While Buddy Holly and Little Richard impacted The Beatles’ career early on, Elvis Presley served as the greatest inspiration to the group from the very beginning in their teenage years.
Little Richard’s eclectic style and sound turned out to be an outstanding influence on the band’s sound, especially on Paul McCartney. Honestly, if I hadn’t seen them with my own eyes I’d have thought they were a colored group from back home” (Luling, par. The flamboyant performer was a huge fan of The Beatles, and most notably said, “I’ve never heard that sound from English musicians before. Little Richard even went on tour with the group as an opener in Europe of 1964. Even though the Little Richard influence greatly affected McCartney, Lennon also interpreted Richard’s style in his 1975 solo album Rock 'n' Roll (Krerowicz, par. Little Richard’s influence is definitely noticeable with all The Beatles’ “falsetto ‘wooos’” in their songs (Krerowicz, par. According to DiCesare, “not many people could wail like Richard… Paul’s screaming lead vocals, they nailed hits like “Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Tutti-Frutti” and “Lucille”” (par. Little Richard’s style can be identified in some of The Beatles’ classic songs, such as McCartney’s ‘woooo’ in “I Saw Her Standing There” (DiCesare, par.2). The band even performed various Little Richard tunes on the radio and at concerts. As recalled in the Krerowicz journal, when Paul McCartney auditioned for The Quarrymen he did his Little Richard style vocals, which Lennon was majorly impressed (par. McCartney was infatuated with Little Richard’s vocal range, and even tried to impersonate his style during his performances (Krerowicz, par.2). According to Lennon, he was one of the all time greatest musicians (DiCesare, par. Little Richard was another influence in The Beatles’ musical career. The Beatles aspired to sing and play their instruments on the stage, like Buddy Holly, to capture their audience and show off their talent. Buddy Holly played the guitar and performed on stage together, which was not popular during that time for performers to do both on stage (Krerowicz, par. The Beatles played tribute to Holly and The Crickets: “they played a total of at least 13 Buddy Holly songs in live shows” (Krerowicz, par. Early on the band performed both covers and originals, but as their popularity grew, they performed originals for the majority. Holly was the one that influenced the duo to actually write and perform their own songs in the band (Krerowicz, par. Both Lennon and McCartney were drawn to Buddy Holly and The Cricket’s name, charisma, and infectious sound. Lennon recalls, “When you said it, people thought of crawly things and when you read it, it was beat music” (Krerowicz, par. After playing around with the word cricket and other insects, he came up with beetles. Lennon even reiterated that he wanted a double meaning of their band name, and he liked the idea of using bugs. However, The Beatles were appreciative of the double meaning in the name, and wanted that for themselves. Paul McCartney noted that Buddy Holly’s group was unfamiliar with the actual cricket game (Krerowicz, par.1).
Holly’s band was The Crickets, and the Beatles thought naming a band after an insect was quite smart. These iconic artists excited the band, and influenced their music career, which in turn shaped the lives of so many other musical artists.īuddy Holly had a major impact on The Beatles, right down to the naming of the band. While all three of these musicians impacted The Beatles strongly, Elvis’ style, sound, and all around charisma left a lasting impression on all four of the young, eager members. Three great influences that shaped The Beatles’ music include Buddy Holly, Little Richard, and The one and only King, Elvis Presley. It is difficult to fathom that The Beatles were once the starving artists waiting for their big break while admiring other artist and styles. Some of today’s biggest musicians cite The Beatles as being one of their biggest influences. These four musician masterminds came together to create some of the most well-known, and classic songs that are still praised today. John, Paul, George, and Ringo are four of the most recognizable names in the music world.
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