Beatles News
The Beatles drummer opened up about the devastating phone call he received in December 1980 while in Barbados and how he reacted to the news of John Lennon having been shot
It's been 45 years since a fan fatally shot John Lennon outside his New York home, and fans are just now looking back on the moment Ringo Starr opened up about finding out about the shooting for the first time.
John Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980, in the entrance of his Manhattan residence, with the Beatles legend declared dead upon arrival at hospital after being rushed there in a police vehicle. The musician was leaving his home alongside wife Yoko Ono when gunman Mark David Chapman seized his chance to attack the star, later citing Lennon's controversial remark about the Beatles being 'more popular than Jesus' as his primary motive. Chapman received a life sentence and continues to serve his time behind bars to this day.
The assassination sent shockwaves across the globe, particularly affecting his former Beatles bandmates, who have subsequently spoken openly about losing their dear friend.
During a 1981 interview with Barbara Walters, Ringo Starr recalled the devastating moment he learnt of John's shooting through a telephone conversation with his wife Barbara Bach's daughter, Francesca Gregorini, while they were holidaying in Barbados.
"And so, that drove me crazy," Ringo explained, adding his initial assumption was that John had sustained injuries to his leg or arm. "And then, they came back and they said, he's uh, he's dead."
The drummer disclosed he immediately arranged flights to New York to support Yoko, who requested they spend time with her and John's son Sean, asking them to 'keep him busy'. Ringo then requested they 'stop it there' as he visibly found discussing the traumatic experience difficult, admitting it 'always makes me upset' when reflecting on the tragic shooting.
He went on to reveal the final time he'd encountered John was on November 15, weeks before the assassination, describing how he'd been residing at the Plaza in New York when John arrived with Yoko for a visit after they hadn't met for some time.
"And we had such a great time, cause they stayed five hours. And it didn't matter it was a year between we didn't see each other, it was always fine when we did," Ringo said. Further into the conversation, Ringo simply stated: "I'm really sad. I still miss John a great deal, I'll always miss him, you know. But it's still brand new."
Source: Alice Sjoberg/liverpoolecho.co.uk
No catalog has ever been as exhaustively analyzed as The Beatles’ output of albums. And yet, even within the relatively small batch of albums that they released, some LPs have failed to receive the attention they deserve.
These three Beatles albums will rarely be named among the group’s finest efforts. We explore the reasons why below. And we also explain why you should check them out if you’ve been holding back till now.
‘With The Beatles’ (1963)
The Beatles’ UK debut Please Please Me features a fantastic track listing. It also owns the great story about it being recorded, for the most part, in a single night. By contrast, With The Beatles couldn’t possibly have garnered that same kind of attention. But don’t think for a moment that the group was enduring some kind of sophomore slump with this release in 1963. If anything, it displayed just how quickly they were progressing as writers and musicians. Songs like “It Won’t Be Long” and “All My Loving” pushed all the pleasure buttons like the early hit singles. The group also once again flexed their muscles on cover material, as on their searing take on the Motown staple “Money (That’s What I Want)”. They were also starting to branch out in terms of the types of material they were releasing, with “Not A Second Time” standing out as one of their first great weepers.
‘Beatles For Sale’ (1964)
When it came to Beatles For Sale, the Fab Four might have been feeling the effects of their hectic schedule. In 1964 alone, in addition to two albums and a handful of massive hit singles, they also released their first movie, A Hard Day’s Night. The accompanying album for the film also marked the first time that John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the entirety of the material on an LP. They couldn’t pull that off on Beatles For Sale. But the originals that did make the cut show just how fast the pair were developing as writers. Songs like “I’m A Loser”, “I’ll Follow The Sun”, “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party”, and “What You’re Doing” suggest that relationships weren’t always easy to maintain in the Beatles’ fishbowl. Even the surging opener “No Reply” contains that bluesy edge that makes this album so subtly fascinating.
‘Help!’ (1965)
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
On This Day, Dec. 5, 1974…
Paul McCartney and Wings released their third album, Band on the Run, which became a huge hit and remains McCartney’s most successful non-Beatles album.
The album produced two hits, the title track and “Jet,” and went to #1 in the U.S. and the U.K.
The cover featured McCartney, his wife Linda and guitarist Denny Laine posing as escaped convicts alongside actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee, British boxer John Conteh, U.K. broadcasters Michael Parkinson and Clement Freud, and English entertainer Kenny Lynch.
To celebrate the anniversary, McCartney released a special 50th anniversary edition of the album in February 2024.
McCartney’s post-Beatles career with Wings is also the subject of a new documentary, Man on the Run, premiering globally on Prime Video on Feb. 25, 2026.
Source: Everett Post
The childhood home of George Harrison of The Beatles is now open to visitors for the first time ever through scheduled guided tours.
Located at 25 Upton Green in Speke, the family home of George Harrison played a formative role in the ‘quiet’ Beatle’s early life and musical development, serving not only as his family residence from 1950 to 1962 but also as an early rehearsal space for The Beatles in the years before Beatlemania.
The experience has been developed and will be delivered by Dale Roberts, tour guide and co-owner of the property, who has spent over a decade sharing Beatles history with visitors from around the world. He became co-owner of the Harrison family home a year ago, after Ken Lambert asked him to come on board as an owner. Ken won the house at auction in 2022 in a well-publicised purchase of the property, Ken would turn into an Air BnB for guests to stay in.
“George’s story is a Liverpool story”
“This house is a reference point to a local Liverpool musician who would just so happen to be part of a phenomenon that changed the world. There has been huge interest globally in where The Beatles came from, and 25 Upton Green has always felt like a missing piece of that wider cultural experience. Making this accessible to the public on a regular basis feels like the right next step for The Beatles Industry”
25 Upton Green was the Harrison family’s home for twelve years, during which George Harrison attended Dovedale Primary School, then the Liverpool Institute for Boys, the same school attended by Paul McCartney, another resident of Speke. George and Paul would meet each other while getting the bus together from the area towards Penny Lane.
Source: Rhys Fairhurst/theguideliverpool.com
The Beatles are back on the Billboard charts thanks to Anthology 4, the new addition to the band’s Anthology series, which was recently reissued.
Anthology 4 features 36 tracks, including 13 previously unreleased demos, session recordings and more. It debuted in the top 10 on five Billboard charts, including both the Top Albums Sales and Top Current Album Sales charts, where it landed at #9.
The album is also at #7 on the Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart, #6 on the Top Rock Albums chart and #3 on the Indie Store Album Sales chart.
Anthology 4 was released as a standalone and was also part of the larger The Anthology Collection box set, with both debuting at #48 on the all-genre Billboard 200 chart. The Collection includes the first three Anthology releases, which originally came out in the '90s, and hit #1 on the Billboard 200 and the Top Album Sales chart.
The release of The Anthology Collection coincided with the Disney+ debut of the newly restored and remastered version of the Anthology documentary series, which aired on ABC in 1995. The new version was expanded from eight to nine episodes. A 25th anniversary edition of The Beatles Anthology book was also released in October.
Source: Jill Lances/yahoo.com
The Beatles are famous for struggling to agree, but when it came to this one song Paul McCartney wrote for the Fab Four, three of them agreed unanimously about how much they hated the song. Nearly 60 years ago, the group released one of their most iconic albums, Abbey Road, and McCartney wrote one of their most forgotten hits, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”. However, the song and the sessions frustrated the group, and it is considered their worst song. Why Were the Beatles Members Frustrated With Paul McCartney and "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer"?
“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” almost did not make it onto the album, as John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr disliked the song due to the song’s complexity. McCartney first wrote the song in 1968 after the group’s trip to India, and it was intended for Let It Be. Even after the song was rejected, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” would soon find its way onto the Abbey Road album, but it almost destroyed the band.
As the songwriter, McCartney wanted the song to sound a certain way, but none of his bandmates were able to match his creative vision. This caused tension in the studio, as McCartney’s perfectionism resulted in many hours and sessions being poured into this one song. McCartney even added a blacksmith’s anvil as part of the recording process, but he still was not satisfied with how “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” sounded.
To add to the tension and the frustration of the bandmates, “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” was Lennon’s first session with The Beatles since his car accident. When he began working on the song with the rest of the group, Lennon was quick to leave, as he felt that he did not have to sit through a tough session while still recovering from his injuries, especially as it was, according to engineer Geoff Emerick, in Lennon’s words, “Granny music.” Lennon returned to the studio after spending two weeks with Yoko Ono for “Come Together”.
Source: Teguan Harris/collider.com
Two Beatles songs — "Real Love" and "I'll Get You" — return to multiple charts as the band's Anthology 4 and the Anthology Collection both debut inside the top 10. LONDON - MAY 19: English singer, songwriter and guitarist John Lennon (1940-1980), English singer, songwriter and bassist Paul McCartney, English musician, singer and drummer Ringo Starr and English musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist George Harrison (1943-2001) of the Beatles attend a press party at the home of manager Brian Epstein supporting the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, May 19, 1967, in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Jeff Hochberg/Getty Images)
The Beatles never have a completely quiet week on the charts, as people all around the world stream and buy the band’s music constantly. The group typically performs best in the United Kingdom, where all four musicians — John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr — are originally from and where the outfit got its start.
As The Beatles score two new charting albums with both Anthology 4 and the larger, more all-encompassing The Anthology Collection, multiple tunes from the rockers find their way back to several different tallies, as there has been a lot of buying going on with all things connected to The Beatles. The Beatles Bring “Real Love” Back to Multiple Charts
Between the two Beatles cuts that return to the charts in the U.K., “Real Love” is the bigger winner, as it finds its way to a pair of rosters at the same time. “Real Love” reenters the Official Singles Downloads ranking at No. 82 and the Official Singles Sales tally at No. 89.
“Real Love” appears on both sales charts in the U.K. for only the second time. The track debuted on those rosters back in November 2023, decades after its original release. At the time, “Real Love” launched at No. 25 on the ranking of the most downloaded cuts throughout the nation and No. 29 on the general list of the bestselling songs, and then it quickly disappeared.
When Did The Beatles Release “Real Love”?
The Beatles released “Real Love” in 1996 as a single from Anthology 2. The track, which was originally a demo written by Lennon, was finished by McCartney, Harrison, and Starr and shared along with “Free As a Bird.” Both tracks became hits, and “Real Love” and “Free As a Bird” served as the final Beatles songs until “Now and Then” was finished with the help of artificial intelligence technology and shared with the world in 2023.
Source: Hugh McIntyre/forbes.com
Sam Mendes has added eight to the cast of The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, Sony announced on Thursday. They are David Morrissey (The Walking Dead), Leanne Best (Walk-In), James Norton (Happy Valley), Harry Lloyd (The Theory of Everything), Bobby Schofield (The Covenant), Daniel Hoffmann-Gill (Sherwood), Arthur Darvill (Broadchurch), and Adam Pally (Happy Endings).
Morrissey will play Paul McCartney’s father Jim McCartney, with Best as John Lennon’s Aunt Mimi, Norton as manager Brian Epstein, Lloyd as long-time music producer George Martin, Schofield as road manager and trusted confidant Neil Aspinall, Hoffmann-Gill as roadie Mal Evans, Darvill as press officer and friend Derek Taylor, and Pally as controversial music manager Allen Klein.
As previously announced, the films will star Paul Mescal as McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, with each telling the story of a different member of the band. Mia McKenna-Bruce, Saoirse Ronan, Anna Sawai, and Aimee Lou Wood also star in the respective roles of Maureen (Cox) Starkey, Linda (Eastman) McCartney, Yoko Ono, and Pattie Boyd.
We were first to report on the Beatles films from Mendes, all of which will be released with full theatrical windows in April 2028. Sony Pictures is financing and distribute them worldwide.
Mendes is directing from scripts written by Jez Butterworth, Peter Straughan and Jack Thorne. A collaboration between Sony Pictures Entertainment and Mendes’ Neal Street Productions, the films will be produced by Mendes, Pippa Harris and Julie Pastor of Neal Street, as well as Alexandra Derbyshire, in association with Apple Corps for Sony Pictures.
This marks the first time that The Beatles and Apple Corps Ltd. have authorized the use of the band members’ life stories and music in scripted films.
Source: Matt Grobar/deadline.com
As if four upcoming Beatles biopics aren’t enough, the BBC is ready to give fans more.
The network has picked up a new drama series, Hamburg Days, which will focus on The Beatles’ early days as a band. The six-part series, based on the autobiography by German artist and musician Klaus Voormann, is set in the ’60s when Voormann and photographer Astrid Kirchherr meet a young Liverpool rock band, who are playing in the clubs of Hamburg’s St. Pauli’s red-light district.
“Together, they help spark a transformation that turns a scrappy group of teenagers into the greatest music phenomenon the world has ever known: The Beatles,” reads the series description.
“Hamburg Days is the fascinating story of how, in the space of two short years, a raw young band from Liverpool honed their music skills in Hamburg, before returning home to become an overnight worldwide success,” says Sue Deeks, head of scripted pre-buy acquisitions at the BBC. “It is an incredible story, accompanied (of course) by an amazing soundtrack!”
Voormann will serve as a consultant on the series. Casting on the project has not yet been announced.
Source: ABC News/everettpost.com
Paul McCartney had reached the pinnacle of global fame with the Beatles by the end of the 1960s. What he did for the next decade, after the end of the band themselves a few months later, is captured in this hefty oral history.
Wings: The Story Of A Band On The Run pairs McCartney with historian Ted Widmer, who has dug into archives and been given access to material from Man On The Run, a McCartney documentary due out early next year. There are comments from McCartney himself, ex-Beatles, other Wings personnel, family members and further figures in the Wings orbit – these including Sean Ono Lennon, Chrissie Hynde and graphic designer Aubrey Powell.
We get the inside track on Wings’ entry into the Bond theme annals – 1973’s Live And Let Die, perhaps the greatest example of the form to this day – and their ascent to American stadium rock status. There are also plentiful off-the-wall moments, from an attempted mugging in Lagos to the time some gnarly punk rockers approached McCartney in London, only to lavish unlikely praise on Wings’ exceedingly non-punk Mull Of Kintyre, 1977’s Christmas number one. Albums like Band On The Run itself are thoroughly dissected, alongside a cultural and band-related timeline, a discography and gigography, and a wealth of previously unseen photographs.
McCartney’s 1980 began with a drug bust in Tokyo and ended with the death of his former bandmate, John Lennon. Tired of the madness associated with band life, Wings fizzled out not long after this, but left behind a strong musical legacy, with album sales running into the millions. Their story is revived here with an insightful, revealing and often astonishing book.
Source: buzzmag.co.uk
