Beatles News
George Harrison‘s wife, Olivia, said their son, Dhani, became an anchor at his father’s tribute, Concert for George. George’s spirit was present through Dhani.
“It was [Clapton’s] idea,” Goerge’s widow, Olivia, told Rolling Stone. “He phoned me not long after George died and said, ‘I’d like to do something.’ Eric was a very deep friend of George’s, so I felt confident and relieved that it was Eric coming to me.”
“Olivia had given me this job of being musical director,” Clapton explained, “to single out people for certain songs, and I found that really hard. We were all quite protective of our relationships with George.”
At London’s Royal Albert Hall, a year to the date of George’s death, his friends came out to show their love for him. George’s fellow Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr made memorable appearances and the guys in Monty Python lightened the mood. George’s fellow Traveling Wilburys, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne brought even more great music.
Source: Hannah Wigandt/cheatsheet.com
Sir Paul McCartney's lookalike son James showed his support for his father at the London premiere of Beatles documentary If These Walls Could Sing on Monday.
The musician, 45, kept it casual as he stepped out with a guest at the star-studded premiere for the Disney+ documentary at Abbey Road Studios.
James is the only son of the Beatles singer, 80, and his late wife Linda McCartney - who also had two daughters, photographer Mary, 52, and designer Stella, 50.
Lookalikes: Sir Paul McCartney's son James showed his support for his father at the London premiere of Beatles documentary If These Walls Could Sing on Monday
Source: Kate Dennett/dailymail.co.uk
Julian Lennon has admitted that Richard Curtis’s film Yesterday was ruined for him by a “weird” scene involving his late father John Lennon.
Himesh Patel and Lily James starred in the 2019 romantic comedy about a musician who wakes up one day to find that nobody remembers The Beatles and decides to pass their music off as his own.
While none of the Beatles were involved in the film, they and their families gave their approval for it to go ahead, while the filmmakers spent $10m (£8.1m) on the rights to the band’s music.
However, one scene that divided fans – once referred to as a “Marmite scene” by director Danny Boyle – sees Jack (Patel) take a road trip, when he runs into John Lennon (Robert Carlyle) at a remote English countryside home.
Having chosen love over fame and fortune and with The Beatles never having existed, John has lived into old age away from the public spotlight.
Source: Isobel Lewis/independent.co.uk
It was a bad move, probably the worst thing he could have done at the moment. Paul McCartney, the most publicity-savvy of the Beatles, knew that the instant he hurled a bucket of kitchen scraps at a pair of unwanted visitors to High Park, his hard-to-find, harder-to-reach farm in the Scottish countryside, near Campbeltown.
As the vegetable scraps, dirty water, and dinner leftovers flew through the air, Paul focused on his targets and realized that he knew one of the intruders. Terence Spencer, a photographer best known for his war coverage, had shot the Beatles periodically, starting in 1963.
Now on assignment for Life magazine, which had chosen him because of his relationship with the Beatles, Spencer was tagging along with Dorothy Bacon, who had been assigned to track down McCartney and get his response to a rumor sweeping the globe, to the effect that the doe-eyed bassist, singer and songwriter had been killed in an automobile accident in 1966, and that the Beatles, having suppressed word of his death, filled their post-1966 recordings with “clues” pointing to the truth.
Source: Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair/lithub.com
In a new interview with QFM96's "Torg & Elliott" radio show, AC/DC singer Brian Johnson was asked if he has ever met somebody famous that he was "in awe" of. He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "Yes, that has happened, and it was [THE BEATLES legend] Paul McCartney. I didn't know what to say to him. I mean, for the first time I was absolutely tongue-tied. And then [fellow BEATLES legend] Ringo Starr walked in beside him. And it was Paul that spoke to me, 'cause he heard me talking to somebody. And he said, 'Hello, Geordie.' You know, because they call us Geordies, with the accent. And I went, 'Hello, Paul. Sir Paul. Your honor. Your majesty.' I didn't know what [to call him]. [Laughs] I just came across like I was breaking a friend's teeth in — I couldn't speak. So it was hard. And then we became friends, which is even harder to describe. If you're in a hotel and somebody like McCartney says, 'Fancy a spot of lunch, kid?' And you go, 'Yes.'"
Source:blabbermouth.net
In 1962, Ringo Starr joined The Beatles, replacing drummer Pete Best. The band had hired him because they believed he was a better drummer than Best, but Starr soon began to worry that they were questioning his abilities. Just two weeks after Starr joined the band, they replaced him with a session drummer during a recording session. Starr immediately began to worry that they were going to fire him.
After replacing Best, Starr joined the band in the studio. He struggled with his timekeeping on the song “Love Me Do.” Producer George Martin wasn’t happy about this.
“I didn’t rate Ringo very highly,” he said per the book Ringo: With a Little Help by Michael Seth Starr, “He couldn’t do a roll — and still can’t — though he’s improved a lot since.”
Martin was unsatisfied with Starr’s performance, so he decided to replace him with Andy White, a session drummer, in another recording session.
Source: Emma McKee/cheatsheet.com
Sir Ringo Starr, Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Elton John and Mary McCartney attend the Disney Original documentary premiere (Dave
Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr were joined by a host of famous faces as they celebrated the UK premiere of a new documentary on Abbey Road Studios.
Directed by Sir Paul’s daughter Mary, If These Walls Could Sing is billed as the “first feature-length documentary” on the world-famous London venue.
The Beatles recorded most of their music at Abbey Road, with their 11th studio album released in 1969 named after the venue.
The Disney original documentary will explore the “breadth, diversity and ingenuity” of the studios across its nine decades.
It will also feature “intimate interviews” revealing how “artists, producers, composers and the dedicated engineers and staff of Abbey Road all found their musical language and community, while vivid archive footage and session tapes give exclusive access to these famously private studios”.
Source: Naomi Clarke/Yahoo Entertainment
Ringo Starr never seemed to let fame change his personality. A Beatles business partner said he and his wife lived like simple people in their mansion. Starr had a casual response to a near-death experience in Mexico. The drummer’s down-to-earth attitude is part of his personality. And there’s more proof. Ringo had a classic reaction that included making a joke when one of his solo albums flopped.
Ringo’s 1992 album Time Takes Time was a comeback record of sorts.
It was The Beatles drummer’s first album of new material since 1980’s Stop & Smell the Roses (1983’s Old Wave didn’t land in the United States until 1994). Time Takes Time was also his first solo record since embracing sobriety. Starr spent years living with his addiction. He finally heard his little voice telling him the truth about his addiction when he found sobriety in 1988.
Starr enlisted the help of Tom Petty, Harry Nilsson, Jeff Lynne, Jeff Baxter (of the Doobie Brothers), and dozens more professionals on Time Takes Time. He designed it to be a No. 1 hit, but it failed miserably.
Did Ringo dwell on his failure? Of course not. The grounded Ringo had a classic response to his solo album flop that included making a joke about the record company’s name.
Source: Jason Rossi/cheatsheet.com
An idea or experience generated many of The Beatles‘ most prolific songs. John Lennon, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison regularly dove into their personal history to pen some of their most memorable tunes as a band and solo artists. Paul McCartney admits to focusing on core memories to help flesh out some of his biggest hits, including a drunken experience that formed the backstory of his 1982 tribute to John Lennon, “Here Today.”
McCartney has a method he uses to generate song ideas. This formula has served him well for over 60 years. He shared his technique in an interview with NPR.
“If I were to sit down and write a song, now, I’d use my usual method: I’d either sit down with a guitar or at the piano and just look for melodies, chord shapes, musical phrases, some words, a thought just to get started with,” he shared.
Source: Lucille Barilla/cheatsheet.com
George Harrison‘s son, Dhani, grew up around a lot of good music; it was unavoidable. From Dhani’s perspective, though, his life was ordinary. He thought his father “pushed buttons for a living” and had no idea George helped make Yellow Submarine.
Eventually, Dhani learned about his famous father. George kept Dhani out of the spotlight because he wanted his son to have a good childhood, unlike some musicians’ children.
Once Dhani knew about his past and fame, though, George never pushed music on him or tried to get him to follow in his footsteps. That choice was up to Dhani. He took a long time to decide.'
Source: Hannah Wigandt /CheatSheat
