The Quarrymen

The Quarrymen
The Quarrymen performing in Rosebery Street, Liverpool on 22 June 1957. (Left to right: Hanton, Griffiths, Lennon, Garry, Shotton, and Davis)
Background information
Also known as	The Blackjacks, Johnny and the Moondogs, Japage 3
Origin	Liverpool, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Skiffle rock and roll country
Years active	1956 (1956)–1960 (1960), 1994 (1994)-1995 (1995), 1997 (1997)–present
Labels	Griffin, Quarrymen Records, Sony BMG
Associated acts	The Les Stewart Quartet, the Beatles
Website	www.originalquarrymen.co.uk
Members	Rod Davis Len Garry Colin Hanton John Duff Lowe Chas Newby
Past members	John Lennon Paul McCartney George Harrison Stuart Sutcliffe Eric Griffiths Pete Shotton Bill Smith Ivan Vaughan Nigel Walley Ken Brown

The Quarrymen (also written as "the Quarry Men") are a British skiffle/rock and roll group, formed by John Lennon in Liverpool in 1956, which eventually evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Originally consisting of Lennon and several schoolfriends, the Quarrymen took their name from a line in the school song of Quarry Bank High School, which they attended. Lennon's mother, Julia Lennon, taught her son to play the banjo and then showed Lennon and Eric Griffiths how to tune their guitars in a similar way to the banjo, and taught them simple chords and songs.

Lennon started a skiffle group that was very briefly called the Blackjacks, but changed the name before any public performances. Some accounts credit Lennon with choosing the new name; other accounts credit his close friend Pete Shotton with suggesting the name. The Quarrymen played at parties, school dances, cinemas and amateur skiffle contests before Paul McCartney joined the band in October 1957. George Harrison joined the band in early 1958 at McCartney's recommendation, though Lennon initially resisted because he felt Harrison (still 14 when he was first introduced to Lennon) to be too young. Both McCartney and Harrison attended the Liverpool Institute.

The group made an amateur recording of themselves in 1958, performing Buddy Holly's "That'll Be the Day" and "In Spite of All the Danger", a song written by McCartney and Harrison. The group moved away from skiffle and towards rock and roll, causing several of the original members to leave. This left only a trio of Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, who performed under several other names, including Johnny and the Moondogs and Japage 3 before returning to the Quarrymen name in 1959. In 1960, the group changed its name to the Beatles, and went on to have an extremely successful recording career.