Sid Bernstein: Concert impresario launched Beatles' invasion of America

Sid Bernstein made musical history in 1964 when he took an unknown British pop group – the Beatles – to America and started the "British Invasion" there. He booked the Beatles to play at Carnegie Hall and later arranged their famous shows at the Shea Stadium – the first major rock stadium acts – and presented the first US appearances of the Rolling Stones, the Kinks, the Dave Clark Five, the Moody Blues and the Animals.

Bernstein's interest in British culture had been nurtured as a GI during World War II and, after returning to America, he kept up with what was going on by reading British newspapers. In 1962, he noticed stories about a new pop group from Liverpool whose public appearances were causing scenes of mass hysteria. “I said, 'I've got to bring them to America. The language is the same'.” He phoned Beatles manager Brian Epstein, who had reservations: the group's early records, released in the US on minor labels, were not selling well. Bernstein won him over, however, by promising to get the group into Carnegie Hall.