Beatles Timeline: The Fab Four’s 50 Most Memorable Moments

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The Beatles posed together laughing circa 1964.

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July 1957: McCartney meets Lennon, joins the Quarrymen

15-year-old Paul McCartney joins the Quarrymen, a skiffle band led by 16-year-old John Lennon. The following March, 15-year-old George Harrison joins as lead guitarist. With Stuart Sutcliffe joining on bass in 1960, the band becomes known as the Beatals, which he suggested in honor of Buddy Holly and the Crickets.

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Summer 1960: ‘The Beatles’ finds its name

After a short stint as the Silver Beatles, the band finally settles on the Beatles as their name, books a residency in Hamburg, Germany, and fills out its lineup by hiring drummer Pete Best. During their second stint in the city, all adopt Sutcliffe’s new mop-top hairstyle. McCartney later takes over bass duties when Sutcliffe quits to return to art school.

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Brian Epstein and The Beatles relax in a hotel room in Paris, 16th January 1964.

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May-August 1962: Band signs with George Martin, hires Ringo

After getting rejected by the Decca label, which tells Epstein that “guitar groups are on the way out,” the Beatles get signed by George Martin to Parlophone, a sub-label of EMI. The producer disapproves of Best’s performance during a record session, leading to the firing of the drummer in August 1962. They soon hire Ringo Starr, the drummer for fellow Liverpool band Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

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Oct. 5, 1962: Beatles’ first single, “Love Me Do”/”PS I Love you,” is released

The Beatles recorded their harmonica-laden first single “Love Me Do” with Martin, but re-recorded it using professional drummer Andy White, with Ringo only adding tambourine. The new version goes to no. 17 on the U.K. singes charts, and later hits No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on May 30, 1964. The band follows up on the success with the release the single “Please Please Me,” which becomes their first U.K. No. 1.

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May 4, 1963: “From Me to You”/”Thank You Girl” hits No. 1

Before the release of their first album, Martin asks the band to bring him another single as good as “Please Please Me.” They answer with “From Me to You,” and the song quickly goes to No. 1 on many British charts. It has slightly more success in the U.S. than “Please Please Me,” peaking at 116 in the “Bubbling Under” portion of the Hot 100, marking the first time the Beatles appear on an American chart.

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February 7, 1964: The Beatles conquer America

Beatlemania hits the U.S. at the very end of 1963, when “I Want to Hold Your Hand” becomes an instant success and eventually tops the Billboard singles chart on February 1. The band leaves Britain with about 4,000 fans bidding them farewell at London’s Heathrow airport, and arrives to the screams of 3,000 devotees at New York’s JFK. The “British Invasion” is officially in full swing.

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February 9, 1964: Beatles make history with ‘Ed Sullivan’ appearance

Epstein, ever the shrewd manager, makes a deal for the Beatles to appear on three consecutive episodes of “The Ed Sullivan Show.” Following Sullivan’s intro, the first episode begins with the band performing “All My Loving,” “Till There Was You” (which includes a “Sorry girls, he’s married” caption superimposed over John Lennon) and “She Loves You.” The group returns to play “I Saw Her Standing There” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” The episode is seen by 73 million viewers, over a third of the American population.

The following week, they tape an episode in Miami Beach, where they also meet Muhammad Ali, and barely make it through a thick crowd surrounding the stage to play “This Boy”, “All My Loving” “I Saw Her Standing There”, “From Me to You,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.” Their final appearance was previously taped before the February 9th show, and features “Twist and Shout,” “Please Please Me,” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”

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April 4, 1964: The Beatles own the Billboard Hot 100

On the Billboard Hot 100 dated April 4, 1964, the Beatles make history by becoming the only act EVER to monopolize the chart’s top five positions. “Can’t Buy Me Love” blasts to the top, followed by “Twist and Shout” at No. 2, “She Loves You” at No. 3, “I Want to Hold Your Hand” at No. 4, and “Please Please Me” at No. 5. The Beatles eventually score 20 no. 1 singles throughout their career and still hold the record for most No. 1s in the Hot 100’s 55-year history.

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Lobby Card for A Hard Day’s Night 

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John Lennon, Bob Dylan

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August 15, 1965: Beatles rock Shea Stadium

The Beatles headline one of the first major stadium concerts in history, performing in front of 55,600 screaming fans at Shea Stadium in Queens, N.Y. The band rides a helicopter then an armored truck to the venue and gets introduced by Ed Sullivan. The noise from the crowd and PA is so loud that the awestruck band members aren’t even sure how the concert is sounding, and a documentary that comes out in 1966 has to use overdubs and re-recordings because of the audio problems. The concert’s gross is $304,000, then the highest of all time.

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June 20, 1966: ‘Yesterday and Today’

As many of the Beatles’ albums had different track lists in the U.K. and the States, their American label Capitol often created compilation albums that included the omitted songs and singles. Bored by the standard humdrum photo shoots, the band let Robert Whitaker pose them in butcher coats, covered in meat and dismembered doll parts, with Lennon and McCartney associating the imagery with the Vietnam War. Public backlash leads to Capitol recalling and destroying many copies of the album, and then re-releasing it with an inoffensive pasted-on cover. Original pressings are still sold for thousands of dollars.

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August 29, 1966: The band plays final concert

Jarred by the “Jesus” backlash and frustrated after years of being drowned out by screaming fans — not to mention the inability to perform their complex new songs in a live setting — the Beatles decide to cease performing live following a 14-show tour. Winding down at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park, the group only manages to sell 25,000 tickets at the 42,500-capacity stadium. They play 11 songs and set up a camera to commemorate the event. Audio of the show is still available thanks to a cassette recording McCartney had their press officer Tony Barrow make.

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February 13, 1967: “Strawberry Fields”/”Penny Lane” single released

While working on a new album, they release the double A-side single of Lennon’s “Strawberry Fields Forever” and McCartney’s “Penny Lane,” both written about their childhoods in Liverpool. Because the BBC treats both sides as individual releases, the single is the Beatles’ first since “Love Me Do” not to reach No. 1 on the U.K. charts. Engelbert Humperdinck’s “Release Me” tops them, despite the Fab Four selling nearly twice as many records.

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The Beatles perform their song ‘All You Need Is Love’ on ‘Our World’ the first live satellite uplink performance broadcast to the world on June 25, 1967 in London, England.

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August 27, 1967: Brian Epstein dies

While the band studies Transcendental Meditation at a Welsh retreat with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, manager Brian Epstein is found dead from an overdose of the sleeping pill Carbritral. The coroner rules it accidental due to the low dose, but Epstein’s assistant Peter Brown later claims that Epstein had previously written a suicide note. In order to give Epstein’s family privacy, the Beatles decline to attend his funeral. Lennon later says Epstein’s death is a turning point in the band’s career, preceding its eventual breakup.

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February 1968: The Beatles go to India

Interest in meditation and spirituality lead the Beatles to Rishikesh, India for a meditation training program led by the Maharishi. Other attendees include Mike Love of the Beach Boys, Mia Farrrow and her sister Prudence, about whom Lennon famously writes the song “Dear Prudence.” The band writes over 20 songs, including Starr’s first solo composition, “Don’t Pass Me By.” Ringo leaves first, missing his family and hating the food. McCartney returns to England due to business engagements. Lennon, growing distrustful of the Maharishi’s supposed interests in financial gain and his young female students, later leaves with Harrison and pens “Sexy Sadie” about the guru.

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John Lennon and oko Ono. December 1968.

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November 22, 1968: ‘The White Album’

Following their sojourn to India, the Beatles work on a self-titled double album, their most experimental yet. The unfocused sessions leads to tensions between the band members and their regular collaborators. McCartney and Lennon work separately and Starr quits the band for two weeks. With each Beatle working alone, the record stretches to 30 tracks of varying styles, culminating in the polarizing, 8-minute 22-second-long avant-garde composition “Revolution 9.” The cover is completely white save for a serial number, with the band’s name embossed in small print. The album spends nine weeks on top of the Billboard 200 during its 155 weeks on the chart.

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January 30, 1969: Apple Corps. Rooftop Concert

Following ‘The White Album,’ the Beatles work on a number of songs with the intention of premiering them during an audience-attended live taping. Group tensions quickly mar the rehearsals, and Harrison leaves the band for five days. As filming of the sessions progresses, the Beatles ultimately decide to salvage whatever they can of the project and stage a concert on the roof of Apple Corps’ London headquarters. They film the five-song, nine-take performance while fans and passersby gather in the street below until the police show and shut the party down. It’s the last time the Beatles ever perform in public.

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John Lennon and Yoko Ono in their bed in the Presidential Suite of the Hilton Hotel, Amsterdam, 25th March 1969. The couple are staging a ‘bed-in for peace’ and intend to stay in bed for seven days ‘as a protest against war and violence in the world’.

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November 27, 1970: George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass’

Harrison releases his third solo album — his first that’s not almost entirely instrumental. Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr, as well as future members of Derek and the Dominoes, perform on the record, which is produced by Phil Spector. The triple-LP produces the hit singles “My Sweet Lord,” which stays at No. 1 for four weeks, and “What Is Life.”

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August 1, 1971: George Harrison stages Concert for Bangladesh

Harrison and sitar great Ravi Shankar organize what was then the biggest benefit concert in history, raising money for the residents of East Pakistan following a tropical cyclone and civil-war genocide. Starr, Clapton, Dylan and Leon Russell take part in the Madison Square Garden concert, which features a number of hits by each performer. The concert concludes with Harrison performing “Something” and his new single “Bangla Desh.” In culminates in a live album and film, which raises $12 million for UNICEF.

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Paul McCartney from Wings performs live on stage at The Theatre Antique in Arles, France on July 13 1972; John Lennon formerly of ‘The Beatles’ performs onstage at the Chrysler Arena on December 10, 1971 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

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December 8, 1980: John Lennon is murdered

As Lennon works on a follow-up to ‘Double Fantasy’ with Ono, he is shot and killed outside the Dakota, his New York City apartment building, by obsessive fan Mark David Chapman. Fans the world over mourn the 40-year-old singer’s death. Soon after, “(Just Like) Starting Over” becomes a No. 1 single. The album ‘Double Fantasy’ also jumps to the top of the charts, landing at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 that same month.

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Traveling Wilburys

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January 20, 1988: Beatles join Rock Hall of Fame

Unsurprisingly, the Beatles are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame during its first year of eligibility. Harrison, Starr, Ono, and Lennon’s sons, Julian and Sean, attend the ceremony. Due to the band’s continued legal squabbling, McCartney refuses to attend, saying he would “feel like a complete hypocrite waving and smiling with them at a fake reunion.”

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1989: Ringo forms All-Starr band

After a fruitful ’70s solo career, which produces the hit singles “Photograph,” “You’re Sixteen,” “Only You (And You Alone),” and “No No Song,” Ringo forms his namesake supergroup in 1989. Members include the Band’s Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Garth Hudson, the Eagles’ Joe Walsh, Dr. John, the E Street Band’s Clarence Clemons and Nils Lofgren, and Ringo’s drummer son Zak Starkey, among many others. The group performs songs by Ringo and the Beatles, the members’ famous releases, and covers, has undergone multiple lineup changes and continues to tour today.

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A newspaper front page and a candle lie on the wall of Abbey Road Recording Studios after the death of musician George Harrison.

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Former Beatles Paul McCartney (L) and Ringo Starr after they had just performed onstage.