Thursday, August 2, 2007
March 1957
It all begins in Liverpool with John Lennon forming the band The Quarrymen.
July 6, 1957
Lennon meets Paul McCartney during one of The Quarrymen shows. McCartney impresses them playing all the chords and words to "Twenty Flight Rock." A few days later, he is asked to join the band. McCartney then introduces them to his younger friend, George Harrison, who shows extraordinary talent on the guitar.
1960Lennon's best friend Stuart Sutcliffe joins on bass, though he has no formal music training. He is credited with inventing the band's name, jokingly suggesting The Beatles, as a play on Buddy Holly's Crickets. Sutcliffe is also the first to don the "mop-top" hairstyle, which all The Beatles later adopt. Pete Best joins the band as drummer, and the group departs for Hamburg to kick off their first tour.
December 1960
In Hamburg, they meet Liverpool drummer Ringo Starr - also performing with his band. Lennon and McCartney's collaboration begin to take place. Harrison is deported for disobeying the under-18 curfew, being only 17. Sutcliffe also leaves the band to remain in Germany to pursue art. McCartney begins playing bass.
Nov. 9, 1961Back in Liverpool, The Beatles find their "home" at the Cavern Club, a popular and esteemed venue for local bands. Brian Epstein, owner of a local music store, goes to see them play. He immediately suggests becoming their manager.
Jan. 1, 1962
The band auditions for Decca Records, but is rejected and told that "guitar groups are on the way out."
May 9, 1962
Undaunted, Epstein finds George Martin. After a successful audition for EMI Parlophone, The Beatles sign a recording contract. Martin suggests that Best be replaced by Starr. After two years as their drummer, Best was out - Starr was in. Best's fans were outraged crying, "Pete Best Forever - Ringo, never!"
October 1962
Their first single, "Love Me Do" is a Top 20 hit in England. The band is a regular guest on the BBC.
February 1963The Beatles return to the studio to record 10 songs in a single day for their first album, Please Please Me. It becomes an instant hit, staying at No. 1 in Britain for 30 weeks, ultimately reaching the top-selling LP record.
October 1963
Female fans are screaming uncontrollably at their shows - marking the start of "Beatlemania." From then on, teenagers are caught up in a frenzy that includes hysteria, fainting and hyper-emotional states during performances. Every country soon experiences Beatlemania.
November 1963
Naturally, word about this new act spreads to America. Their fame in Europe is small compared to that in the U.S. Ignoring their British success, EMI/Capitol declines to issue their first few singles. They are picked up by Chicago-based indie label Vee Jay Records, which packages the singles as "Introducing the Beatles." It sells incredibly well.
1964A court awards the rights to all Beatles recordings to EMI/Capitol. The record goes out of print, only to become one of the most counterfeited albums in music history. They do what no other British group has done, bursting onto the American scene with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in the No. 1 spot on the American charts.
February 1964
A great deal of hype and screaming teenagers surround their arrival at J.F.K. Airport. The band appears on the Ed Sullivan Show, introducing Beatlemania to America. Following a landmark three-weekend stint on the show - to the largest audience in TV history of over 73 million viewers - the Beatles' "British Invasion" takes hold.
Late 1964
Their albums and singles continue to clog the U.S. and U.K Top 10 while EMI plans to have a new Beatles album out every six months. The Liverpudlians become known as the "Fab Four" for their ability to sing, write and play their own instruments. Beatlemania rages on as
The Beatles Unseen Footage
Source:
- http://wms/eu.stream.aol.com/timeinc/uk/ipcmedia/nme/video/07/aug/beatles.wmv
Unseen Beatles footage emerges
And it can be seen online
01.Aug.07 5:47pm
Exclusive never-before-seen footage of The Beatles is released today (August 1). The material was filmed by the Fab Four's former roadie Mal Evans and has been hidden for decades. The clips include secret concert footage as well as revealing private conversations and personal exchanges within the band. The historic footage includes live concert performances, also the Fab Four chatting as the travel down the Thames on a boat, and the band riding down London's Park Lane in a car with their friends and rivals The Beach Boys.
Other footage uncovered includes Rolling Stones legend Charlie Watts discussing the cult of celebrity, years before such a phenomenon was ever recognised, and live recordings of Jimi Hendrix playing in front of The Beatles.
MBop has now released the material and has made some clips available for download at the MBopMegastore.com, reformatted and restored. Evans was shot dead in 1976. His widow Lily discovered the cine footage in their attic before selling them at Christie's auction house. The private owners have licensed the footage exclusively to MBop, but you can see a preview on NME.COM now. Simply head to The Beatles artist page and launch the media player.
The Beatles NME page
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Beatles, Coldplay publisher EMI sells up
Terra Firma's bid valued EMI - which is the world's third-biggest music company - at £3.2 billion ($7.66 billion) including debt.
The private equity house, which is headed by chief executive Guy Hands, said today it had secured 90.27 per cent of the shares in EMI.
“The offer is now unconditional as to acceptances,” Terra Firma said.
Under British rules, a takeover is declared unconditional once 90 per cent support is won, meaning that minority shareholders can be forced to sell their stakes.
The takeover offer, which was pitched at £2.65 ($5.83) per share, was backed by management at EMI, whose roster also includes The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Janet Jackson, Norah Jones, Robbie Williams and The Spice Girls.
Terra Firma's tilt at EMI won a massive boost earlier this month after Warner Music Group decided not to make an offer.
Prior to Warner's withdrawal from the race, Terra had struggled to win a significant amount of EMI shares, as investors eyed a potential bidding war.
EMI, which has issued a series of profit warnings since the start of 2007, had in March rejected a £2.08 billion ($4.98 billion) approach from Warner, with which it had been in sporadic takeover talks since 2000.
The British music publisher is struggling with sliding sales in the US and said earlier this year that it will not pay any more shareholder dividends until 2009.
Earlier this week, meanwhile, Britain's Takeover Panel granted Terra Firma extra time to garner enough EMI shareholder support, extending its takeover deadline until today.
The deal has already received regulatory approval from the European Commission.
On Monday, however, Terra said its bid would lapse if it failed to win support from 90 per cent of EMI's shareholders.
Banks usually waive the stipulation once acceptances get near this level.
But Sunday's Observer newspaper reported that US bank Citigroup - Terra Firma's financial backer - had declined to give the buyout firm any assurance that the 90 per cent clause would be waived amid turmoil on global stock markets.
Analysts are concerned that the troubled US housing market will hurt banks and finance companies enough to curb the availability of credit on which the economy thrives.
In turn, that could affect private equity groups, such as Terra Firma, because their takeover bids are often financed by large amounts of bank debt.
Some leading finance officials have warned of the risk associated with private equity groups that borrow huge amounts of money through the company being acquired to help fund the deals. Trade unions, meanwhile, claim that workers face increased risks of redundancy.
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