Editing John Lennon (section)

==The Beatles (1960–1970)==

===Formation and Hamburg Years===

In 1956 Lennon formed a skiffle group called '''The Quarrymen''', which evolved through several lineup and name changes before settling as '''The Beatles''' by 1960. The classic lineup — Lennon, [[Paul McCartney]], [[George Harrison]], and [[Ringo Starr]] — solidified in 1962 with the replacement of original drummer Pete Best. The group's formative years were spent playing extended residencies in the clubs of Hamburg, Germany, where they developed the tight, high-energy live sound that would underpin their early recordings.

Signed to EMI's Parlophone label by producer [[George Martin]] in 1962, The Beatles released their debut single ''Love Me Do'' that October. Martin's role as arranger, sonic architect, and creative collaborator would prove indispensable to the group's recorded output throughout their career.

===Beatlemania and Early Albums (1963–1965)===

The Beatles became a cultural phenomenon of unprecedented scale in Britain in 1963, with the press coining the term '''Beatlemania''' to describe the hysteria surrounding the group. Their arrival in the United States in February 1964 — broadcast live on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' to an estimated audience of 73 million viewers — launched a British Invasion of American popular music and popular culture that fundamentally altered the landscape of rock and roll.

Early albums including ''Please Please Me'' (1963), ''With the Beatles'' (1963), ''A Hard Day's Night'' (1964), and ''Help!'' (1965) combined energetic original songwriting with rock and roll and Motown influences. The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership, though increasingly divergent in sensibility, produced an extraordinary run of singles and album tracks that dominated charts on both sides of the Atlantic.

===Artistic Maturation and Psychedelia (1965–1967)===

Beginning with ''Rubber Soul'' (1965) and accelerating through ''Revolver'' (1966), The Beatles underwent a dramatic artistic evolution, moving away from touring and live performance toward increasingly sophisticated studio work. Lennon's contributions in this period — ''Norwegian Wood'', ''In My Life'', ''Tomorrow Never Knows'', ''She Said She Said'' — reflected a growing interest in [[Bob Dylan]]'s literary approach to lyrics, Indian philosophy and music, and the consciousness-expanding effects of LSD.

''Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'' (1967) is widely regarded as the group's magnum opus and one of the most influential albums in the history of recorded music. Lennon's principal contribution, ''Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds'', became one of the era's defining psychedelic compositions.

===Late Period and Dissolution (1968–1970)===

The double album ''The Beatles'' (commonly known as the '''White Album''', 1968) and ''Abbey Road'' (1969) represented the final sustained creative peaks of the group, though internal tensions — exacerbated by business disputes, diverging solo ambitions, and the controversial role of [[Yoko Ono]] in Lennon's life — had begun to fracture the band irreparably. ''Let It Be'' (1970) documented a group in disintegration; the album was released shortly after Lennon's public announcement that he had left The Beatles.

The Lennon–McCartney songwriting catalog, encompassing well over 200 compositions, remains among the most performed and recorded bodies of work in the history of popular music.