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Beatlemania in the United Kingdom


The phenomenon known as Beatlemania originated in the United Kingdom, birthplace of the Beatles, when the band first realised enormous popularity there in 1963. Returning in 1962 from a highly formative two-year residency in Germany, the Beatles achieved a commercial breakthrough with their second UK single release, "Please Please Me" early in 1963, but gained "Superstar" status with the release of "She Loves You" later that year. There followed an almost non-stop series of concerts and tours, attended with feverish enthusiasm across the UK, for the whole of the following year. The Beatles' popularity in the UK came to exceed even that of the notable American artists Tommy Roe, Chris Montez and Roy Orbison, whose UK chart success at the time did not keep them from being overshadowed by the Beatles during their 1963 nationwide tours with the lower-billed band — an achievement previously unknown for a UK act.

With intense media interest in the Beatles during 1963, the year was also taken up with TV shows, press interviews and a weekly radio show. Despite these demands the band found time for many sessions in the recording studio, releasing two albums and four singles during the year. 1963 was also the year when Lennon's son Julian was born.

By the end of 1963, Beatlemania would begin to spread internationally. The single "I Want to Hold Your Hand" entered the US charts on 18 January 1964, selling one-and-a-half million copies in under three weeks, and the following month the Beatles made their first visit to America. The great interest in the Beatles brought about a major change in US attitudes to popular music and marked the start of the phenomenon known as the British Invasion.

Following the Beatles' Hamburg period, the band had returned from Germany to the UK and were playing regularly at the Cavern Club. Their new manager, Brian Epstein, had made efforts to smarten the band up, encouraging them to wear suits instead of jeans and leather jackets, and to refrain from swearing, smoking, drinking or eating onstage, or stopping and starting songs when they felt like it: Epstein had seen the band's potential and was attempting to transform the Beatles into a serious commercial proposition. He had started to approach record companies, but this had not led to any interest in the band.


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