Welcome to the Quarrymen’s Official Website
Is it true that John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison were all members of the Quarrymen at one time?
It certainly is. John started the group with some schoolfriends – probably in late summer of 1956. Paul McCartney saw the group perform at a village fete held on the grounds of St. Peter’s Church in Woolton – a small village on the outskirts of Liverpool on Saturday 6th July 1957. He was introduced to John by a mutual friend after the afternoon performance. After Paul demonstrated his own skills as a guitarist and singer to John in their casual encounter, John decided to invite Paul into the group. A couple of weeks later Pete Shotton met Paul in the street and asked him if he wanted to join the Quarrymen and Paul said yes. His debut was delayed by the summer holidays, but took place in October 1957. A few months later Paul introduced John to his pal and schoolmate George Harrison. Exactly when this happened is not clear, however guitarist Eric Griffiths, whom George replaced, joined the Merchant Navy and his documents prove that he joined his first ship on 11 Feb 1958. His ship sailed on 14 Feb andf he did not return to the UK until 18 April. At first John was resistant to inviting George into the band as he was not yet 15 while John was already 17. Quite a gap when you’re in your late teens. But George persisted and within a few weeks he too became a member. As some of the original members left, John, Paul and George became the nucleus of the band. In the first half of 1960 they changed the band name several times – eventually arriving at the name the Beatles. They added a friend of John to play electric bass (Stuart Sutcliffe) and at short notice added a casual acquaintance (Pete Best) to play drums – and now the Quarrymen had a new name more suited for their transition from skiffle music to rock ‘n’ roll.