Love Me Do 60th Anniversary

The Beatles Story, award-winning exhibition, celebrates Love Me Do’s 60th anniversary with the launch of new memorabilia. 

The Beatles’ debut single Love Me Do celebrates its 60th anniversary this year on 5th October, and The Beatles Story, Liverpool’s award-winning exhibition, reveal their celebration plans.

The song, which kickstarted The Beatles’ career, peaked at number 17 in the UK charts and hit number 1 in the United States following its 1964 US release. Released on Parlophone, this recording featured newest Beatle Ringo Starr in place of the original drummer Pete Best. Best had played on an earlier recording of the hit song, but this version would not be officially enjoyed by fans until the release of Anthology 1 in 1995. It was a third recording, featuring Andy White on drums, that would feature on the band’s debut album Please Please Me in 1963.

The Beatles Story, the world’s largest permanent Beatles exhibition, is launching two exciting pieces of memorabilia to mark the momentous occasion, and to celebrate the careers that started with the release of Love Me Do 60 years ago. A rare demo record of the 1962 hit song will be unveiled in the award-winning exhibition on October 5th. Complete with a misspelling of Paul McCartney’s surname and credited to “Lennon-McArtney,” the record is one of only 250 that were made for radio stations, following the band’s rejection from Decca records.

A rare demo record of Love Me Do, complete with a misspelling of Paul McCartney’s surname. The record is one of only 250 that were made for radio stations, following the band’s rejection from Decca records.

This rare piece of Liverpool history was sold online by British Heart Foundation’s Leeds eBay team, and raised almost £10,000 – with all profits going into the charity. The record had been donated to one of the charity’s stores in West Sussex and, although the identity of the donor is unknown, Preston Davies, Area Manager at the British Heart Foundation, commented that “their generosity means we can raise even more money to fund our lifesaving heart research.”

In addition to this, The Beatles Story will also unveil a signed copy of the Love Me Do record bought by Bernadette Byrne on its release day. Bernadette, co-founder of The Beatles Story, was a close acquaintance of The Beatles, and even dated both George and Paul in the early 1960s. She bought this single from the Great Charlotte Street branch of the record shop NEMS, which was owned by the family of Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein.

“Along with many other fans, I took it to The Cavern with me on my next visit and got all four signatures, two on each side” – Bernadette Byrne

This launch comes just over a month after the unveiling of a collection of Beatles memorabilia owned by Bernadette. The collection, which includes a hand-written note from George Harrison asking Bernadette to call him, uncovers a personal Beatles history that ignited a life-long career.

Bernie Byrne’s personal collection of Beatles memorabilia is proudly on display at The Beatles Story, Liverpool.

One particularly notable piece of memorabilia was uncovered at the exhibition’s first Memorabilia Day in 2016. The owner brought along a telegram from John Lennon which he found within a record sleeve at a local car boot sale. The draft letter written by John to The Queen explained why he wished to return his MBE as an act of protest and was valued at an extraordinary £60,000.

To view the new items of memorabilia going on display at The Beatles Story book your tickets now.