The Early Beatles: The Beginning [1960-62]
[L2R]: John Lennon, George Harrison, Pete Best, Paul McCartney & Stuart Sutcliffe
I'm as old as The Beatles! Well, not as old as John, Paul, George & Ringo as they have up to 20 years on me, but I always love the thought that when "The Beatles" first used that moniker performing, it was not too long after I was born.
The Beatles first performed as such with that name on August 17, 1960 at what was called the Indra Club in Hamburg, West Germany. I was born on July 28, 1960 and almost as far as I can remember my life has been blessed with knowing of this phenomenon named as 'The Beatles' or Beatlemania, which by definition is agreed to have really started in Germany.
The Beatles became a favorite subject of mine [the favorite!] and so I take all the fun in knowing this is all done for my personal pleasure and a good thing to work with as I enter my latter years.
This began as a fun and personal WebBlog which soon expanded into what I call my 'Family Blog' and when I felt I'd pretty much established that I became interested in posting something about my favorite people of all time and was inspired by a book "A Hard Day's Night in America" [Gunther & Rahl].
This book I'd had since it was published in 1989 and always loved that story and all the photographs by the author Curt Gunther which, to me, almost completely documented The Beatles' First North American Tour. I wondered, "What if I could find material from that time period that would fall outside of his book that I could supplement it with in a blog post...and most importantly, have fun with it."
That's how it started and I eventually added more posts about The Beatles which took me almost to what I call, the end of the story, in 1970. With this post I wish to have fun in filling in any parts of The Beatles' story I'd like to post that has been missing and I've finally got inspired to do so.
The starting point has long been a non-issue for me, as explained above. For me, it begins almost 3 weeks after I was born. 🥰
The Beatles at the Indra Club, Hamburg, West Germany
They performed there from 17 August - 3 October 1960
The Three Lads: George, John & Paul with Stuart looking on....
...and Pete Best.
Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, Pete Best
The Beatles were a Quintet.
Outside the Indra, where The Beatles first performed as, "The Beatles".
This is all fine and good, but: Where's Ringo?
Here he is [far right] with his band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.
[L2R]: Johnny Byrne [Johnny Guitar - rhythm guitar], Charles O'Brien [Ty O'Brien - lead guitar], Alan Caldwell [Rory Storm - lead vocals], Wally Eymond [Lou Walters - bass guitar, vocals] and at the end, Richard Starkey [Ringo Starr].
Rory is shaking hands with probably a tailor from the store Duncan Tailors as the group holds bags full of presumably newly tailored attire. This photo was taken by Ness Studios in Liverpool in the summer of 1961.
The Hurricanes [shown without Rory Storm in this photo from L2R]: Charles O'Brien, Wally Eymond, Ringo Starr & Johnny Byrne.
Speaking of Ringo and since he became the eldest of The Beatles, as we know them, he's also a good point to begin with Beatle Biological Origins.
Ringo's Dad: Richard Starkey Sr. [1913-1981]
There's not much to say about Ringo's biological father except that he left Ringo's mother in 1943 after Ringo was born on 7 July 1940. A divorce came soon afterwards and Ringo very seldom ever saw his father again. Despite all of that, neither son or father was known to ever talk mean about the other.
Ringo's Parents: Elsie Gleave [1914-1987] & Harry Graves [1913-1994]
The story has a happy ending, however, as Ringo's mom re-married to Harry Graves in 1954 and Ringo's step-dad was a loving and supportive father.
When Ringo naturally gravitated towards playing drums, Harry was not only supportive of that but both parents loved music and encouraged it, in particular with their appreciation for 'old standards'.
Ringo with Mom & Dad!
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Alfred Lennon [1912-1976]
As with Ringo, John Lennon's father, Fred, was an absentee parent. Unlike Ringo's dad, however, John wound up being taunted more regarding this in that his father, being a merchant seaman, was largely away but not completely. Fred wasn't around when John was born on 9 October 1940. He eventually ended financial support for John and his mother in early 1944 but surfaced again sometime later and tried to take John with him to New Zealand in 1946.
After that he disappeared once more and did not resurface again until The Beatles were famous in 1966.
John Lennon and his mother, Julia Stanley [1914-1958]
John's mother, Julia, was [to say the least] free spirited. During one of Julia's separations with his father Fred, Julia became pregnant with a daughter but the baby was initially put up for adoption and John never knew of her during his lifetime.
After Fred Lennon was gone for good in 1946, Julia had two more daughters, Julia [in 1947] and Jacqueline [in 1949] and John did know of his half-sisters growing up.
During these early hectic years of Julia's, however, John was largely brought up by Julia's more 'orderly' elder sister Mimi yet Julia is credited with teaching John banjo, some ukulele and supported him learning the guitar.
More parental trauma occurred with John when on July 15, 1958, just as he was beginning to really develop a closer relationship with his mother, Julia was killed by an off duty policeman after being struck by his car as she was heading towards a bus stop. Losing Julia twice, as it were in John's mind, was something he probably never really recovered from during his lifetime.
John never developed a relationship with his father Fred, who wound up having two more children of his own years later when John was a grown adult but John was aware of his failing health and tried to have some reconciliation with him before he passed away.
Mary Elizabeth "Mimi" Stanley Smith [1906-1991]
In my opinion, John's Aunt Mimi seems to come off with a rather negative way of upbringing when it came to John, however, I do not believe in any way did it become detrimental to his growth. Rather, the more negative she may be towards John, in like telling him 'a guitar's all right as a hobby, John, but you'll never make a living at it," would only strengthen John's resolve to rebel at such thoughts.
Most importantly, John and his Aunt Mimi would always remain close.
George Toogood Smith [1903-1955]
John's Aunt Mimi's husband, Uncle George, was the opposite of her in how he treated John. It is said Uncle George taught John how to read, draw and paint and he is the one who bought John his first mouth organ. Mimi had said it was George who would put John to bed at night and that the two of them had many wonderful times together.
Unlike the rest of The Beatles, John grew up in the suburbs and was the most solidly middle-class kid where the others were from more of a working class upbringing.
Alas, this second chance at having a father figure in his life was cut short when Uncle George died of a liver hemorrhage at the young age of 52 in 1955.
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A nice photo of a happy family starting with [L2R]: Paul's younger brother, Peter Michael McCartney, a.k.a. Mike McGear [born 7 January 1944], Mary Patricia Mohin McCartney [1909-1956], James McCartney [1902-1976] & James Paul McCartney [born 18 June 1942].
Paul, as with Ringo & John, was not only encouraged to enjoy music but he was surrounded by it in his family starting with his father, who was a 1920s jazz band leader with his own band, Jim Mac's Jazz Band. He played trumpet and piano and while supporting Paul in being able to play both, Paul did not gravitate towards trumpet playing because he wanted to sing as well as play an instrument.
Paul's mother Mary was a professional nurse and midwife and unfortunately she passed away on October 31, 1956 from complications caused by her treatment for breast cancer when Paul was only 14 years old.
Paul was lucky in that he seemed to have a supportive family including uncles and aunts, but this left him not without a tragedy.
His father would eventually remarry years later in 1964 to Angela Williams legally adopting her daughter, Ruth.
Paul has said he also loved John's mother Julia and after she died his bond with John had an unspoken strength because of their losses.
When Paul's father passed away in 1976, Paul was just beginning a new leg of his band's European tour and he did not attend the funeral. Paul's brother, Michael, is known to have said that Paul, "would never face that sort of thing," suggesting Paul's difficulty in being a part of final farewells of this type.
Harold Hargreves Harrison [1909-1978] & Louise French Harrison [1911-1970] gave George, who was born 23 February 1943 a wonderful home with 2 other older brothers and an older sister.
While George's mother, Louise, was the parent most into music, encouraging George to follow his passion with it, George's father too offered a supportive environment for George, buying him his first guitar and driving him to early gigs.
George was the first of The Beatles to visit the United States because his sister, Louise [1931-2023] lived there pre-Beatlemania. She is shown here in the middle with George on the left holding her daughter, niece Leslie. Louise would be enthusiastic regarding her brother's success in music throughout her life.
Traveling with George to America was his brother Peter [1940-2007]. Being closer in age with George, the two youngest brothers briefly shared their enjoyment of music together before Peter's interests shifted.
In the back on the left is George's oldest brother, Harold 'Harry' Harrison, Jr., [1934-1999]. Like his brother Peter [back right], he spent his life largely out of the public eye especially after George became so famous.
George enjoys a photo with his brothers up front and in-between his Dad & Mom.
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To come around full circle and back to where we started, here's a photo taken the day before 17 August 1960 showing the van of the then group's manager, Alan Williams, being loaded onto a ferry at Harwich bound for Hamburg. John Lennon's head is shown cut off at the far left.
"THEIR NAME LIVETH FOR EVERMORE"
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