What was the first Beatles album released in the US?
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...