**1961**

February 9
On this date the group makes their first lunchtime debut as The Beatles for a session at the Cavern.

March 21
The Beatles first night-time appearance at the Cavern. The band gets paid a mere $42.00 per night. Recalls Gerry Marsden (of Gerry and the Pacemakers) on a particular visit to the Cavern: "I couldn't believe how good they were. The energy, the way they shaped up to the microphone together, you know - Paul the left-handed bass player, John standing there, couldn't give a shit, the attitude of the man. I thought: 'They'll be the first band out of Liverpool to make it.'"

March 24
Beatles leave to go back to Hamburg , Germany .

June 22 & 23
Beatles perform as back-up musicians to Tony Sheridan

On this date, Tony Sheridan and The Beatles do first session recordings for Bert Kaempfert with the following songs: My Bonnie (Lies Over the Ocean); The Saints (When the Saints Go Marching In); Why; Cry For a Shadow; Ain't She Sweet;Take Out Some Insurance On Me Baby and Nobody's Child. And according to Eric Krasker's book, "The Beatles Investigation of a Myth 1960-1962", the Beatles would record one more time for Bert Kaempfert on May 24, 1962, to re-record and provide backing vocals and instrumental tracks for Sweet Georgia Brown and Swanee River . Tony Sheridan's vocal's were recorded two weeks later for those numbers on June 7, 1962 under an operation known as "synchronization."

The German Polydor single, My Bonnie b/w When the Saints Go Marching In was released in August 1961 listed as TONY SHERIDAN AND THE BEAT BROTHERS [Polydor / 24 673] which became a big top-ten hit for Sheridan in Germany. The U.K. release of the single was issued January 5, 1962 and listed as TONY SHERIDAN AND THE BEATLES [ Polydor NH 66-833]. Polydor then later decided to release a Tony Sheridan album aptly entitled My Bonnie in June of 1962 as Polydor LPHM 46-612 [mono] and Polydor SLPHM 237-112 [stereo]. The band's line-up for the album consisted for the most part of Tony Sheridan, Pete Best, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and featured pianist Roy Young on Sweet Georgia Brown.

About Roy Young: In the late 1950s, Roy Young's electrifying piano performances of Rip It Up and Tutti Frutti dubbed him with the distinction of being Britain 's answer to "Little Richard." His first encounter with the Beatles occurred during his first trip to Hamburg in 1961 at Top Ten Club. Then later, on April 13, 1962, Young served as "double-duty as house-band leader and recruiting agent for up-and-coming English bands" for the Star-Club located in Hamburg 's lively Reeperbahn strip. According to respected Beatle historian Kristopher Engelhardt in his book "Beatles Undercover", he reports that Brian Epstein asked Roy "to join The Beatles during their spring 1962 engagement at the Star-Club." Roy Young, in an entirely different report, describes how he turned the offer down: "I said, 'I don't know, I'll have to think about that one,'" meaning that he would have to consider his three-year club contract. "I started to walk away but then I walked back and said: 'I'm going to give you my answer right now. I have to decline the offer.'" Roy would continue to play and perform at the Star-Club with such stars as Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Gene Vincent. In the late '60s, back in England , he formed The Roy Young Band, and performed as a regular at London 's "Speakeasy" club.

Historical Footnote: As once believed and reported by some very respected Beatle historians, magazine and book publishers, the Beatles version of Swanee River never appeared on the "Hamburg Twist" EP nor on Tony Sheridan's "My Bonnie" LP. Eric Krasker, who has recently published a book entitled "The Beatles Investigation of a Myth 1960-1962" wrote the following in an English summary manuscript: "While it is perfectly correct that the Beatles recorded a version of Swanee River with Tony Sheridan on 24 May 1962, the documents I discovered in the Polydor archives clearly prove that it cannot be the version included on the My Bonnie LP, as the first pressings of this album left the record plant in early April 1962." Eric Krasker's seven-year research effort also made the author come to the realization that The Beatles version of Swanee River has since either been destroyed or has disappeared altogether from the Polydor tape archives. Thus, the "Hamburg Twist" EP as provided in Hans Olof Gottfridsson's book, "The Beatles: From Cavern to Star-Club", you will note that the name "The Beatles" is credited on the label below each and every song. "The Beatles" credit for " Swanee River " is incorrect along with the misleading cover sleeve entitled "THE BEATLES with Tony Sheridian HAMBURG TWIST which presents the song titles for the EP. Said Eric Krasker: "Gottfridsson was more or less forced to acknowledge this in the book with a Bear Family box-set reissue of the Polydor recordings....the fact that Bear Family admitted the only surviving version of Swanee River had no Beatle involvement."

July 6
Bill Harry publishes "The Mersey Beat" newspaper

John Lennon would give the publisher an interview on how the name "Beatles" came about: "Many people ask what are Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles? How did the name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision - a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them, 'From this day on you are Beatles with an "A"'. 'Thank you Mister Man', they said, thanking him. And so they were Beatles."

July 3
The band returns to England from Hamburg , Germany .

August
MY BONNIE / THE SAINTS (WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN) (single) is released in Germany (Decca Records)

Hal Fein, an associate of Bert Kaempfert and owner of Roosevelt Music publishing company recalls that the single did reasonably well. "When the record was released, the initials sales were about 180,000 copies, a fair-sized hit for Germany ," said Fein. "Due to its success in Germany , it was played on Radio Luxembourg -- one of the most powerful stations in Europe, beaming in all directions - into Germany , into England , and south into the continent."

October 28
Brian Epstein's first awareness of the Beatles: My Bonnie record makes its way into NEMS stores. Contrary to Epstein's accounting in "A Cellarful of Noise", young Raymond Jones who supposedly requested the record, remains more fiction than actual fact to this very day. Alistair Taylor, Epstein's assistant explains: "I got fed up with youngsters coming in asking for The Beatles record. So I put a name, Raymond Jones, in the order book. I just made it up. Otherwise Brian wouldn't have paid any attention."

November 9
Epstein visits the Cavern Club to see the band perform.

December 3
Epstein offers to manage Beatles: "Quite simply, you need a manager. Would you like me to do it?" asked Epstein. "Right, then, Brian, manage us now. Where's the contract? I'll sign it," retorted Lennon.