... was formed in 1956 by Lennon and several friends from Quarry Bank High School. They originally chose the name The Blackjacks, but changed it to The Quarrymen (from a line in their school song) before performing for the first time. Some sources credit washboard player Pete Shotton with the choice of name; Shotton later managed a supermarket that was owned by Lennon and George Harrison, and went on to found the Fatty Arbuckle's chain of restaurants.
Paul McCartney joined the Quarrymen after seeing them perform at a church fête in 1957. He later suggested that his school friend George Harrison should be invited to join.
The group had originally played a mixture of skiffle and rock 'n' roll, but the influence of McCartney and Harrison steered them more towards rock 'n' roll. This caused most of the original members to leave; Lennon, McCartney and Harrison continued as a trio of guitarists, performing under several other names (including Johnny and the Moondogs and Japage 3 – the latter combining the initial letters from their three first names – sort of) before returning to the Quarrymen name in 1959. They recruited Pete Best to play drums, and Lennon's art college friend Stuart Sutcliffe to play bass guitar. In 1960 the group changed its name to The Beetles, in imitation of Buddy Holly's Crickets. The name was apparently the idea of Lennon and Best, but it was Lennon who decided to change the spelling to The Beatles – a pun involving the word 'beat'.
Stuart Sutcliffe, according to some accounts, had never been comfortable being in a group, and he left in July 1961 to concentrate on his painting. This is when McCartney began playing bass guitar; he initially had to borrow Sutcliffe's instrument, and being left–handed, he played it with the neck to his right and plucked the strings with his left hand. But it was strung as a right–handed instrument, as Sutcliffe had specifially asked him not to restring it.
Stuart Sutcliffe died of a brain haemorrhage, in Hamburg, in April 1962. He'd been experiencing severe headaches for some time, but the cause was not diagnosed until after his death when it was discovered that he'd been suffering from a cerebral aneurysm. This may have been caused by a head injury that Sutcliffe had sustained when he was attacked after a performance in Liverpool in January 1961.
Brian Epstein was manager of the record department of NEMS, his family's newly–opened music store in Liverpool. He discovered the Beatles in November 1961, during a lunchtime performance at the Cavern Club. He swiftly arranged an audition at Decca Records, on New Year's Day 1962. The group was famously rejected by Decca, but Epstein (who signed a contract as their manager in late January 1962) secured ownership of the audition tape and played it to George Martin at EMI, who agreed to sign the Beatles on a recording contract on the strength of it.
The Beatles performed a "commercial test" at Abbey Road Studios in June 1962. Martin's assistant, Ron Richards, felt that Pete Best, despite being a valued part of the group's live act and a great favourite with the fans, was not suited to studio work. One option was to employ a session drummer; this was common practice at the time. But after much deliberation and soul–searching, Epstein – reportedly at the request of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison – decided that Best had to go. (George Martin later denied that it was his idea that Best should be fired.) Pete Best was sacked on 16 August 1962. Two days later, Ringo Starr left Rory Storm & the Hurricanes to join The Beatles ... and the rest is history.
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