Record-setting Beatles sing-along toasts 50th anniversary

Love Me Do sing-along part of yearlong celebrations in Liverpool

CBC News

Posted: Oct 5, 2012 11:42 AM ET

Last Updated: Oct 5, 2012 11:21 PM ET

Beatles fans young and old united for a record-setting sing-along in Liverpool on Friday, marking the 50th anniversary of the Fab Four's debut single Love Me Do.

More than 1,600 people gathered quayside at Pier Head in the iconic British band's hometown to sing the track, which was first released by the mop-topped quartet of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on Oct. 5, 1962.

Following the event, an adjudicator from Guinness World Records confirmed that the crowd had indeed set a new record for "singing in a round" (more than two voices singing the same melody, but beginning at different points in the song).

Fans young and old gathered in Liverpool on Friday for a world record-setting sing-along of Love Me Do, part of a yearlong series of events celebrating the Beatles. (CBC)

Though Love Me Do only reached 17 on the British music charts upon its release, the modest, upbeat song helped launch Beatlemania. Even today, the band continues to be a favourite worldwide, with fans continuing to snap up memorabilia at auctions and tribute bands, musicals and theatrical productions inspired by the quartet performed around the globe.

Last week, EMI also announced that the band's remastered albums would be re-released as vinyl this fall.

Friday's Beatles sing-along is part of Liverpool's yearlong celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the band's formation.

The Beatles sing-along beat the previous record set in 2011 in Chicago, when nearly 900 people sang Wayne Newton's Danke Schoen at a 25th anniversary screening of the comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

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