Beatles News
By 1968, George Harrison was having a rough time being in The Beatles. Though he was writing songs such as “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and “Long, Long, Long,” his bandmates still took some convincing to give his material any attention. That had begun to wear on George.
George didn’t have the same problem when he played with, say, Bob Dylan or his friend Eric Clapton. During a trip to America in late ’68, George jammed with both Dylan and Clapton, the latter of whom was playing in Cream at the time.
In fact, he and Clapton co-wrote a song just before that period that turned up on Goodbye (1969), the final album by Cream. And though you wouldn’t know it from the credits on the record, George also played rhythm guitar on the song he composed with Clapton.
Source: cheatsheet.com
The Beatles' Ringo Starr reveals he is set to REUNITE with bandmate Sir Paul McCartney during star-studded virtual concert to mark his 80th birthday
Ahead of the milestone day on Tuesday, the music icon confirmed Ringo’s Big Birthday Show, a charity show set to air on YouTube at 8pm
As well as Paul and Ringo, stars appearing at Big Birthday Show will include Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark, Jr., Sheila E, and Ben Harper
The show will also debut a version of Ringo's 2017 track Give More Love with Jeff Bridges, Jackson Browne, Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson among others
Source: Ciara Farmer/dailymail.co.uk
Here is a look at the life of musician Paul McCartney, former member of the Beatles.Birth date: June 18, 1942
Birth place: Liverpool, England
Birth name: James Paul McCartney
Father: James McCartney, salesman and musician
Mother: Mary (Mohin) McCartney, nurse and midwife
Marriages: Nancy Shevell (October 9, 2011-present); Heather Mills McCartney (June 11, 2002-March 17, 2008, divorced); Linda (Eastman) McCartney (March 12, 1969-April 17, 1998, her death)
Source: msn.com
Liam Gallagher, Dua Lipa and Sir Paul McCartney are among 1,500 artists who have signed an open letter calling for support for the UK's live music scene.
Ed Sheeran, the Rolling Stones and Coldplay also signed the letter to the culture secretary warning of the impact of Covid-19 on venues and musicians.
It says the music industry faces "mass insolvencies", with gigs and festivals unlikely to return until 2021.
The organisers said there had already been "hundreds of redundancies".
Job losses have been reported across venues, agencies and promoters, they said.
Source: Paul Glynn/bbc.com
An Indian American composer in Seattle, Washington, has won the top award in the World Music category in the 2020 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. The award, announced in May, is the first time an Indian song has won the award.
The winning song, "Akhiyaan," was written and composed by Indian American Rohit Batra of ‘Sur in Seattle’, produced by George Varghese of Verge Studios, and sung by “Indian Idol” alum Geetesh Iyer, according to a press release. "Akhiyaan" was also the Session 1 Grand Prize winner in 2019.
"This is a big moment for independent Indian musicians. We are breaking a mold as non-Bollywood music is being recognized on the world stage,” said Batra.
Source: indiawest.com
The Beatles breakup has to be the most discussed breakup in the entire music industry. Even after 50 years, fans still debate and argue about what caused the fab four to go their separate ways. But, that raises another question – what could have kept the Beatles together?
What would have kept the Beatles together?
Before diving into that, we first have to see what caused the Beatles to break up in the first place. We discussed that before, so if you want to jog your memory, give it a little read. So, here are the steps that could have prevented the Beatles breakup:
1. The Beatles should have been a professional band
Ringo Starr has announced a livestream benefit concert to mark his 80th birthday next week.
The star-studded event will consist of exclusive new at-home performances and previously unseen concert footage from former Beatles-bandmate Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow, Joe Walsh, Ben Harper, Gary Clark Jr and more.
Donations during the event will be split between the Black Lives Matter Global Network, MusiCares, The David Lynch Foundation, and WaterAid. Ringo’s Big Birthday Show will air on the day of his birthday, July 7, from 5pm PST, on his YouTube channel.
Starr has long held concerts to mark his birthday in his adopted home of the United States. For the past 12 years, he’s hosted the ‘Peace and Love’ celebration event in Los Angeles on the date. Last year, David Lynch, Peter Jackson, Nils Lofgren, Sheila E., Benmont Tench, Ed Begley, Jr. and more joined him.
Source: nme.com
After The Beatles went their separate ways, some bad blood lingered among the former bandmates. And you saw it quickly get heated between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. On top of trading barbs in the music press, the old pals took some cracks at one another on their solo albums.
Paul took the first shot in his Ram (1971) album with a track titled “Too Many People.” With the line, “You took your lucky break and broke it in too,” he was making a clear reference to John’s relationship with Yoko Ono. And Paul did the same with the line “too many people preaching practices.”
John wasn’t going to let those statements go unanswered. And when writing songs for Imagine (1971) he saved a few haymakers for his lifelong friend. John put them all into “How Do You Sleep?,” a track which featured none other than George Harrison on slide guitar.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr’s 80th birthday is coming up on July 7th, and we’re celebrating with an in-depth conversation on the latest episode of the Rolling Stone Interview: Special Edition video series. “Man, I’m only 24 in here,” Starr says, pointing to his head. “And I’m still doing what I love to do. I’m still in the music business.”
In the interview, Starr talks about his longevity (one secret: “broccoli with everything and blueberries in the morning”); life in isolation (“I haven’t left the house in 11 weeks now”); hanging out with Keith Moon and John Bonham (“that’s two handfuls”); the early years of his solo career; Peter Jackson’s upcoming Let It Be-era Beatles documentary; missing George Harrison and John Lennon; and playing “Helter Skelter” on stage with Paul McCartney last year for the first time since he recorded it.
Starr also discussed Ringo’s Big Birthday Show, a virtual charity concert that will hit YouTube at 8 p.m. EST July 7th. The show will include a mix of at-home performances and unseen concert footage from Paul McCartney,
Source: Brian Hiatt/rollingstone.com
In our recent Happy Birthday Paul McCartney series, we did a story on his song “Two Of Us,” which is not celebrated as much as many of his songs. Despite its greatness.
So we posed the question: Do you have a favorite McCartney song you feel has been uncelebrated compared to the rest? What follows are answers we received. A wide and wonderful selection. Thank you.
But first my personal nomination to start this, “Save Us,” produced by Paul Epworth from New, 2013. Is this not great?
Paul McCartney, “Save Us”
Earl Grey
Favorite non-celebrated Macca song has to be “Beware My Love.”
“Beware My Love.”
Rich Ulloa
My favorite Paul song is “Two of Us” and my favorite “non-celebrated song would be “Goodbye,” recorded by Mary Hopkin.
Source: Paul Zollo/americansongwriter.com