Beatles News
I know, I know: You’re looking at that headline and thinking, “Uh, the Beatles broke up years ago, there are only two of them that are alive, how could they release a new single?”
Here’s the answer: Back in June, Paul McCartney announced he would be using AI to help turn a demo with John Lennon into a new single with all four Beatles on it. There was a ton of speculation — would it be the much-discussed Now and Then? — and some uproar over the idea of using AI assistance.
McCartney then tweeted this to clear up confusion, which … didn’t clear up much beyond “It’s all real and we all play on it.”
Been great to see such an exciting response to our forthcoming Beatles project. No one is more excited than us to be sharing something with you later in the year.
We’ve seen some confusion and speculation about it. Seems to be a lot of guess work out there. Can’t say too much…
— Paul McCartney (@PaulMcCartney) June 22, 2023
Got all that? Good. Because this was a tweet from The Beatles on Wednesday:
Source: Charles Curtis/ftw.usatoday.com
Legendary classic rock producer George Martin predicted that one of The Beatles' songs would hit No. 1. He was wrong multiple times over.
Legendary classic rock producer George Martin predicted that one of The Beatles’ songs would hit No. 1. He was wrong multiple times over. However, he still worked on many other Beatles songs and one of Paul McCartney’s most famous solo hits.
During a 2020 interview with Uncut, Martin discussed the impact Martin had on The Beatles. “‘Please, Please Me,’ originally we brought to him as a very slow [Roy] Orbison-esque ballad,” he recalled. “‘Last night I said these words … Come on — joojoo — come on — joojoo’ — you can imagine Roy Orbison doing it.
“George said, ‘It might be good a bit faster,'” he said. “We go, ‘No.’ He used this skill of persuasion and he got us. ‘Oh, go on then, we’ll try it.’ So we did, ‘Last night I said.‘ He goes, ‘There’s your first No 1.'”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
It did not take long for the pieces to come together.
Through the efforts of legendary Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, local drummer and Beatles historian Gary Astridge, and Daemen University leader John R. Yurtchuk and his wife, Carolyn, an 8-foot, 6-inch “Peace & Love” sculpture was unveiled earlier this month in the International Honorary Peace Garden in the university’s Saffrin Square.
The installation of the sculpture didn’t coincide with one of Starr’s tour stops with his All-Starr Band, so he didn’t attend the unveiling, but the 83-year-old drummer – known for flashing the peace sign throughout his musical career – posted a video to social media at the end of his tour to share his excitement about the debut.
Source: Ben Tsujimoto News Staff Reporter/buffalonews.com
George Harrison’s witty response to being stabbed 40 times has been revealed in a new biography.
Released today (October 24), the new book is written by Philip Norman and explores the life of the Beatles member in a new light.
Titled George Harrison: The Reluctant Beatle, the biography also discusses the 1999 incident, which left the musician fighting for his life after being stabbed 40 times.
The moment took place when Harrison and his wife Olivia became victims of a home invasion, and upon hearing someone break into his home, the guitarist got out of bed to investigate.
From there, he was soon confronted by a man named Michael Abram who was holding a knife. An altercation followed as Harrison attempted to wrestle the knife out of Abram’s hands, however, the intruder managed to get on top of the Beatle and stabbed him 40 times. He only stopped upon being struck over the head with a lamp by Olivia.
In the book, the incident is described in detail and it is also revealed how Harrison described the attack to his son Dhani with a darkly witty sense of humour (via Far Out).
According to the musician’s son, Harrison described Abram by saying: “He wasn’t a burglar and he certainly wasn’t auditioning for the Traveling Wilburys.”
Source: Liberty Dunworth/nme.com
Not only did launch The Beatles into superstardom, he also offered up his home in London as a hideout for the Fab Four to escape their hordes of screaming fans. Fast forward to today, and the late manager’s Mayfair townhouse has hit the market for £8.75 million (or roughly $10.7 million).
The Grade II-listed Georgian dwelling measures 3,800 square feet and features five bedrooms plus an adjoining mews house. The latter is connected to the main house through the basement and is where Paul McCartney, , , and Ringo Starr used to hang. It’s also believed to be the place where they worked on their eighth studio album, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Originally built in the 1750s, Epstein acquired the swank abode in the 1960s as his private residence. He later turned the townhouse into an early version of the Apple Corps headquarters before he died of an accidental overdose in 1967. Following Epstein’s passing, the residence was purchased by author and politician Norman St John-Stevas, Lord St John of Fawsley, a close advisor to Margaret Thatcher.
Source: Abby Montanez/yahoo.com
he Beatles legend became one of the most successful singer-songwriters of all time but he and his brother Mike were met with a tough crowd when they performed at a Butlin's holiday camp as a child, reports.
McCartney was just 11 when he performed in the talent show after he had been taught to harmonise by his father James and the siblings did their best to channel The Everly Brothers.
The 81-year-old star recalled on his new podcast 'McCartney: A Life in Lyrics', "The Everly Brothers sang in harmony, so me and my brother did. We sang 'Bye Bye Love'. We didn't win - obviously not talented enough for the Butlin's crowd!"
McCartney previously described how his childhood holiday to Butlin's was a great adventure. He told the Daily Mirror in 2021, "I was 11 when I went to Butlin's Pwllheli holiday camp and the photos of me show I'm still wearing my school cap and short school trousers."
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
George Harrison discussed the behind-the-scenes of The Beatles' first 'Ed Sullivan Show' set, and what was "tacky" about the show's production.
The Beatles‘ Ed Sullivan Show set changed rock ‘n’ roll, music in general, and the entire course of human history. No, that’s not going too far. Shockingly, George Harrison revealed he didn’t even rehearse for this seminal event. Here’s why — and why the performance mattered so much to him.
The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters features an interview from 1977. During that interview, George discussed the behind-the-scenes of The Beatles’ first Ed Sullivan Show appearance. “The Sullivan show was funny because I didn’t attend the rehearsal, I was sick somehow on the flight over on the first trip to the States,” he recounted.
Sullivan’s crew wasn’t all that helpful. “The band did a long rehearsal for the sound people, they kept going into the control room and checking out the sound,” recalled George. “And finally, when they got a balance between the instruments and the vocals, they marked on the boards by the control and then everybody broke for lunch. Then we came back to tape the show and the cleaners had been ’round and polished all the marks off the board.”
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
Brisbane music writer Sean Sennett flew to Adelaide to see Paul McCartney and host a conversation with him at an exclusive fan event and he says we are all in for the treat of our lives when the former Beatle’s Got Back tour arrives in Queensland
It’s twenty-four hours before Paul McCartney is due to officially start his Australian tour. He is getting ready to play a short set to 15 competition winners.
Apart from McCartney’s crew, the winners, their guests and a smattering of media the Adelaide Entertainment Centre is virtually empty. This hardly matters a jot to McCartney who performs a blistering twenty-five-minute collection of songs comprised of Beatles’ hits, highlights from his solo career and deep cuts.
Earlier in the afternoon your correspondent had the privilege of chatting to McCartney first on stage, and facilitating questions from the small audience. Relaxed and wearing a dark hoodie, you only need two minutes in McCartney’s company and you’re knocked out by the man’s warmth, candour and, of course, his catalogue. Having interviewed him previously McCartney’s warmth is always immediate.
Source: Bryanna Rossow/inqld.com.au
Ringo Starr joined the Beatles in 1962, replacing original drummer Pete Best as the band’s permanent timekeeper. Even before he became part of the Fab Four, though, Starr was, well, a star.
“He was in one of the top groups in Britain, but especially in Liverpool, before we even had a drummer,” John Lennon explained during an interview with Playboy in 1980. “So Ringo’s talent would have come out one way or the other…I don’t know what he would have ended up as, but whatever that spark is in Ringo that we all know but can’t put our finger on—whether it is acting, drumming, or singing, I don’t know—there is something in him that is projectable, and he would have surfaced with or without The Beatles.”
He did surface with The Beatles, though, contributing to the band’s catalog not only as a drummer, but also as an occasional vocalist and songwriter. He wasn’t a technical player—”none of us are technical musicians,” Lennon added during the same Playboy interview—but he was inventive, filling the band’s songs with unlikely grooves, funky fills, and surprising tempo changes. He played drums like a composer, in other words, and his highlights behind the kit—five of which are documented below—represent some of The Beatles’ brightest moments.
Source: Robert Crawford/americansongwriter.com
There may very well have been a point of no return between Paul McCartney and John Lennon.
When The Beatles finally called it a day in 1970, tensions were at an all-time high between each of the iconic bandmates.
Marred by squabbling, creative differences, and a loss of passion for the band's future meant there was only one way it was going to go.
During the recording of their final album Let It Be - offered a new perspective in Peter Jackson's 2021 documentary Get Back - Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr still showed frequent flashes of their collective genius.
However, the cracks were very much appearing, and grew more irreparable by the day, with Yoko Ono joining every session, George growing frustrated with his songwriting contributions being consistently ignored, Ringo evidently disinterested in the band politics, leaving Paul to drag them all through the recording process.
Source: Thomas Curtis-Horsfall/goldradiouk.com
