Songwriters Hall of FameInducted 1987 | BMI, ASCAP Writer

John Winston Lennon is born at Oxford Street Maternity Hospital in Liverpool, England.

May - Forms the Quarry Men skiffle group with school friends from Quarry Bank High School.

July 6 - Paul McCartney attends a performance by the Quarry Men and meets John Lennon.

September - Begins classes at Liverpool College of Art.

February 6 - George Harrison joins the Quarry Men.

July 15 - Julia Lennon, John's mother, dies in a car accident on Menlove Avenue.

August 29 - The Quarry Men (John, Paul, George and Ken Brown) perform at the opening night of the Casbah coffee club.

November 15 - The group, now known as Johnny and the Moondogs, fail an audition for Carroll Levis at Manchester Hippodrome.

May 20 - The group, renamed again as the Silver Beetles, begin a tour backing Johnny Gentle on a Scottish tour.

June 2 - First local professional engagement at Neston Institute - this time known as the Beatles.

August 16-18 - The Beatles open at the Indra night-club in Hamburg, Germany.

March 21 - The Beatles debut at the Cavern Club in Liverpool.

November - Brian Epstein, a local record shop owner, attends a performance by the Beatles at the Cavern club. A month later, Epstein offers to manage the group.

January 1 - The Beatles travel to London for an audition at Decca Records.

January 24 - The Beatles and Brian Epstein enter into an official management contract.

March 8 - The group appears on the BBC radio program Teenager's Turn.

June 4 - The Beatles sign a recording contract with Parlophone, a small label within EMI Music.

June 6 - The Beatles' first recording session at the Abbey Road studios in London.

August 18 - Ringo Starr fills the vacant drummer's seat left by Pete Best.

August 23 - John marries Cynthia Powell at Mount Pleasant Register Office in Liverpool. The two had met while attending the Liverpool College of Art.

October 5 - "Love Me Do", the band's first single, is released.

October 17 - The Beatles first television appearance on Granada's north-west regional programme People and Places. They perform "Love Me Do".

October 27 - "Love Me Do" enters the Melody Maker singles chart at #48.

January 19 - The Beatles make their nationwide television debut on Thank Your Lucky Stars.

February 2 - The band begins its first UK tour with Helen Shapiro.

February 11 - The Beatles record their first LP, Please Please Me.

February 22 - Nothern Songs is formed as the publishing company for all future Lennon/McCartney compositions. As Lennon remarks: "Northern Songs is a long-term thing and it rests on Paul and writing songs until we're sixty. Unless something happens, there's nothing to stop Paul and I writing hits when we're old. It's so profitable and anyway, we're good friends - there's no reason on earth why we should give it up." (The Beatles Anthology, pg. 97, 2000.)

March 2 - "Please Please Me", the band's second single, reaches #1 on the Melody Maker singles chart.

April 8 - Cynthia gives birth to John Charles Julian Lennon at Sefton General Hospital.

May 4 - Please Please Me, the Beatles first LP, reaches #1 on the Melody Maker chart.

June 29 - John appears solo on the BBC's television programme Juke Box Jury. The appearance come ten days after he assaults Bob Wooler (master of ceremonies at the Cavern club) during Paul McCartney's 21st Birthday. The indicent makes national news appearing in the Daily Mirror.

August 3 - The Beatles perform for the last time at the Cavern club. The performance is the 292nd time the group performed for the venue.

October 13 - The Beatles appear on Sunday Night at the London Palladium.

October 31 - Returning from Sweden after a series of concerts, the group is swarmed by fans at Heathrow Airport.

December 27 - John and Paul are described in The Times as 'the outstanding English composers of 1963'.

With the Beatles, the group's second album is released. All tracks recorded during July and October 1963.

February 1 - "I Want to Hold Your Hand" reaches number one on the American Billboard charts.

February 7 - The Beatles arrive at New York's Kennedy Airport at the start of their American tour. The hysteria surrounding their arrival made international news.

February 9 - The Beatles perfom on the Ed Sullivan Show. An estimated 73 million people watch the performance.

February 11 - First American concert for the group at the Coliseum in Washington, D.C.

March 2 - The group begins shooting their first feature film, A Hard Day's Night in England.

March 23 - John's first book, In His Own Write is published.

July 18 - The Beatles third album, A Hard Day's Night is released. The album remains on the Billboard charts for 51 weeks and peaks at #1.

February 22 - The Beatles begin shooting their second feature film, Help!. The film debuts in London on July 29.

March - John and former Quarry Man, Pete Shotton, form Hayling Supermarkets Ltd. off the Hampshire coast.

June 12 - Buckingham Palace announces the four Beatels are to be made Members of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.).

June 24 - John's second book, A Spaniard In the Works, is published.

August 28 - The group's fifth album Help! is released. The album remains on the Billboard pop charts for 44 weeks and peaks at #1.

December 25 - The Beatles' sixth album is released. Rubber Soul will stay on the Billboard pop charts for 59 weeks and peak at #1.

March 4 - The London Evening Standard publishes an interview with John reported by Maureen Cleaves. In the interview, John expresses his opinion that the Beatles are more popular than Jesus and that Christianity will vanish and shrink.