The Beatles – John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr (pictured here during a solo show at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, in 2015) – first appeared in the United States on Feb. 9, 1964, on the “Ed Sullivan Show.”
(Photo by Mike Morsch)

In February 1964, a snowstorm had blasted the northeast. The region was paralyzed and air travel had virtually shut down.

Sandy Yaguda was at his home in Brooklyn, waiting out the storm. 

Yaguda — stage name Sandy Deanne — was one of the original members of the group Jay and the Americans, which by winter of 1964 had recorded a couple of hit songs, most notably “She Cried,” which reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1962.

And then the phone rang Feb. 10 at Yaguda’s house. It was the band’s manager.

“He called and said, ‘Listen, you guys … Read more