lion. Paul later named his cat Thisbe.
26 Apr 1964 The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and the Dave Clark Five headlined the NME poll winner's concert at Wembley Empire Pool, London.
18 Apr 1964 The Beatles appeared on the UK TV comedy program The Morecambe and Wise Show, playing ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, and I Want to Hold Your Hand and also participate in comedy sketches with Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. The Beatles held the UK and US No.1 position on this day with 'Can't Buy Me Love'.
16 Apr 1964 The Beatles filmed the 'chase scenes' for A Hard Day's Night with actors dressed as policemen in the Notting Hill Gate area of London. In the evening they recorded the title track for the film, 'A Hard Day's Night' at Abbey Road. John and Paul had the title first, and had to write a song to order, completing the track in nine takes.
15 Apr 1964 The Beatles filmed outside shots at the Scala Theatre in Tottenham Street London for their forthcoming movie 'A Hard Day's Night'.
11 Apr 1964 The Beatles set a new chart record when they had 14 songs on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs ranged from 'Can't Buy Me Love' at No.1 to 'Love Me Do' at No. 81.
4 Apr 1964 The Beatles held the top five places on the US singles chart, at No. 5 'Please Please Me', No.4 I Want to Hold Your Hand, No.3, 'Roll Over Beethoven', No.2 'Love Me Do' and at No.1 'Can't Buy Me Love.' They also had another nine singles on the chart, bringing their total to fourteen singles on the Hot 100.
2 Apr 1964 The Beatles had their fourth UK No.1 single with 'Can't Buy Me Love.' With advanced sales of over 2.1 million, it holds the record for the greatest advanced orders for a single in the UK.
31 Mar 1964 Filming for A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles played a 'live television performance' in front of a studio of screaming fans (one of those fans was Phil Collins). The four songs used in the film were ‘Tell Me Why’, ‘I Should Have Known Better’, ‘And I Love Her’, and ‘She Loves You’.
28 Mar 1964 Madame Tussauds, London unveiled the wax works images of The Beatles, the first pop stars to be honoured. Madame Tussaud’s reworked the figures on several occasions throughout the 1960s, to reflect The Beatles’ ever-changing image.
26 Mar 1964 The British invasion continued to make its way around the world with The Beatles having the top six positions on the Australian pop chart.
25 Mar 1964 The Beatles made their debut on UK TV show Top Of The Pops performing 'Can't Buy Me Love' and ‘You Can’t Do That.’ The show had been recorded on March 19th.
21 Mar 1964 After I Want to Hold Your Hand had held the No.1 position on the US singles chart for seven weeks, The Beatles started a two-week run at No.1 with 'She Loves You'.
20 Mar 1964 The Beatles appeared live on the UK television program Ready Steady Go!, miming to ‘It Won't Be Long’, ‘You Can't Do That’, and ‘Can't Buy Me Love’. They were also presented with a special award from US magazine Billboard, in recognition of The Beatles having the top three singles on the chart simultaneously.
19 Mar 1964 UK Prime Minister Harold Wilson presented The Beatles with their awards for show business personalities of the year for 1963 at London's Dorchester Hotel.
16 Mar 1964 The Beatles set a new record for advance sales in the US with 2,100,000 copies of their latest single 'Can't Buy Me Love.' When pressed by American journalists in 1966 to reveal the song's 'true' meaning, Paul McCartney stated 'I think you can put any interpretation you want on anything, but when someone suggests that 'Can't Buy Me Love' is about a prostitute, I draw the line'.
13 Mar 1964 Billboard reported that sales of Beatles singles currently accounted for 60 percent of the US singles market and The Beatles album Meet the Beatles had reached a record 3.5 million copies sold.
11 Mar 1964 The Beatles spent the day filming at Twickenham Studios for A Hard Day's Night. Filming on a stage set made to look like a train guard's cage, where the Beatles played cards and mimed to 'I Should Have Known Better'.
9 Mar 1964 The Beatles filmed the last day of train scenes for the movie A Hard Day's Night. During their six days of filming aboard a moving train, The Beatles travelled a total of 2,500 miles on the rails.
9 Mar 1964 Capitol Records released a song called 'Letter To The Beatles' by The Four Preps. The lyrics describe a boy lamenting the fact that he's lost his girlfriend to The Fab Four. On its first day, the record shot to No.85 on the charts and it looked like The Preps were going to have another hit on their hands. Unfortunately, they had included a few bars from I Want to Hold Your Hand without permission and Capitol was forced to withdraw the single to avoid a lawsuit.
2 Mar 1964 The Beatles began filming what would become their first feature film A Hard Day's Night at Marylebone train station in London.
26 Feb 1964 The Beatles worked on the final mixes for 'Can't Buy Me Love' and 'You Can't Do That' tracks. The single, which was released the following month, topped the charts all over the world and 'Can't Buy Me Love' became the Beatles' fourth UK No.1 and their third single to sell over a million copies in the UK.
25 Feb 1964 The Beatles finished recording their next single 'Can't Buy Me Love', at Abbey Road studios, London, (they had first recorded the song on 29 January 1964 at Path Marconi Studios in Paris). They also recorded the B-side, 'You Can't Do That' and another new song 'I Should Have Known Better'.
16 Feb 1964 The Beatles made their second live appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, exactly one week after the first. Before an audience of 3,500 at the Deauville Hotel in Miami Beach, Florida. The Beatles performed ‘She Loves You’, ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘From Me to You’, and I Want to Hold Your Hand.
15 Feb 1964 The Beatles scored their first US No.1 album with Meet The Beatles! The album stayed at No.1 for eleven weeks and had sold over four million copies in the US by December 31, 1964. Released as their second album in the US, it was the group's first American album to be issued by Capitol Records.
12 Feb 1964 The Beatles returned to New York City by train from Washington, D.C. for two performances at Carnegie Hall. There was such a demand for tickets that some extra seating was arranged surrounding the stage. Tickets ranged from $1.65 to $5.50.
11 Feb 1964 The Beatles made their live concert debut in the US at the Washington Coliseum. Over 350 police surrounded the stage to keep the 8,000 plus screaming fans in control. One police officer who found the noise so loud stuck a bullet in each ear as earplugs. The Beatles had to stop three times and turn Ringo's drum kit around and re-position their microphones so that they faced a different part of the audience. The set list: ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘From Me to You’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’, ‘Please Please Me’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘Twist and Shout’, and ‘Long Tall Sally’.
9 Feb 1964 The Beatles made their US live debut on CBS-TV's 'The Ed Sullivan Show'; they performed five songs including their current No.1 I Want to Hold Your Hand. Never before had so many viewers tuned in to a live television program, which with 73 million viewers, was three-fourths of the total adult audience in the United States. The show had received over 50,000 applications for the 728 seats in the TV studio.
8 Feb 1964 On their first full day in New York, The Beatles (minus George who had a sore throat), went for a photo-opportunity walk around Central Park. Over 400 girl fans followed The Beatles and extra police were called in to control them. Later in the day The Ronettes interviewed The Beatles for radio.
7 Feb 1964 Pan Am flight 101 was greeted by over 5,000 Beatles fans as it arrived at New York's JFK airport, bringing The Beatles to the US for the first time and causing riotous scenes as they touched down.
1 Feb 1964 The Beatles started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with I Want to Hold Your Hand, the first US No.1 by a UK act since The Tornadoes 'Telstar' in 1962 and the first of three consecutive No.1's from the group.
29 Jan 1964 The Beatles spent the day at Pathe Marconi Studios in Paris, France, The Beatles only studio recording session for EMI held outside the UK. They recorded new vocals for ‘She Loves You’, I Want to Hold Your Hand and ‘Can't Buy Me Love’, after EMI's West German branch persuaded Brian Epstein that they would be unable to sell large quantities of records in Germany unless they were recorded in the German language. A translator coached John, Paul, and George, although their familiarity with the German language from their Hamburg days made things much easier.
25 Jan 1964 The Beatles scored their first No.1 best seller in the US when I Want to Hold Your Hand reached the top of the Cash Box Magazine music chart. 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' became the Beatles' best-selling single worldwide, selling more than 12 million copies. It was the first Beatles record to be made using four-track recording equipment.
18 Jan 1964 The Beatles made their US chart debut when I Want to Hold Your Hand entered the chart at No.45 just ten days after its release, making it the fastest-breaking and the fastest selling single in Capitol Records history. It went on to spend seven weeks at the No.1 position on the US chart before being replaced by their follow-up single 'She Loves You'. 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' became the Beatles' best-selling single worldwide, selling more than 12 million copies.
16 Jan 1964 The Beatles played two shows at the Olympia Theatre, Paris, France, the first of an 18-night engagement. This first show was attended mostly by Paris' 'top society' members (all dressed in formal evening attire). The French press had little good to say about The Beatles in the next day's papers, but didn't care, because they'd just received news that their single I Want to Hold Your Hand had hit No.1 in the US, selling 10,000 copies an hour in New York City alone.
15 Jan 1964 The Beatles performed live at the Cinema Cyrano, Versailles, France, before an audience of 2,000. The show was a warm-up for a three-week engagement at the Olympia Theatre that would start the next day in Paris.
14 Jan 1964 The Beatles (minus Ringo Starr who was fog-bound in Liverpool) departed from Liverpool for Paris, France for an 18-day run at the Olympia Theatre. Arriving in Paris, John, Paul, and George were met by 60 fans. Ringo, accompanied by roadie Neil Aspinall, arrived the next day.
12 Jan 1964 The Beatles appeared on the ATV show Sunday Night At The London Palladium performing ‘I Wanna Hold Your Hand’, ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘Money’ and ‘Twist And Shout’. The compere for the evening was Bruce Forsyth. When The Beatles appeared on this show on October 13, 1963, their fee had been £250, now, just three months later, their fee was £1,000.
10 Jan 1964 The first US Beatles album, 'Introducing The Beatles', was released on Vee-Jay records. The album cover showed John, Paul and George with their now famous "mop top" haircuts, but Ringo had yet to convert. Vee-Jay would be forced to stop selling the disc by the end of the year because of legal complications, but by then over 1.3 million copies had been sold.
7 Jan 1964 The Beatles recorded a seven-song appearance for the BBC Radio program Saturday Club. They played ‘All My Loving’, ‘Money’, ‘The Hippy Hippy Shake’, ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Johnny B. Goode’, and ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’. The show was broadcast on February 15, while the Beatles were in the US.
3 Jan 1964 The Beatles were seen for the second time on US TV when a clip from the BBC's 'The Mersey Sound' showing the group playing 'She Loves You' was shown on The Jack Paar Show. The first US airing showing The Beatles was on Nov 18, 1963, on the NBC news program "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" (albeit pre-recorded) of The Beatles in concert.
1 Jan 1964 The first edition of the BBC TV show Top Of The Pops was transmitted from an old church hall in Manchester, England. Acts miming their latest releases included The Rolling Stones, (I Wanna Be Your Man), The Dave Clark Five, (Glad All Over), The Hollies, (Stay), and The Swinging Blue Jeans, (Hippy Hippy Shake). The first song played was Dusty Springfield's 'I Only Want To Be With You'. Also featured on disc and film, The Beatles (I Want to Hold Your Hand), Freddie & the Dreamers, Cliff Richard and the Shadows and Gene Pitney.
22 Dec 1963 The Beatles appeared at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool. This appearance was the second concert-only preview of their ‘The Beatles' Christmas Show’, which would open in London in two days.
14 Dec 1963 The Beatles played a show for their Southern Area Fan Club at Wimbledon Palais, London. To prevent damage to the stage from fans the management of the Palais constructed a platform for The Beatles to perform on, surrounded by a steel cage.
12 Dec 1963 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with I Want to Hold Your Hand the group's third No.1 (and first American No.1) and this year's UK Christmas No.1.
7 Dec 1963 The Beatles second album 'With The Beatles' started a 21-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart. It replaced their first album 'Please Please Me' which had been at the top of the charts since it's release 30 weeks previously. Also today, all four Beatles appeared on BBC TV's 'Juke Box Dury'. Some of the songs The Beatles judged were ‘Kiss Me Quick’ by Elvis Presley, ‘The Hippy Hippy Shake’ by the Swinging Blue Jeans. ‘Did You Have a Happy Birthday’ by Paul Anka and ‘Where Have You Been All My Life’ by Gene Vincent.
2 Dec 1963 The Beatles recorded an appearance on the UK TV comedy program The Morecambe and Wise Show. The Beatles played ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, and I Want to Hold Your Hand and also participated in comedy sketches with Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. The program was broadcast on April 18, 1964.
30 Nov 1963 The Beatles second album With The Beatles became the first million selling album by a group in the UK. The album stayed at the top of the charts for 21 weeks, displacing Please Please Me, so that The Beatles occupied the top spot for 51 consecutive weeks.
29 Nov 1963 I Want to Hold Your Hand by The Beatles was released in the UK. For the first time in the UK advanced orders passed the million mark before the record was released.
22 Nov 1963 The Beatles released their second album With The Beatles which went on to spend 51 weeks on the UK charts. The LP had advance orders of a half million and sold another half million by September 1965, making it the second album to sell a million copies in the UK, (after the soundtrack to the 1958 film South Pacific).
18 Nov 1963 The Beatles received silver LP discs for 'Please Please Me' and 'With the Beatles' at a ceremony held at EMI House in London. They also received a silver EP for 'Twist and Shout' and a silver single for 'She Loves You'. The band then attend a cocktail party and a formal lunch in the EMI boardroom with company executives and invited guests. Also on this day, the US NBC news program "The Huntley-Brinkley Report" was the first to air footage (albeit pre-recorded) of The Beatles in concert.
13 Nov 1963 The Beatles recorded a television interview at Westward Television Studios in Plymouth, Devon, for a local teen program "Move Over, Dad". Due to a large crowd of excited fans outside, The Beatles had to be smuggled from their dressing-room at the ABC Cinema, where they were scheduled to appear that night, into an adjacent building, then through a tunnel, to get to Westward Studios for the interview taping.
7 Nov 1963 The Beatles went to Ireland to make their only two appearances ever in the country playing two shows at the Adelphi Cinema, Dublin. The group hooked up with screenwriter Alun Owen, who had been appointed to write the screenplay for The Beatles' first (as yet untitled) motion picture. Owen spent three days with The Beatles observing their hectic lifestyle.
4 Nov 1963 The Beatles topped the bill at The Royal Variety Show at The Prince Of Wales Theatre, London. With the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret in the audience, this was the night when John Lennon made his famous remark ‘In the cheaper seats you clap your hands. The rest of you, just rattle your jewellery’. The show was broadcast on UK television on the Nov 10th 1963.
1 Nov 1963 The Beatles kicked off a UK tour performing two shows at the Odeon Cinema in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. Their repertoire for the tour was ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘From Me to You’, ‘All My Loving’, ‘You Really Got a Hold On Me’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’, ‘Boys’, ‘Till There Was You’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Money’, and ‘Twist and Shout’. Supporting The Beatles were The Rhythm & Blues Quartet, The Vernons Girls, Frank Berry, The Brook Brothers, Peter Jay & the Jaywalkers, and The Kestrels.
31 Oct 1963 The Beatles returned to London from Sweden and were greeted by hundreds of screaming fans and a mob of photographers and journalists. American television host Ed Sullivan was at Heathrow as The Beatles arrived, and was struck by the sight of Beatlemania in full swing; he decided to look into getting this group to appear on his US television program.
30 Oct 1963 On the final day of their Swedish tour, The Beatles recorded an appearance for the Sverige Television program ‘Drop In’ in Stockholm. They performed ‘She Loves You’, ‘Twist and Shout’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, and ‘Long Tall Sally.’
25 Oct 1963 The Beatles kicked off their first tour of Sweden by playing two shows at Nya Aulan, Sundstavagen, Karlstad, Sweden. The local pop reviewer was not impressed, saying The Beatles should be grateful to their screaming fans for drowning out the group's terrible performance, adding that The Beatles "were of no musical importance whatsoever and that their local support group, The Phantoms, decidedly outshone them."
24 Oct 1963 On the first day of their first foreign tour, The Beatles spent the day in Stockholm, Sweden, recording a performance for a radio program entitled "The Beatles popgrupp fran Liverpool pa besok i Stockholm", (The Beatles pop group from Liverpool visiting Stockholm). The Beatles, enthused by the chance to play before an audience that wasn't screaming, played seven songs, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘From Me to You’ ‘Money’, ‘You Really Got a Hold On Me’, ‘She Loves You’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘Twist and Shout.’
23 Oct 1963 The Beatles completed the final session for their second album 'With the Beatles' recording 'I Wanna Be Your Man.' The group then drove to London airport for a flight to Stockholm, Sweden to start their first foreign tour. The Fab four were met at Stockholm airport by hundreds of girl fans that had taken the day of school.
13 Oct 1963 The Beatles made their debut on ITV's 'Sunday Night at The London Palladium', topping the bill and transmitted live to an audience of 15 million viewers. They played, 'From Me To You', 'She Loves You', 'Twist and Shout' and 'I'll Get You.'
4 Oct 1963 The Beatles made their first appearance on the UK ITV pop show 'Ready Steady Go!'
16 Sep 1963 'She Loves You' by The Beatles was released by Swan Records in the US. Although the song was currently No.1 in the UK, 'She Loves You' was ignored in the US until 1964 when it would reach the top of the US Pop chart.
12 Sep 1963 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'She Loves You', the group's second No.1. It became the biggest seller of the year and the biggest selling Beatles single in the UK.
10 Sep 1963 The Daily Mirror published a two-page article about The Beatles. Written by Donald Zec, the feature is entitled ‘Four Frenzied Little Lord Fauntleroys Who Are Earning 5,000 Pounds A Week’ Zec, who had attended a Beatles concert in Luton on Sept. 6 and then invited them to his home to complete the interview, referred to The Beatles' haircuts as ‘A stone-age hair style’. The article provided a major boost to their career.
9 Sep 1963 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'She Loves You.' 'Please Please Me' was at No.1 on the UK album chart. 'She Loves You' became The Beatles' best-selling single in the United Kingdom, and was the best selling single in Britain in 1963.
7 Sep 1963 The Beatles recorded an appearance on the BBC radio program ‘Saturday Club’, at the Playhouse Theatre in London. They performed ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, ‘Memphis’, ‘Happy Birthday Saturday Club’ (arrangement credited to John Lennon), ‘I'll Get You’, ‘She Loves You’, and ‘Lucille’.
22 Aug 1963 Billy J Kramer And The Dakotas were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Bad To Me.' A song John Lennon wrote for them while on holiday in Spain with Brian Epstein. The track later became the first Lennon–McCartney composition to reach the US Top 40 for an artist other than The Beatles.
9 Aug 1963 The first ever edition of 'Ready Steady Go! was shown on UK TV. Introduced by Keith Fordyce and 19 year-old Cathy McGowan. The first show featured The Searchers, Jet Harris, Pat Boone, Billy Fury and Brian Poole and The Tremeloes. The final show was in Dec 1966 after 175 episodes. Originally 30 minutes long, it expanded to 50 minutes the following year, and soon attracted the most popular artists, including The Beatles, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Rolling Stones, The Four Tops, The Kinks and many others.
8 Aug 1963 The Beatles arrived in Guernsey in The Channel Islands, where they played two shows at Candie Gardens. They arrived in a 12-seater plane after making the 30 mile trip from Jersey, (their equipment was sent over by ferry). The Beatles would receive the sum of £1000 (approx.$1,600) for the two shows.
7 Aug 1963 This weeks UK Top 5 albums: No.5, Elvis Presley, 'It Happened At The World Fair', No.4, 'West Side Story', Soundtrack, No.3, Cliff Richard, 'Cliff's Hit Album', No.2, The Shadows, 'Greatest Hits', No.1, The Beatles, 'Please Please Me.'
6 Aug 1963 The Beatles arrived in Jersey in the Channel Islands, where they spent the day go-carting and relaxing by the pool at The Revere Hotel before playing the first of four nights at the Springfield Ballroom. Some fans had found out where they were staying, but they were happy to chat and be photographed with them.
4 Aug 1963 UK music weekly The NME reported that The Beatles could score their first US hit with 'From Me To You' as the single was 'bubbling under' on the charts at No.116.
4 Aug 1963 The Beatles appeared at the Queen's Theatre in Blackpool. So many fans crowded around the theatre, blocking every entrance, that The Beatles had to go through a construction area, up and across some scaffolding to the roof of the theatre, from where they were lowered through a trap door.
3 Aug 1963 The Beatles played their last ever performance at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. During their set a power cut silenced their instruments and plunged the Cavern into temporary darkness. Lennon and McCartney performed an acoustic version of 'When I'm Sixty-Four', a song they wouldn't release until 1967, while waiting for the electricity to return. The Beatles, whose fee for their first performance at the Cavern had been £5, received a fee of £300 for this performance.
27 Jul 1963 During a UK tour The Beatles played the last night of a six night run at The Odeon Cinema, Weston-super-Mare. The Beatles spent the day with photographer Dezo Hoffman, who took photos and 8mm movies of The Beatles at their hotel, on the beach dressed in Victorian bathing suits, and go-karting.
22 Jul 1963 The Beatles first US album, Introducing The Beatles was pressed by Vee-Jay Records, who thought they had obtained the legal rights from EMI affiliate, Trans-Global Records. When it was finally released in January, 1964, Capitol Records would hit Vee Jay with an injunction against manufacturing, distributing, advertising, or otherwise disposing of records by the Beatles. After a trial, Vee-Jay was allowed to release any Beatles records that they had masters of in any form until October 15th, 1964. After that time, they no longer had the right to issue any Beatles product.
5 Jul 1963 The Beatles played at the Plaza Ballroom in Dudley in the West Midlands. Appearing The Beatles was Denny and the Diplomats, led by Denny Laine, who went on to join the Moody Blues and eventually, Paul McCartney's group Wings.
1 Jul 1963 The Beatles recorded their next single ‘She Loves You’ / ‘I'll Get You’, at EMI Studios, London, completing the two songs in less than four hours. Released in August this year, ‘She Loves You’ went on to become The Beatles' first million-selling single.
14 Jun 1963 During a UK tour The Beatles played at New Brighton Tower in Wallasey supported by Gerry and the Pacemakers. Tickets cost 6 shillings in advance. Between 1961 -1963, The Beatles played at The Tower Ballroom on 27 occasions.
9 Jun 1963 The Beatles on the last night of their tour with Roy Orbison, performed at King George's Hall, Blackburn, Lancashire. It was during this tour that The Beatles' fans started throwing jelly babies at them while they were on stage, after an off-the-cuff remark on television that George Harrison enjoyed eating them.
24 May 1963 The Beatles recorded the first of their very own BBC radio program, "Pop Go the Beatles". The theme song for the program was a version of "Pop Goes the Weasel". The Beatles' guests for this first show were the Lorne Gibson Trio.
21 May 1963 The Beatles recorded two BBC radio programs at the Playhouse Theatre in London. They recorded five songs for Saturday Club and six songs for Steppin' Out.
16 May 1963 The Beatles appeared live on the national BBC TV children's program ‘Pops and Lenny’, at Television Theatre, Shepherd's Bush Green, London, in front of an live audience. The Beatles performed ‘From Me to You’ and a shortened version of ‘Please Please Me.'
15 May 1963 During a UK tour, The Beatles performed at the Royalty Theatre in Chester. The set list was: ‘Some Other Guy’, ‘Thank You Girl’, ‘Do You Want to Know a Secret’, ‘Please Please Me’, ‘You Really Got a Hold on Me’, ‘I Saw Her Standing There’, and ‘From Me To You’.
11 May 1963 The Beatles started a 30 week run at No.1 on the UK album charts with their debut album 'Please Please Me', making it the longest running No.1 album by a group ever. The bands follow up 'With The Beatles' replaced it at the top of the charts on 7th December 1963 and stayed there for 21 weeks.
5 May 1963 On a recommendation by George Harrison Dick Rowe Head of A&R at Decca records, (and the man who turned down The Beatles) went to see The Rolling Stones play at Crawdaddy Club, London. The band were signed to the label within a week.
2 May 1963 The Beatles were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'From Me To You', the group's first No.1 and the first of eleven consecutive No.1's. The title of the song was inspired from a letters column called From You To Us that ran in the British music newspaper, The New Musical Express.
23 Apr 1963 The Beatles and The Rolling Stones met for the first time during a Stones performance at the Crawdaddy Club. The music venue in Richmond, Surrey, also saw performances by Led Zeppelin, Long John Baldry, Elton John and and Rod Stewart.
14 Apr 1963 The Rolling Stones played at The Crawdaddy Club, Richmond. All four members of The Beatles were in the audience. The name of the club derived from Bo Diddley's 1960 song 'Doing the CrawDaddy', which The Rolling Stones regularly performed as part of their set. In turn the club would inspire the name of the American music magazine Crawdaddy!
9 Apr 1963 The Beatles appeared live on the ITV show Tuesday Rendezvous, miming ‘From Me to You’ and ‘Please Please Me’ (during the closing credits). In the evening The Beatles played live at the Gaumont State Cinema, Kilburn, London.
12 Mar 1963 The Beatles played at the Granada Cinema in Bedford. Also on the bill, Chris Montez and Tommy Roe. John Lennon, suffering from a heavy cold, was unable to perform, so The Beatles set was rearranged so that George and Paul could sing the parts that John usually sang.
5 Mar 1963 The Beatles recorded what would be their third single 'From Me to You' just five days after John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song. Originally planned as the B-side of the record, it was switched to the A-side during the recording session, with 'Thank You Girl' demoted to the B-side.
20 Feb 1963 The Beatles drove through the night from Liverpool to London to appear on the live lunchtime BBC radio program "Parade of the Pops." Performing 'Love Me Do' and 'Please Please Me', the appearance lasted just over 4 minutes. They then drove another 180 mile trip back north for their performance that night at the Swimming Baths, Doncaster, Yorkshire.
11 Feb 1963 In less than ten hours, The Beatles record ten new songs for their first album plus four other tracks which would be the next two singles including their debut single ’Love Me Do’. John Lennon's vocal on The Isley Brothers 'Twist & Shout' was recorded in one take to complete the album, (Lennon was suffering from a bad cold, which he attempted to treat with a steady supply of throat lozenges). Before deciding on the title Please Please Me, producer Geroge Martin considered calling the album "Off the Beatle Track". Under a contract with the Musicians' Union, each Beatle collected a £7 10s (£7.50 or £167 in 2021) session fees for the day's work. Please Please Me hit the top of the UK album charts in May 1963 and remained there for 30 weeks before being replaced by With the Beatles. This was an unprecedented achievement for a pop album at that time.
26 Jan 1963 The Beatles played two gigs, the first was at the El Rio Club/Dance Hall in Macclesfield, Cheshire, supported by Wayne Fontana and the Jets. Then The Beatles drove 20 miles to their next gig at King's Hall, Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire.
22 Jan 1963 The Beatles appeared on three UK radio programs. First they recorded a session for the show Pop Inn at the BBC Paris studio, they then went to the Playhouse Theatre also in London, to tape a radio appearance on Saturday Club, recording five songs. Then the Beatles went back to the BBC Paris studio to record an appearance on The Talent Spot recording 'Please Please Me', 'Ask Me Why' and 'Some Other Guy' before a live audience.
21 Jan 1963 The Beatles made their third appearance on the Radio Luxembourg program The Friday Spectacular. The Beatles were interviewed by the host and played two tracks, 'Please Please Me' and 'Ask Me Why.
19 Jan 1963 The Beatles made their first national TV appearance in the UK on Thank Your Lucky Stars performing 'Please Please Me'. Thank Your Lucky Stars was a hugely popular programme at the time, and it was a major coup for The Beatles to be appearing. Their presence was secured by Dick James, who later became The Beatles’ publisher.
17 Jan 1963 The Beatles played at The Cavern Club at lunchtime and in the evening played at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead. At the Majestic, every ticket had been sold in advance, leaving 500 disappointed fans waiting outside.
13 Jan 1963 The Beatles recorded a TV appearance on the ABC Television program "Thank Your Lucky Stars" in Birmingham playing their new single, 'Please Please Me' The show was broadcast on January 19.
11 Jan 1963 The Beatles recorded their first national TV show 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'. They mimed to their new single 'Please Please Me' which was released on this day.
18 Dec 1962 On their fifth visit to West Germany The Beatles played the first night of a two-week engagement at the Star-Club, Hamburg. A 13 night run, playing 3 hours each night. The final night's performance was recorded and became known as ‘The Star-Club Tapes’, released in 1977 against the wishes of the ex-Beatles themselves.
15 Dec 1962 The Beatles played two separate shows at the same venue, the Majestic Ballroom in Birkenhead, Merseyside. First they played a standard Majestic booking then at midnight, the first-ever "Mersey Beat" poll awards show took place. As poll winners, The Beatles closed the show (at 4:00 am).
4 Dec 1962 The Beatles made their London-area debut on television when they appeared in a live broadcast from Wembley on Tuesday Rendezvous, on ITV station Rediffusion. The Beatles performed live, doing lip-sync performances of 'Love Me Do' and 45 seconds of ‘P.S. I Love You.’
28 Nov 1962 The Beatles performed two evening shows: the first at The Cavern Club in Liverpool and the second at the 527 Club in Liverpool. The 527 Club show was a dance for the staff of Lewis Department Store in Liverpool, held on the top floor of the store.
27 Nov 1962 The Beatles recorded their first BBC radio session at the BBC Paris studio on Regent Street in London. They played 'Twist and Shout', 'Love Me Do' and 'P.S. I Love You', the tracks were aired on the BBC Light Program 'Talent Spot.'
26 Nov 1962 The Beatles recorded their second single ‘Please Please Me’ in 18 takes and ‘Ask Me Why’ for the flip side at EMI studio’s London. When released in the US on the Vee-Jay label, the first pressings featured a typographical error: The band's name was spelled "The Beattles".
23 Nov 1962 The Beatles travelled to St. James' Church Hall, London, for a ten-minute audition with BBC Television. The audition came about when Beatles fan, David Smith of Preston, Lancashire wrote to the BBC asking for The Beatles to be featured on BBC television. Assuming that Smith was The Beatles' manager, the BBC wrote back to him, offering The Beatles an audition. Smith brought his letter to NEMS Enterprises, and Clive Epstein (Brian's brother) arranged for audition to take place. Four days later, Brian Epstein received a polite "thumbs-down" letter from the BBC.
19 Nov 1962 The Beatles played gigs at three different venues. First they performed a lunchtime show at The Cavern Club, Liverpool, followed by an 85-mile drive to the Midlands, where they performed at Smethwick Baths Ballroom and then at the Adelphi Ballroom, West Bromwich in Staffordshire.
16 Nov 1962 The Beatles recorded their second appearance on Radio Luxembourg, for the program The Friday Spectacular. The Beatles were interviewed and then they played in front of a live audience both sides of their latest single, 'Love Me Do' and 'P.S. I Love You'.
14 Nov 1962 The Beatles played the final show of a 14 night run at the Star-Club, Hamburg, West Germany.
12 Nov 1962 The Beatles appeared at the Star Club, Hamburg, Germany, sharing the bill with Little Richard.
29 Oct 1962 The Beatles made their second appearance on the Granada TV program ‘People and Places.’ Filmed in Manchester, they performed two songs, 'Love Me Do' and ‘A Taste of Honey’.
28 Oct 1962 The Beatles played at the Empire in Liverpool, their first gig at Liverpool's top theatre. Eight acts were on the bill including Little Richard, Craig Douglas, Jet Harris and Kenny Lynch & Sounds Incorporated.
17 Oct 1962 In between their lunchtime and night shows at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, The Beatles travelled to Granada TV Centre in Manchester to make their television debut. They appeared live on the local magazine program People and Places performing two songs ‘Some Other Guy’ and 'Love Me Do'.
11 Oct 1962 The Beatles made their first appearance on the UK singles chart with 'Love Me Do' which peaked at No. 4 on the chart.
5 Oct 1962 The Beatles debut single 'Love Me Do' was released in the UK. It spent 26 week's on the chart peaking at No.17. Beatles producer George Martin has said when 'Love Me Do' was released, it was the day the world changed.
17 Sep 1962 The Beatles played the last of three Monday night gigs at The Queen's Hall, Widnes, Cheshire. Also on the bill, Billy Kramer and the Coasters, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and Sonny Kaye and the Reds. Tickets cost 3/6.
11 Sep 1962 After George Martin insisted that session drummer Andy White took Ringo Starr's place, The Beatles returned to EMI Studios in London for a third attempt at recording their first single. 'Love Me Do' was selected to be The Beatles' first A-side, with "P.S. I Love You" on the flip side (a reversal of the original plan). The single that was released on October 5th featured a version of ‘Love Me Do’ with Ringo on drums, but the album ‘Please Please Me’ included a version with Andy White on drums.
4 Sep 1962 The Beatles first formal recording session at EMI's Abbey Road studios took place. George Martin was unhappy with a previous session on June 6, so he called The Beatles back into the studio to try again. They recorded six songs, including 'Love Me Do' and 'Please Please Me.'
3 Sep 1962 After playing a lunchtime show at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, The Beatles played the first of three Monday night gigs at The Queen's Hall, Widnes, Cheshire. Also on the bill, Billy Kramer and the Coasters, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes and Sonny Kaye and the Reds. Tickets cost 3/6.
23 Aug 1962 John Lennon married Cynthia Powell at Liverpool's Mount Pleasant register office. He then played a gig that night with The Beatles at Liverpool's Riverpark Ballroom.
22 Aug 1962 The first TV appearance of The Beatles was recorded by Manchester based Granada TV, who filmed a lunchtime session at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, (the performance was shown on 17th October 1962).
18 Aug 1962 Ringo Starr made his debut with The Beatles at the horticultural society Dance, Birkenhead, England, having had a two-hour rehearsal in preparation. This was the first appearance of The Beatles as the world would come to know them: John, Paul, George, and Ringo.
16 Aug 1962 Brian Epstein told Pete Best that the other Beatles wanted him out of the group, and that he was being replaced. Epstein then asked Best to perform with The Beatles that night at the Riverpark Ballroom in Chester, Cheshire. Pete Best does not show up, drummer Johnny Hutchinson of The Big Three filled in the temporary vacancy.
15 Aug 1962 Lennon and McCartney drove from Liverpool to Skegness, to ask Ringo Starr to join the Beatles, (Starr was playing a residency with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes at Butlins). Shortly before, Starr had agreed to join Kingsize Taylor in Hamburg, as Taylor was offering £20 a week, but Lennon and McCartney offered £25 a week, which Starr accepted.
14 Aug 1962 Unhappy with drummer Pete Best's role in The Beatles Brian Epstein and the other three members decided to sack him. Best played his last gig the following night at The Cavern, Liverpool. Ringo Starr who was nearing the end of a three-month engagement with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes at a Butlin's holiday camp received a telephone call from John Lennon, asking him to join The Beatles. Ringo gave Rory Storm three days notice and on August 18, appeared as a member of The Beatles for the first time.
14 Jul 1962 The Beatles played their first ever gig in Wales in the UK when they appeared at The Regent Dansette in Rhyl. Tickets cost five shillings, ($0.70).
7 Jul 1962 The Beatles played at Hulme Hall, Port Sunlight, in Birkenhead. The show was a dance for the local golf club, the capacity of the hall was 450, but 500 people squeezed in to hear and see The Beatles.
11 Jun 1962 The Beatles recorded a BBC radio program, "Here We Go", at the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester, in front of a studio audience composed largely of loyal Cavern fans. This was the last recording on which Pete Best played drums.
31 May 1962 The Beatles played the last night of a 7-week run at the Star-Club, Hamburg, West Germany. During their residency they would play for four-and-a-half hours on weekdays and six hours on Saturdays, with some songs lasting over 20 minutes to fill out the time.
1 May 1962 The Beatles started a month long residency at The Star Club, Hamburg, Germany. American musicians including Ray Charles, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Everly Brothers, Bill Haley, Jimi Hendrix and Jerry Lee Lewis also all appeared here. The club had a capacity of 2,000 people, and cinema-style seating was destroyed by a fire in 1987.
13 Apr 1962 The Beatles made their third trip to Germany for a 48-night residency at The Star Club, Hamburg. During the seven week run The Beatles had only one day off.
10 Apr 1962 The Beatles former bass player Stuart Sutcliffe died, (original bassist for eighteen months - January 1960 - June 1961). Sutcliff had stayed in Hamburg Germany after leaving the group. He died of a brain haemorrhage in an ambulance on the way to hospital, aged 22.
7 Apr 1962 The Beatles played at the Casbah Coffee Club, Liverpool without George Harrison who was ill. This was the group's last performance before leaving for their third extended engagement in Hamburg, West Germany.
5 Apr 1962 The Beatles performed at The Cavern Club in Liverpool as part of a special night presented by the Beatles' fan club. The Beatles wear their black leather outfits for the first half of the performance, for old time's sake, then change into their new suits for the second half of the show.
31 Mar 1962 The Beatles played their first gig in the South of England when they appeared at The Subscription Rooms, Stroud, on the same bill as The Rebel Rousers, tickets cost 5 shillings, ($0.70).
10 Mar 1962 Bruce Channel started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Hey! Baby'. The song features a prominent riff from harmonica player Delbert McClinton, who while touring the UK in 1962 with The Beatles, McClinton met John Lennon and gave him some harmonica tips. Lennon put the lessons to use right away on ‘Love Me Do’.
8 Mar 1962 The Beatles made their radio debut on the BBC's 'Teenagers Turn', (Here We Go), singing Roy Orbison's 'Dream Baby'. It was reportedly the first time The Beatles wore suits onstage.
7 Mar 1962 The Beatles recorded their first radio appearance, at the Playhouse Theatre, Hulme, Manchester, for the BBC radio program Teenager's Turn - Here We Go'. After a rehearsal, the Beatles put on suits for the first time and, along with the other artists appearing on the program, record the show in front of a teenage audience.
5 Feb 1962 The Beatles played two shows, one at The Cavern Club at lunchtime and in the evening at the Kingsway Club in Southport. This was the first time Ringo Starr appeared live with the group after drummer Pete Best became ill.
2 Feb 1962 The Beatles played their first professionally organised gig outside of Liverpool at The Oasis Club, Manchester. The groups set started with their version of 'Hippy Hippy Shake'.
27 Jan 1962 The Beatles appeared at Aintree Institute in Aintree, Liverpool. The group had played here many times before but this was their last performance at the venue. Brian Epstein became infuriated when the promoter paid The Beatles fee (£15 pounds) with handfuls of loose change. Epstein took this as an insult to the group and made sure that The Beatles never played for that promoter (Brian Kelly) again.
24 Jan 1962 Brian Epstein signed a management deal with The Beatles. Epstein was to receive 25 per cent of the bands gross earnings, the normal management deal was 10 per cent.
4 Jan 1962 Liverpool's Mersey Beat published its first popularity poll, with The Beatles coming in first place and Gerry and the Pacemakers voted second.
1 Jan 1962 The Beatles auditioned for Decca Records in West Hampstead, London. A&R boss at Decca Dick Rowe turned them down in what is considered one of the biggest mistakes in music industry history, Decca decided to reject the band, selecting instead Brian Poole and the Tremeloes.
13 Dec 1961 The Beatles performed at the The Cavern Club Liverpool playing two shows at lunchtime and then again at night. Decca Records' Mike Smith attended the night performance with a view to offering The Beatles a recording contract.
10 Dec 1961 The Beatles appeared at Hambleton Hall, Huyton in Liverpool after returning to Liverpool from their first live performances in south England and London.
9 Dec 1961 The Beatles agent Sam Leach attempted to introduce the group to London agents by promoting a show at The Palais Ballroom in Aldershot, England. The show was not advertised properly and, as a result, only 18 people attended, (local newspaper, The Aldershot News, failed to publish the advertisement for the show). However, the band and friends had their own fun after the show, including a mock funeral for Paul McCartney.
6 Dec 1961 John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best met with Brian Epstein for further discussions about his proposal to manage them. Epstein wanted 25% of their gross fees each week. He promises that they will never again play for less than £15, except for The Cavern lunchtime sessions, for which he will get their fee doubled to ten pounds. Lennon, as leader of The Beatles accepts on their behalf.
3 Dec 1961 Brian Epstein invited The Beatles into his office to discuss the possibility of becoming their manager. John Lennon, George Harrison and Pete Best arrived late for the 4pm meeting, (they had been drinking at the Grapes pub in Matthew Street), but Paul McCartney was not with them, because, as Harrison explained, he had just got up and was "taking a bath".
1 Dec 1961 The Beatles performed a lunchtime show at the The Cavern in Liverpool. That night they headlined a six-group Big Beat Session at the Tower Ballroom, New Brighton in Wallasey. Between 1961 -1963, The Beatles played at The Tower Ballroom on 27 occasions.
9 Nov 1961 Brian Epstein saw The Beatles playing live for the first time during a lunchtime session at The Cavern Liverpool. Epstein went on to be the group's manager. That night they appeared at Litherland Town Hall in Liverpool.
30 Oct 1961 Two days after Beatles fan Raymond Jones asked for The Beatles' German single ‘My Bonnie’ (recorded with Tony Sheridan) at Brian Epstein's NEMS record store in Liverpool, two girls asked for the same record. Epstein's difficulty in locating the record was due to him not knowing that the record was released, not by The Beatles, but by Tony Sheridan and 'The Beat Brothers' ('Beatles' resembles a vulgar slang word in German, so The Beatles' name was changed for this single).
28 Oct 1961 Raymond Jones went into Liverpool's NEMS Record store trying to buy The Beatles records that had been released in Germany. Shop manager Brian Epstein promised to investigate further.
20 Oct 1961 The Beatles played a lunchtime show at The Cavern Club, Liverpool and tonight they appeared at The Village Hall in Knotty Ash, Liverpool.
21 Sep 1961 The Beatles played a lunchtime show at The Cavern Club in Liverpool. In the evening they appeared at Litherland Town Hall in Liverpool with Gerry & the Pacemakers, and Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, admission price was 3 shillings (15 pence).
25 Aug 1961 After playing a lunchtime gig at The Cavern Club Liverpool, The Beatles played aboard the Merseyside riverboat M.V.Royal Iris supporting Acker Bilk and his Paramount Jazz Band.
12 May 1961 The Beatles in Hamburg, West Germany, signed a recording contract with producer Bert Kaempfert. That evening they played at The Top Ten Club, Reeperbahn, Hamburg.
1 Apr 1961 The Beatles began a three-month residency at The Top Ten Club, Hamburg, playing 92 straight nights. The group played for seven hours a night on weekdays and eight hours at weekends with a fifteen-minute break every hour. It was during this visit that Astrid Kirchherr cut Stuart Sutcliffe's hair into the style destined to become known as the "Beatle haircut" which The Beatles later adopted themselves.
21 Mar 1961 The Beatles played their first ever evening show at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, supporting The Swinging Bluegenes, (later to become The Swinging Blue Jeans).
21 Feb 1961 The Beatles played three gigs in one day. The first was a lunchtime show at The Cavern Club, then at night they appeared at the Cassanova Club, Liverpool and at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool.
14 Feb 1961 The Beatles performed at the Cassanova Club, Liverpool, and at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool where they played a special Valentine's Day show. Paul McCartney sang Elvis Presley's 'Wooden Heart', wearing a wooden heart pinned to his coat, covered with satin and embroidered with the names "John", "Paul", "George", and "Pete". The heart was raffled off, and the winner also won a kiss from Paul.
9 Feb 1961 The Beatles appeared at The Cavern Club, Liverpool, for the very first time (as The Beatles), they would go on to make a total of 292 other appearances at the Club. They were paid £5 for this luchtime appearance and George Harrison was nearly denied admission to play because he was wearing jeans.
5 Jan 1961 The Beatles played at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool. In the audience are two members from Rory Storm & the Hurricanes: Johnny Guitar and Ringo Starr who have just returned from Hamburg, Germany.
27 Dec 1960 The Beatles appeared at Litherland Town Hall Ballroom in Liverpool. Added to the bill at the last minute, The Beatles were not advertised to appear, so banners had been pasted onto advertising posters, saying "Direct From Hamburg, The Beatles!" Since The Beatles were playing in an area they'd only played in once before, most of the audience assumes they were a German group.
17 Dec 1960 Returning from Hamburg, The Beatles appeared at the Casbah Coffee Club in Liverpool. Chas Newby joined The Beatles on bass guitar (to replace Stuart Sutcliffe, who had remained in Hamburg), a position he would hold for only two weeks and four performances. When Newby bowed out to return to college, Paul McCartney became The Beatles' bass player.
5 Dec 1960 Paul McCartney and Pete Best were arrested for pinning a condom to a brick wall and then igniting it. The two were told to leave Germany and The Beatles returned home, discouraged.
21 Nov 1960 The Beatles played at the Kaiserkeller Club in Hamburg, Germany without George Harrison. The guitarist had been deported on this day for being underage (he was 17) and not legally allowed to remain in a nightclub after midnight.
15 Oct 1960 The Beatles (minus Pete Best) and two members of Rory Storm's Hurricanes (Ringo Starr and Lou Walters) recorded a version of George Gershwin's ‘Summertime’ in a Hamburg recording studio. The track which was cut onto a 78-rpm disc marked the first session that included John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo together.
17 Aug 1960 The Beatles began their first Hamburg engagement at the Indra Club, Grosse Freiheit, Hamburg, West Germany, playing the first of 48 nights at the Club. The owner, Bruno Koschmider, asked The Beatles to "Mach Shau", or really put on a show, which led to the band screaming, shouting, and leaping about the stage and sometimes playing lying on the floor. John Lennon once appeared wearing only his underwear and on another occasion, wearing a toilet seat around his neck. The Beatles lodged in a single room behind the screen of a nearby movie house.
12 Aug 1960 Pete Best auditioned to become The Silver Beatles' drummer and was asked to travel to Hamburg in Germany for the bands next set of dates. Before leaving for Hamburg, The Silver Beatles changed their name to simply, "The Beatles".
11 Jun 1960 Drummer Tommy Moore made the fateful decision to quit The Beatles and return to his job of driving a forklift at Garston bottle works. He was briefly replaced by Norman Chapman, who was called into National Service after just three gigs. After going drummerless and mostly jobless for a few weeks, the band hired Pete Best on August 12th, only one day before they were to go to Hamburg to play a string of club dates.
15 Nov 1959 Johnny and the Moondogs, (The Beatles) played in the final heat of the 'TV Star Search' competition at The Hippodrome Theatre, Manchester, England. Judging was done by the volume of applause each group received when it is called back onto stage at the end of the night. Since the Moondogs had no money to stay overnight in Manchester, they were forced to head back to Liverpool before they were called back onto stage.
24 Jan 1958 The Quarry Men performed at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, (this was the bands only performance at the club). It was three years later when they appeared again at the Cavern but under their new name as The Beatles.
27 May 1957 Buddy Holly and the Crickets released 'That'll Be The Day' which became a UK No.1 and US No.3 hit. The song had its genesis in a trip to the movies by Holly, Allison and Sonny Curtis in June 1956. The John Wayne film The Searchers was playing. Wayne's frequently-used, world-weary catchphrase, "that'll be the day" was the Inspiration behind the song. It was also the first song to be recorded by The Quarrymen, the skiffle group that subsequently became The Beatles.
16 Jan 1957 The Cavern Club opened in Liverpool, England. It became the home of many Liverpool bands including The Beatles who appeared at the club 292 times. Over the years a wide variety of popular acts appeared at the club, including The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, The Hollies, The Kinks, Elton John, Black Sabbath, Queen, The Who and John Lee Hooker.
25 Feb 1956 Elvis Presley had his first national hit when 'I Forgot To Remember To Forget' went to No.1 on the Billboard Country & Western chart. The single was the fifth and final single released on Sun Records before Elvis moved to RCA Records. The Beatles covered this song once for the BBC radio show, From Us To You, on 1 May 1964, with George Harrison on lead vocals.
15 Mar 1955 Ray Charles peaked at No.2 on the US R&B charts with the Atlantic single 'I Got A Woman', widely considered the first song to be labelled "soul" - a blending of R&B and gospel. Elvis Presley recorded a version of the song and it was a staple in most of Presley's shows during the 1950s and when he returned to perform live in 1969 all the way through 1977. The Beatles also recorded versions of the song for the BBC Pop Go the Beatles radio show.
8 Apr 1942 Glenn Wallichs launched Capitol Records in the US. The label became home to such artists as Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Eddie Cochran, Gene Vincent, Bobby Darin, Dean Martin, Glen Campbell, Steve Miller, Dr. Hook, Bob Seger, Tina Turner, Heart and countless others. Wallichs was the man who invented the art of record promotion by sending copies of new releases to disc jockeys.

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