How women created, cultivated and continue to ensure the Beatles' legacy

Out of humble experiences, great things are born. That’s the history of the Beatles, four lads who came out of nowhere and changed the world. But histories written about the Beatles can also have humble origins, such as when Christine Feldman-Barrett, at 5 years old, clapped joyfully along to a 45 record of “Eight Days a Week” 12 years after the single’s release in February 1965. Feldman-Barrett is the author of “A Women’s History of the Beatles,” a groundbreaking addition to the band’s endless bibliography that documents how female fans created, cultivated and continue to ensure the band’s legacy. In this exhaustive work she explores the impact of fan clubs, magazines, word-of-mouth publicity, and the way mothers, wives, girlfriends and friendships influenced the four Beatles, as well as zeroing in on decades of homages from female singers and bands.

Source: Sibbie O’Sullivan/washingtonpost.com