According to http://www.liverpoolcityportal.co.uk/beatles/beatles_influences.html Chuck Berry was a major influence on the Lads.

Various names have been mentioned, but the ones most often mentioned are Buddy Holly, Elvis Presley and Little Richard. McCartney owns Holly's entire song catalog.

JOhn's father was in the merchant navy so, like many other sailors, would bring home records from the US that were not available to the British. These records from the early 50s included a lot of black music, which influenced the Beatles greatly.

They enjoyed Rock and Roll as did most teenagers of that item. They were big fans of Elvis, (as they told him when they met him), Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly, Little Richard... When I think of the Beatles I really thing of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. John Lennon loved Elvis work until Elvis went into the army "He died when he went into the army" . Lennon released an album of his favourite songs in 1975 incluiding works by Buddy Holly (Peggy Sue), and other great songs such as Stand By Me, ... if you listen to that album you will see what songs he liked. Paul McCartney was into Little Richard and Buddy Holly and Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys (1965 when Beatles are already famous). See http://www.popstarsplus.com/music_paulmccartney.htm and http://beatlesnumber9.com/jwol.html for more info.

I've herd the name Chuck Berry once or twice...

They were influenced by many of the 50s rock stars like Little Richard, Chuck Berry, and Buddy Holly. They were also influenced in the 60s by some of their contemporaries (who they of course influenced as well) such as Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and The Beach Boys.

Found in Wikipedia: Jimi Hendrix On June 4, 1967, the Jimi Hendrix Experience played their last show in England, at London's Saville Theatre,[2] before heading to America. Hendrix opened the show with his own rendition of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", which he had learned in the few days leading up to the show. Joe Cocker's first album was called With a Little Help from My Friends and contained a song with the same name. He had completely revamped the Lennon/McCartney song by changing the original easy-listening tune to a 12/8 blues/rock song. David Bowie covered "Across the Universe" on his 1975 album Young Americans. John Lennon was partly involved in the making of the album. In 1976, Keith Moon of The Who covered the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four" for the soundtrack of the documentary All This and World War II, and sang backing vocals (with many others) on "All You Need Is Love".[4] Moon also covered "In My Life" on his album Two Sides of the Moon. Peter Sellers recited the lyrics of "A Hard Day's Night"[6] (1965 - UK # 14) in a "shakespearian" voice, (in the style of Laurence Olivier playing Richard III) with minimal backing music. He deliberately changed the tempo and dynamics of the original lyrics to make them comical. He left definite pauses between words, such as: "But when I get home to you... I find the things that you do... will make me feel (pause) all right." * Elton John collaborated with John Lennon in 1974 and recorded "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", while Elton John appeared in Lennon's "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night". ( * Earth, Wind & Fire recorded "Got to Get You into My Life". * Stevie Wonder covered "We Can Work It Out".[citation needed] It appears on the album "Motown Sings The Beatles * Frank Sinatra covered George Harrison's "Something" even though he once famously said (at a live concert) that it was his favourite Lennon and McCartney song.[citation needed] * Wet Wet Wet had their first Number 1 hit with "With a Little Help from My Friends" in 1988. * Ray Charles covered Eleanor Rigby and Yesterday and is known for his approval of The Beatles' music. * Rufus Wainwright and Fiona Apple covered Across the Universe (the latter for the Pleasantville Soundtrack). * Franz Ferdinand covered It Won't Be Long live. * A number of artists like Oasis, Kaiser Chiefs, Travis and Bryan Adams rerecorded the whole Sgt. Peppers album. * Elliott Smith recorded a version of Because, which was played over the end credits of the film American Beauty. * Phish covered the "White Album" in its entirety on October 31, 1994 in Glens Falls, NY as part of their Halloween "musical costume." The show was later released as Live Phish Volume 13. Phish also covered "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," and "A Day In The Life" regularly in their live performances.

Well, They were inspired by Elvis Presley, he was there biggest influence. John lennon :- "When I first heard "Heartbreak Hotel," I could hardly make out what was being said. It was just the experience of hearing it and having my hair stand on end." "Elvis was religion to me" "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been a Beatles, Before Elvis there was nothing." "No Elvis = No Beatles". Paul McCartney:- "When we were kids growing up in Liverpool, all we ever wanted to be was Elvis Presley." "There will never be another beautiful Elvis; Elvis was truly a Force of History." "It was a real thrill sitting there with the King. I mean he was always one of my favorites. I always knew that no matter how I felt if I played an Elvis record it would make me happy. I've always dreamed of producing an album for Elvis." So of course that was Elvis.. Chuck berry, buddy holly, little richard, was an influence, but limited one, not major.

There were rock and roll influences, but what made the Beatles great was that they transcended all their influences, and made music that had never been heard before.

Elvis, Buddy Holly and other rhythm and blues artists, according to some documentaries I've seen. They didn't set out to be rock 'n roll, they set out to be rhythm and blues.

All this influencing is no good to me I've gone all sweaty and have a streaming nose...my legs feel like jelly........but the Beatles have always sent me like that...Fab four...