The band was named after Lennon's school, The Quarry Bank.
Original band members included Lennon, Eric Griffiths, Colin Hanton, Rod Davis, Pete Shotton, Len Garry.
Lennon met Paul McCartney on July 6, 1957 at St. Peter's Church garden fete. McCartney joined the band by October, and eventually introduced Lennon to friend and guitarist George Harrison.
In 1958, The Quarry Men recorded a demo of two songs; the first was an original Harrison/McCartney tune called "In spite of all the danger"; the other was a cover of Buddy Holly's "That'll Be The Day". A number of songs that were later recorded for Beatles records, were originally written at this time including "I'll Follow The Sun", "Michelle", "When I'm 64", and "One After 909".
By May of 1960, the band, consisting of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best, were beginning to call themselves The Beatles (occasionally known as The Silver Beetles, or other variations of the name).