The English rock music group The Beatles gave the 1960s its characteristic musical flavor and {{U}} (1) {{/U}}a profound influence on the course of popular music, equaled by{{U}} (2) {{/U}}performers. The guitarists John Winston Lennon, James Paul McCartney, and George Harrison; and the drummer Ringo Starr, were all born and{{U}} (3) {{/U}}in Liverpool. Lennon and McCartney had played together in a group called The Quarrymen. With Harrison,{{U}} (4) {{/U}}formed their own group, The Silver Beatles, in 1959, and Starr joined them in 1962. As {{U}} (5) {{/U}}Beatles, they developed a local following in Liverpool clubs, and their first recordings, "Love Me Do" (1962) and "Please Please Me" (1963), quickly made them Britain's top rock group. Their early music was{{U}} (6) {{/U}}by the American rock singers Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, but they infused a hackneyed musical{{U}} (7) {{/U}}with freshness, vitality, and wit.
The release of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" in 1964{{U}} (8) {{/U}}the beginning of the phenomenon known as"Beatlemania" in the United States. The Beatle's first US{{U}} (9) {{/U}}aroused a universal mob adulation. Their concerts were scenes of mass worship, and their records sold{{U}} (10) {{/U}}the millions. Their first film, the innovative A Hard Day's Night(1964), was received enthusiastically{{U}} (11) {{/U}}a wide audience that included many who had never before listened to rock music．
Composing their own{{U}} (12) {{/U}}, The Beatles established the precedent for other rock groups to play their own music．Experimenting with{{U}} (13) {{/U}}musical forms, they produced an extraordinary{{U}} (14) {{/U}}of songs: the childishly simple "Yellow Submarine" ; the bitter social commentary of "Eleanor Rigby" ; parodies of earlier pop styles; new electronic sounds; and compositions that were scored for cellos, violins, trumpets, and sitars, as well as for conventional guitars and drums. The{{U}} (15) {{/U}}disbanded in 1970, after the release of their final album, Let It Be, and during the 1970s{{U}} (16) {{/U}}individual careers, On dec.8, 1980, John Lennon {{U}} (17) {{/U}}fatally shot outside his Manhattan apartment by Mark Chapman, a 25-year-old former mental{{U}} (18) {{/U}}who, earlier that same day, had asked Lennon for his{{U}} (19) {{/U}}. Lennon's murder was universally{{U}} (20) {{/U}}with an intensity of feeling usually inspired only by political and spiritual leaders.