Beatles News
Recently speaking to Goldmine, John Lennon‘s son Julian Lennon listed the ten albums that changed his life. As he disclosed, one of them brought him closer to his father.
Julian picked his late father’s 1974 album ‘Walls and Bridges’ as one of his favorite records and recalled their relationship at the time:
“Dad’s album. I played snare with one stick on it, yes, if you can call that playing, in any capacity. Dad and I were seeing each other and getting along at that moment in time, so not only was it a special time, but he was doing that, and Elton [John] was there at the same time.”
It is no secret that Julian experienced a strained relationship with his father after his parents ended their marriage in 1968 due to John’s affair with Yoko Ono. Following the divorce, the late Beatle had limited contact with Julian for many years. In a 2020 article published by the Guardian, the singer explained how he had felt after his father left home:
Source: Bihter Sevinc/rockcelebrities.net
Feeling redundant at the age of 27, post-Beatles Paul McCartney would compare his predicament to that of the astronauts who’d returned from the moon: “What do you want to do with the rest of your life?” he mused. His was to be a bumpy re-entry, characterised by a nagging doubt that was at odds with the apparently super-confident figure the public had seen on the cinema screen in Let It Be.
From the low-key beginning of his first solo album McCartney, via a procession of variously slick or odd records throughout the 1970s, Paul built a band, Wings, as an extension of his travelling family, before they crashed following his still-bizarre weed bust/imprisonment in Japan in 1980. Like most of his ’60s contemporaries, Macca then seemed a bit lost during that glossy decade, before fully relocating his muse in 1997 with Flaming Pie.
Source: Tom Doyle /mojo4music.com
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is the most experimental album by The Beatles. It was so different from their previous albums that The Beatles weren’t even the same people. They all took on the persona of a fake band led by Sgt. Pepper, with Ringo Starr adopting the name “Billy Shears.” However, Billy Shears has a connection to The Beatles that led to many fan conspiracy theories.
One of the most famous music conspiracy theories ever is the “Paul is Dead” theory. The conspiracy suggests that Paul McCartney died in a car accident in 1966 and The Beatles had replaced him with a look alike. The cover of Abbey Road contains multiple “clues” that supposedly confirm Paul’s death.
One essential part of this theory is who replaced McCartney. The theory suggests manager Brian Epstein held a competition for a Paul look alike. After Paul was killed, Epstein paid the police and journalists to keep things under wraps while introducing the new McCartney, William Campbell Shears, a.k.a Billy Shears.
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr was already a well-known drummer in Liverpool before The Beatles added him to the roster. But the fame he achieved in the Fab Four was a different beast. The notoriety led Ringo’s family to treat him differently, which he said was “quite a blow” to his ego. He ignored his family’s advice to pursue music as a full-time job. When Ringo achieved international superstardom because of it, he felt like an outsider among his relatives.
In the middle of 1962, Ringo was an ace timekeeper and a key member of Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, a well-known Liverpool band. By August of that year, he upgraded when The Beatles added him to the roster. By March 1963, he was the drummer in the hottest group in England.
The Beatles became world famous by the end of 1964. They never wanted for anything. Fans monitored every move they made. Sycophants, groupies, and people-pleasers surrounded the Fab Four hoping to grab a sliver of the spotlight. People treated The Beatles like royalty — superior beings surrounded by mortals.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
In the mid-1960s, Beatlemania swept through the New York home of playwright Adrienne Kennedy. One of her sons, Adam, would sing I Want to Hold Your Hand; his older brother, Joedy, talked of the Fab Four as if they were the centre of his world. It was a tough time: Kennedy had just separated from the boys’ father and they were about to leave their apartment. But for the eldest child, “the Beatles were all that were on his mind,” she remembers. He treasured his copy of John Lennon’s book In His Own Write, a collection of poems and tales, which she read herself.
“Somewhere in those months of turmoil and Joedy’s passion” Kennedy decided to adapt the book as a play. It was a project that would take her to the heart of London’s theatreland and bring Kennedy both joy and pain. And, in a neat case of symmetry, she revisited this period of her life four decades later in her 2008 play Mom, How Did You Meet the Beatles? which is presented as a conversation with Adam. “He asked me again and again those questions,” she says. “Finally we decided he would tape my answers.”
Source: Chris Wiegand/theguardian.com
May Pang, John Lennon's love interest and companion during the 18-month "Lost Weekend" era in the mid-’70s will be exhibiting her candid photos of Lennon at the Up Front Art Space in Cuyahoga Falls on Friday, June 9, through Sunday, June 11, as well as a hosting a special Q&A session after the screening of her documentary on her life with Lennon at The Nightlight cinema in Akron on Thursday, June 8.
Pang was with Lennon during the recording of his only No. 1 post-Beatles song, "Whatever Gets You Through the Night," with Elton John. She was with Lennon and David Bowie as they created the song "Fame." She was involved in the recording of Lennon's "Walls and Bridges" album, his "Rock 'N' Roll" album with Phil Spector, and the production of Harry Nilsson's album "Pussy Cats." She even once lived in a beach house with Lennon, Nilsson, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and others.
Source: beaconjournal.com
Sir Paul McCartney and his wife Nancy looked in good spirits as they hung out with Jay-Z at his wife Beyonce's final London concert at Tottenham Stadium on Sunday.
The former Beatles star, 80, was seen chatting with the billionaire rapper, 53, as he and Nancy, 63, enjoyed the show.
Paul cut a casual figure for the gig, sporting a navy jacket and a light blue shirt which he wore with a pair of dark trousers.
Nancy opted for a black low cut top along with a matching shirt and a pair of light blue slim-fitting jeans.
Letting her brunette locks fall loose down her shoulders, Nancy was all smiles as she chatted with her pals during the show.
Source: Sean O'grady/dailymail.co.uk
Ringo Starr has had an incredibly successful career with his music. Still, he admitted his life could have turned out much differently. Starr explained that when he was growing up in Liverpool, he, like many other people his age, joined a gang. He spoke about the shocking violence he witnessed while growing up and noted how lucky he felt that music came into his life when it did.
According to Starr, most people he knew growing up were in gangs. It was either join them or put a target on your back.
“We were by the docks in Liverpool and each and every area had its own gang,” he said in The Beatles Anthology. “It was like New York or Hamburg. I was a Teddy boy; you had to be. Where I lived, you had to associate with some gang, otherwise you were ‘open city’ for anybody. The choices were: you could either be beaten up by anybody in your neighbourhood, or by people in other neighbourhoods (which I was, several times).”
Starr adapted to this lifestyle. While he wasn’t good at fighting, he was good at running. Still, he saw shocking violence in his youth.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Paul McCartney recalled the Beatles’ first trip to the United States and how it convinced the members they weren’t just another band that would simply “fizzle out” after a short period of success.
In an excerpt from a book that accompanies his new photo exhibition in London (via The Guardian), McCartney explained his feelings when he rediscovered lost photos he’d taken during the 1964 trip, during which the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show three times and secured their future.
“Anyone who rediscovers a personal relic or family treasure is instantly flooded with memories and emotions, which then trigger associations buried in the haze of time,” he wrote. “It was a period of – what else can you call it? – pandemonium. We four guys from Liverpool couldn’t possibly realize then the implications of what we were doing. By the end of February 1964, after our visit to America … we finally had to admit that we would not, as we had originally feared, just fizzle out as many groups do. We were in the vanguard of something more momentous, a revolution in the culture.”
Source: wbsm.com
George Harrison wrote The Beatles’ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” because he liked descending chords. The star who inspired the song also inspired The Beatles’ “Dear Prudence” and “Blackbird.” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was not a single in the United States.
A star said he helped inspire George Harrison to write The Beatles‘ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The star revealed what he thought of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” when he first heard it. Subsequently, the tune appeared on a hugely successful album.During a 2016 interview with Westword, folk singer Donovan revealed he learned to play the guitar in a fingerpicking style from Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family. For context, the Carter Family was a folk group that recorded songs between the 1920s and the 1950s. Subsequently, Donovan taught John Lennon to play guitar in this style, and he also influenced George.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
