The Beatles are widely acclaimed as the towering geniuses of popular music and icons of the swinging Sixties.
THE Beatles are widely acclaimed as the towering geniuses of popular music and icons of the swinging Sixties.
The Liverpool foursome are believed to be the most successful group in history, selling close to a billion records globally.
Alongside Elvis Presley, they were the most influential musicians of the second half of the 20th Century. As songwriters go, only Bob Dylan has been showered with such acclaim.
Such was their fame worldwide that John Lennon (guitar and vocals), Paul McCartney (bass and vocals), George Harrison (guitar and vocals) and Ringo Starr (drums) were universally known as simply John, Paul, George and Ringo.
During a recording career that stretched from 1963 until the band split in 1970, they embraced a wide range of styles, from 1950s rock 'n' roll to music hall parody, from pioneering psychedelic rock to middle-of-the-road singalong ballads.
The hub of the group was the prolific songwriting partnership of Lennon and McCartney. The vast majority of the band's songs were credited to the duo. In fact, although some songs were genuine collaborations, many were largely solo compositions that were automatically given the famous Lennon/McCartney credit. Because of the pair's dominance, Harrison's considerable songwriting abilities were largely overlooked.
The band's beginnings stretch back to 1957 when a 16-year-old Lennon invited McCartney to join his group The Quarrymen as a second guitarist. At the time they were playing skiffle - a simple upbeat form of Blues-influenced music that had become popular in the UK. A year later they recruited the then 14-year-old Harrison after being impressed by his guitar skills.
Soon afterwards John decided to change the band's name, eventually settling on The Beatles in tribute to rock'n'roll hero Buddy Holly's group The Crickets. It was this line-up, with Stuart Sutcliffe on bass and Pete Best on drums, that headed to Hamburg after landing a deal to play in clubs there. In the German port city the band developed a reputation as an exciting live act. But Sutcliffe quit to be an art student, so McCartney took over on bass.
The band quickly became sick of the exhausting routine of non-stop gigs. During a return trip to Liverpool in 1962 they agreed a management deal with record shop owner Brian Epstein, who promised to get them a record contract.
He initially tried to get them signed with Decca Records, who famously turned them down. The official reason was that: "Guitar groups are on the way out", though Decca instead signed Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, an Essex guitar band who went on to have moderate success in the 1960s.
In May the Beatles were signed to EMI's label Parlophone after impressing record producer George Martin at an audition. In June 1962 they had their first recording session with Martin at EMI's Abbey Road studios in London, the beginning of a relationship that would become legendary.
However, Martin was unhappy with Best's drumming and a session drummer was used instead. Within weeks Best was out, replaced by Richard Starkey - better known as Ringo Starr - from fellow Liverpudlian band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
The band's first single, Love Me Do, was released in October and got to No17 in the UK singles chart. A month later they recorded Please Please Me - their first of many No1s.
Their first album, also called Please Please Me, was another chart-topper. The follow-up singles From Me To You and She Loves You and the album With The Beatles cemented their reputation in the UK and Europe as the No1 pop act.
The phenomenon of Beatlemania had also begun, with crowds of screaming, tear-stricken teenage girls flocking to their concerts and besieging their hotels. To millions of young fans they were simply The Fab Four.
But their success in Europe was nothing compared to the effect the four cheeky, humorous Liverpudlians had on America. When I Want To Hold Your Hand was released later in 1963 it stormed the charts, selling a million copies within weeks.
Their popularity exploded after a triumphant appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, the most popular in America, watched by an estimated 73million people. Suddenly, America loved The Beatles. A series of sell-out concerts and tours followed - all packed with near-hysterical fans.
The band also made their first movie - a spoof documentary called A Hard Day's Night, named after their third album.
Between August 1964 and October 1965 the Beatles began an exhausting schedule of recording, touring and film-making. They produced the ground-breaking albums Beatles For Sale, Help! and Rubber Soul - which included classic songs such as Ticket To Ride and Yesterday. The recording demonstrated a growing confidence in songwriting and a willingness to experiment musically - an attitude fostered by the vastly experienced George Martin.
But the exhausting schedule was taking its toll. The band were increasingly disillusioned with playing live to audiences whose screaming drowned out their music. In future they would concentrate on writing and recording. The August 1966 tour of America was to be their last.
In the studio, their appetite was as strong as ever. In 1966 they released the album Revolver, containing gems such as Tomorrow Never Knows and Eleanor Rigby. The songs had come a long way from the simple, catchy pop classics that had made the band's name.
If Revolver was a step forward, the next album - 1967's Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - was a massive leap into the unknown. Widely regarded as The Beatles' masterpiece, it blended a dizzying array of musical styles, from the "music hall" of When I'm 64, through the emotive balladry of She's Leaving Home to the sitar-laden psychedelia of Within You, Without You. In A Day In The Life, it boasted arguably the band's finest moment.
Sgt Pepper became the defining album of the hippie movement - and the soundtrack to the explosion of drug-influenced music and alternative lifestyles known as the Summer Of Love.
However tensions within the band that had been present for years were now becoming more powerful. Epstein's death in 1967 was not only a deep personal blow to the band members, it also left them suddenly responsible for managing their own affairs, something that sparked disagreements between McCartney and Lennon.
By the time of the recording of The White Album - so called because of its plain white cover with the words "The Beatles" in small type - the strains were all too apparent. The rift had widened because of John's insistence on having his lover Yoko Ono present in the studio. The band's interest in eastern religion and meditation, as well as their spiralling drug use, had not improved matters.
The White Album's incredible range of musical styles showed that as individuals their creativity was undimmed. But the songs were largely solo efforts. Lennon later claimed there was not a true Beatles song on the album.
It was followed by Yellow Submarine in January 1969, a soundtrack for the band's psychedelic animated movie. By the time it hit the shops the Beatles had already decided to split.
But there were two more albums left to come. Abbey Road was initially intended to be the last recording. It was, of course, a chart-topper - but got mixed reviews. Its best-known song is probably the ballad Something - the only George Harrison number ever released as a Beatles single.
However, Abbey Road was not the band's swansong. On May 8, 1970, the final Beatles album Let It Be, the recording of which started before Abbey Road, was released. It contained two of McCartney's finest songs - the haunting, hymn-like title track and the rocker Get Back.
But by the time fans heard them for the first time, the band was over.
John, Paul, George and Ringo were now solo artists.
Lennon was assassinated by a crazed fan in 1980. Harrison died of cancer in 2001.