The Beatles were a band.
British Invasion . Pop and rock groups such as the Beatles , the Dave Clark Five , the Kinks , the Rolling Stones , Herman 's Hermits , and the Animals were at the forefront of the invasion . John Winston Ono Lennon , ( born John Winston Lennon ; 9 October 19408 December 1980 ) was an English guitarist , singer , and songwriter who co-founded the Beatles , the most commercially successful and musically influential band in the history of popular music . The Beatles were an English rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960 . They acquired the nickname `` the Fab Four '' as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year , and by early 1964 became international stars , leading the `` British Invasion '' of the United States pop market .