When the Beatles Broke Up

The Beatles stopped playing together in 1970. Though rumors of the world’s biggest band breaking up had been rife, it was only when Paul McCartney announced it in his self-interview to promote his first solo album, “McCartney,” that the public believed that it was true.

A great source of friction between the four Beatles was their joint business venture, Apple (no, not the tech giant, thought that would have been cool), which had been hit with major financial losses. Three of the band members opted to have Allen Klein handle their business affairs, while McCartney wanted Lee Eastman, his father-in-law, to represent them.

The last studio album that the band worked on together was the iconic “Abbey Road”, released on September 26, 1969. John Lennon originally asked to have his songs on one side and McCartney’s songs on another. Instead, however, the album’s medley made up side two.

After the break-up of the Beatles, Lennon and McCartney, the band’s two main songwriters, took shots at each other through the songs in their post-band musical careers. McCartney wrote “took your lucky break and broke in two” in “Too many people.” Lennon, on his part, wrote “How do you sleep?”, directed at his former bandmate. Sounds like quite a musical catfight.

The original agreement between Klein and the Beatles had been three paragraphs long, but it didn’t stay that way. After lengthy lawsuits in the following years, the final agreement signed by the Beatles in December 1974, was an eighthy seven-page document. Not exactly a casual weekend read. The formal dissolution of the group occurred on January 9, 1975.

The closest the Beatles ever came to a reunion was for Ringo Starr’s 1973 solo album, “Ringo”. Three of the band members were present during various recording sessions, and at one point, nearly played together for the first time since the breakup.