This Day in Beatle History

April 1

2015 (Apr 1) - Cynthia Lennon Dies

Cynthia Lennon, first wife of The Beatles’ John Lennon died at her home in Spain following a short battle with cancer. At the height of The Beatles’ early success she was, at the insistence of the band’s management, kept in the background so their legions of female fans were not aware of her existence. The couple divorced in 1968 after Cynthia discovered her husband’s affair with Yoko Ono.

April 2

1962 (Jun 6) - First Beatles Recordings at What Will Become 'Abbey Road'

The first Beatles recording session took place at EMI studios. The group recorded four tracks, one of which was ‘Love Me Do’ the four musicians received payments for the session of £7.10 ($12.07) each.

1964 (Apr 2) - Beatles #1 in the UK with 'Can't Buy Me Love'

The Beatles had their fourth UK No.1 single with ‘Can’t Buy Me Love.’ With advanced sales of over 2.1 million, it holds the record for the greatest advanced orders for a single in the UK.

1966 (Apr 2) - Herb Alpert Albums Top The Beatles

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass become the first act with four albums in the US Top 10 simultaneously.  Alpert’s albums spend more weeks at #1 in 1966 than The Beatles.

1966 (Feb 18) - Brian Wilson Finishes 'Good Vibrations'

Beach Boy Brian Wilson finished recording the future classic song ‘Good Vibrations’, which went on to become the band’s third US number-one hit. As a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations” Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.

1969 (Apr 2) - John & Paul and the Bankers

John and Paul meet with bankers to try and retain control of Northern Songs. Dick James wants to sell his shares to ATV.

1970 (Apr 2) - Phil Spector Completes Final Editing for 'Let It Be'

Phil Spector completed final editing and mixing for The Beatles Let It Be album, 16 months after the Get Back project had begun.

1973 (Apr 2) - Beatles Release Two Compilation Albums

The Beatles release two compilation albums: ‘The Beatles 1962-1966’ and ‘The Beatles 1967-1970’. Both will land in the Top 10 on the US and UK albums charts, with ‘1967-1970’ hitting #1 in the US.

2006 (Apr 2) - John Lennon Schoolbook Sells at Auction

A John Lennon schoolbook containing the 12-year-old’s drawing of Lewis Carroll’s poem The Walrus and the Carpenter was sold at auction for £126,500, ($239,733). The poem inspired Lennon to write The Beatles’ 1967 song ‘I Am The Walrus’. Also sold for £12,000, ($22,741) was a ship’s log book written by Lennon during a stormy trip to Bermuda in 1980, and a letter from Paul McCartney to his bandmates Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr failed to reach its £50,000, ($94,742) reserve price.

2008 (Feb 20) - Beatles' Autographed Rolling Stones Album Auctioned

A 1976 Rolling Stones album bought for £2 at a car boot sale sold for £4,000 at an auction. The ‘Black and Blue’ LP was signed by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney and George Harrison as well as members of the Rolling Stones. The seller obtained the album after haggling the cost down from £3.

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