so sit back and enjoy!
No Date: John Lennon is given his first guitar from his mother Julia.
During the summer: The Quarrymen is formed by John Lennon.
July 6: John Lennon meets Paul McCartney at a church picnic.
McCartney is later invited to join the group.
February 6: George Harrison is introduced to John Lennon by
Paul McCartney. George soon joins the Quarrymen.
August: The Quarrymen become the resident band at the Casbah Club.
It is run by the mother of Pete Best.
This year marks big trends by John and his friends. They go through
several name changes: They are called The Quarrymen, The Silver Beetles,
Long John and the Silver Beatles, The Beatals and finally before going
to Hamburg they become The Beatles.
January: Stu Suttcliffe, a friend of John's from school, joins
the band as bass player, even though he doesn't know how to play the bass.
August 17: The Beatles make their first trip to Hamburg playing
at the Indra Club.
October 4: The Beatles move to the Kaiserkeller after the Indra
Club is shut down. This is when they met Richard Starkey AKA Ringo Starr,
the drummer for Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
November 21: The Beatles are deported from Germany after officials
learned that George Harrison is under age.
April: On a return trip to Hamburg, the Beatles record as backup
to Tony Sheridan, including "Ain't She Sweet," with vocal by John Lennon.
The tune is released on a single in the U.S.
October: A Liverpool lad walks into the NEMS record store and
asks manager Brian Epstein for "My Bonnie" by the Beatles. Epstein says
he'd never heard of the record, but in the interest of pleasing the customer,
sets out to order it.
January 1: The Beatles audition for Decca Records. The songs
include three Lennon-McCartney tunes, "Hello Little Girl," "Love of the
Loved" and "Like Dreamers Do", plus 12 others. Decca decides not to sign
them.
January 2: The Beatles formally make Epstein their manager.
He transforms the group from a scruffy band with leather jackets and pants
to a slick dressed group with suits, ties and trimmed hair. Lennon later
is quoted as saying it was when the Beatles "sold out."
March 8: The Beatles are heard in the first of many performances
on BBC Radio on the program "Teenager's Turn (Here We Go)."
June 6: The group's first recording session for their new label,
Parlophone Records.
August 16: The Beatles ask Brian Epstein to fire Pete Best and
hire Ringo Starr to play drums. Ringo doesn't make his debut until Aug.
18 (with only two hours rehearsal time) and a substitute plays with them
until then.
August 23: John Lennon marries Cynthia Powell, pregnant with
their first child.
September 4: At their second recording session, producer George
Martin offers them the Mitch Murray tune, "How Do You Do It," but the Beatles
insist on doing a song of their own, "Love Me Do." The Beatles win the
argument. The song is later a hit for fellow Liverpudlians Gerry and the
Pacemakers, also managed by Epstein.
October 5: The group's first British single, "Love Me Do"/"P.S.
I Love You" is released.
October 17: The Beatles make their TV debut with a live performance
on Granada TV's "People and Places."
February 11: The Beatles record 10 songs for their first album,
in a 10-hour session.
July 22:The Beatles first album, "Introducing The Beatles",
is released in the U.S. by Vee Jay records.
October 13: The Beatles appear on the popular British TV show
"Sunday Night at the London Paladium. The hysterical audience reaction
is the beginning of Beatlemania.
October 17: The group records the first of seven annual Christmas
messages for their fans, which is distributed through their fan club.
November 4: The Beatles perform at the Royal Variety Show in
London before an audience that includes the royal family. Lennon makes
quite an impression when he states for those in the cheaper seats to clap
their hands while the others can rattle their jewelry.
January 3: The Beatles' American TV show debut takes place on
"The Jack Paar Show."
January 20: The Beatles first Capitol album "Meet the Beatles",
is released in the U.S.
February 9: The group performs live in the first of three appearances
on the "Ed Sullivan Show", a performance seen by an estimated 73 million
people.
February 11: The Beatles first American concert is held at the
Washington Coliseum in Washington DC. The concert was filmed and shown
in U.S. theaters.
March 2: The Fab Four start filming their first full-length
feature, "A Hard Days Night".
April 10: "The Beatles Second Album" is released in the U.S. by Capitol records.
June 26: United Artists release "A Hard Day's Night (Original Soundtrack album) in the U.S.
July 20: "Something New" is released in the U.S.
August 19: The Beatles begin their first North American concert
tour at the Cow Palace just outside of San Francisco. The tour features
22 stops in the U.S. and three in Canada.
November 23: Capitol records release "The Beatles Story" an album of mostly interviews and some music by the fab four.
December 15: "Beatles '65" is released in the U.S.
February: The Beatles are the subjects of this month's Playboy Interview, as done by Jean Shephard.
February 11: Ringo marries Maureen Cox.
March 22: "The Early Beatles" is released in the U.S. It features songs previously recorded as it's name implies.
May 26: The Beatles record a BBC radio special, "The Beatles (Invite You to Take a Ticket To Ride)," to be aired June 7. The program is the last of its kind.
June 14: "Beatles VI" their 8th "music" album is released.
July 29: The group's second movie, "Help!", premieres in London. A James Bond spoof, the movie is filmed in the Bahamas,
England and Austria.
August 13: "Help!" is released in the U.S. by Capitol.
August 15: The group begins a second North American tour at Shea Stadium. This show is filmed for a television special. The tour ends with a gig at the Cow Palace on August 31.
August 27: A rock 'n' roll summit: The Beatles meet Elvis Presley in Beverly Hills.
September 13: The single "Yesterday" is released in the U.S. marking a new Beatles trend. their was a solo singer (never done by them before), and it marks the first Lennon-McCartney song to be written solo. This latter trend would last for most of the remaining songs.
December 6: "Rubber Soul" is released.
January 21: George marries Patti Boyd, who had a bit part in "A Hard Day's Night."
March: In interviews Lennon states, "Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue with that; I'm right and will be proved right." and "Right now the Beatles are more popular than Jesus Christ" These statements caused an anti-Beatles happening which included boycotts,
record burning, and threats. John also issues a formal apology at a press conference.
June 15: The release of "Yesterday and Today" in America causes a controversy over its cover of the group dressed in butcher's outfits covered with slabs of meat and broken dolls. The albums are recalled and pasted over with new covers, making the originals collector's items.
August 8: "Revolver" is released.
August 29: The Beatles give their final live concert at San Francisco's Candlestick Park.
February 17: In response to a request for a single, the group releases "Penny Lane" and "Strawberry Fields Forever."
June 1: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is released. It took over 700 hours in the studio to complete. Its release shocked the pop music world. It was a ground breaker in that the idea was an album not a compilation of songs, with hardly any space between the tracks, so
it nearly had to be listened to as a complete set. It also marked the comeback of the Lennon-McCartney song writing team.
August 27: Brian Epstein is found dead. The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi tells them to think positively about Brian's death because negative thoughts would be transferred to his spirit.
November 27: "Magical Mystery Tour" is released.
December 26: British television broadcasts the Beatles new film, "Magical Mystery Tour."
February 15: The Beatles leave for India to study Transcendental Meditation with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. They are joined there by other stars including Donovan and Mia Farrow. Many tunes on the White Album were written during their stay. John and George stay almost two months before leaving when it is rumored that the Maharishi tried to seduce actress Mia Farrow.
March 9: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" wins four Grammies, including Best Album.
May 14: John and Paul appear on "The Tonight Show" not hosted that night by Johnny Carson, but a substitute, Joe Garagiola.
August 22: Cynthia Lennon files for divorce from John, who had found himself a new romantic and artistic partner in Yoko Ono.
November 13: The psychedelic animated cartoon "Yellow Submarine" premieres. A segment with the song "Hey Bulldog" is shown in British theaters, but omitted from American prints.
November 25: "The Beatles", commonly refereed to as the White Album, is released.
January 2: The Beatles begin work on a planned project to release an album and film of The Beatles recording an album. It was originally called "Get Back", but later became "Let it Be". It sums up the attitudes of the group after the events that took place during the filming, which basically shows the group falling apart. During the sessions, Ringo and George quit at least once but came back.
January 13: "Yellow Submarine" (the album) is released.
January 30: The group performs a surprise rooftop concert atop the Apple offices. The concert is filmed and some footage is used in "Let it Be".
March: John marries Yoko Ono. Part of their honeymoon consists of bed-ins.
March 12: Paul marries Linda Eastman, a photographer.
May 8: Allen Klein is contracted by Ringo, George and John to allow Klein to take charge of several Apple Corps companies. Paul refuses to go along, wanting his in-laws to represent him. On May 20, Klein sweeps into Apple and fires a number of executives and hangers-on.
August 20: The last time the four Beatles are together in the studio, doing mixing work on "I Want You (She's So Heavy)."
September 26: The album "Abbey Road" is released. The cover shot of the group walking across the usually busy street makes the site a popular tourist attraction.
January 4: The last Beatle recording session, as Paul, George and Ringo try to complete the "Get Back" album.
February 26: The album "Hey Jude" is released. It is comprised of singles not issued on an album.
April 10: To publicize his first solo album called "McCartney," Paul releases an interview saying that in the future he'd rather work by himself than with the rest of the Beatles. The interview marks the group's breakup.
May 8: The Beatles final album "Let it Be" is released.
Some of the material in this timeline was taken from "Some Days In Their Lives" on "Abbeyrd's Beatles Page"