Cavern Treasures: Early photos of The Beatles unearthed
Rare photos of The Beatles performing at Liverpool's Cavern Club during the early days of the band have been discovered.
The candid snaps, discovered by Tracks, Ltd., one of the world's leading dealers in Beatles memorabilia, were taken in the summer of 1961, a year before their debut single Love Me Do was released.
The pictures show Paul McCartney and John Lennon singing alongside George Harrison on guitar and original drummer Pete Best - who is partly obscured.
Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn said it showed the Fab Four as "whippet-thin under-nourished lads" following their time in Germany.
“Set inside Liverpool’s cramped and dank Cavern Club, these previously unseen photos capture the Beatles playing for a lunchtime or evening audience in July 1961,” the author, who has written several books about the band, said. “Just back from Hamburg – slogging 500 stage hours in 90 days.”
Revealing how it was one of the final gigs before the Beatles began the journey to become the more familiar group we know today, he added: “Three months from here, John and Paul went to Paris and returned with what became known as ‘the Beatle haircut’. Days later, Brian Epstein saw the Beatles in the Cavern, offered to become their manager, and set them on a course that changed our world.”
Best was dropped from the band in 1962 and replaced by Ringo Starr, with the group going on to achieve global fame and become one of the defining acts of the 20th Century.