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1940
Four boys are born in Liverpool
John, Paul, George and Ringo are all born in Liverpool, a busy port city in the north of England.
Ringo is the oldest (July 1940). George is the youngest (February 1943).
1957
John meets Paul
John’s band, the Quarrymen, plays at a church summer fair. A friend introduces him to 15-year-old Paul, who shows off his guitar playing.
Date: 6 July 1957. Paul joined the band soon after.
1958
George joins
Paul brings along his school friend George, who is only 15 but a brilliant guitar player.
George auditioned by playing a guitar tune on the top deck of a bus!
1960
Era 1 · The Leather Days
The Beatles get their name, and go to Germany
The band becomes “The Beatles” and travels to Hamburg, Germany, to play in clubs for hours every night. They get much, much better.
Sometimes they played for six or seven hours in a single night.
1961
Era 1 · The Leather Days
The Cavern Club
Back in Liverpool they play lunchtime shows in the Cavern Club, a crowded cellar. Brian Epstein sees them and becomes their manager.
They played at the Cavern about 290 times!
1962
Era 1 · The Leather Days
Ringo joins, and the first record
Ringo becomes the drummer. Producer George Martin records them at Abbey Road, and their first single, Love Me Do, comes out.
George Martin is sometimes called “the fifth Beatle”.
1963
Era 2 · Beatlemania
Beatlemania!
Hit after hit. Screaming fans everywhere. Newspapers invent a new word for it: Beatlemania.
1964
Era 2 · Beatlemania
Hello, America!
The Beatles fly to New York and play on The Ed Sullivan Show on TV. About 73 million people watch, one of the biggest TV audiences ever at the time.
In April 1964 they had the top 5 songs in the whole American chart at the same time.
1965
Era 3 · Growing Up
The biggest concert ever
They play at Shea Stadium in New York to more than 55,000 fans, the biggest pop concert anyone had seen.
The Queen gave them medals called MBEs that year.
1966
Era 4 · Psychedelic
The last tour ends in San Francisco
The screaming is so loud nobody can hear the music, so the Beatles stop touring. Their last proper concert is at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.
Date: 29 August 1966. That’s right here in the Bay Area!
1967
Era 4 · Psychedelic
Sgt. Pepper and the world’s first global TV show
They spend months in the studio making Sgt. Pepper, then sing All You Need Is Love live to the whole world by satellite.
1968
Era 5 · Back to Basics
A trip to India
The band travels to India to learn meditation and writes dozens of songs there. They also start their own record company, Apple.
Hey Jude came out in 1968. At over 7 minutes, it was one of the longest number-one songs ever.
1969
Era 5 · Back to Basics
The rooftop concert and Abbey Road
In January they play a surprise concert on their office roof. In the summer they record Abbey Road, their last album together.
1970
Era 5 · Back to Basics
The band splits up
The four Beatles decide to go their own ways and make music on their own. Let It Be is their final album.
Today
The music lives on
John died in 1980 and George in 2001. Paul and Ringo are still making music today. In 2023, one last Beatles song, Now and Then, came out, and it won a Grammy.
In 2000, a collection of 27 Beatles number-one hits, called 1, sold more copies than any other album that decade.