Coming Together:
The Beatles were not always the Beatles.
On Saturday, July 6, 1957 John Lennon met Paul McCartney at a gig that Lennon was playing with his band mates, calling themselves The Quarrymen. The Quarrymen were nothing but a small band that played Skiffle music.
At the time Lennon was 17 and McCartney was 15, they were introduced through a friend named Ivan Vaughan. They came from very different social classes and it was unlikely that they would be associating with each other. Over the next few days Lennon played with the idea of having McCartney join the band after hearing him play guitar for him when they met. Soon enough on July 20th, 1957 Lennon invited McCartney to join The Quarrymen. Months later after playing small shows at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, England, a man named George Harrison, despite his young age was asked to join the band and play as a guitarist. Stuart Stutcliffe played as the bands bass guitar. Pete Best was hired soon thereafter and they change their name officially to "The Beatles" in August 1960. That same month they travel to Hamburg Germany for a 48 day tour sharpening the Beatles performing skills and musical ability, it was here that they first ventured into writing and performing they're own songs. After Best became ill before a performance, they needed someone to fill in and that person happened to be Richard Starkey, who is later known as Ringo Starr. Pete Best is fired as he was at best, an average drummer. Starr was excellent and therefore becomes a permanent fixture in 1962. The band became disenchanted with each other in 1970 and their friendship fell apart after years of spending time together as a foursome, they wanted to develop as people and no longer a single unit and then broke up with an unquestioned finality. |