Despite breaking up in 1970, The Beatles continue to be the best-selling band in history. The group has the ability to transcend any listener's personal tastes because during its ten year career, it managed to write songs that nearly anyone can enjoy. Formed in 1960 in Liverpool, England, The Beatles was initially a five-piece band, consisting of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stewart Sutcliffe and Pete Best, that drew inspiration from early 1950s rock and roll and skiffle movements. Building a reputation for itself around the Liverpool area, Sutcliffe and Best soon left the band, with Ringo Starr taking over drumming duties. With the help of its business savvy manager Brian Epstein and talented producer George Martin, The Beatles became a mainstream musical phenomena by 1962. The group shortly helped usher in "the British invasion" and "beatlemania" in the United States, when North American audiences started craving The Beatles' music. Throughout its subsequent career, the quartet changed its sound and evolved with the times, becoming one of the quintessential symbols of social and cultural revolutions of the 1960s.
