The Beatles first visited West Germany in 1960 to play the Indra Club (August 17 - October 3, 1960).

They moved over to the Kaiserkeller Club from October 4-November 30, 1960.  At that time the group's line-up was still John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe, and drummer Pete Best. Playing in Hamburg either made or broke every Liverpudlian beat group that worked there but it was soon obvious to everyone that this was one group which would be going places.

After returning to Liverpool in early 1961 to do a residency at the now-legendary Cavern Club, the Beatles made a second trip to Hamburg in April 1961 to play the Top-Ten Club April 1-July 1, 1961. It was during this visit that they recorded several titles with Tony Sheridan for a German record company.

The band returned to play three stints at the Star-Club in 1962 (April 13-May 31, 1962 ~ November 1-14, 1962 ~ December 18-31, 1962). It was during the first stint at the Star-Club that Ted Taylor of the Dominoes recorded the group with his portable tape recorder. As luck would have it, Ringo Starr happened to be "sitting in" for Pete Best, although he did not officially join the group until August 1962 (around the time the Beatles were having their first recording sessions for EMI.)