Beatles News
John Lennon might have developed his passion for playing music by listening to American rock ‘n’ roll stars. But by the time he was famous enough to be asked to appear on television, he had no problem denouncing those same artists for a laugh. In June 1963, the artist in Lennon’s crossfire was the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll, Elvis Presley.
Lennon was invited to appear on the BBC television program Juke Box Jury, in which celebrities would rate new singles a “hit” or a “miss.” Although The Beatles were technically one year out from their major debut in the States on the Ed Sullivan Show, the Fab Four were already sparking Beatlemania across their native United Kingdom.
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To the delight of the crowd (and to the surprise of no one who knew Lennon), the Beatle dubbed every record a “miss,” including Elvis Presley’s latest single, “Devil In Disguise.” Lennon remarked that Presley was “like Bing Crosby now.”
Source: americansongwriter.com/Melanie Davis
Mick Jagger praised the Beatles' role in the Rolling Stones' history and music history as a whole in an interview that aired on SiriusXM's Classic Vinyl channel on Thursday. He also discussed how Paul McCartney had joined the Stones to record two songs, Hackney Diamonds' "Bite Your Head Off" and "Covered in You," which will appear on the band's new album, Foreign Tongues, out tomorrow.
"They were the most prolific songwriters of that time," Jagger said of the Beatles. "They wrote all these songs for themselves, which are all huge hits that were coming out all the time. Plus they were writing and giving songs that they made as demos for all these disparate people, like Cilla Black and this one and that one — all had huge hits with songs which the Beatles wrote, including us, so we were all really happy to get them and it just made them into this huge writing machine, you know, that they were amazingly prolific."
McCartney and John Lennon gave the Stones "I Wanna Be Your Man," which became the Stones' second single, in 1963. It was a Number 12 hit for the group in the U.K. The Beatles recorded their own version of the song, which Ringo Starr sang, for With the Beatles that same year. Cilla Black recorded the Lennon-McCartney compositions, "Love of the Loved," "It's for You," and "Step Inside Love."
In the SiriusXM interview, Jagger shrugged off any supposed rivalry between the Beatles and the Stones, saying it was in their interest to give them a song like "I Wanna Be Your Man." "When they're giving you the song, they're also making money," he said.
Source: yahoo.com/Kory Grow
The Beatles’ landmark performance at Shea Stadium on 15 August 1965 transformed the economics and logistics of live rock concerts, while exposing the technical limitations of concert sound that would reshape the industry for decades.
When The Beatles walked onto the field at Shea Stadium in New York on 15 August 1965, they were not simply playing another concert. Before a record crowd of 55,600 fans, the band staged what is widely recognised as the first major outdoor stadium rock concert, establishing a blueprint for the modern stadium tour despite battling audio technology that was not yet capable of keeping pace with Beatlemania.
The concert became a defining moment in live music history for reasons that extended well beyond the performance itself. Promoted by Sid Bernstein, the event grossed a then unprecedented US$304,000 and demonstrated that rock music could successfully fill major sporting venues. Every aspect of the production, from transporting the band by helicopter to deploying 2,000 security personnel, reflected the unprecedented scale of the event.
While artists including Elvis Presley had previously appeared in outdoor stadiums such as the Cotton Bowl and Spokane Memorial Stadium during the 1950s, Shea Stadium is regarded as the first concert conceived and promoted as a dedicated large scale stadium rock event. It created the commercial and logistical model that would later be adopted by generations of touring artists.
Ironically, the concert that changed live music almost defeated the technology of its era.
Source: noise11.com\Paul Cashmere
Ringo Starr has celebrated his 86th birthday by receiving an honorary degree from the University of Liverpool.
The Beatles star said he was "really honoured" to be conferred as an honorary doctor of music at a private ceremony in Los Angeles.
Starr - whose real name is Sir Richard Starkey - urged all graduates back in his home city to "follow your dreams" like he did when he chose to become a full-time drummer despite his parents' disapproval. The ceremony took place before Starr's annual "Peace & Love" birthday celebration in Beverly Hills Park.
He said: "I want to thank the University of Liverpool for this honorary degree and for coming all the way to LA to bestow it - I'm really honoured." While he now lives in California, Starr said he would "always love" his hometown.
"I've been thinking back on my life a lot lately and when I chose to become a drummer full time my family discouraged me," he said.
"And they could have been right but they weren't - it all worked out. "So to all the graduates back in Liverpool - I send peace and love and want to say don't be afraid to follow your dreams, or take that right turn and see where it goes.
"It could lead to an honorary doctorate from the University of Liverpool." University of Liverpool handout Left to right: David Winstanley, Wendy Beetlestone, Ringo Starr and alumnus Brian Boyd. They are all wearing graduate robes with mortarboard caps. They are standing in front of a University of Liverpool exhibition board. They are all smiling.University of Liverpool handout
A team of delegates from the University of Liverpool presented Ringo Starr with the award in Los Angeles
Source: bbc.com/Lynette Horsburgh
George Harrison sat in the shadow of two lyrical titans in Paul McCartney and John Lennon during his early career with the Beatles.
However, he started to break out just as the band started reaching the end of its shelf life. While Lennon was the most popular Beatle at the time, Harrison was starting to come into his own with two major writing credits on Abbey Road.
Something became a No. 1 hit and showed Harrison had the chops to sit with the best in the business, even his own bandmates. But that wasn't his only hit on the record.
'Here Comes The Sun' Recorded 57 Years Ago
Harrison also wrote Here Comes the Sun, which the Beatles started recording 57 years ago today without Lennon, who was recovering from a car accident in the Scottish Highlands.
Discussing the Abbey Road track, Harrison explained: “‘Here Comes The Sun’ was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: ‘Sign this’ and ‘Sign that’. Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever; by the time spring comes, you really deserve it.”
He continued: “So one day, I decided I was going to sack off Apple, and I went over to Eric Clapton’s house. The relief of not having to go and see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric’s acoustic guitars and wrote ‘Here Comes The Sun’.”
The song reached as high as No. 3 in the Billboard charts in the United States and sits as the most-streamed song from the iconic band, more than other hits like Let It Be and Hey Jude.
Source: aol.com/Andrew McCarty
Ringo Starr proved that age really is just a number as the Beatles legend celebrated his 86th birthday in Beverly Hills on Tuesday.
Looking remarkably youthful in a black leather jacket, white jeans and his trademark tinted sunglasses, the drummer appeared to have barely changed over the decades as he took centre stage for his annual Peace and Love celebration, joined by his wife Barbara Bach and a host of famous friends.
The music icon smiled as he greeted hundreds of devoted fans gathered at Beverly Gardens Park before leading his now-traditional "Peace and Love" chant, a birthday ritual he has celebrated every year since 2008.
"It's LA. I love LA, I love the light, and we're pretty much guaranteed a beautiful day like today," Ringo told the crowd before the celebration got underway.
The annual event has become one of Beverly Hills' best-loved traditions, but it started far more modestly. "We started in Chicago with like 40 people," Ringo told The California Post. "We gave the crowd little cakes and by 8 p.m. that night they were on the internet being sold for a grand."
Now, the celebration attracts hundreds of Beatles fans from across the country, all eager to celebrate one of music's most enduring stars.
Among the day's highlights was Ringo posing beside the towering 800-pound stainless steel Peace and Love sculpture he donated to the city before cutting an enormous birthday cake decorated with his own likeness.
Barbara Bach, 77, was by her husband's side throughout the festivities, with the couple looking as loved-up as ever more than four decades after they tied the knot in 1981.
Source: yahoo.com/Faye James
Happy birthday, Ringo Starr!
The beloved Beatles drummer and actor turns 86 on July 7, 2026, and has quite a lifetime to look back on. Here, in honor of his latest milestone, take a look at his life and career in photos, from being in one of the biggest bands in history to marrying Barbara Bach and raising his three children.
Born in Liverpool, England, on July 7, 1940, Richard Starkey was the lone child of Richard Starkey and Elsie Gleave, who split when he was young. At 6 years old his appendix ruptured, leading to a year-long hospital stay. Years later, at 13, he was again hospitalized with tuberculosis, but discovered percussion through his therapy, regularly playing a small drum, LIFE reported in a biography of the star.
“When I was 13, I only wanted to be a drummer,” Starr said on his official website.
Source: people.com/Kate Hogan
Across his solo career, former Beatle Paul McCartney has never once publicly performed a few of his legendary band's major hit singles. Between 1964 and 1970, the Beatles reached the Hot 100 an impressive 64 times, and the top of that pop chart 20 times – a milestone that has stood well into the 21st century. McCartney composed the vast majority of the band's hits along with guitarist and vocalist John Lennon. Those songs became permanently entrenched in the classic rock canon, and many also went on to be fixtures in McCartney's concert set lists from the 1970s and beyond. For example, "Let It Be," "Hey Jude," "Lady Madonna," and "Yesterday" are among the musician's most frequently performed tunes.
But not all of those smashes stuck around. While McCartney played and sang lead vocals on many of those songs, he's shied away from busting them out in front of a big crowd. Here are a few Beatles hits that McCartney hasn't played live since the Beatles' broke up in 1970.
She Loves You
To be a Beatles fan in the 1960s meant getting to bask in the Fab Four's stellar run on the Hot 100 when Beatlemania broke out. After reaching the top spot on the U.K. chart in late 1963, "She Loves You" became the Beatles' second chart-topper in the U.S., spending two weeks in the No. 1 spot in March 1964, displacing the band's previous smash, "I Want to Hold Your Hand."
Written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney together while on a tour of England in 1963, "She Loves You" features both of its composers on lead vocals. The blending of those voices, along with George Harrison's harmonies, is crucial to the sound of the jaunty pop-rock love song, and the finer points of McCartney's signature voice are lost in the final mix. That combination would be very difficult for McCartney to reproduce on a stage by himself or with singers who weren't Beatles. According to Setlist.fm, he's never included it in a post-1970 live show.
Source: grunge.com/Brian Boone
History is filled with moments that seemed ordinary at the time but ultimately changed the world. Arguably no moment in rock history fits that description better than what happened 69 years ago today, on July 6, 1957.
On that summer afternoon, 16-year-old John Lennon met 15-year-old Paul McCartney for the first time at the Woolton Parish Church Garden Fête in Liverpool, England. It was, as History notes, "the start of one of the most fruitful musical partnerships in history." Just seven years later, Lennon and McCartney, joined by George Harrison and Ringo Starr, would become The Beatles, forever changing the course of popular music.
The meeting almost never happened. "It's easy to assume that John and Paul would eventually have met on some other day," History observes. "But as much as they had in common, the two boys lived in different neighborhoods, went to different schools and were nearly two years apart in age." Without that church fête and a mutual friend who introduced them, one of music's greatest creative partnerships might have begun very differently, or perhaps not at all.
Earlier that day, Lennon had performed with his skiffle group, The Quarrymen. Afterward, McCartney picked up a guitar and played Eddie Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock," Gene Vincent's "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and a medley of Little Richard songs entirely from memory. He also showed Lennon how to properly tune his guitar and jotted down chords and lyrics to some of the songs he'd played.
Source: yahoo.com/Andrea Reiher
John Lennon likely never would have chosen to perform a Beatles song years after the band's breakup without the encouragement of one British musician.
The Fab Four parted ways in 1970 due to a series of creative differences, four years after Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr had already pressed pause on their touring career.
Lennon, in particular, experienced burnout from life on the road and became anxious about taking the stage. According to Far Out Magazine, the touring landscape for artists in the '60s and ‘70s was vastly different than it is today. Record sales were so high that the "Imagine" icon didn't need to prioritize ticket sales, and, frankly, had no desire to.
Yet, despite all of this, Lennon performed a Beatles track, his last, at Madison Square Garden in 1974. But why, exactly, did the star decide to end his live hiatus, and who convinced him to sing a beloved Beatles tune years after the Fab Four’s farewell?
THE ICON WHO MADE IT HAPPEN
Lennon did not sing a Beatles song during his final live performance. Fans practically begged him to play a Fab Four track amid his three-song set at “A Salute to Sir Lew - The Master Showman,” a 1975 TV special honoring producer Sir Lew Grade, but he refused. In fact, the former Beatle was only present as a requirement of a legal settlement involving the ownership of the group’s catalog.
Source: mentalfloss.com/Logan DeLoye
