  Few can argue that one of the
best groups, if not the best, in rock 'n roll
history is the Beatles - 4 lads from
Liverpool who took the world by storm in the
60s. The Beatles sold over 106 million copies
of their LPs in the U.S. alone throughout 3
decades and amassed 20 #1 hits.
The conception of the Beatles
began in 1956, when a 15
year old John Lennon formed his first band,
the 'Quarrymen.' Paul McCartney met Lennon
during one of their performances and was soon
asked to join the group, followed by George
Harrison in 1958 a year
later when the group was renamed to Johnny
& The Moondogs.
 The band changed their name to
the 'Silver Beatles' and added Stu Sutcliffe
to the band and Allan Williams as their first
manager.
Pete Best joined the group,
replacing drummer, Tommy Moore, and they
abridged their name to the Beatles.
Sutcliffe quit the band (and
died of a brain hemorrhage a year later in
April) in the spring and the Beatles hooked
up with Brian Epstein as their manager by the
end of the year.
In January, the Beatles were
rejected by Decca Records and numerous other
record companies, and Best was fired as
drummer of the band in August. The group
started working with producer George Martin
as Ringo Starr joined the group in August. In
September, the Beatles recorded and had their
first chart success in Britain with the
single "Love Me Do" (b/w "P.S.
I Love You").
 The Beatles topped the British
charts with its first of many #1 hits:
"Please Please Me." The single was
quickly followed with the LP, Please
Please Me (recorded in 1 day in February)
which also topped the charts and was renamed
for American release as Introducing
The Beatles.
The Beatles appeared on the
BBC's Sunday Night At The Palladium.
A second LP, With
The Beatles, topped the British charts by
the end of the year. The single "I Want
To Hold Your Hand" topped the British
charts and crossed-over to the U.S., carrying
the Beatlemania frenzy with it. By the end of
the year, "She Loves You" became
the biggest-selling single of all-time in
Britain and the group was performing before
the Queen Mother.
 The Beatles released Meet
The Beatles! in the U.S. on Capitol Records
and the LP tops the U.S. charts.
The
Beatles' Second Album was released.
On February 9th, 73 million
people watched the Beatles perform on The
Ed Sullivan Show and 2 days later
perform live in public for the first time in
the U.S. in Washington, DC.
 The British invasion by the
Beatles became even more awe-inspiring when
they held the top 5 singles on Billboard's
singles chart with "Can't But Me
Love" at #1 followed by "Twist
& Shout," "She Loves You,"
"I Want To Hold Your Hand," and
"Please Please Me."
The Beatles released Something
New.
The Beatles began their first
world tour, starting in Denmark, and with
Jimmy Nicol temporarily replacing Ringo Starr
on drums after Starr became ill from
exhaustion and tonsillitis.
 The Beatles kicked off their
second tour of the US in San Francisco.
During the summer, the Beatles
appeared in the film A
Hard Day's Night and released the
soundtrack for A
Hard Day's Night.
The
Beatles For Sale was released.
 The Beatles' second movie, Help!, was released.
The
Early Beatles was released.
Beatles
VI
was released.
Beatles
'65 was released.
The soundtrack to Help! was released.
 Rubber
Soul was released.
Yesterday...
And Today was released.
 The Beatles released Revolver.
Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was released.
The LP went on to symbolize the Beatle's
artistic range and became a major influence
on concept albums yet to come by other
artists.
The manager of the Beatles,
Brian Epstein, died.
 The Beatles released Magical
Mystery Tour - a soundtrack to a TV movie
premiering on the BBC.
The Beatles began Apple Records
and appeared in the animated movie, Yellow
Submarine.
The Beatles won 2 Grammy Awards for Album of the Year
and Best Contemporary Album (Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band).
Hey
Jude (The Beatles Again) was released
with the title track becoming the band's
biggest charting single.
Ringo Starr temporarily quit the
band.
 The
Beatles was released (an LP often
referred to as The
White Album) - described as the Beatles'
most ambitious, innovative, and rocking LP.
 On January 30, the Beatles
performed live for the last time on the
rooftop of the Apple Records offices.
The soundtrack to Yellow
Submarine was released.
McCartney married Linda Eastman.
Harrison announced he was
leaving the Beatles, but later returned.
By the fall, the Beatles as a
group began to fall apart.
 The Beatles released Abbey
Road.
The official break up of the
Beatles began with McCartney publicly stating
that he has left the group while promoting
his first solo effort.
 Let
It Be was released.
The Beatles won a Grammy Award for Best Original
Score Written for a Motion Picture or TV
Special (Let
It Be).
 The
Beatles 1962-1966 was released followed
by The
Beatles 1967-1970.
Love
Songs was released as the decade saw
each member find success with solo careers.
 Rarities was released.
All hopes of a Beatles reunion
were put to rest with the tragic murder of John Lennon on December 8th in New
York.
 # 95
Singles Artist of the Year
20
Greatest Hits was released.
 "The Beatles' Movie
Medley"
hit the Top 40.
"The Beatles' Movie
Medley"
hit the Top 10.
The compilation of movie tracks,
Reel
Music was released.
 # 143
Singles Artist of the Year
The Beatles were inducted into
the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
 Past
Masters Volume 1 was released.
Past
Masters Volume 2 was released.
The remaining Beatles got
together in a recording studio to finish
tracks for future compilation sets.
 The
Beatles Live At The BBC was released. The LP
included recordings from 1963 to 1965.
 # 145
Singles Artist of the Year
The
Beatles Anthology, Volume 1 was released.
 The Beatles hit
the Top 40 with "Free As A Bird."
The
Beatles Anthology, Volume 1 topped the Billboard
Pop Albums chart for 3 weeks.
The
Beatles Anthology, Volume 1 was the 8th
biggest selling LP of the year with sales
topping 2.9 million during 1995.
 # 106
Singles Artist of the Year
Renewed
interest in the Beatles grew with the airing
of a 10 hour televised documentary.
 The
Beatles Anthology, Volume 2 was released.
The Beatles hit the Top 40 with
"Real Love."
The
Beatles Anthology, Volume 2 topped the Billboard
200 Albums chart and UK LP chart for a week.
The Beatles video for "Free As A Bird" was nominated
for a MTV Video Music
Award for Best Special Effects.
 The
Beatles Anthology, Volume 3 was released.
The
Beatles Anthology, Volume 3 topped the Billboard
200 Albums chart for a week.
The Beatles were nominated for
an American Music
Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album (The
Beatles Anthology, Volume 1).
Rock
'N Roll Hall Of Fame's 500
Songs That Shaped Rock And Roll includes "A Day
In The Life," "Help,"
"Hey Jude," "I Want To Hold
Your Hand," "Norwegian Wood,"
"Strawberry Fields Forever," and
"Yesterday." "---."
The Beatles won 3 Grammy
Awards for Best Pop Performance by a
Duo or Group with Vocal, Best Music Video, Short Form ("Free As A Bird"), and Best Music Video, Long Form (The
Beatles Anthology)
The Beatles made the Top 10 in Forbes
magazine's list of wealthiest
entertainers (from 1996-1997 gross). The
Beatles came in 5th with a reported $98
million.
 If you ask over
36,000 British music fans what their favorite
all-time LP is, the Beatles came out on top
of the "Music of the Millennium"
poll. The Beatles had 3 of their LPs in the
Top 10, including the #1 LP of all-time: 1) Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - 3) Revolver - 10) The
Beatles (The White Album). Also, the Beatles had
#12 (Abbey
Road) and #39 (Rubber
Soul).
Potential court problems erupted
when Michael
Jackson, who still owned the rights to
some Beatles songs, may had been talking
business with Volkswagen to use some of these
songs for an ad campaign. A source from the
Apple Records stated: "The 3 of (the
remaining Beatles) categorically refuse to
let the songs be used for (advertisements)
but the trouble with Jackson is he has just
ignored them in the past."
Harrison appeared in court in
London in attempt to stop the sale of an old
Beatles recording of the
band singing after having too much to drink
in a pub. A London judge ruled in favor of
Harrison and the Beatles and blocked the
release of the recordings.
The Beatles ranked # 1 on VH1: Greatest
Artists of Rock & Roll (and
# 1 on Rock On The Net's
Poll).
The remaining Beatles reunited
to sing "Let It Be" (with everyone
else at the service) at a memorial service
for Linda McCartney. It was the first time
the 3 have appeared in public together for 30
years. Paul
McCartney wrote the song
in memory of his mother when he was 14.
 Yellow
Submarine was re-released.
A British poll of over 600,000
people named the Beatles as the Favorite
Group of All-Time and Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as the Best
Album.
The Beatles topped the "Artists of the
Century" list of best-selling acts
of the 20th century.
 VH1: 100
Greatest Rock Songs includes: # 9: "Hey Jude"
- # 12: "Yesterday"
- # 20: "A Day In The
Life" - # 23: "I Want To Hold
Your Hand" - # 32: "Let It Be"
- # 57: "Twist &
Shout" - # 59: "She Loves
You" - # 61: "Strawberry
Fields Forever" - # 79: "A Day In The
Life."
The Beatles
reunited in the form of a book, Beatles
Anthology, that covers their musical and
personal career. Harrison, Starr, and
McCartney have been working on the book for
the past 6 years.
Let
It Be was certified 4x platinum.
The
Beatles (The White Album) was certified 18x
platinum, Revolver was certified 5x
platinum, Love
Songs was certified 3x platinum, The
Beatles 1962-1966 was certified 14x
platinum, The
Beatles 1967-1970 was certified 15x
platinum, and Magical
Mystery Tour was certified 6x platinum.
VH1 presented the 100 Biggest TV
Moments of Rock 'N Roll with the top slot
going to the Beatles' first appearance on The
Ed Sullivan Show in 1964.
A
Hard Day's Night was certified 4x
platinum.
 Rolling Stone
& MTV: 100 Greatest Pop Songs includes
"Yesterday" at # 1, "I Want To Hold
Your Hand" at # 6, and "In My
Life" at # 63.
The Beatles
topped the LP charts with the release of
another hits collection: 1 - containing 27
chart-toppers. The LP was the fastest selling
LP this year in the U.K. and topped the LP
charts in 19 countries. 1 also grew in sales the
weeks after its release and into the holiday
season.
1 topped
the Billboard 200 Albums chart for 8 weeks
and Internet Album Sales chart for 10 weeks.
1 topped the UK chart
for 9 weeks
1 was certified 5x
platinum.
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