It was 60 years ago today on 5th October 1962 The Beatles released their debut single 'Love Me Do' on Parlophone Records.
Produced by George Martin "Love Me Do" is backed with 'P.S. I Love You.' When the single was originally released in the United Kingdom on 5 October 1962, it peaked at number 17. It was released in the United States in 1964, where it became a number one hit.
The song was written several years before it was recorded, and prior to the existence of the Beatles. The single features John Lennon's prominent harmonica playing and duet vocals by him and Paul McCartney. Three recorded versions of the song by the Beatles have been released, each with a different drummer. The first attempted recording from June 1962 featured Pete Best on drums, but was not officially released until the Anthology 1 compilation in 1995. A second version was recorded three months later with Best's replacement Ringo Starr, and this was used for the original Parlophone single. A third version, featuring session drummer Andy White in place of Starr, was included on the band's Please Please Me album and on the 1964 Tollie single that hit in the US; it was also included on the American LPs Introducing... The Beatles and The Early Beatles.
The Beatles' first recording session, on 6 June 1962, was with Pete Best on drums. This version (previously thought to be lost) is available on Anthology 1. The second recording session was on 4 September 1962. In August, Best had been replaced with Ringo Starr. Producer George Martin did not approve of Best's drumming for studio work. It was the norm at that time to have a specialist studio drummer who knew the ways of studio work. The decision to fire Best was not Martin's. The Beatles with Starr recorded a version at EMI Studios. They recorded "Love Me Do" in 15 takes. This version with Starr is available on Past Masters.
The Third recording session was on 11 September 1962. A week later, The Beatles returned to the same studio and they made a recording of "Love Me Do" with session drummer Andy White on drums. Starr was relegated to playing tambourine. As tambourine is not present on the 4 September recording, this is the easiest way to distinguish between the Starr and White recordings. The Andy White version is available on Please Please Me.
The band's follow-up single, 'Please Please Me' shot to number one in the charts around the world as did their subsequent releases. The Beatles are the best-selling music act of all time, with estimated sales of 600 million units worldwide. They hold the record for most number-one albums on the UK Albums Chart , most number-one hits on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and most singles sold in the UK (21.9 million). The band received many accolades, including seven Grammy Awards, four Brit Awards, an Academy Award (for Best Original Song Score for the 1970 documentary film Let It Be) and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, and each principal member was inducted individually between 1994 and 2015. In 2004 and 2011, the group topped Rolling Stone's lists of the greatest artists in history. Time magazine named them among the 20th century's 100 most important people.
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