Beatles FAQ

The Beatles first played the Cavern on February 9, 1961: a lunchtime session for which they were paid £5. Despite lengthy absences in Hamburg, they would do over 290 more gigs there over the next two years. On Good Friday, 12 April, 1963, they gave their penultimate performance there, returning in triumph as national chart toppers. This was widely assumed to be their farewell to the tiny venue. But an obscure contractual obligation to a local promoter brought them back to do one more date down those cellar steps. Final Cavern Gig Their last performance was on Saturday, August 3rd, 1963. It would prove a chaotic swansong.  The crowds outside were going mad. By the time John Lennon had got through the cordon of girls, his mohair jacket had lost a sleeve. I grabbed it to stop a girl getting away with a souvenir. John stitched it back on. Read full story    Why did The Beatles Stop Performing Live ?

Throughout his life, George celebrated his birthday on February 25th. But in the early 1990s, there were claims of a newly discovered 'hospital document'. 

We didn’t sing our own songs in the early days — they weren’t good enough John Lennon We started as a little covers band Paul McCartney

Beatlemania  was the name given to the popular frenzy surrounding the Beatles … in 1963  Brittanica

George Martin wanted The Beatles first single to be  How Do You Do It, a Tin Pan Alley song which he felt had commercial potential.

In 1962 Capitol Records, the sister company of EMI, were offered the opportunity to release the first Beatles singles in the USA. But because British acts typically had little success in the American market Capitol turned the opportunity down.  It was two small  companies Vee-Jay Records and Swan who saw some potential for American sales.  Vee-Jay Records? Vee-Jay Records were a small Chicago label, specialising in soul records. They signed The Beatles in order to secure a bigger star: Frank Ifield. As part of the deal Vee-Jay released Please Please Me in February 1963.  With promotion on local radio stations Please, Please Me crept up to number 35 in the Chicago chart. But the song did not register nationally Cold Feet Despite this Vee-Jay scheduled the release of the first album ('Please Please Me' in the UK) for July 1963. With Beatlemania building in Britain, This seemed a very shrewd move until the release was suddenly cancelled without warning. I...

George Martin was initially unconvinced that Lennon & McCartney could consistently write hit songs. For their second single John Lennon put forward Please Please Me - his attempt to channel Roy Orbison. Again the verdict was a resounding thumbs down: I listened to it and I said: 'Do you know that's too boring for words? It's a dirge. At twice the speed it might sound reasonable.' They took me at my word. I was joking and they came back and played it to me sped up and put a harmonica on it. Impressed by the dramatic improvement, George Martin agreed to give the song a second chance. He was not to regret his decision:  We worked for ages on their new version of 'Please Please Me', and I said: 'Gentlemen, you're going to have your first #1. Source: Interview with George Martin, The Observer Music Monthly, 2006