<Tr> <Td> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> </Td> </Tr> <Ul> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> <Li> </Li> </Ul> <P> In March 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School . They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a respected local group was already using the other name . Fifteen - year - old Paul McCartney joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he and Lennon met that July . In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band . The fifteen - year - old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young to join them . After a month of Harrison's persistence, during a second meeting, arranged by McCartney, he performed the lead guitar part for the instrumental "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a Liverpool bus, and they enlisted him as their lead guitarist . By January 1959, Lennon's Quarry Bank friends had left the group, and he began studies at the Liverpool College of Art . The three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer . Lennon's art school friend Stuart Sutcliffe, who had recently sold one of his paintings and was persuaded to purchase a bass guitar, joined in January 1960, and it was him who suggested changing the band's name to Beatals, as a tribute to Buddy Holly and the Crickets . They used the name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a brief tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer and fellow Liverpudlian Johnny Gentle . By early July, they had changed their name to the Silver Beatles and by the middle of August to the Beatles . </P> <P> Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg, but lacking a full - time drummer they auditioned and hired Pete Best in mid-August 1960 . The band, now a five - piece, left four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 31⁄2 - month residency . Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red - light area comes to life...flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities ." </P>

Who were the beatles before they were the beatles