The Beatles built their reputation in Liverpool and Hamburg clubs over a three-year period from 1960. Moulded into a professional outfit by music store owner Brian Epstein after he offered to act as the group's manager, and with their musical..
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The Beatles built their reputation in Liverpool and Hamburg clubs over a three-year period from 1960. Moulded into a professional outfit by music store owner Brian Epstein after he offered to act as the group's manager, and with their musical potential enhanced by the hands-on creativity of producer George Martin, they achieved a UK mainstream hit in late 1962 with the single "Love Me Do". Gaining worldwide popularity over the course of the next year, they reinforced their success with extensive touring until 1966, then retreated to the recording studio until their breakup in 1970. During the studio years they produced what critics consider some of their finest material, including the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). In professional reviews, Sgt. Pepper is widely regarded as a masterpiece, and in 2003 Rolling Stone magazine called it the greatest album of all time, with three other Beatles albums also in the top ten. Nearly four decades after the breakup, Beatles music continues to be popular, and September 2009 saw the release of a newly remastered discography as well as the video game The Beatles: Rock Band. less