George Harrison, John Lennon and drummer Ringo Starr are all smiles as they chat with show host Ed Sullivan after making their television debut in America 60 years ago.
On February 9, 1964, the Fab Four drew a record-breaking viewership of over 73 million people on The Ed Sullivan Show—more than 60 percent of all TVs on in America at the time, according to Nielsen.
Every seat in the New York City studio was spoken for too, with an audience of over 700 including then-former Vice President Richard Nixon's teenage daughters, Tricia and Julie.
"The city never has witnessed the excitement stirred by these youngsters from Liverpool who call themselves The Beatles," Sullivan said as he announced the newly famed quartet. Amidst cheers and singing, the show displayed close-ups of each band member—which for Lennon was annotated with a note that read: "Sorry girls, he's married."
"We're rather crummy musicians," lead guitarist Harrison told Newsweek at the time. Piling on the self-deprecation, vocalist and bass guitarist McCartney added: "We can't sing, we can't do anything...but we're having a great laugh." Despite their perceived shortcomings, the British icons went on to captivate America.
The term Beatlemania came to encompass the hysteria surrounding the quartet. Over 3,000 ecstatic fans waited for the band's arrival at JFK Airport before the show. Devotees went beyond buying their records and purchased wigs emulating the group's iconic mop-top haircuts.
They appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show three times that February, and once more in September 1965. Over the four shows, seven of the songs they performed became Number One hits.
Decades later, despite the band's dissolution in the '70s and the deaths of Lennon in 1980 and Harrison in 2001, fans remain loyal. Last November, The Beatles returned to the charts with the release of their 214th song, "Now and Then," a rendition of Lennon's unfinished '70s ballad.
Referred to as "the last Beatles song," it integrates Lennon's voice with the help of artificial intelligence, and segments of Harrison's guitar recordings along with Starr and McCartney. Before the single's release, the band had joined the Spotify Billions Club after "Here Comes the Sun" surpassed 1 billion streams.
With The Beatles, all they ever really need—and get—is love.
