Rolling stone beatles biography book

The Beatles: The Biography

It’s all here, raw and right – the highs and the lows, the love and the rivalry, the awe and the jealousy, the drugs, the tears, the thrill, the music, and the magic never to be repeated – in a vast, exuberantly acclaimed book that’s as joyous and revelatory as a Beatles record itself.

A NEW YORK TIMES Notable Book of the Year

Praise & Reviews

“Irresistible … The Beatles amplifies and corrects some of what is known about the band’s formative years.

But Stefan Granados gets the nod because his book brings the story up into the 21st century (the original edition was published in 2001).

Rolling Stone’s Rob Sheffield provided a blurb for the book, writing, “No writer has ever gotten to the heart of the John/Paul saga as brilliantly as Ian Leslie.”

As for the upcoming Beatles’ biopics, the films will star Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, with each film slated to arrive in April 2028.

A new book, John & Paul: A Love Story in Songs, traces the band’s journey through the lens of the legendary creative partnership. enterprise (both The Longest Cocktail Party and Apple to the Core are worth a read). Author Ian Leslie digs deep on other tracks like “A Day in the Life,” “Get Back,” and “Two of Us.”

Notably, journalist and writer Ian Leslie is not a music historian.

The Birth of Beatlemania in America, Bruce Spizer, 2003

“Love Me Do!” stands out as the first intelligently written book about The Beatles. It’s available for preorder now from retailers like Amazon, Bookshop.org, and Barnes & Noble and drops April 8.

The book’s chapters are broken up by song, tracing the songs written by, with, and about each other.

McCartney had never talked as extensively about his Beatles years before, with no subject off limits. Or, should we say, it never left. In the intervening half century since the Fab Four went their separate ways, the band’s esteem has only grown, and the backbone of the band’s success was the collaborative (and at times contentious) songwriting partnership between John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Every chapter of The Beatles promises more misery for the lads, more pleasure, more surprise.”
– David Kirby, Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Beatlemaniacs will swoon.”
– People

“Spitz has done a masterful job of focusing his kaleidoscopic eyes on the greatest pop thing since Jesus.”
-Richard Gehr, Village Voice

“Spitz marshals a staggering mass of research … The early chapters are irresistible; they have the hypnotic effect of a film clip run backward.”
– Lev Grossman, Time

“Filled with intimate scenes … The first third of this opus is a treasure chest of revelation … Spitz demonstrates his deep research and writing chops by transporting us to the place where it all began … This book reminds us – in generous detail – that the Fab Four were just people.”
– John Kehe, Christian Science Monitor

“Spitz knows his subject.

No matter how well you think you know this story, you’ll learn something you didn’t know in this incredibly detailed account. And what a bounty of information there is. Doggett, who got his start at Record Collector and the relaunched fan magazine The Beatles Book, knows this history from the inside out, and is an expert at bringing new insights to light.

The Historical Account

Tune In: The Beatles: All These Years, Mark Lewisohn, 2013

Mark Lewisohn made his name as the author of acclaimed reference books like The Beatles Recording Sessions and The Complete Beatles Chronology.

Make this list your launchpad for further explorations in the realm of Beatles books.

The Authorized Bio

The Beatles, Hunter Davies, 1968

Hunter Davies was a columnist for the Sunday Times in London, and had interviewed Paul McCartney for the paper.

Another well-researched and lavishly illustrated book from Spizer.

The Apple Era

Those Were The Days 2.0: The Beatles and Apple, Stefan Granados, 2021

There are a number of books about the group’s ill-fated Apple Corps. He knows where the magic is, and why it is.

The Beatles: Get Back expands on Peter Jackson’s mammoth series about the January 1969 sessions, the fly-on-the-wall transcriptions revealing a group struggling to find a sense of purpose, even as George Harrison dismisses the ostensible reason for the sessions — preparing for a live gig — by stating “I think we should forget the whole idea of this show” on the third day.

There are myriad revisions to the conventional narrative which underscore just how in control of that narrative the band has been up to now—small example: no, Muddy Waters was not mopping the floors at Chess Records when the Stones showed up.