Early in 1964, with Beatlemania raging in the UK,
the Beatles topped the US charts with "I Want To Hold
Your Hand," and became a sensation on American TV with
The Ed Sullivan Show - on which they appeared no fewer
than three occasions, on consecutive Sundays in
February, 1964. In April 1964, they held all Top Five
positions on the Billboard Hot 100 and were playing such
prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, the Hollywood Bowl,
and Shea Stadium. With exclusive interviews with fellow
musicians, promoters, and audience members, together
with rare photographs and memorabilia, The Beatles In
America is the definitive, fully illustrated account of
their concerts, the controversies, and of how the
country dominated their lives in so many ways - written
by one of the acknowledged experts on the Fab Four,
Liverpool's own Spencer Leigh. Covers all the group's
North American appearances/tours in detail: their first
two live American appearances in 1964, the first full
North American tour of August and September, 1964; the
second, short tour of 1965; and the third, 13-date tour
of August and September, 1966 - with maps showing the
cities they played on each tour. Describes how
Beatlemania "broke" in Canada before it did in the US -
and why. Includes exclusive and previously unpublished
interviews with key figures of the era, such as Del
Shannon, Roy Orbison, Sid Bernstein, Cynthia Lennon,
Bill Wyman, Roger McGuinn, Pete Best, Davy Jones and
Peter Tork (of the Monkees), Larry Kane (journalist),
Suzy Quatro, Tony Barrow, Alf Bicknell, Ronnie Spector,
Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, May Pang.
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