The Beatles

From Liverpool clubs and Hamburg residencies to worldwide Beatlemania, the Beatles became the defining British group of the 1960s and one of popular music's most successful acts. Formed in 1960, the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. Rooted in skiffle, beat music and 1950s rock and roll, they expanded that foundation with traditional pop, classical elements, folk, Indian music, psychedelia and hard rock. Lennon and McCartney were the group's principal songwriters, while Harrison and Starr also made essential creative contributions.

The group grew out of Lennon's earlier band, the Quarrymen. Lennon, McCartney and Harrison had been playing together since 1958, then built a reputation through live work in Liverpool and Hamburg. After several drummers passed through the lineup, Starr joined in 1962. Manager Brian Epstein helped shape the Beatles into a professional act, while producer George Martin played a central part in developing their recordings. Signed to EMI, they scored their first hit with “Love Me Do” in late 1962. The following year, the intense public response to the band acquired a name: Beatlemania.

By early 1964, the Beatles were international stars and a leading force in the British Invasion of the US pop market. Their first film, A Hard Day's Night, arrived that year. Concert touring ended in 1966 as the demands of the road and the group's growing studio ambitions pulled them in different directions. The records that followed included Rubber Soul (1965), Revolver (1966), Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), The Beatles, widely known as the White Album (1968), and Abbey Road (1969). Their work during this period helped advance recording techniques, electronic music, album art and music videos, while also widening public interest in psychedelia and Eastern spirituality.

In 1968, the Beatles founded Apple Corps, a multimedia corporation that continues to oversee projects connected to their legacy. The band broke up in 1970, and all four members went on to successful solo careers; partial reunions occurred during the following decade, but the quartet never fully reunited. Lennon was murdered in 1980, and Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001. McCartney and Starr remain musically active.

The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated worldwide sales exceeding 600 million units. They hold Billboard records for the most number-one Hot 100 singles, with 20, and the most number-one Billboard 200 albums, with 19. Their honours include nine Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, fifteen Ivor Novello Awards and an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary Let It Be. The group entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, its first year of eligibility, and its four principal members were later inducted individually.