1964 the Tribute is a Beatles' tribute band

Tribute band

A tribute act is a music group, singer, or musician who specifically plays the music of a well-known music act - sometimes one which has disbanded, ceased touring or is deceased. Probably the largest class of tributes acts are Elvis impersonators, individual performers who mimic the songs and style...

 that was formed in 1982. They have performed over 2900 shows and released their own albums and videos. Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

 magazine has called 1964, "The best Beatles tribute ever." http://www.1964thetribute.com They were also featured in a PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 special of the same name; the soundtrack to which is listed in the discography. 1964 the Tribute have been featured on Entertainment Tonight

Entertainment Tonight

Entertainment Tonight is a daily tabloid television entertainment television news show that is syndicated by CBS Television Distribution throughout the United States, Canada and in many countries around the world. Linda Bell Blue is currently the program's executive producer...

, PM Magazine

PM Magazine

PM/Evening Magazine was a television series with a news and entertainment format. It was syndicated to stations throughout the United States...

, CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

, The USA Network

USA Network

USA Network is an American cable television channel launched in 1971. Once a minor player in basic cable, the network has steadily gained popularity because of breakout hits like Monk, Psych, Burn Notice, Royal Pains, Covert Affairs, White Collar, Monday Night RAW, Suits, and reruns of the various...

, and The Nashville Network

The Nashville Network

The Nashville Network, usually referred to as TNN, was an American country music-oriented cable television network. Programming included music videos, taped concerts, movies, syndicated programs, and numerous talk shows...

.http://www.grouph.com/1964/about.html#1964contact

While touring worldwide at concert halls, fairs, festivals, colleges, corporate events, and conventions, they were voted "Best Major Concert Act" and "Best Contemporary Act" by the readers of Campus Activities Today Magazine. They were also voted "Contemporary Music Artists of the Year" by the National Association for Campus Activities, and "Campus Entertainers of the Year" by the Canadian Association for Campus Activities. They have appeared on scores of local television and radio programs throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and South America.http://www.grouph.com/1964/about.html#1964contact

The group plans to continue performing in the future. When asked about their future, Tom Work said, "The answer to that is the answer Gary gave his dad. His dad asked him, 'How long are you going to do this?' And Gary said, 'Until they stop coming.' We are not anywhere close to the age the Beatles were. I'm sure many people will comment, 'They're starting to look a little old to be doing this,' but people are still coming. Just being a musician keeps you young at heart."

Updating the Original Beatles

1964 the Tribute strive for authenticity in their portrayal of the Beatles, but not everything they do is the same. Two areas that differ are sound quality and set length. Mark Benson, who portrays John Lennon in the band, says that in the original Beatles live performances in the 1960s, the fans were lucky to hear the band. "You have to credit the Beatles with revolutionizing the sound-reinforcement industry," says Benson. "Back then they had these little speakers that you couldn't hear anything out of. The way concerts were amplified had to be changed." Benson says that fans who saw the original shows notice the difference. "People will come up to us and say, 'I saw the Beatles in '64 and the only difference is I can hear you,'" says Benson.

Another difference is the set length. The Beatles did two 30-minute sets in their early shows and never did encores, while 1964 the Tribute performs two 45-minute sets. "We tried the half-hour show initially, but it didn't go over well," says Benson.

Members

The members of the group decided which member would portray which Beatle based on the instrument played. "I was a guitarist, so the natural thing was the John or the George character," says Tom Work, who portrays George Harrison. "The way I got into it was, the fellow playing John Lennon [Benson] joined a band that was a local Beatles tribute act. This was around 1981. After about a year, he got his buddy to join and play Paul [Grimes], and I was friends with him. About a year later, he got me to join and play George." The complete lineup includes:

• Mark Benson as John Lennon
  John Lennon
  John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
  
  
• Graham Alexander (as of 2011) as Paul McCartney
  Paul McCartney
  Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
  
  
• Tom Work as George Harrison
  George Harrison
  George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
  
  
• Bobby Potter as Ringo Starr
  Ringo Starr
  Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
  
  

Gary Grimes, the original Paul McCartney for the band, died after a long battle with brain cancer in 2010.

Mission

The band's mission is to accurately recreate the 1964 Beatle invasion of America. They play a set of all early Beatles music, with some middle Beatles thrown in. The "concept is performing a show that gives you an idea of what it was like to see the Beatles when they were touring," says Benson. "It's definitely a music gig, but there's an acting element to it," says Tom Work. "None of us is really an actor per se. I probably come closest because I've done some plays, just in community theater. But there's some acting. You need to adopt the body language, the speaking voice. Those two things, I guess, for this kind of a role are two aspects that resemble acting. Everything else is more musicianship and vocal impersonation — singing, I mean." The group separates its life onstage from offstage. "We didn't want to be them, just wanted to portray them," says Work. "No one really considered wearing those boots around all the time or the tight pants or having hair that looked like that. We were musicians before, professional, full-time musicians. We didn't start doing Beatles until we were 30."

PBS Soundtrack CD

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. I Want to Hold Your Hand
3. From Me to You
4. Love Me Do
5. Please Please Me
6. Do You Want to Know a Secret?
7. All My Loving
8. This Boy
9. And I Love Her
10. Act Naturally
11. Eight Days a Week
12. A Hard Day's Night
13. I Should Have Known Better
14. If I Fell
15. Can't Buy Me Love
16. Nowhere Man
17. Twist and Shout
18. Roll Over Beethoven
19. I Feel Fine
20. Paperback Writer
21. In My Life
22. If I Needed Someone
23. We Can Work It Out
24. Yellow Submarine
25. Yesterday
26. Help!
27. Day Tripper
28. She Loves You

Disc 1

1. I Saw Her Standing There
2. I Want To Hold Your Hand
3. Love Me Do
4. Please Please Me
5. Do You Want to Know a Secret?
6. All My Loving
7. This Boy
8. Till There Was You
9. Eight Days a Week
10. A Hard Day's Night
11. I Should Have Known Better
12. Nowhere Man
13. Can't Buy Me Love

Disc 2

1. Twist and Shout
2. Roll Over Beethoven
3. I Feel Fine
4. Michelle
5. And Your Bird Can Sing
6. Taxman
7. I'm a Loser
8. I Don't Want to Spoil the Party
9. Yellow Submarine
10. Yesterday
11. Help!
12. Day Tripper
13. She Loves You
14. Dizzy Miss Lizzy
15. Long Tall Sally

Nine Hours in November

1. It Won't Be Long
2. There's a Place
3. I'll Follow the Sun
4. If I Fell
5. Boys
6. Slow Down
7. Kansas City
8. Bad Boy
9. Don't Bother Me
10. And I Love Her
11. Any Time at All
12. You Can't Do That
13. I'm Down
14. Rock and Roll Music

Starhand Visions

Original material

1. They're Here...
2. The Arrival Theme
3. The Illusion
4. From the Light of Change
5. Hold On
6. Hold On to Love
7. Daydream Lover
8. Marla Star
9. Take Good Care of Her Heart
10. Would You Say No?
11. Tell Her I'm Home
12. You Are My Heart
13. Because of You
14. I Can't Live Without Your Love
15. Feel the Fire