Welcome to Beatles Unlimited, the ultimate online destination for fans of The Beatles. Here you’ll find a wealth of information about the Liverpudlian quarter who had humble beginnings and went on to become the world’s biggest-selling band of all time. On this page you’ll find lots of information about the band. We’ve got bios of all four Beatles, a list of the band’s biggest hits, details about some of their major gigs and more.
If you’re a fan of The Beatles and want to know more about the band, you’ve come to the right place. If you’re not too familiar with them but want to know what Beatlemania’s all about, you’ve come to the right place too. Have a read of this page to learn more about the hugely successful and influential band, then start listening to some of their biggest songs and see what their music’s all about.
Brief History of The Beatles
The Beatles were officially formed in 1962 and released their first album in 1963. However, the band’s history goes back a few years before that. It all started back in 1957 when John Lennon formed a skiffle band. He would alter name it The Quarrymen after his school, Quarry Bank High School. Paul McCartney joined in July of that year, with George Harrison joining the year after.
Stuart Sutcliffe, a bass guitarist and painter, became a part of the band in 1960 and persuaded Lennon to change its name to Beatals – this was a tribute to two musical acts: The Crickets and Buddy Holly. The band eventually rebranded themselves as Silver Beetles, before settling on The Beatles in mid-August. Also around that time, Pete Best was hired as a drummer and the band was a five-piece. They enjoyed a fair amount of success both in Liverpool and the UK, as well as in Hamburg, where they had two-length residencies.
Things began to take off for the band in 1962. By this time, Sutcliffe had left and the band were a four-piece. The band had met George Martin, who signed them to EMI’s Parlophone label and later that year booked their first recording session at Abbey Road Studios in London. This took place on 6 June 1962. Not long after, another line-up change took place when Best left and was replaced by Ringo Starr.
For the rest of the year, the band played gigs in Hamburg and worked with Martin and their manager Brian Epstein to cultivate their image. They decided all four members would contribute to both instrumentation and vocals, with Lennon and McCartney the primary songwriters.
The first full-length Beatles studio album, Please Please Me, was released in March 1963. The rest, as they say, is history. The album and its singles went on to become huge sellers and throughout the rest of the decade, the band released many more albums and singles, smashing sales expectations and setting new chart records.
The band ‘broke’ America and enjoyed significant success there, with all but two of their studio albums going to number one. Furthermore, US casinos were a popular venue for Beatles gigs. The band’s fanbase was very devoted indeed. In October 1963, the media started referring to the fans’ devotion as ‘Beatlemania’, a term which has stuck and is still used today. At the band’s concerts, it wasn’t uncommon to see young girls acting hysterically and screaming in adulation. The level of hysteria the band generated was like nothing ever seen before. It lasted well until the final years of their career and helped generate their huge sales.
Though the band ceased touring, the continued recording and releasing music. However, in 1969 Lennon decided to quit. He announced it to the band at a meeting, though decided not to make it public to prevent sales of the band’s upcoming album from being affected. Then on 10 April 1970, McCartney formally announced in a press release that he himself was to be leaving the band. More music was released, but the band never got back together to record or perform, despite there being a huge demand for them to do so.
The Members
The four principal members of The Beatles were Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon were the band’s main songwriters. All of them contributed vocals and played various instruments. Below is a timeline of the four members and what each of them brought to the band:
- McCartney (1960-70), songwriting, vocals, keyboards, drums, rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar
- Lennon (1960-69), songwriting, vocals, keyboards, harmonica, rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar
- Harrison (1960-70), vocals, keyboards, sitar, rhythm and lead guitar, bass guitar
- Starr (1962-70), vocals, drums, percussion
Here’s a brief bio of each of the band’s four members.
Paul McCartney, whose full title is Sir James Paul McCartney CH MBE, was born on 18 June 1942 in Liverpool. He began working as a professional musician in 1957 and after the Beatles broke up, he remained musically active. Throughout the 70s, he released seven albums with his band Wings and from 1970 onwards, he’s put out over twenty other albums, including soundtracks, solo albums, cover albums and classical albums. He’s also toured extensively and has made appearances in multiple TV shows and movies. He’s actively promoted causes such as music education, animal rights and vegetarianism. Thanks to the commercial and critical success of his music, he’s widely regarded as one of the biggest performers and composers in history, with many accolades to his name.
John Lennon was born on 9 October 1940 in Liverpool. When he passed away in 1980, he was officially known as John Winston Ono Lennon MBE. He was the founder of The Quarrymen, the band that would eventually become The Beatles several years later. At first, he was mostly in charge of things, though as the band evolved into The Beatles, the leadership role was passed to McCartney. He left The Beatles in 1969 after embarking on a recording career with his second wife Yoko Ono. The couple released several albums together, with Lennon also producing some solo albums. He was only forty years old when he died. In 1980, after several years away from the music scene, he and Ono returned with the album Double Fantasy. Three weeks after it came out, he was fatally shot in the archway of his apartment by a fan who was angered by his public statements and lifestyle.
George Harrison was born on 25 February 1943 in Liverpool. He contributed some songwriting to The Beatles’ later albums and was particularly interested in Indian culture and Hinduism. It was thanks to his interest in the country and its spiritualism that some Beatles songs incorporate elements of Indian music and instrumentation. After The Beatles split up, Harrison went on to enjoy a successful solo career and dabbled in humanitarian work; he also became a prolific film producer. He died from lung cancer in 2001 aged 58.
Ringo Starr was born on 7 July 1940 in Liverpool. Before joining The Beatles in 1962 as a replacement for outgoing drummer Pete Best, he worked in machinery and was involved in two other bands: the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group, which he co-founded; and Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. Like the other members of the band, after the split, he worked extensively as a solo artist, with twenty albums to his name. He also worked in the film industry and acted in a range of films, while also making appearances in various documentaries. Throughout his career, his drumming skills and techniques have been particularly influential. Just a few years ago, he was said to be the world’s wealthiest drummer.
The Beatles arriving in America, where they enjoyed considerable success and paved the way for other UK artists to crack the states.
Most Popular Songs
The Beatles’ back catalogue is very extensive indeed. It can basically be split into two categories: there’s the core catalogue, which is original material released during the band’s active years of 1962-70; there’s also everything that comes later, including dozens of compilations and box sets, along with live albums and remastered singles.
The Beatles were very prolific indeed. From 1962-70, the band put out a total of twelve albums, thirteen EPs and no fewer than twenty-two singles. In total, some two hundred and thirteen songs, amounting to over ten hours of listening time, was recorded and released. The band’s music originally came out on vinyl, though over the years it’s been rereleased on various different forms of media. These days, lots of fans around the world enjoy streaming The Beatles’ music and listening to it digitally, though there are many who still prefer the classic experience of listening on vinyl.
So of the many songs recorded by The Beatles, which ones are the most popular? There are two ways you can measure the popularity of a song: its sales and its impact. There are quite a few lists of the top Beatles songs and since there are so many contenders, pretty much every list looks different. Here are some of the band’s biggest-selling songs that are highly rated and continue to have a lasting impact today:
- Yellow Submarine. Features lead vocals from Starr and was intended to be a nonsensical children’s song with no defined message. Today it’s a popular children’s sing-along song.
- Hey Jude. Regarded as one of the greatest songs ever written, it’s sold in excess of eight million copies and was the biggest selling single of 1966, topping the charts and enjoying long runs at number one in many countries around the world.
- She Loves You. This is The Beatles’ best selling single in the UK. It helped the band achieve mainstream recognition and was known not only for its catchy hook, but also for its ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ lyric, which became something of a signature phrase for the band.
- Let It Be. The last single released before McCartney announced his departure from the band. The ballad was widely praised by critics and is regarded as one of the band’s best songs.
- I Want To Hold Your Hand. This was the band’s first song to be recorded using four-track equipment and was their first number one single in the US. It ended up becoming the band’s best selling single, shifting more than twelve million copies worldwide.
- Yesterday. This song’s been covered by other artists over two thousand, two hundred times, making it one of the most covered songs in history. The break-up ballad features only McCartney on vocals.
- Strawberry Fields Forever. Named after a Salvation Army children’s home near where Lennon grew up, the song is the members’ nostalgia for their younger years growing up in Liverpool. It was praised for being more psychedelic and experimental than the band’s earlier material.
- Come Together. The origin of this particular song is interesting. Lennon was asked to compose a campaign song for Timothy Leary, who was running for governor of California against Ronald Reagan. The song was never used for the campaign, with Lennon instead keeping it for The Beatles to release.
This is just a small selection of The Beatles’ biggest songs. The band left behind a diverse, extensive and fascinating discography of singles and albums that’s well worth exploring further. The band’s songs continue to be enjoyed, analysed and critiqued by many people from places all over the world.
Major Appearances
From 1963-66, The Beatles embarked on just over a dozen major tours visiting a wide range of countries around the world. Their first few were UK-only, though in autumn 1963 they did a tour of Sweden, followed by a world tour in 1964 that visited France, the US and Canada. In 1965, a European tour visited France, Italy and Spain, while another US tour covered both coasts of the US and many places in between.
When the band played Shea Stadium in New York in 1965, this was the first time an outdoor stadium of that size had been used for a music concert. Approximately 55,000 people were said to have attended. Then in 1966, the band visited Germany, Japan and the Philippines, before setting off on their final international tour, which focused on the US, with one date in Canada. The last stop of this tour was in San Francisco.
Even though the tours were commercially successful, they eventually decided to cut back on touring altogether and focus on recording music. This was because ‘Beatlemania’ had got too much; the band often couldn’t hear themselves play because the screaming from the audience – mostly young girls and women – was too loud.
So, the 1966 US tour was the band’s last full tour, but their last live performance came two and a half years later. They played an unannounced, 42-minute concert from the roof of their record label’s headquarters in the centre of London. This took place during lunchtime and attracted the attention of many passers-by, but also the police. Despite the concert going down well with the public, it ended up getting shut down by the police, who feared it was becoming too noisy.
The Beatles Today
Even though it’s been fifty years since the band split up, the influence they’ve had on pop culture can still be felt. Their music continues to be listened by fans who grew up with the band and has attracted millions upon millions of fans over the last few decades. Interest in The Beatles is very high indeed – new compilation albums top charts in multiple countries and break sales records, and there have been several high-profile documentaries covering the band’s meteoric rise to success. Their songs are regularly covered by other artists, both as one-off live performances and as studio recordings for various albums.
If you want to see what Beatlemania’s all about, there’s no better time to become a fan of the band. Explore their vast discography – start with one of the many compilation albums to get a flavour of what their music’s like, or start off with the very first studio album, Please Please Me, and work through the remaining ones in chronological order.
The world of The Beatles is absolutely huge. The band left a lasting legacy that continues to felt some fifty years after their official split. If you’re keen to learn more about the band and listen to its music, there’s a wealth of content waiting for you to discover – this page has only just scratched the surface! Dive into the world of the Beatles and see for yourself what made the band the biggest, most influential one in history.