Beatles News
The world's most famous composer is, arguably, not a person, but the duo of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The Lennon-McCartney songwriting credit line spans about 180 songs, per Express, most of which for The Beatles, also known as the best-selling act in music history, according to Business Insider. This level of success has forever cemented Lennon, McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as icons, but it also caused a significant rift between the famous bandmates and friends.
The Beatles disbanded in 1970 after nearly a decade together; a highly publicized breakup that dragged for four years amid legal disputes and that prompted fans everywhere to search for a responsible party. Between McCartney's announcement via a press release that he was leaving the band in April 1970 and Lennon's assassination on December 8, 1980, the two music legends experienced a series of ups and downs.
Source: Manuella Libardi/nickiswift.com
After The Beatles split in 1970 John Lennon worked hard on his own music. Between writing and recording albums alongside the Plastic Ono Band, he was also fighting for peace and justice with his wife, Yoko Ono. In mid-1973, however, disaster struck the couple. Ono claimed she "needed a rest ... needed space". To combat this, Lennon started a relationship with his assistant, May Pang.
Pang was 22-years-old at the time and was previously hired as an assistant to both Ono and Lennon.
Lennon and his employee were in a relationship for around 18-months before he returned to his wife.
However, Pang revealed in 2011 that it was Ono who brought the pair together.
She recalled the events: "Yoko came to me at 9:30 in the morning - I hadn't even had my first cup of coffee - and said: 'May, I've got to talk to you. John and I are not getting along.'"
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
Hero Collector, known for their fandom-related collectibles, figurines, and exclusive merch has released a new Beatles-themed Advent Calendar so you can count down the days until Christmas.
While the holidays may be a few months away, if you can’t wait to cuddle up near the fire and listen to the White Album while the snow falls outside, the brand-new The Beatles Advent Calendar is a great gift that’ll let you take a trip down Penny Lane while you celebrate Christmas in July. The Beatles calendar is exclusive to Hero Collector’s site, and is now available to preorder.
You’ll be able to celebrate every day of the holiday season with the Fab Four with this box-set Advent calendar, featuring pop art-style designs made to evoke some of The Beatles‘ most iconic artwork. The eye-catching rainbow silhouettes of John, Paul, George, and Ringo will be a great decoration to set up next to your Christmas tree, or just for display any time of year on your shelf.
Source: Sage Anderson/rollingstone.com
Boston Beatles fans may want to break out their shovels: could 50,000 rare Beatles “butcher” covers really be buried in a Needham landfill?
On June 27, 1966, historical archives show Boston’s Capitol Records team finished burying thousands of the now-collectible “Yesterday and Today” record covers in the Needham town dump.
Ryan Walsh, a local author, indie musician, and musical historian of sorts, shared his discovery on Twitter on June 25. He posted photos of a June 28, 1966 memo describing the records’s destruction, and a June 25, 1966 Boston Globe article on why the covers were destroyed.
Source: Julia Taliesin /boston.com
John Lennon became famous during his years with The Beatles, but 10 years after the band broke up, he continued making music, and he was arguably even more well known than he had been before.
Sadly, the people who loved his music will never know where his remarkable talent might have taken him, because on December 8, 1980, Lennon was shot outside his apartment building. In the days following his death, fans all over the world demonstrated their love and grief by gathering together for vigils.
But how did his former bandmates remember him?
On that shocking night in December, Lennon was coming home with his wife, Yoko Ono, when he was fatally shot outside his home. According to The Guardian, Lennon’s killer was a man named Mark David Chapman, a 25-year-old man from Hawaii.
Source: cheatsheet.com
There are few lives in popular music as remarkable as Paul McCartney and photographer Harry Benson's book Paul captures key moments in the legendary musician's life with equally compelling intimacy.
Published by Taschen, many of the 150 images in the book have never been seen before. Paul follows McCartney at the height of his fame with the Beatles; in the recording studio with wife Linda and their band, Wings; with his family and on the couple’s farm in the UK in the early 1990s.
Each numbered collector's edition hardcover book (No. 101-700) is signed by Harry Benson and packaged in an acrylic box.
“I’m proud of the work that I’ve done with Paul over the years and grateful he’s allowed me to document some private and personal moments in his extraordinary life,” says Benson.
The Glasgow-born photographer has had an incredible career of his own; photographing every US president since Eisenhower and documenting the Civil Rights movement. He was next to Robert Kennedy when he was assassinated.
Source: Rob Laing/musicradar.com
Sir Ringo Starr turns 81-years-old on July 7 this year and has shared a special request with his fans in a new video. The Beatles drummer looked decades younger as he greeted viewers with his birthday wish. Dressed in a white jacket and standing in front of some greenery, Sir Ringo said: “Good morning, good afternoon, good evening!”
Sir Ringo continued: “I’m inviting everyone who wants to join the peace and love celebration for my birthday at noon your time wherever you are, 7-7-21.
“And you can post it, you can say it, you can even think it – but it would be cool if you go "Peace and Love" at noon on my birthday.
“So let’s spread peace and love on my birthday – c’mon everybody!”
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
The Beatles and Frank Sinatra were from disparate universes: The Beatles sang “A Day in a Life”; Sinatra sang “That’s Life.” The Fab Four floated down rivers with tangerine trees and marmalade skies. Ol' Blue Eyes crooned about gritty cities like New York and Chicago.
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr smoked dope, dropped acid, meditated with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and reinvented pop music over and over again. At least early on, the Chairman of the Board described these type of songs as a “deplorable, a rancid-smelling aphrodisiac” that “fosters almost totally negative and destructive reactions in young people.”
Both sought to redefine music, however, while fighting for the hearts, minds and ears of millions – and they were actually right alongside each other. The best evidence was when the Beatles’ “Paperback Writer” and Sinatra’s "Strangers in the Night" battled it out for song of the summer in 1966.
Source: ultimateclassicrock.com
The year was 1966, and the British invasion of The Beatles had enraptured music fans across the United States. It was 55 years ago this month, June 1966, that the group's album entitled "Yesterday and Today" was released in the U.S. and Canada. It was then that The Beatles hit a bump on the long and winding road to success."The actual album, which we keep in plastic, is known as the butcher cover," Charles Rosenay, who organizes festivals and tours -- and owns a rare original copy of the album cover says. "It was not very popular with parents.""Yesterday and Today" is remembered primarily for the controversy surrounding its original cover image. Known as the "butcher cover," it was taken by photographer Robert Whitaker and shows the band dressed in white coats and covered with decapitated baby dolls and pieces of raw meat. Although the photo was intended to be part of a larger work critiquing the adulation afforded the Beatles, the band members insisted it was a statement against the Vietnam War.
Source: wcvb.com
Fans of the Beatles may know the story of the iconic band’s breakup. In 1969, John Lennon told Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison in private that he wanted out of the band. Months later, McCartney announced his own decision to leave the group, and the news of the breakup went public.
According to Lennon’s former girlfriend, May Pang, the final nail in the Beatles’ coffin didn’t come until 1974. As Pang noted, Lennon signed the final documents to dissolve the band in the unlikeliest of places during their Christmas holiday. Here’s the story of Lennon’s final moments with the Beatles in Disney World.
Source: cheatsheet.com
