The Beatles came from working-class families. John Winston (after Winston Churchill) Lennon, born Oct. 9, 1940, grew up with his Aunt Mimi (he was abandoned by his parents). James Paul McCartney, born June 18, 1942, was the son of a cotton salesman and sometime musician. George Harrison, born Feb. 25, 1943, was the son of a bus driver. And Ringo Starr, born Richard Starkey on July 7, 1940, was a barmaid's son. (His father had deserted the family.) Starkey later adopted the name 'Ringo Starr' in emulation of his Wild West heroes.
As with most working-class youth, the group members initially wanted money and fame. When things were slow, circa 1961, there was a verbal routine they'd go through for a lift. John Lennon would shout, "Where are we going, fellas?" The others would shout back, "To the Top, Johnny!" Lennon would then shout , "What Top?" The others: "To the Toppermost of the Poppermost, Johnny!"
In Nov. 1961, Brian Epstein became the group's manager (By now, Sutcliffe had left the group to remain in Germany); he had fallen in love with Astrid Kirchher or Kirchner who did the first commerical photographs of them and is credited with creating the first Beatles haircut. Sutcliffe is often credited with the group's name; Lennon turned it into "Beatles".
Other accounts vary; one says that Sutcliffe noted that a motorcycle gang in "The Wild Ones" movie was called "The Beetles". (I think there's a line in the film where Lee Marvin mentions them. The Beetles were the women in the gang.) And the band was also influenced by the name of Buddy Holly's band, The Crickets.
Epstein, born Sept. 9, 1934, into a wealthy family, had a successful previous career as a furniture salesman. While expanding his father's record retailing business, Epstein heard about the group, sought them out, and became the Beatles'manager (for 25%). One of the first things he did was to retool and polish their image; the group dressed like Rockers, were not very tidy or clean, smoked as they played, ate, talked and jostled each other while on stage. Epstein cleaned them up (and their stage manners), and put them into suits.
And Pete Best was soon replaced by Ringo, previously the drummer for another popular group, Rory Storm (born Alan Caldwell) and The Hurricanes. He also brought in other music business professionals, such as George Martin, an executive and A & R director with the Parlophone branch of the Electrical Music Industry (EMI), who, on Sept. 1962, recorded the Beatles' first British release, "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You."
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