Case file Nº 002 1960–1970

The Beatles

The Beatles' breakup is the most analysed divorce in music history — and the documented record shows it was less about Yoko Ono sitting on an amp than about a rudderless business empire, a manager's death, a hostile management split between Allen Klein and the Eastmans, and a partnership agreement that could only be escaped through the High Court.

Formed: 1960 (as The Beatles)
Origin: Liverpool, England
Genre: Rock / Pop
Status: Disbanded 1970
Documented lineup changes: Pete Best fired 1962; then famously stable — until it wasn't

The file

The Beatles need no introduction, so here is the part the anniversary specials skim: the most successful band of all time ended in a blizzard of writs. Between 1967 and 1975, the group lost its manager to a sudden death, founded a corporation that hemorrhaged money on projects including an electronics division run by a man they called Magic Alex, split into two irreconcilable camps over who should run their business, watched their own song catalogue get bought out from under them, and finally dissolved their partnership only because one of them sued the other three.

John Lennon's relationship with Yoko Ono became the era's convenient shorthand for the collapse, and her constant presence in the studio from 1968 — including, famously, a bed installed in Abbey Road during Abbey Road sessions after a car accident — genuinely strained the group's working intimacy. But the members themselves, in later decades, largely converged on the fuller story: Brian Epstein's death in 1967 removed the only adult in the room, Apple Corps turned the band into unwilling executives, and the Allen Klein appointment split them three against one, permanently.

This dossier reconstructs the full sequence — including the two temporary quittings nobody remembers (Ringo in 1968, George in 1969), the secret resignation (John, September 1969), the public one (Paul, April 1970), and the litigation that outlived the band by decades.

The thread

Timeline of unravelling

1957–60

The Quarrymen become The Beatles

John Lennon's skiffle group absorbs Paul McCartney (1957) and George Harrison (1958). By 1960 they are The Beatles, grinding through Hamburg residencies with Pete Best on drums and Stuart Sutcliffe on bass.

Aug 1962

Pete Best is fired — by proxy

Days before the first single session, drummer Pete Best is dismissed after two years of service. None of the Beatles tells him; manager Brian Epstein delivers the news, and Ringo Starr is installed. Best learns his replacement has already been arranged. Angry fans picket the Cavern Club chanting his name.

1966

Bigger than Jesus, and the Manila incident

Lennon's months-old remark that the band had become 'more popular than Jesus' ignites record burnings and death threats across the American South when republished. Weeks earlier the band had fled the Philippines under mob harassment after unintentionally snubbing Imelda Marcos. Touring ends forever in August.

Aug 1967

Brian Epstein dies

The band's manager dies of an accidental overdose at 32 while the group is in Wales with the Maharishi. Lennon later says he knew in that moment the band was finished: they were, in his phrase, musicians with no idea how to run their own affairs.

1968

Apple Corps opens — and starts bleeding

Conceived partly as a tax strategy, Apple Corps launches with a boutique, a label, a film arm and an electronics division under Alexis 'Magic Alex' Mardas, whose inventions largely did not work. The Apple boutique closes within eight months, its stock simply given away. The company becomes a money furnace.

1968

Yoko in the studio; Ringo quits (briefly)

During the fractious White Album sessions, Yoko Ono becomes a constant studio presence at Lennon's side, breaking the band's unwritten no-partners rule. Ringo Starr, feeling sidelined, quits for two weeks; McCartney drums on 'Back in the U.S.S.R.' Ringo returns to find his kit covered in flowers.

Jan 1969

George walks out of Get Back

Ten days into the filmed Get Back sessions at Twickenham, George Harrison — worn down by McCartney's direction and Lennon's disengagement — quits with a curt suggestion the others advertise for a replacement. He returns days later on conditions, including abandoning the planned exotic live show.

Feb–May 1969

The Klein–Eastman war

Lennon, backed by Harrison and Starr, appoints Allen Klein — the Rolling Stones' famously aggressive manager — to run Apple. McCartney wants Lee and John Eastman, his new in-laws. The band splits 3–1 and never truly functions again. McCartney thereafter refuses to sign the Klein management agreement.

1969

Northern Songs is lost

Amid the management chaos, ATV wins control of Northern Songs, the company holding Lennon–McCartney publishing. The two songwriters lose ownership of their own catalogue — a wound that reopens in 1985 when Michael Jackson buys ATV's catalogue outright.

Sep 1969

John quits — in secret

Days after Abbey Road is finished, Lennon tells the others he wants 'a divorce.' Klein persuades all parties to keep it quiet to protect ongoing contract negotiations with EMI. The Beatles are over; nobody outside the room knows.

Apr 1970

Paul announces the breakup — via Q&A

McCartney releases his debut solo album with a self-interview press kit stating he foresees no future Beatles work, citing personal and business differences. The world learns the Beatles have split from what is, functionally, a promotional insert. Lennon is privately furious that Paul got to announce John's divorce.

Dec 1970

Paul sues the Beatles

Unable to escape the partnership any other way — and unwilling to have Klein control his earnings — McCartney files suit in the High Court against Lennon, Harrison, Starr and Apple to dissolve the Beatles' partnership. In 1971 the court appoints a receiver over the band's assets. He wins.

1971

The feud goes on record

Lennon answers McCartney's Ram — which contains barbs he takes personally — with 'How Do You Sleep?', a direct attack song featuring George Harrison on guitar. McCartney responds, comparatively gently, with 'Dear Friend.' The greatest songwriting partnership in history is now arguing through album tracks.

1973–77

Everyone sues Klein; Klein sues everyone

Lennon, Harrison and Starr decline to renew Klein's management in 1973, having arrived — as Lennon publicly conceded — at roughly McCartney's original position. Years of suits and countersuits between Klein's ABKCO and the ex-Beatles end in multi-million-dollar settlements. The Beatles & Co. partnership is formally dissolved in 1974–75.

1978–2007

Apple vs Apple, the 30-year fruit war

Apple Corps sues Apple Computer over the name in 1978 (settled 1981), again in 1989 over music-capable computers (settled 1991 for a reported $26.5M), and again in 2003 over iTunes. Peace arrives only in 2007, when Apple Inc. buys the trademarks and licenses them back. The Beatles finally reach iTunes in 2010.

1980

John Lennon is killed

Lennon is murdered in New York on 8 December 1980, weeks after returning to music. Any possibility of a full reunion — which had inched closer through the late 70s — ends. The surviving three reunite musically only for 1995's Anthology, building 'Free as a Bird' from his demo.

2023

Now and Then

Using machine-learning audio separation, the surviving Beatles complete Lennon's demo 'Now and Then' with Harrison's 1995 guitar parts. It becomes a UK No. 1 — the band's first chart-topper in 54 years, and a strangely peaceful final knot in the thread.

Personnel ledger

Who held the thread

John LennonVocals, guitar · 1960–69Quit privately in September 1969; spent the early 70s feuding with McCartney on record before a late-70s thaw. Murdered in 1980.

Paul McCartneyVocals, bass · 1960–70Announced the split publicly, then sued his three bandmates to dissolve the partnership — and was, on the Klein question, eventually proven right by all concerned.

George HarrisonGuitar · 1960–70Walked out during Get Back in January 1969; sided with Klein, later settled with him too. Died 2001.

Ringo StarrDrums · 1962–70Replaced Pete Best; quit for two weeks in 1968; generally the only member on speaking terms with everyone throughout.

Pete BestDrums · 1960–62Fired without explanation days before the first single. Received an eventual windfall when Anthology 1 (1995), containing his recordings, sold millions.

Brian EpsteinManager · 1962–67Built the empire; his death in 1967 left a management vacuum the band never filled by consensus.

Allen KleinBusiness manager · 1969–73Appointed 3–1 over McCartney's objection; renegotiated EMI royalties upward, then spent years in litigation with all four.

Yoko OnoArtist · in the room from 1968Blamed by tabloids for the split for decades; the members themselves repeatedly said the causes were business and burnout. Her studio presence did, however, break every unwritten rule at once.

Where the thread lies now

The Beatles' afterlife has been managed with increasing grace: Apple Corps, once a byword for chaos, became one of the most disciplined catalogue operations in music. McCartney and Lennon reconciled personally before 1980. McCartney and Starr remain close, performing together into the 2020s. The 2021 Get Back documentary — eight hours of restored 1969 footage — softened the public picture of the January sessions, showing camaraderie alongside the fractures, including a hidden-microphone recording of Lennon and McCartney candidly discussing George's walkout.

The legal legacy is equally instructive: McCartney's 1970 suit established that even history's most successful partnership was, at law, just a partnership — dissoluble like any chip shop. And the Apple vs Apple saga stands as the definitive lesson in what happens when you name your company after a fruit and a computer maker does the same.

Exhibits