The Beatles

The Beatles: John Lennon (1940- ), Paul McCartney (1942- ), George Harrison (1943- ), Ringo Starr (1940- ). A washboard and banjo band thumped British skiffle tunes at Woolton Parish Church in Liverpool on June 15, 1956. Sixteen-year-old John Lennon, leader of John and the Quarrymen (and an occasional shoplifter as well as a prankish egotist), ended a set and met Paul McCartney, 14, from the nearby Liverpool Institute. Paul, who impressed John with new guitar chords, joined the band and later invited his classmate, George Harrison, 13, to meet John. All shared the American influences of Bill Haley, Elvis, the Everly Brothers, Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, and Britain's Lonnie Donnigan--whose upbeat version of "The Rock Island Line" motivated Liverpudlian youth to form numerous skiffle bands.