Amazing Rare Color Photos of The Beatles’ First U.S. Tour in 1964

The Beatles’ rise to prominence in the United States in February 1964 was a significant development in the history of the band’s commercial success.In addition to establishing the Beatles’ international stature, it changed attitudes to popular music in the United States, whose own Memphis-driven musical evolution had made it a global trendsetter.

The Beatles’ first visit to the United States came at a time of great popularity in Britain. The band’s UK commercial breakthrough, in late 1962, had been followed by a year of successful concerts and tours. The start of the Beatles’ popularity in the United States, in early 1964, was marked by intense demand for the single “I Want to Hold Your Hand”—which sold one-and-a-half million copies in under three weeks—and the band’s arrival the following month.The visit, advertised across the United States on five million posters, was a defining moment in the Beatles’ history, and the starting-point of the British Invasion.

These images were taken by Dr. Robert Beck, who died in 2002 and left them in an archive of photographs and slides in his Hollywood home.