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Biography

John Lennon was born in 1940 in Liverpool as the son of the ship steward Alfred Lennon. At the age of six, he sang in the church choir of St. Peter's in Woolton. He first went to Doverdale Primary School and changed in 1952 to the Quarry Bank Grammar School. Abandoned as a child by his father and then his mother, he began playing the guitar in his teens. His first group, the Quarry Men, co-opted another local boy, Paul McCartney whom John had met at a church party in 1956. In 1962, Lennon married his teenage sweetheart Cynthia Powell.

Lennon launched his solo career even before the Beatles’ dissolution in 1970. He met his future wife, the Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko Ono, in 1966, at the height of the group's success. He left his wife. The Lennon/Ono-couple made experimental recordings such as Two Virgins (Apple, 1968).

Lennon moved to New York in 1971 where he dedicated himself to a curious mix of left-wing activism, mystical passivity and Fifties nostalgia. In 1973, a short separation from Yoko Ono inspired his album Walls & Bridges. Lennon had drug problems in several times in his life and, therefore, faced legal action. In 1974, the American Justice Department tried to extradite him for drug abuse, but he successful fought that decision, reconciled himself with Yoko Ono and moved back to the Dakota House by New York's Central Park. Lennon spent the next five years as a "houseman". The sensational comeback was curtailed by his assassination outside his home in New York City. In 1981, after his death, John Lennon had four singles in the international charts.

Paul McCartney was born in Liverpool on June 18, 1942 as the son of a working-class family. At the age of fourteen, he got his first guitar. He was an autodidact who could not read music. Together with John Lennon, he was the key figure of the Beatles. In 1969, he married the American photographer Linda Eastman. His first major assignment away from the Beatles was the music for the film The Family Way (Decca, 1966). His solo album McCartney in 1970 marked the Beatles' demise. Together with wife Linda, he made naive sounds. As his music turned cosily domestic, the critics' response was devastating.

In 1971, Paul formed a new band, Wings. The amateurish Wild Life and group's albums Band on the Run (Apple, 1973) and Venus and Mars (Capitol, 1975) were commercial achievements. He had some drug problems, but also other successes, e.g. with the James Bond theme Live And Let Die. In 1977, the Arcadian single Mull of Kintyre sold millions of copies in Britain alone, beating the sales record established by the Beatles song She Loves You. The album London Town, released in 1978, was another success.Paul McCartney was knighted in 1997.

George Harrison was born in Liverpool in 1943 as the son of a bus driver. At the age of 13, he got his first guitar. A year later, at the Liverpool Institute, he met Paul McCartney who introduced him to John Lennon in 1958. Lennon was so pleased by George's respectless playing that he made him a part of the Quarry Men. With the beginning of the Beatlemania around 1963, Harrison was somewhat relegated to the second grade in the group behind Lennon and McCartney. Don't Bother Me in 1963 was the first song George composed for the Beatles.

After the Beatles demise, Harrison had great successes with the triple-album All Things Must Pass. In 1969/70, Harrison had also two songs written for the Radha Krishna Temple choir in the British charts. George Harrison had received a Grammy in March 1989 for the Traveling Wilburys.Years of smoking cigarettes caused Harrison to develop throat cancer. He was treated, but the cancer came back and spread, leading to Harrison's death on November 29, 2001.

Ringo Starr was born in a working-class district of Liverpool in 1940 as Richard Starkey. His nickname "Ringo" was a result of his passion for very visible rings. His grandfather gave him his first drums. As a teenager, Ringo was part of several skiffle groups. In 1958, he turned professional as a member of Rory Storm's the Hurricanes. Starr remained with Storm, who had the unrealistic ambition of becoming the English Elvis, for four years. In August 1962, Brian Epstein sacked Pete Best and engaged Ringo Starr in his place on drums for the Beatles, just before the band was about to take off.

In 1965, he married the hairdresser Maureen Cox. The same year, his son Zak was born. Starr was the entertainer within the Beatles. He did not try to have an impact on the Lennon/McCartney dispute over musical matters and was no creative part of the Beatles.

In Autumn 1975, Starr founded his own label, Rong 'O Records. He played in the studio for his friend Keith Moon of the Who, Manhattan Transfer and others, but he had no more solo successes. In 1981, he married the actress Barbara Bach, whom he had met on the set of the film Caveman. He had parts in several movies, television films and documentaries. His All Star Band, created in 1990, was a failure.