Rock and Roll

The Rolling Stones began calling themselves the "World's Greatest Rock & Roll Band" in the late '60s, and few disputed the claim. The Rolling Stones' music, based on Chicago blues, has continued to sound vital through the decades, and the Stones' attitude of flippant defiance, now aged into wry bemusement, has come to seem as important as their music.

In the 1964 British Invasion they were promoted as bad boys, but what began as a gimmick has stuck as an indelible image, and not just because of incidents like Brian Jones’ mysterious death in 1969 and a violent murder during their set at Altamont later that year. In their music, the Stones pioneered British rock’s tone of ironic detachment and wrote about offhand brutality, sex as power, and other taboos. In those days, Mick Jagger was branded a “Lucifer” figure, thanks to songs like “Sympathy for the Devil.” In the ’80s the Stones lost their dangerous aura while still seeming “bad” - they’ve become icons of an elegantly debauched, world-weary decadence. But Jagger remains the most self-consciously assured appropriator of black performers’ up-front sexuality; Keith Richards’ Chuck Berry–derived riffing defines rock rhythm guitar (not to mention rock guitar rhythm); the stalwart rhythm section of Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts holds its own; and Jagger and Richards continue to add to what is arguably one of the most significant oeuvres in rock history.

Jagger and Richards first met at Dartford Maypole County Primary School. When they ran into each other 10 years later in 1960, they were both avid fans of blues and American R&B, and they found they had a mutual friend in guitarist Dick Taylor, a fellow student of Richards’ at Sidcup Art School. Jagger was attending the London School of Economics and playing in Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys with Taylor. Richards joined the band as second guitarist; soon afterward, he was expelled from Dartford Technical College for truancy.

Meanwhile, Brian Jones had begun skipping school in Cheltenham to practice bebop alto sax and clarinet. By the time he was 16, he had fathered two illegitimate children and run off briefly to Scandinavia, where he began playing guitar. Back in Cheltenham he joined the Ramrods, then drifted to London with his girlfriend and one of his children. He began playing with Alexis Korner’s Blues, Inc., then decided to start his own band; a want ad attracted pianist Ian Stewart (b. 1938; d. December 12, 1985).

As Elmo Lewis, Jones began working at the Ealing Blues Club, where he ran into a later, loosely knit version of Blues, Inc., which at the time included drummer Charlie Watts. Jagger and Richards began jamming with Blues, Inc., and while Jagger, Richards, and Jones began to practice on their own, Jagger became the featured singer with Blues, Inc.

Jones, Jagger, and Richards shared a tiny, cheap London apartment, and with drummer Tony Chapman they cut a demo tape, which was rejected by EMI. Taylor left to attend the Royal College of Art; he eventually formed the Pretty Things. Ian Stewart’s job with a chemical company kept the rest of the group from starving. By the time Taylor left, they began to call themselves the Rolling Stones, after a Muddy Waters song.

On July 12, 1962, the Rolling Stones - Jagger, Richards, Jones, a returned Dick Taylor on bass, and Mick Avory, later of the Kinks, on drums - played their first show at the Marquee. Avory and Taylor were replaced by Tony Chapman and Bill Wyman, from the Cliftons. Chapman didn’t work out, and the band spent months recruiting a cautious Charlie Watts, who worked for an advertising agency and had left Blues, Inc. when its schedule got too busy. In January 1963 Watts completed the band.

Local entrepreneur Giorgio Gomelsky booked the Stones at his Crawdaddy Club for an eight-month, highly successful residency. He was also their unofficial manager until Andrew Loog Oldham, with financing from Eric Easton, signed them as clients. By then the Beatles were a British sensation, and Oldham decided to promote the Stones as their nasty opposites. He eased out the mild-mannered Stewart, who subsequently became a Stones roadie and frequent session and tour pianist.

In June 1963 the Stones released their first single, Chuck Berry’s “Come On.” After the band played on the British TV rock show Thank Your Lucky Stars, its producer reportedly told Oldham to get rid of “that vile-looking singer with the tire-tread lips.” The single reached #21 on the British chart. The Stones also appeared at the first annual National Jazz and Blues Festival in London’s borough of Richmond and in September were part of a package tour with the Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley, and Little Richard. In December 1963 the Stones’ second single, “I Wanna Be Your Man” (written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney), made the British Top 15. In January 1964 the Stones did their first headlining British tour, with the Ronettes, and released a version of Buddy Holly’s “Not Fade Away,” which made #3.

“Not Fade Away” also made the U.S. singles chart (#48). By this time the band had become a sensation in Britain, with the press gleefully reporting that band members had been seen urinating in public. In April 1964 their first album was released in the U.K., and two months later they made their first American tour. Their cover of the Bobby Womack/Valentinos song “It’s All Over Now” was a British #1, their first. Their June American tour was a smashing success; in Chicago, where they’d stopped off to record the Five by Five EP at the Chess Records studio, riots broke out when the band tried to give a press conference. The Stones’ version of the blues standard “Little Red Rooster,” which had become another U.K. #1, was banned in the U.S. because of its “objectionable” lyrics.

Jagger and Richards had now begun composing their own tunes (at first using the “Nanker Phelge” pseudonym for group compositions). Their “Tell Me (You’re Coming Back to Me)” was the group’s first U.S. Top 40 hit, in August. The followup, a nonoriginal, “Time Is on My Side,” made #6 in November. From that point on, all but a handful of Stones hits were Jagger-Richards compositions.

In January 1965 their “The Last Time” became another U.K. #1 and cracked the U.S. Top 10 in the spring. The band’s next single, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” reigned at #1 for four weeks that summer and remains perhaps the most famous song in its remarkable canon. Jagger and Richards continued to write hits with increasingly sophisticated lyrics: “Get Off My Cloud” (#1, 1965), “As Tears Go By” (#6, 1965), “19th Nervous Breakdown” (#2, 1966), “Mother’s Little Helper” (#8, 1966), “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby, Standing in the Shadow?” (#9, 1966).

Aftermath, the first Stones LP of all original material, came out in 1966, though its impact was minimized by the simultaneous release of the Beatles’ Revolver and Bob Dylan’s Blonde on Blonde. The Middle Eastern–tinged “Paint It, Black” (1966) and the ballad “Ruby Tuesday” (1967), were both U.S. #1 hits.

In January 1967 the Stones caused another sensation when they performed “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (“Ruby Tuesday”’s B side) on The Ed Sullivan Show. Jagger mumbled the title lines after threats of censorship (some claimed that the line was censored; others that Jagger actually sang “Let’s spend some time together”; Jagger later said, “When it came to that line, I sang mumble”). In February Jagger and Richards were arrested on drug-possession charges in Britain; in May, Brian Jones, too, was arrested. The heavy jail sentences they received were eventually suspended on appeal. The Stones temporarily withdrew from public appearances; Jagger and his girlfriend, singer Marianne Faithfull, went to India with the Beatles to meet the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The Stones’ next single release didn’t appear until the fall: the #14 “Dandelion.” Its B side, “We Love You” (#50), on which John Lennon and Paul McCartney sang backup vocals, was intended as a thank-you to fans.

In December came Their Satanic Majesties Request, the Stones’ psychedelic answer record to the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper - and an ambitious mess. By the time the album’s lone single, “She’s a Rainbow” had become a #25 hit, Allen Klein had become the group’s manager.

May 1968 saw the release of “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” a #3 hit, and a return to basic rock & roll. After five months of delay provoked by controversial album-sleeve photos, the eclectic Beggars Banquet was released and was hailed by critics as the band’s finest achievement. On June 9, 1969, Brian Jones, the Stones’ most musically adventurous member, who had lent sitar, dulcimer, and, on “Under My Thumb,” marimba to the band’s sound, and who had been in Morocco recording nomadic Joujouka musicians, left the band with this explanation: “I no longer see eye-to-eye with the others over the discs we are cutting.” Within a week he was replaced by ex–John Mayall guitarist Mick Taylor. Jones announced that he would form his own band, but on July 3, 1969, he was found dead in his swimming pool; the coroner’s report cited “death by misadventure.” Jones, beset by drug problems - and the realization that the band now belonged squarely to Jagger and Richards - had barely participated in the Beggars Banquet sessions.

At an outdoor concert in London’s Hyde Park a few days after Jones’ death, Jagger read an excerpt from the poet Shelley and released thousands of butterflies over the park. On July 11, the day after Jones was buried, the Stones released “Honky Tonk Women,” another #1, and another Stones classic. By this time, every Stones album went gold in short order, and Let It Bleed (a sardonic reply to the Beatles’ soon-to-be-released Let It Be) was no exception. “Gimme Shelter” received constant airplay. Jones appeared on most of the album’s tracks, though Taylor also made his first on-disc appearances.

After going to Australia to star in the film Ned Kelly, Jagger rejoined the band for the start of its hugely successful 1969 American tour, the band’s first U.S. trip in three years. But the Stones’ Satanic image came to haunt them at a free thank-you-America concert at California’s Altamont Speedway. In the darkness just in front of the stage, a young black man, Meredith Hunter, was stabbed to death by members of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang, whom the Stones - on advice of the Grateful Dead - had hired to provide security for the event. The incident was captured on film by the Maysles brothers in their feature-length documentary Gimme Shelter. Public outcry that “Sympathy for the Devil” (which they had performed earlier in the show; they were playing “Under My Thumb” when the murder occurred) had in some way incited the violence led the Stones to drop the tune from their stage shows for the next six years.

After another spell of inactivity, the Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out! live album was released in the fall of 1970 and went platinum. That same year the Stones formed their own Rolling Stones Records, an Atlantic subsidiary. The band’s first album for its own label, Sticky Fingers (#1, 1971) - which introduced their Andy Warhol - designed lips-and-lolling-tongue logo - yielded hits in “Brown Sugar” (#1, 1971) and “Wild Horses” (#28, 1971). Jagger, who had starred in Nicolas Roeg’s 1970 Performance (the soundtrack of which contained “Memo From Turner”), married Nicaraguan fashion model Bianca Perez Morena de Macias, and the pair became international jet-set favorites. Though many interpreted Jagger’s acceptance into high society as yet another sign that rock was dead, or that at least the Stones had lost their spark, Exile on Main Street (#1, 1972), a double album, was another critically acclaimed hit, yielding “Tumbling Dice” (#7) and “Happy” (#22). By this time the Stones were touring the U.S. once every three years; their 1972 extravaganza, like those in 1975, 1978, and 1981, was a sold-out affair.

Goats Head Soup (#1, 1973) was termed the band’s worst effort since Satanic Majesties by critics, yet it contained hits in “Angie” (#1, 1973) and “(Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo) Heartbreaker” (#15, 1974). It’s Only Rock n’ Roll (#1, 1974) yielded Top 20 hits in the title tune and a cover of the Temptations’ “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg.” Mick Taylor left the band after that album; and after trying out scores of sessionmen (many of whom showed up on the next LP, 1976’s Black and Blue), the Stones settled on Ron Wood, then still nominally committed to Rod Stewart and the Faces (who disbanded soon after Wood joined the Stones officially in 1976). In 1979 Richards and Wood, with Meters drummer Ziggy Modeliste and fusion bassist Stanley Clarke, toured as the New Barbarians.

Black and Blue was the Stones’ fifth consecutive LP of new material to top the album chart, though it contained only one hit single, the #10 “Fool to Cry.” Wyman, who had released a 1974 solo album, Monkey Grip (the first Stone to do so), recorded another, Stone Alone. Jagger guested on “I Can Feel the Fire” on Wood’s solo first LP, I’ve Got My Own Album to Do. Wood has since recorded several more albums, and while none were commercial hits (Gimme Some Neck peaked at #45 in 1979), his work was generally well received.

The ethnic-stereotype lyrics of the title song from Some Girls (#1, 1978) provoked public protest (the last outcry had been in 1976 over Black and Blue’s battered-woman advertising campaign). Aside from the disco crossover “Miss You” (#1), the music was bare-bones rock & roll - in response, some speculated, to the punk movement’s claims that the band was too old and too affluent to rock anymore.

Richards and his longtime common-law wife, Anita Pallenburg, were arrested in March 1977 in Canada for heroin possession - jeopardizing the band’s future - but he subsequently kicked his habit and in 1978 was given a suspended sentence.

In 1981 Tattoo You was #1 for nine weeks (1980’s Emotional Rescue also went to #1) and produced the hits “Start Me Up” (#2, 1981) and “Waiting on a Friend” (#13, 1981), the latter featuring jazz great Sonny Rollins on tenor saxophone. The 1981 tour spawned an album, Still Life, and a movie, Let’s Spend the Night Together (directed by Hal Ashby), which grossed $50 million.

Through the ’80s the group became more an institution than an influential force. Nevertheless, both Undercover (#4, 1983) and Dirty Work (#4, 1986) were certifiable hits despite not topping the chart, as every new studio album had done in the decade before. Each album produced only one Top 20 hit, “Undercover of the Night” (#9, 1983) and “Harlem Shuffle” (#5, 1986), the latter a remake of a minor 1964 hit by Bob and Earl.

Jagger and Richards grew estranged from each other, and the band would not record for three years. Jagger released his first solo album, the platinum She’s the Boss, in 1984. His second, 1987’s Primitive Cool, didn’t even break the Top 40. Richards, who’d long declared he would never undertake a solo album (and who resented Jagger’s making music outside the band), countered in 1988 with the gold Talk Is Cheap, backed up by the X-Pensive Winos: guitarist Waddy Wachtel and the rhythm section of Steve Jordan and Charley Drayton.

The two Stones sniped at each other in the press and in song: Richards’ album track “You Don’t Move Me” was directed at his longtime partner. Nevertheless, shortly before the Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, in January 1989 the two traveled to Barbados to begin writing songs for a new Stones album. Steel Wheels (#3, 1989) showed the group spinning its wheels musically, and were it not for the band’s first American tour in eight years, it is doubtful the LP would have sold anywhere near its 2 million copies. But the 50-date tour, which reportedly grossed $140 million, was an artistic triumph. As the group’s fifth live album, Flashpoint (#16, 1991), demonstrated, never had the Stones sounded so cohesive onstage.

Bill Wyman announced his long-rumored decision to leave the group after 30 years, in late 1992. “I was quite happy to stop after that,” the 56-year-old bassist told a British TV show. The announcement helped deflect attention from Wyman’s love life: In 1989 he married model Mandy Smith, who was just 131⁄2 when the two began dating. The couple divorced in 1990, the same year that Mick Jagger finally married his longtime lover, Jerry Hall. (Jagger and Hall would later split up.)

The early ’90s were a time for solo albums from Richards - Live at the Hollywood Palladium and Main Offender (#99, 1992)and Jagger’s Wandering Spirit (#11, 1993). Neither sold spectacularly; apparently fans are most interested in Jagger and Richards when they work together. Wood released Slide on This, his first solo album in over a decade, and Watts pursued his real love, jazz, with the Charlie Watts Orchestra.

In 1994 Jagger, Richards, Watts, and Wood, along with bassist Darryl Jones (whose credits include working with Miles Davis and Sting) released the critically well-received Voodoo Lounge (#2, 1994) and embarked on a major tour that proved one of the highest-grossing of the year, earning a reported $295 million. Voodoo Lounge brought the Stones their first competitive Grammy, 1994’s Best Rock Album award. Voodoo Lounge was also the group’s first release under its new multimillion-dollar, three-album deal with Virgin Records, which included granting Virgin the rights to some choice albums from the Stones’ back catalogue, including Exile on Main Street, Sticky Fingers, and Some Girls. After having languished in storage for nearly three decades, the Rolling Stones’ Rock & Roll Circus concert film and soundtrack was released in 1996, which featured the Stones in the era of Beggars Banquet, and other rock luminaries - the Who, Jethro Tull, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Eric Clapton, Taj Mahal, and more - as well as various acrobats, fire-eaters, and other circus artists who performed routines between songs.

Meanwhile, back to their standard time lapse of three years between tours, the Stones released Bridges to Babylon (#3, 1997, their 19th platinum LP) and launched yet another lavish, sold-out worldwide tour, where they played two-hour concerts consisting of only a few songs off the new album and lots of hits. Corporate sponsorship was particularly intense: long-distance carrier Sprint, for example, paying $4 million to print its company logo on tickets and stage banners. In 1998 the Stones released the obligatory tour album, No Security.

In 1997 Richards coproduced and played on Wingless Angels, an album of Rastafarian spirituals; guested, with Elvis Presley guitarist Scotty Moore, on All the King’s Men, a tribute to Presley; and with the rest of the Stones, played on B.B. King’s Deuces Wild. Assembling the roots-rock band the Rhythm Kings, with Peter Frampton and Georgie Fame sitting in, Bill Wyman put out three albums in the late ’90s. Watts continued his jazz excursions with 1996’s orchestral offering, Long Ago and Far Away, and then forayed into world beat with a 2000 collaboration with veteran session drummer Jim Keltner. Mick Taylor’s recording career revived, as the ex-Stone put out Stonesy releases with Carla Olson.

In 2000 “Satisfaction” topped a VH1 Poll of 100 Greatest Rock Songs. Jagger gained more attention in the social columns. In 1998 29-year-old Brazilian model Luciana Gimenez Morad claimed that she was pregnant with his child; Jagger disagreed. Jerry Hall filed for divorce. Jagger, despite the couple’s four children, maintained that their Hindu nuptials did not constitute a legal marriage. When Morad’s child was born, DNA tests concluded that Jagger was indeed the boy’s father

The story of the most successful rock group in history is much to long to cover .

Here is a brief biography in "time line" form.

March, 1957: John Lennon forms a skiffle group called The Black Jacks. The name later changes to the Quarry Men.

July 6, 1957: John meets Paul McCartney through their mutual friend, Ivan Vaughan at a church function.

July 20, 1957: Paul is invited to join the Quarry Men.

October 18, 1957: Paul plays his first live gig with the band at the New Clubmore Hall in Liverpool. Playing lead, his performance was so weak, he is demoted to rhythm guitar.

February 6, 1958: 15 year old George Harrison meets the Quarry Men. Impressed with his guitar skills, the others invite him to join the band.

March 25, 1959: Ringo joins Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.

August 29, 1959: The Quarry Men, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ken Brown play at the Casbah, a club owned by Pete Best's mother.

October 10, 1959: After seven gigs at the Casbah, Ken Brown leaves the group.

November 15, 1959: John, Paul, and George play as a trio, calling themselves Johnny & the Moondogs. They still have no drummer, but pass an audition for Carroll Levis' TV Star Search at Liverpool's Empire Theatre.

January 1960: Stuart Sutcliffe, a friend of John Lennon, joins the trio after selling one of his paintings and using the money to buy a bass guitar.

May 1960: The group began to call themselves the Beatals. (note the odd spelling)

May 1960: The band is joined by drummer Tommy Moore and change their name to the Silver Beetles. Moore only played with them for a short while. During that time period, they auditioned for Larry Parnes and appeared on a small tour of Scotland backing singer Johnny Gentle.

July 1960: Norman Chapman becomes the next drummer, but was called up for National Service. This causes problems for the Silver Beetles, who had dates booked in Hamburg, Germany, and were playing for Allan Williams at the Jacaranda Club and the New Cabaret Artistes Club. Williams also acquired other bookings for the band at the Grosvenor Ballroom. The band would once again change their name, this time to the Silver Beatles.

August 12, 1960: Pete Best took over the drum seat and the name The Beatles was born. Between this date and December 1962, the group would play gigs at the Indra, Kaiserkeller, Top Ten and Star clubs.

December 27, 1960: After returning to Liverpool, The Beatles played at Litherland Town Hall, prompting fan frenzy.

February 9, 1961: The Beatles perform for the first time at the Cavern Club, in a lunchtime performance.

March 21, 1961: The band plays their first evening gig at the Cavern Club.

Spring 1961: Stuart Sutcliffe, suffering from increasingly bad headaches, quits the Beatles.

June 22 / 23 1961: The Beatles make their first recordings when they back singer Tony Sheridan. Producer Bert Kaempfert lets them record a couple of tunes by themselves.

November 9, 1961: Brian Epstein visits the Cavern Club to hear the group.

December 3, 1961: The Beatles attend their first business meeting with Epstein at his record store.

December 6, 1961: John accepts on behalf of the group, Brian's offer to manage them.

January 1, 1962: Brian Epstein takes the band to an audition at Decca Records. The 15 songs they recorded were later rejected.

January 4, 1962: A music paper called Mersey Beat polled readers about the top band in Liverpool, and the Beatles took highest honours.

April 10, 1962: Stuart Sutcliffe dies of a brain hemorrhage. He was 21.

June 6, 1962: The Beatles audition for George Martin, a producer at EMI. Although his initial reaction was that "they were pretty awful", he signs them and will become their producer throughout their career.

August 15 / 16 1962: At the record company's urging, Pete Best is fired from the Beatles and Ringo Starr is lured away from Rory and The Hurricanes to replace him.

August 23, 1962: John marries Cynthia Powell.

October 5, 1962: Their first single, "Love Me Do" is released and is a modest hit, reaching #17 on the UK chart.

January 19, 1963: The Beatles make their first TV appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars, where they perform "Please Please Me".

February 11, 1963: In just under ten hours, the band records ten songs for their first album, "Please Please Me".

April 8, 1963: Cynthia Lennon gives birth to John's son, John Charles Julian Lennon.

August 1, 1963: A monthly magazine about the group called The Beatles Book is first published.

August 3, 1963: With their popularity soaring, The Beatles play the Cavern Club for the last time.

September 10, 1963: The Beatles receive an award for Top Vocal Group of the Year at the Variety Club Awards.

November 2, 1963: The Daily Mirror coins the term Beatlemania in a show review.

November 16, 1963: Clark's Grammar School in Guildford, Surrey becomes the first institution to suspend boys for sporting a Beatles haircut.

January 20, 1964: The album "Meet the Beatles!" is released by Capitol Records in the US and by February 15 it is number one on Billboard's chart, remaining there for 11 weeks.

February 7, 1964: The Beatles land at JFK Airport in New York.

February 9, 1964: The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show and are watched by a record-setting 73 million people. They perform, "All My Loving", "Till There Was You", "She Loves You", "I Saw Her Standing There" and "I Want To Hold Your Hand".

February 11, 1964: The Beatles give their first live performance in the U.S. at the Washington Coliseum in Washington, D.C.

February 12, 1964: The band performs at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

March 2, 1964: They begin to film their first movie. Although the working title was "Beatlemania", the band rejected the name immediately. Paul had suggested "What Little Old Man?", but producers wanted something more distinctive. The name is changed after Ringo makes the off-handed comment, "Its been a hard day's night, that was". Filming is completed in eight weeks at a cost of $500,000.

July 6, 1964: "A Hard Day's Night" premieres in London. The film gets wonderful reviews by fans and critics.

August 11, 1964: "A Hard Day's Night" opens in America.

February 11, 1965: Ringo marries Mary (Maureen) Cox.

February 23, 1965: Shooting begins in the Bahamas on the Beatles' second movie. The original title of the film was "Eight Arms to Hold You", but is later changed to "Help!"

June 12, 1965: The Beatles are named Members of the British Empire by the Queen.

July 29, 1965: The Beatles second feature film, "Help!" opens in London. It opens in the U.S. on August 11 that year. The movie cost $1.5 million to make.

August 15, 1965: The Beatles play for 55,600 people at New York's Shea Stadium, which is a record, grossing $304,000 dollars. (The Beatles' share was $160,000.)

August 27, 1965: The Fab Four meet Elvis Presley at his Beverly Hills home.

September 13, 1965: Ringo and Maureen have a son, Zak Starkey.

January 21, 1966: George marries Patricia Ann (Pattie) Boyd

March, 1966: John Lennon causes a national stir when he is quoted in London's Evening Standard as saying that The Beatles are "more popular than Jesus now". He would later apologise, but by this time, thousands of Beatle records had been smashed by angry fans.

May 1, 1966: The Beatles give their last proper British concert at Empire Pool, Wembley, where they play a 15 minute, 5 song set.

August 6, 1966: John Lennon's remarks about Jesus have caused a giant stir in the US. Brian Epstein holds a press conference in New York to explain.

August 11, 1966: John apologises to the press and tries to explain what his remarks about Jesus really meant.

August 13, 1966: Not satisfied with Lennon's explanation, radio station KLUE in Longview, Texas organizes a "Beatles Bonfire". The next morning, the station's transmission tower is struck by lightning, halting all broadcasting.

August 29, 1966: The Beatles give their last live concert, in San Francisco, California.

June 1, 1967: "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is released in the U.K. It tops the charts all over the world, holding the number one slot in Britain for 27 weeks and for 19 in America. It receives four Grammys including Best Album.

June 25, 1967: Our World, a two-hour satellite television program starring the Beatles was transmitted live by satellite to five continents and 24 countries. They performed "All You Need is Love". It was the first live television satellite program to air worldwide.

August 19, 1967: Ringo and Maureen have a second son, Jason.

August 27, 1967: Brian Epstein dies of an accidental drug overdose.

August 29, 1967: Epstein's family holds a private funeral that the Beatles did not attend.

October, 17, 1967: A memorial service is held for Brian Epstein is held at a synagogue in Abby Road.

December 26, 1967: "Magical Mystery Tour", the Beatles' hour-long television special airs in the U.K., where it is seen by approximately 14 million viewers. The show was panned by critics.

May 14, 1968: John and Paul appear on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, where they publicly denounce their earlier association with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.

July 17, 1968: The movie Yellow Submarine premieres in London. It opens in America several months later.

July 20, 1967: Much to Paul's surprise, his girlfriend, Jane Asher announces that their relationship is over.

August 22, 1967: Cynthia Lennon files for divorce from John on the grounds of his adultery with Yoko Ono.

August 23, 1967: Ringo quits the Beatles and walks out during a recording session for "The White Album".

September 3, 1967: Ringo rejoins the group.

January 30, 1969: The Beatles perform together for the last time, live, on the roof of Apple's London office. Later, film of the event will become part of the documentary Let It Be.

March 12, 1969: Paul marries photographer Linda Louise Eastman, a 25 year old divorcee with a six year old daughter. Despite rumours to the contrary, she is not related to the Eastmans of Eastman-Kodak fame.

Mid-September, 1969: John decides to leave the Beatles, but he does not announce it publicly because of contract negotiations taking place with EMI. George and Ringo also have quit the band for short spells, returning soon after.

September 26, 1969: The Beatles last album of original songs, "Abbey Road", is released in the U.K. It tops the charts there and in America.

November 25, 1969: John returns his MBE award.

January 3, 1970: The group's final recording session takes place at EMI's Abby Road studio, where Paul, George and Ringo add some finishing touches to George's song "I, Me, Mine" for the "Let It Be" album.

April 10, 1970: Paul announces publicly that he has left the group and says that they will never work together again.

April 9, 1971: Ringo releases his first single, "It Don't Come Easy".

August 3, 1971: Paul announces the formation of his new group, Wings, with drummer Denny Siewell and former Moody Blues guitarist, Denny Laine.

December 4, 1971: John publicly attacks Paul in the letters section of Melody Maker.

January, 1975: The London High Court officially dissolves The Beatles and Company partnership.

May, 1979: Paul, George and Ringo reunited for a jam session at Eric Clapton's wedding to Pattie Boyd Harrison.

1980, December 8: John Lennon was shot to death in New York City. John had spent the evening recording at the Hit Factory studio, and returned to the Dakota apartments around 11.00 p.m. As he and Yoko stepped from the cab and made their way to the Dakota's entrance, Mark David Chapman came out of the shadows."Mr. Lennon" he said quietly, and Lennon turned. At that instant, Chapman fired five bullets into the rock star, hitting him in the chest, back and left arm. He then calmly put the gun down and took a book out of his coat pocket, sat cross-legged on the sidewalk, and started to read. John was pronounced dead thirty minutes later. Earlier in the day, he had autographed an album for Chapman.




Just hours after being caught on this photograph getting Lennon's autograph,
Mark David Chapman had murdered his so-called idol.
Ringo, who had remained friendly with all the other members of The Beatles throughout the years, was the first to come to comfort Yoko.

August 1981: Mark David Chapman is sentenced to prison for 20 years to life. Over the next few months, Chapman would claim many times to have been beaten by fellow inmates, some of whom allegedly tried to kill him with items like scissors. He also says he had thought about murdering other celebrities, including TV star Johnny Carson.

June 1996: "Free As A Bird" peaks at number 2 on the UK charts and number 6 in the US. Written by John Lennon and performed by him on piano on a rough demo shortly before he was murdered, the track was completed by the remaining Beatles at Paul McCartney's own home studio. The track would win two Grammy Awards in 1997.

Spring 1998: The three surviving Beatles: George Harrison, Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney reunite for the first time in years at a London memorial service for McCartney's wife, Linda, who died on April 17, of breast cancer.

Summer 1998: George Harrison discloses that he had been battling throat cancer for more than a year and had surgery to remove a lump in his neck.

December 30 1999: George Harrison, 56, was hospitalized after being stabbed in the chest by an intruder who broke into his Oxfordshire mansion. Authorities said his condition was not life-threatening.

Harrison and his wife, Olivia, were attacked when an intruder broke into their home about 3:30 a.m. in Henley on Thames, about 25 miles West of London. Harrison received superficial injuries and a one-inch stab wound that was deep enough to penetrate his chest wall but missed any major organs, said Andrew Pengelly, medical director of the Royal Berkshire Hospital.

Harrison was hospitalized at Royal Berkshire Hospital in nearby Reading in stable condition. His wife, who received only superficial injuries, was not admitted to the hospital, but was at Harrison's side, the spokeswoman said. Harrison and his wife struggled with the intruder, believed to be a Liverpool man, and that they apparently were able to detain him until police arrived. The Police said a 33-year-old man was arrested following the incident, and was also being treated for undisclosed injuries, but was then discharged into police custody, authorities said.

The Harrisons lived at Friar Park, a former nunnery close to the center of historic Henley, for more than 20 years. Security at the walled estate is tight, and it was unclear how the intruder managed to enter the house.

In September, 2000: The Recording Industry Association of America announced that, not too surprisingly, The Beatles still enjoy an uncontested lead for all-time album sales by an artist. According to a news release from the RIAA, six Beatles albums gained multiplatinum status in July.

Topping the list is "The Beatles", better known as The White Album, which hit the 18 million mark and is one of the seven highest certified albums of all time.

The album "Love Songs" reached 3 million, "Revolver" shot up to 5 million, "Magical Mystery Tour" is currently certified at 6 million, and both "The Beatles 1962-1966" and "The Beatles 1967-1970" stand at 14 million and 15 million, respectively. These new calculations bring The Beatles' total album sales to a whopping 113.5 million copies.

October 2000 :At his first parole hearing, John Lennon's killer, Mark David Chapman was denied parole.

On November 29th, 2001: George Harrison lost his battle with cancer at the age of 58. He had been flown from a Long Island hospital to receive treatment at the U.C.L.A Medical Center in California. George had reportedly met with surviving band mates Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, to say their final good-byes a few weeks earlier. Harrison passed away at a friend's house, in the company of his wife Olivia Harrison and their 24 year old son Dhani.

June 11, 2002: Paul marries former model, Heather Mills.

October 2002: Mark David Chapman is again denied parole.

October 2004: Chapman's parole application is turned down for the third time.

May 2006: Paul McCartney and his wife Heather Mills McCartney agreed to separate. The couple, who had been married for four years, said they had "with sadness" agreed to split after finding it "increasingly difficult" to maintain a normal relationship in the glare of the public eye.

October 2006: After a 16 minute hearing, 51 year old Mark David Chapman is told by a three member parole board panel that he must remain at Attica Correctional Facility for at least two more years.

December 2006: A 78-minute audio collage of some of The Beatles best work called "Love" debuts at number 4 on the Billboard Hot 200 chart. The album was conceived by former producer George Martin and his son Giles as a stageshow soundtrack to Cirque de Soleil's Las Vegas spectacular of the same name.

George Thorogood Biography:
A blues-rock guitarist who draws his inspiration from Elmore James, Hound Dog Taylor, and Chuck Berry, George Thorogood never earned much respect from blues purists, but he became a popular favorite in the early '80s through repeated exposure on FM radio and the arena rock circuit. Thorogood's music was always loud, simple, and direct -- his riffs and licks were taken straight out of '50s Chicago blues and rock & roll -- but his formulaic approach helped him gain a rather large audience in the '80s, when his albums regularly went gold.

Originally, Thorogood was a minor-league baseball player but decided to become a musician in 1970 after seeing John Paul Hammond in concert. Three years later, he assembled the Destroyers in his home state of Delaware; in addition to Thorogood, the band featured bassist Michael Lenn, second guitarist Ron Smith, and drummer Jeff Simon. Shortly after the group was formed, he moved them to Boston, where they became regulars on the blues club circuit. In 1974, they cut a batch of demos which were later released in 1979 as the Better Than the Rest album.

Within a year of recording the demos, the Destroyers were discovered by John Forward, who helped them secure a contract with Rounder Records. Before they made their first album, Lenn was replaced by Billy Blough. Thorogood & the Destroyers' eponymous debut was released in early 1977. The group's second album, Move It On Over, was released in 1978. The title track, a cover of Hank Williams' classic, was pulled as a single and it received heavy FM airplay, helping the album enter the American Top 40 and go gold. Its success led to MCA's release of Better Than the Rest, which the band disdained. In 1980, Ron Smith left the band and the group added a saxophonist, Hank Carter, and released their third album, More George Thorogood and the Destroyers.

Following the release of More George Thorogood, the guitarist signed with EMI Records, releasing his major-label debut, Bad to the Bone, in 1982. The title track of the album became his first major crossover hit, thanks to MTV's saturation airplay of the song's video. The album went gold and spent nearly a full year on the charts. Thorogood's next three albums after Bad to the Bone all went gold. Between Bad to the Bone and Thorogood's next album, 1985's Maverick, the Destroyers added a second guitarist, Steve Chrismar.

By the beginning of the '90s, Thorogood's audience began to decrease. None of the albums he released went gold, even though the title track from 1993's Haircut was a number two album rock hit. Despite his declining record sales, Thorogood continued to tour blues and rock clubs and he usually drew large crowds; subsequent efforts included 1997's Rockin' My Life Away, 1999's Half a Boy/Half a Man, Live in '99, 2003's Ride 'til I Die, and 2006's The Hard Stuff.