John
Famed singer-songwriter John Winston Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, Merseyside, England, during a German air raid in World War II. When he was 4 years old, Lennon's parents separated and he ended up living with his Aunt Mimi. Lennon's father was a merchant seaman. He was not present at his son's birth and did not see a lot of his son when he was small. Lennon's mother, Julia, remarried, but visited him and Mimi regularly. She taught Lennon how to play the banjo and the piano and purchased his first guitar. Lennon was devastated when Julia was fatally struck by a car driven by an off-duty police officer in July 1958. Her death was one of the most traumatic events in his life. As a child, Lennon was a prankster and he enjoyed getting in trouble. As a boy and young adult,he enjoyed drawing grotesque figures and cripples. Lennon's school master thought that he could go to an art school for college, since he did not get good grades in school, but had artistic talent.
Paul
James Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England, to Mary and James McCartney. His mother was a maternity nurse, and his father a cotton salesman and jazz pianist with a local band. The young McCartney was raised in a traditional working-class family, much the same as his future fellow Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison. Tragically, when McCartney was only 14 years old, his mother died of complications after a mastectomy. His future bandmate, John Lennon, also lost his mother at a young age-a connection that would create a close bond between the two musicians. Encouraged by his father to try out multiple musical instruments, Paul McCartney began his lifelong love affair with music at an early age. Though he took formal music lessons as a boy, the future star preferred to learn by ear, teaching himself the Spanish guitar, trumpet and piano. By age 16, he had already written "When I'm Sixty-Four," in hopes of eventually selling it to Frank Sinatra. In 1957, he met John Lennon at a church festival where Lennon's band, the Quarrymen, were performing, and was soon invited to become a member. The two quickly became the group's songwriters, ushering it through many name changes and a few personnel changes as well. Early on, they agreed that all of their songs would be credited to Lennon-McCartney, no matter who had taken lead or, as happened occasionally, written the songs entirely on their own.
Ringo
Musician, singer, songwriter and actor Ringo Starr was born Richard Starkey on July 7, 1940, in Liverpool, England. He was an only child, and while his mother doted on him, his father lost interest in family life early on. His parents split up when Starkey was only four, and he never saw much of his father after that. His mother worked as a cleaning woman and then a barmaid to support them. At age six, Starkey had an appendectomy and then contracted peritonitis, forcing him to live at a local children's hospital for 12 months while he recovered. This put him considerably behind in school, but just as he caught up (with the help of a tutor), he was diagnosed with tuberculosis, and spent the next two years in a sanatorium. One of the ways the staff tried to distract and occupy their patients was to have them form a band, and it was here where young Starkey first discovered percussion, using a wooden mallet to strike the cabinets next to his bed. From then on, despite musical talent with other instruments, he was a drummer.In 1953 his mother remarried, and his new stepfather encouraged his interest in music. By 1955, when he returned from the sanatorium, school wasn't much of an option anymore as he was too far behind. He tried a series of different jobs, which were unrewarding professionally, but introduced him to skiffle music via one of his co-workers. Skiffle was played with household objects instead of musical instruments (which were often out of the financial reach of struggling musicians) and Starkey started playing regularly with a band. He got his first real drum kit for Christmas in 1957. A few years later, he joined a real band with real instruments, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, and started going by the name Ringo Starr to reflect both the rings he wore and his interest in country and western music. His drum solos were called "Starr Time." The band grew in popularity, and on a tour in Hamburg, they first met the Beatles, a new group consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stu Sutcliffe, and Pete Best. In October of 1960, Starr played with Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison on a track backing Hurricanes singer Lu Walters.
George
Pop star, songwriter, recording artist and producer George Harrison was born on February 25, 1943, in Liverpool, England. The youngest of Harold and Louise French Harrison's four children, George played lead guitar and sometimes sang lead vocals for the Beatles.Like his future bandmates, Harrison was not born into wealth. Louise was largely a stay-at-home mom (who also taught ballroom dancing), while her husband Harold drove a school bus for the Liverpool Institute, an acclaimed grammar school that George attended and where he first met Paul McCartney. By his own admission, Harrison was not much of a student, and what little interest he did have in his studies washed away with his discovery of the electric guitar and American rock and roll. As Harrison would later describe it, he had an "epiphany" of sorts at the age 12 or 13 while riding a bike around his neighborhood and getting his first whiff of Elvis Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel," which was playing from a nearby house. By the age of 14, Harrison, whose early rock heroes included Carl Perkins, Little Richard and Buddy Holly, had purchased his first guitar and taught himself a few chords.