Who left The Beatles first?
 |
Until that point John, Paul, George and Ringo were still technically Beatles. That said, from the summer of 1968 three of the four clearly had one eye on the exit.
Before they were famous
And before that there had already two departures. The first was that of Stuart Sutcliffe in July 1961. This was voluntary though precipitated by an onstage fistfight with Paul McCartney. The exit of Pete Best a year later was very much involuntary from Best's perspective.
From the autumn of 1962 until the death of Brian Epstein in August 1967 the line-up seemed set in stone (discounting the madness of the Paul is Dead rumour). Then the first whispers of band intra-tensions emerge.
"I left first!"
Ringo briefly walked out in 1968. George did an even shorter flounce-off in January, 1969.
Then John announced to all and sundry he wanted out after his Plastic Ono Band gig in Toronto in 1969. This was not taken seriously until he casually confirmed his decision at a band meeting.
John later claimed he had been cheated out of the opportunity to end the group he had formed. It is true that he was persuaded to delay his departure by Paul (allied for once with Alan Klein).
Klein was thinking of the impact on the bottom line, while Paul was still hoping to stave off the inevitable. Bu by this point, even Mr Beatle was reluctantly lawyering up for the coming divorce.
And in the end
To Lennon's fury, it was McCartney who first announced the end of The Beatles, casually mentioning in an interview that he was no longer working with the group.
Legally, however, The Beatles were not formally dissolved until 29 December 1974. This was the date on which their 'divorce' became final.
