No Ed,
The first troupes of Ethiopian Serenaders came over about 1840 and were immediately a massive hit to the same extent that the Beatles were in the 1960s. They continued to come over for at least the next 20 years or so until we had formed our own very successful minstrel troupes, many of them with Americans like Pony Moore who settled here. The Beatles obviously were a big hit here in the 1960s and then cracked America. The minstrel troupes were a big hit in America and also over here not long after.

This is well documented in many books on the subject. I have copies of some of the original sheet music.