"On this night, forty years ago, the Beattles walked on stage at The Ed Sullivan Theater, performed five songs and started a cultural revolution," announced Ellen DeGeneres at the 46th Annual GRAMMY Awards.
"Seventy-two million people tuned into the show that night and the biggest television audience in history, at that time," she added. "Not only did their performance captivate the nation, it marked the beginning of the Beatles era, an era that continues to this day."
Prior to the "Fab Four" being honored with The President's Award by The Recording Academy later in the evening, three guys, Ellen called "not so bad themselves" paid tribute to the Beatles. The Beatles' 1963 hit I Saw Her Standing There was the first single that broke the British band into The States.
The single ended up selling a quarter of a million copies in three days, and was selling 10,000 copies an hour in New York City alone. The demand was so crazy that Capitol had to pay Columbia and RCA to help them press it up.
While this one song was just a tease, I believe Dave, Sting and Vince, together with Pharrell Williams on drums, did Paul, George, John and Ringo proud.
To indulge in the Beatles I Saw Her Standing There, or their Anthology, Dave Mathews' Central Park Concert, Vince Gill's Next Big Thing, or Sting's Inside The Songs of Sacred Love, click on "Buy Related Products" button below.