Beatles News
Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair's "The McCartney Legacy: Volume 1, 1969-73" is a triumph. Masterful in scope and full of rich detail, the first volume on Paul McCartney's post-Beatles career, out Tuesday from Dey Street Books, kicks off the authors' ambitious literary biography series in fine style.
Over the years, Paul McCartney has been the subject of numerous biographical studies, while remaining frustratingly elusive in terms of sharing the nature of his interior life. Kozinn and Sinclair sagely begin their book with an epigraph in which McCartney himself gets to the heart of the matter. "I'm very good at forgetting who I am," he admits, "because as far as I'm concerned Paul McCartney is a name I was given at birth, and at the beginning of the Beatles he split off into a celebrity, and I remained [as me]. . . . When you talk about Paul McCartney, I talk about the guy inside me, but you're talking about him—the guy who goes onstage and makes records and stuff."
Source: Kenneth Womack/salon.com
George Harrison freaked out some nuns who lived in his estate, Friar Park, before him. The former Beatle should’ve waited until all the nuns were moved out of the 35-acre property before he made it his own.
In the mid-1960s, George purchased a bungalow, Kinfauns, in Surrey. The home should’ve offered George the privacy he craved after living in London amid Beatlemania. However, it didn’t.
George said some fans knew where he lived, especially the students of an all-girls school down the road. He couldn’t have chosen a property with worse surroundings.
“Actually there’s a girls’ school right next to it but the head mistress was good and she told the kids to give me a bit of privacy,” George said.
Still, other fans found the property. There’s a video of some fans getting their autographs signed by George right on his front porch. Once, George and his wife, Pattie Boyd, came home to find two fans had broken in and were hiding under their bed.
In 1970, George needed more privacy.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
It’s been 42 years since the tragic passing of John Lennon on December 8, 1980. Although it’s been decades since he was ruthlessly murdered on his own doorstep, Mary McCartney spoke EXCLUSIVELY with HollywoodLife and recalled how her father Sir Paul McCartney reacted to the passing of his former Beatles bandmate.
Mary McCartney’s first feature-length documentary ‘If These Walls Could Sing’ premieres on Disney+ on December 16 (Mercury Studios/Tim Cragg)
“I think it devastated him and it was a shock because John Lennon was somebody that advocated so strongly for peace,” the photographer and chef said while promoting her upcoming first feature-length documentary, If These Walls Could Sing.
“What happened to him, it upset so many people all around the world, even to this day. I choose to try not to dwell on a day like today, I more choose to celebrate people’s birthdays,” the Mary McCartney Serves It Up star explained.
Source: Sarah Jones/hollywoodlife.com
Paul McCartney has been writing songs since a young age. While growing up in Liverpool, he learned how to play the guitar, and the piano and later met the other band members who would form The Beatles. McCartney has had a music career that has lasted over six decades, and he has no plans to stop anytime soon. In an interview with Barnes & Noble’s James Daunt, Paul McCartney discussed his 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present. The novel features analysis and backstories about 154 of McCartney’s songs he has written throughout his career. The former Beatle has worked hard to create this much music, but McCartney says he never saw it as work since it was what he loved doing. “I say to people when they say, ‘You work hard,’ I say, ‘Well, we don’t work music, we play it,’” McCartney explains. “And even though it might sound a bit glib, it is true. To me, it would be a hobby if I didn’t do it professionally. It’s just something I love because, you know, you’re creating this thing out of a black hole, and it’s very satisfying. So I love to do that.”
Source: Ross Tanenbaum/cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr said drummers could be replaced with gorillas and nobody would care. He said people treat drummers like second-class citizens. He wanted attention so much he was fine with negative reviews that at least mentioned him.
Ringo Starr said people didn’t view drummers as fully human. He said a gorilla could have replaced him and other drummers. Subsequently, he made it into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and several other drummers revealed their views of him.According to the 2015 book Ringo: With a Little Help, John Lennon and Paul McCartney spoke their minds in the studio during The Beatles’ early days. They would make it clear what they wanted their songs to sound like even when they were recording tracks written by other people. On the other hand, George Harrison and Ringo tended to be quiet and antisocial.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
Ringo Starr rerecorded The Beatles‘ “Love Me Do” with a little help from Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. Subsequently, Tyler wrote about crossing paths with Ringo. The former initially wanted to change the song.
In his 2011 book Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir, Tyler discussed getting recruited to work on Ringo’s 1998 album Vertical Man. “Around that time, [producer] Marko Hudson was working on a Ringo album and put me on the phone with him — never mind the fact that it was the first time I’d ever spoken with Ringo, one of my heroes (an actual Beatle), and to say the least I was beside myself,” Tyler wrote.
Tyler was having difficulty with the other members of Aerosmith at the time. “I thought to myself, if I’m having problems with my bandmates and you’re in The Beatles, I can only imagine what you went through,” he recalled.
Source: Matthew Trzcinski/cheatsheet.com
After George Harrison performed with Ringo Starr, Elton John, Jeff Lynne, and Eric Clapton at the Prince’s Trust Concert in 1987, many people thought they’d make a good band. With the idea “bubbling about,” George admitted he liked it.
George performed with his friends at the 1987 Prince’s Trust Concert. On Aspel & Co., George explained that before performing, it felt like he was going to the electric chair. Fortunately, George had Ringo, Clapton, Lynne, and Elton John to support him.
All four musicians also helped George record 1987’s Cloud Nine. Lynne co-produced the album, contributed vocals and various other instruments and co-wrote “That’s What It Takes,” “This Is Love,” and “When We Was Fab.” Ringo contributed drums on various tracks. Clapton added electric guitar on “Cloud 9,” “That’s What It Takes,” “Devil’s Radio,” and “Wreck of the Hesperus.” Meanwhile, Elton John contributed electric piano on “Cloud 9,” piano on “Devil’s Radio,” and “Wreck of the Hesperus.”
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Mary McCartney, the daughter of The Beatles legend Paul McCartney, joined Good Day New York to address the constant death rumors involving her father.
Mary says one conspiracy theory involves the Abbey Road album cover, where Paul is seen being out of step with his bandmates and walking barefoot.
The theory states the white Volkswagen Beetle apparently has a number plate saying "28IF," suggesting Paul would have been 28 IF he had survived. Also, the four Beatles represent a funeral procession: George is the gravedigger, Paul is the corpse, Ringo is the congregation and John is the priest.
Source: FOX 5 NY
Wednesday night was the New York City premiere of If These Walls Could Sing, a documentary about London’s Abbey Road Studios directed by Mary McCartney that will premiere on Disney+ on December 16. For some inside information, the filmmaker, photographer and cookbook author turned to one of Abbey Road’s most well-known regulars: her dad, Paul McCartney.
Speaking to People, Mary says, “I was with him and I was like, ‘I’m going to make this documentary about the history of Abbey Road,’ and he would just sort of give me little tips. It was good! He was mulling it over and he sort of told me little anecdotes.” What Paul wanted to stress, she says, is how important the people who worked there were to the Beatles’ career.
Source: wdrv.com
Many of us know Ringo Starr as the drummer from the Beatles, but did you know he is an accomplished photographer too? I think you may be pleasantly surprised to see what happened when he swapped his drumsticks for a camera.
Rock and roll stars are usually on the receiving end of a camera rather than taking pictures themselves. Ringo Starr experienced both sides of that equation, as he was just as keen to take pictures as he was being in them. The reason I know this is thanks to photographer and educator Tatiana Hopper's latest video, where she shares the story of Starr's love of photography.
Source: Paul Parker/fstoppers.com
