November 9th, 2007 - This Day in History

Record store manager Brian Epstein goes to a Liverpool nightclub called the Cavern to hear the Beatles. Two months later, he became their manager and helped them land their first record deal, in 1962. The “Fab Four”-Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison–recorded “Love Me Do,” the group’s first Top 20 hit in the United Kingdom, in September 1962.

Epstein gave the group their clean-cut suit-and-tie image; previously, the band had played in blue jeans and leather jackets. He also helped manage their rise to fame. By the time they went on their first U.S. tour, in 1964, Beatlemania was in full swing, and the band was mobbed when they landed at Kennedy Airport in New York. Their debut album in the United States, Meet the Beatles, became the fastest-selling album in U.S. history to that time. The Beatles went on to score more No. 1 hits on the Billboard charts than any other group in history, with 20 chart toppers. They received the Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1965 at Buckingham Palace.

The band became more experimental with time, moving from upbeat harmonies to concept albums like Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Epstein, however, did not live to see the band’s later years; he died of an accidental overdose of sleeping pills in August 1967.

After Epstein’s death, the band stayed together until 1970. Later, each member pursued a solo career or formed a new group. Although there was frequent speculation about the possibility of a reunion, Lennon’s tragic murder by a deranged fan in 1980 brought that to an end.

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