- A very rare demo record of the Beatles will be sold at an auction next month
- The disc was described as the record that sparked The Beatles’ success
- The disc features the tracks “Till There was you” and the very first song John Lennon wrote, “Hello Little Girl
An extremely rare and undoubtedly very valuable Beatles demo record that helped launch the career of John, Paul George and Ringo is going to be auctioned after it was found in an attic.
Joe Gamp said in his February 26, 2016 article for NME that the disc was found lying dormant for 50 long years in the attic of Les Maguire, the keyboardist of another band from Liverpool, Gerry and the Pacemakers.
Maguire said the disc could be described as the “record that sparked the Beatles’ success.”
The record was made at London’s HMV store in Oxford Street and was presented by Brian Epstein to EMI record producer George Martin in a bid to secure a record deal for the band.
Despite George Martin’s initial skepticism, the Beatles signed a recording contract at EMI in 1962 before going on to become one of the most successful and influential bands of all time.
A year later, after George Martin returned the demo record to Brian Epstein, Epstein gave it to Maguire so his band could listen to it. It has been in Maguire’s possession since then.
The record disc bears the handwriting of Brian Epstein on the labels that, according to Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn, enhanced its uniqueness.
The record featured the tracks “Till There Was You” and the very first song written by John Lennon “Hello Little Girl.”
On the disc’s label, the song “Till There was You” was misspelled by Brian Epstein as “Til There was You” and described it as a work by Paul McCartney and The Beatles. “Hello Little Girl” on the other side of the disc was misspelled by Epstein as “Hullo Little Girl” and was described as a work by John Lennon and The Beatles.
Ian Shirley, editor of Record Collector Rare Record Price Guide, described the disc as a “Holy Grail item” that would fascinate Beatles collectors worldwide and would no doubt attract bids from those with deep pockets.
The auction will take place at Omega Auctions in Warrington in England on March 22, 2016. The auction will be broadcast live online for worldwide bidding.
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