The Beatles: Difference between revisions

Aged sixteen, singer and guitarist John Lennon formed the skiffle group The Quarrymen with some Liverpool schoolfriends in March 1957.  Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined as a guitarist after he and Lennon met that July.  When McCartney in turn invited George Harrison to watch the group the following February, the fourteen-year-old joined as lead guitarist.  By 1960 Lennon's schoolfriends had left the group, he had begun studies at the Liverpool College of Art and the three guitarists were playing rock and roll whenever they could get a drummer.  Joining on bass in January, Lennon's fellow student Stuart Sutcliffe suggested changing the band name to "The Beetles" as a tribute to Buddy Holly and The Crickets, and they became "The Beatals" for the first few months of the year.  After trying other names including "Johnny and the Moondogs", "Long John and The Beetles" and "The Silver Beatles", the band finally became "The Beatles" in August.  They made enough of a noise to cause the British labels to come calling, and the band signed to EMI Records in the early 1962.  Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr at the behest of producer George Martin, effectively solidifying the lineup.