The Beatles stormed to the dizzying heights of international fame in the early 1960s like no other band before them. Their countercultural charisma and unmistakable talent are still the subject of much discussion today – as is the fanatical devotion of their fans. But how did a pop group become, as Lennon jokingly put it, “more popular than Jesus”?

The work of four photographers provides a revealing look at the band’s rise. Ward captured the Fab Four when Beatlemania was still confined to their hometown – the band braved the icy Liverpool streets for a publicity shoot during the Great Freeze of 62-63. O’Neill encountered the Beatles amid the hubbub of the Swinging Sixties and became associated with the band in 1963 as a photographer of their generation. Parkinson delivered a deceptively relaxed shoot later that year when the band recorded their second album, while Bayes captured never-before-published snapshots of the Beatles filming Help! in 1965.

ACC Art Books, ISBN9781788840866, hardcover, 200 pages, 3 color and 187 black and white photos in book.