History of the Beatles Part One: The Quarrymen

There are so many well known artists of today and back then like Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Jason Aldean and even Taylor Swift. Plenty of those artists whether inspired directly and or inspired by another artist who was inspired by them would have to thank most of the most, if not the most important contribution to music there is: The Beatles. The Beatles are a rock band based in the United Kingdom and many of the things they've done, especially latter in the band's life, would shape the music scene and even would inspire new artists and even result in new genres of rock music that many more artists would begin to use. The best way to go over the success of the Beatles is to go over the complete history of the Beatles.

The earliest form of the Beatles was formed in 1956 in the form of a skiffle band at Quarry Bank High School (now called Calderstones School) called the Blackjacks which was quickly renamed the Quarrymen. The Quarrymen was formed by high school friends Eric Ronald Griffiths (1940 - 2005) and more importantly John Winston Lennon (1940 - 1980; picture taken 1961) who the latter would later be one of the founding members of the Beatles. (See part two for info about John Lennon from 1940 to 1960)

The original lineup in 1956 consisted of Lennon on lead vocals and guitar, Griffiths also on guitars, Bill Smith on tea chest bass, Colin Leo Hanton (born 1938) on drums and Peter Shotton (1941 - 2017) on washboard. Smith left the band later in 1956 and was replaced by Christopher Nigel Walley (born 1941) who in turned was replaced that same by Ivan Vaughan (1942 - 1993), a childhood friend of Lennon so that Walley could be the Quarrymen manager. On 6 July 1957, at a performance at St. Peter's Church, a 15 year James Paul McCartney (born 1942; picture on the right), a friend of Vaughan, would see the Quarrymen preform and would later be another founder of the Beatles. (See part three for info about Paul McCartney from 1942-1960)

Two weeks later after a disscussion by Lennon and Shotton, McCartney was invited to join the band and gladly accepted. Shortly after this, Vaughan would leave for good and Shotton would leave the band too but he would return 40 years later. Rod Davis who had joined the band in 1957 as the banjo player would also leave before the end of the year but would also return 40 years later. McCartney made his debut in October 1957 at the Conservative Club on guitar and vocals. He initially meant to be the lead guitarist but his skills on guitar weren't that good. So a new guitarist was needed and it would another important man for the Beatles.

About four months after the Quarrymen's performance at the Conservative club, McCartney suggested for the new guitarist to be his friend George Harrison (1943-2001; picture on the left) after Harrison came to a Quarrymen performance earlier that month. Lennon was unsure about this because at that time Harrison was 14 about to turn 15. Lennon eventually gave in after being insisted by McCartney several times and Harrison become the band's lead guitarist. John Duff Lowe would also join the band as the pianist but would leave by the end of 1958 but would return 40 years later. Walley would fire Griffiths after refusing to be a bassist due to the band having four guitarists at the time. Walley would regret this action and resigned as their manager shortly after. Hanton would also quit in 1958 and wouldn't come back for another 40 years leaving Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison as the only members left and because of that they only played a handful for the next few months probably because no one wanted to be the bassist (well not yet for McCartney).

They would rebrand themselves in the fall of 1958 as Johnny and the Moondogs and later Japage 3 but both wouldn't last and the trio would bring back the Quarrymen by the summer of 1959. The trio did manage to find a new member in 1959 by the name of Kenneth Brown (1940-2010) as the band's fourth guitarist (John Lennon had said that "The rhythm's in the guitars"). The four would play for another until Brown left in 1960 after the fab three refused to pay for a performance he didn't attended due to sickness. In desperate need of a bassist, Lennon managed to convince his fellow student Stuart Fergusson Victor Stucliffe (1940-1961) to purchase a bass guitar and join the band even though he had little to no experience in music as he went to an art school with John Lennon.

1960 would be one of biggest years for the band as a major change had taken place as the Quarrymen would start recording music although not all of it survived. In March 1960, Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Sutcliffe decided the name, the Quarrymen wasn't a good band name anymore and so a name change was in order. After much thinking, Lennon and Sutcliffe decided on the name "the Silver Beetles" after liking the name of Buddy Holly's (1936-1959) band "the Crickets." That would be the end of the Quarrymen for the next 34 years until 1994 a few former member of the band like Rod Davis and John Duff Lowe and beginning in 1997, the Quarrymen would be back to preforming music although out any of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison or Sutcliffe's involvement with half of them being deceased before the band was reformed but we'll get to the later. I would go more about the current Quarrymen but that is a story for another time.

Tune in for the next three parts were we go over the history of John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison from their births all the way until when the Quarrymen name was retired in 1960. For part four the story of the Silver Beetles will continue during the years 1960 to 1962.