John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr were four guys from Liverpool England. If you ever visit England, there are many sights to see in Liverpool that connect to the Beatles, including a history museum called The Beatles' Story. Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison were originally in a band together, called the Quarrymen. They changed the name to The Beatles in 1960, and Ringo joined shortly after.

The Beatles reached the American shores in February of 1964, when they appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. They became wildly popular, and the world was infected with a serious case of Beatlemania. They had to stop touring in 1966 because their music became too complicated to perform live, and they couldn't even hear themselves play because the audience was cheering so loudly! You can see just how crazy it got at a concert in Queens, NY, at the old Shea Stadium.

The Beatles performed live one last time in 1969, on the rooftop of their recording studio, Apple Records. The performance was unannounced, and surprised local residents and business people. It's fun to watch the video as people start to realize what is happening and flood the streets. The police were called to control the crowd, but even they had fun listening! The band played songs from their yet-to-be-released album, Let It Be. The man playing the keyboard is Billy Preston, who has great hits of his own.

Fun fact: The Beatles' song Yesterday is the most recorded song in history!

To learn more about the Beatles, you can watch a BrainPop about the band, explore their official website, and read the book Who Were The Beatles? You can even sing along with Sir Paul and James Corden in a round of Carpool Karaoke!

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