When John reunited with his mother in his young adolescence, she
would be the influence on him to play guitar and he would
be smitten by rock'n'roll, after she taught him to play
the banjo. In 1956, he started his own skiffle band with
some classmates (skiffle was a bluesy, rhythmic music
that early 60's groups popularized in Brittain).

Then a disastrous thing happened to John at the age of 17. While he was at
art school, his mother Julia was accidentally ran over
and killed by a drunk off-duty police officer. He covered
up his grief with alcohol excess, later concentrating on
his music career.

Paul McCartney, the musical genius song-writing partner of
John, was born June 18, 1942. The proud parents: Mary
McCartney, a nurse, and James McCartney who once led a
small-time jazz band. He grew up in a fairly musical
environment, learning the piano on his own and the
guitar, playing everything from big band music to
rock'n'roll, which he was also enthralled in. Tragically,
like John, Paul lost his mother in his teenage years who
died of cancer in 1955. Later on, Paul would encounter
his future music-shattering songwriting partner at a
local church party where John was playing with his
skiffle band The Quarrymen. He would join John's band in
late 1957, when they would first play at the Cavern Club.

George Harrison, the youngest of the fab four, was born on
February 25, 1943. His mother was a housewife, and his
father was a bus driver. George was the slowest to learn
the guitar. It didn't come easy for him. He would stay up
late after bed-time practicing the guitar till his
fingers couldn�t take anymore. His mother was the driving
force of him to listen to rock'n'roll and practice his
guitar, buying him the newest records that came out of
America. George first met Paul in school and later Paul
would introduce him to John in 1958. George idolized John
and wanted to be just like him. He would always hang
around while John's group the Quarrymen played. When John
saw how George showed promise as a musician and always
played the notes perfectly, he was accepted into the
Quarrymen without any moments notice. George was only 14
years old.

In 1960 they changed their group name to the Beatles.

Richard Starkey, a.k.a. Ringo, the fourth of the fab four was born
on July 7, 1940, to Richard Starkey Sr. and his mother
Elsie Gleave. When Richard Jr. was three years old, his
father left him and his mother on their own, never to
return. Ringo's mother and him would move to a small
house where she would take up a job being a barmaid,
leaving little Ringo with neighbors. Ringo was always
suffering from ailments as a child into his young
adolescence, spending most of his childhood in hospitals.
In his middle teens, he began to play drums and was
sought after in Liverpool, because he was such a great
drummer. In 1959 he was playing professional drums for
the skiffle group Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. In late
1960, while Ringo was playing with the Hurricanes in a
club called the Kaiserkeller in Hamburg, Germany, he met
fellow Liverpudlians, the Beatles. Two years later he
would join them as their official drummer.

The Beatles first single they recorded was "Love Me Do" and
hit the top twenty UK charts in 1962. Between 1962 and
1964 they did constant touring of Britain and Europe,
popping new singles left and right, hitting the top of
the charts. By 1963, Britain was thrown into Beatlemania.
The Beatle look was spreading everywhere; boys were
taking on the mop-top look, while girls were fantasizing
about John, Paul, George, and Ringo. In 1964, the Beatles
record company, Capitol, decided they should visit
America and go on the Ed Sullivan show. 70 million people
watched The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show.

Later in the year the Beatles would have twelve singles
simultaneously on the top 100 American charts. Five would
be in the top spots, and two LPs in the top two spots for
the album chart. In no time, there was talk of the
Beatles appearing in a film, and when they returned from
their American visit, the Beatles started working on
their first film, A Hard Days Night.

Many newsworthy events had taken place whilst filming of the
movie: George met his future wife Patti Boyd, who had a
part in the movie, John's book of poetry and stories In
His Own Write, would be published, then he would be
guest of honor at a literary function celebrating the
four-hundredth anniversary of Shakespeare's birth.

The movie of course was a world-wide success! 1964 had been an
amazing year for the Beatles, with no less than 30 hit
singles in The U.S., an incredible achievement. In 1965
they began work on their second film Help which
was originally called Eight Arms To Hold You.

Shortly before Help was premiered, the Beatles were
awarded the MBE (Member of the British Empire) in Queen
Elizabeth II's birthday honors list, which made other
recipients of the medal complain, the older generation
medal holders stated that "we are put on the same
level as a bunch of vulgar numskulls."

But before they actually received their mbe awards, they had
launched another world tour. During that trip to
California, the group finally got to meet one of their
greatest heroes, Elvis Presley in his home in Bel Air.

In 1965, Ringo married his girlfriend Maureen Cox and later had a
son, Zak, by Christmas. John's second book, A Spaniard
in the Works, was published and received the same
rave as his first book In His Own Write. The
following year, George and Patti were married.

In November 1966, John met the Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko Ono
when he attended an exhibition of her work at a London
art gallery, just before the Beatles began their work on
what was acclaimed as their finest album.

They all had different bands,
John had the "Plastic Ono Band"
Paul had "Wings"
George had "The Traveling Wilburys"
Ringo had "The All Stars"
None of which were very successful when
compared to The Beatles.

They would pursue different lifestyles and
many people thought they might get back together
again until on Dec. 8th 1980 John Lennon was shot
in the back 5 times while on his way to see his son.

That was the true end of The Beatles