The Beatles were a pop and rock group from Liverpool, England who are recognised for leading the mid-1960s musical "British Invasion" into the United States. Although their initial musical style was rooted in 1950s rock and roll and homegrown skiffle, the group explored genres ranging from Tin Pan Alley to psychedelic rock. Their clothes, styles, and statements made them trend-setters, while their growing social awareness saw their influence extend into the social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s. The Beatles are one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed bands in the history of popular music. In the United Kingdom, The Beatles released more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one. This commercial success was repeated in many other countries; their record company, EMI, estimated that by 1985 they had sold over one billion records worldwide. According to the Recording Industry Association of America, The Beatles have sold more albums in the United States than any other band. In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Beatles #1 on its list of 100 Greatest Rock & Roll Artists of All Time. According to that same magazine, The Beatles' innovative music and cultural impact helped define the 1960s, and their influence on pop culture is still evident today. The story began in 50s in Britain. It should be fiction: four teenagers running and biking and busing all over Liverpool in search of new chords and old guitars and half-decent drum kit and any gig at all. Six years later, they were the four most famous and musical men on earth, the best dressed and on a good day the most captivating people anyone can remember. They didn’t dream it though it came out of John’s dream of the “man on a flaming pie” who said “You are Beatles with an ‘A’”. It did all happen. The whole wonderful thing did happen. Amazing and marvellous and, nearly forty years on, forever young. In March 1957, while attending Quarry Bank Grammar School in Liverpool, John Lennon formed a skiffle group called The Quarrymen. [6] Lennon met guitarist Paul McCartney at the Woolton Garden Fête, held at St. Peter's Church, on 6 July 1957; Lennon added him to the group a few days later. [7] On 6 February 1958 young guitarist George Harrison was invited to watch the group, playing under a variety of names, at Wilson Hall, Garston, Liverpool. McCartney had become acquainted with Harrison on the morning bus ride to the Liverpool Institute, as they both lived in Speke. Despite Lennon's initial reluctance due to Harrison's young age, Harrison joined the Quarrymen as lead guitarist at McCartney's insistence after a rehearsal in March 1958. Lennon and McCartney both played rhythm guitar during that period, and had a high turnover of drummers. Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe joined on bass in January 1960. The Quarrymen went through a progression of names, including "Johnny and the Moondogs" and "Long John and The Beatles". Sutcliffe suggested the name "The Beetles" as a tribute to Buddy Holly and The CricketsOn 26 November 1962 the band recorded their second single "Please Please Me", which reached number two on the official UK charts and number one on the NME chart. Three months later, they recorded their first album, also titled Please Please Me. The band's first televised performance was on the People and Places programme, transmitted live from Manchester by Granada Television on 17 October 196 2)[48] As The Beatles' fame spread, the frenzied adulation of the group, predominantly from teenage female fans, was dubbed Beatlemania. The band also began to be noticed by serious music critics. On 23 December 1963, The Times music critic William Mann published an essay extolling The Beatles' compositions. Although the band experienced huge popularity on the UK record charts in early 1963, EMI's American operation, Capitol Records, declined to issue the singles "Please Please Me" and "From Me to You", their first official number one hit in the UK. Vee-Jay Records, a small Chicago label, issued the singles as part of a deal for the rights to another performer's masters. Art Roberts, music director of popular Chicago radio station WLS, placed "Please Please Me" into radio rotation in late February 1963, arguably the first time a Beatles record was heard on American radio. Nevertheless all the difficulties they became very popular in USA. They have so much eagerness to live and to create that problems seemed to solve themselves. On 7 February 1964, a crowd of four thousand fans at Heathrow Airport waved to The Beatles as they took off for their first trip to the United States as a group. [56] They were accompanied by photographers, journalists (including Maureen Cleave), and Phil Spector, who had booked himself on the same flight. The pilot had radioed ahead, and as they prepared to land, he was told, "Tell the boys there's a big crowd waiting for them. " New York's newly-renamed JFK Airport had never experienced such a crowd, estimated at about 3,000 fans. After a press conference, where they first met disc jockey Murray the K, The Beatles were put into limousines and driven to New York City. After reaching the Plaza Hotel, they were besieged by fans and reporters. It was the apogee of their career. The four boys became a legend. The Beatles' partnership was finally dissolved in 1975. Shortly before and after the official dissolution of the group, all four Beatles released solo albums. Harrison showed his socio-political consciousness and earned respect for his contribution for arranging the Concert For Bangladesh in New York City in August 1971. The narration about the unseen success of a band was ended. But McCartney is still popular now and fans all round the world are still wedded to the Beatles.