Beatles News
PIERS Morgan apologised to Sir Paul McCartney for introducing him to ex-wife Heather Mills as he shared a fresh-faced throwback snap with fans.
The 55-year-old star wowed his followers with the black and white picture as he congratulated the 78-year-old music icon on reaching number one in the UK and US album chart.
Both men are smiling in the Instagram throwback, with Paul in a patterned shirt and jacket.
Piers is almost unrecognisable in the youthful post, looking uncharacteristic in a casual T-Shirt, with his thick hair styled into messy waves.
He captioned the image: "Congrats to Sir @paulmccartney on achieving his first solo No1 since 1989 on the UK Album chart and the US Billboard Album Sales chart.
"Incredible achievement at the age of 78."
Source: Stephanie Soteriou/thesun.co.uk
George Harrison was known as the 'quiet Beatle' during his time with the Fab Four, but he became one of the most popular singer-songwriters in his own right.
Here are some fascinating facts about the legendary musician George Harrison that every fan should know:
When did George Harrison join The Beatles?
Aged 15 in July 1957, Paul McCartney met John Lennon and his band, the Quarrymen, at the St Peter's Church Hall fête in Woolton.
The Quarrymen performed mostly rock and roll and skiffle music. McCartney was soon asked to join as a rhythm guitarist.
Paul told John about his friend George, and in 1958, he auditioned for the band. Lennon felt George, having just turned 15, was too young. However, he later joined after socialising with the group and became accepted as a member.
After trying several names, they chose The Beatles in August 1960, and signed drummer Pete Best before a residency in Hamburg, Germany.
Within a few years, and with the arrival of drummer Ringo Starr, the Fab Four quickly became the biggest stars on the planet, selling over 800 million records worldwide.
Source: Smooth Radio
Under the moniker richie, Madison’s Richie Conway has released three albums of music heavily influenced by The Beatles and other psychedelic rock groups of the ‘60s. A sound that he describes as “trying to create a music that reflects a confluence between the old, nostalgic age of analog music and the current, fast paced world of our modern times, drawn from my own life experiences.” He also plays with the trio Sugar and the Milkman.Being that the musical project richie consists of only one member (me), I have been fortunate enough to be exempt from the various strains and restrictions that the lockdown has imposed on many musical groups. My creative process of making music has been more or less unchanged.
Source: Blaine Schultz/shepherdexpress.com
JOHN LENNON brought his wife Yoko Ono further into the spotlight when they began making music together - but how many songs did they compose?
Yoko Ono misses John Lennon
John Lennon, like his former bandmate Sir Paul McCartney, wanted his partner to be involved in much of his work. The pair made music together, as well as art and other creative endeavours. John died in December 1980 after he was shot outside their home in Manhattan - but what work did he and Yoko produce together?
Their song Just Like Starting Over, which was about their reconciliation, started a five-week stay at the top of the singles chart at the same time.
Source: Jenny Desborough/express.co.uk
Perhaps inspired by all the albums his good friend Taylor Swift had been releasing in 2020, Sir Paul McCartney let fans know back in October he’d be releasing a quarantine album of his own, McCartney III, just a few days before Christmas. The December 18th release helped McCartney usher in a Billboard record that spans over six decades. As numbers of the album’s first week sales come in after the holiday weekend, the former Beatle has reportedly become the first and only musical act to have a new record reach at least the top two slots for Billboard 200 chart’s album sales in each of the last six decades.
Source: Caitlin White/uproxx.com
A rare guitar that was owned by Beatles legend George Harrison sold for a huge price, following an appearance on the Antiques Roadshow.
The fretless guitar made by Bartells of California was a prototype and is believed to be the only one that was ever made.
Owner Ray spoke about how he came to own the guitar, he said: "During the 70s and 80s I was doing a lot of recording sessions and I worked with George Harrison.
"George was playing the guitar and he said 'I'm not sure what to do with this, here you go, have a go'"
Ray said he then played a few notes and then George said: "You're getting more out of it than me, why don't you keep it."
There was also a photograph of George with the same guitar in his home, proving that he had owned it.
Source: Sophie McCoid/liverpoolecho.co.uk
The Beatles are best known for their seemingly endless slew of hits. Over the course of the 1960s, and into the 1970s, the Fab Four created some truly iconic songs, including Let It Be, I Am the Walrus, and Hey Jude, to name just a few. Although George Harrison and Ringo Starr were excellent musicians and songwriters in their own right, John Lennon and Paul McCartney brought the band into the limelight by creating astounding music together, in what has been dubbed the Lennon-McCartney partnership.
Towards the end of the road for The Beatles in 1970, a lot of stress and conflict was reported between Lennon and McCartney.
Shortly after the release of album 12, Let It Be, the group disbanded, bringing the legendary era of The Beatles to an end.
A lot of rumours were spread at the time over who “split up The Beatles” with no real definitive answer at the ready.
Source: Callum Crumlish/express.co.uk
Over 50 years on, Paul McCartney’s original dream for The Beatles’ ‘Get Back’ album and film project might just be in the process of being realised by Peter Jackson in a New Zealand editing suite.
The director has revealed a first montage from the documentary he began working on in 2018, ahead of a delayed cinematic release now planned for the late summer of next year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
As he’s made tradition during the past few years, Barack Obama has shared a playlist of his favourite songs of the year, aided by his daughter Sasha whom he describes as the ‘family music guru’.
“Here are some of my favorite songs of the year,” Obama’s written on social media. “As usual, I had some valuable consultation from our family music guru, Sasha, to put this together. I hope you find a new song or two to listen to.”
Source: live4ever.uk.com
Even though The Beatles disbanded over 50 years ago, their influence over popular music remains as powerful as ever. Having the luxury of three very different guitarists with very different playing approaches and writing styles, it’s impossible to pin them down to just five songs. But while their back catalogue is as well known as that of Elvis Presley or Jimi Hendrix, there are plenty of hidden nuggets that guitarists who are not Beatles cognoscenti, would do well to seek out.
In many respects Paul McCartney was the group’s most rounded musician, and possibly even its best guitarist. It was he that devised many of the riffs and even played some of the most memorable solos, such as on Taxman (Revolver), Ticket To Ride and his killer Epiphone Casino riff on Paperback Writer.
Source: Neville Marten/musicradar.com
Calexico has released a cover of John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Christmas classic, “Happy Xmas (War is Over).” The Tuscon, Arizona-based indie rock band featured the song on their latest holiday album, Seasonal Shift.
“I love this song and I love the universality of the lyrics and the call and response sea of voices,” vocalist and guitarist Joey Burns said in a press release. “I decided to start as quiet as possible and find out how loud and massive we could make this song build.”
The band gave a slight southwestern-twist to the original tune, which was released along with an animated lyric video. The video shows pieces of paper drifting across the screen with animated drawings of the band performing the song along with scenes of the desert. In their version, they draw out the chorus, singing the line “War is over if you want it,” several more times than the original.
“We decided to not stop as the original had and see what would happen if we kept the trance and mantra going. This is something that we would do live onstage a lot and felt really good to try it at home in our makeshift studios scattered around the globe,” Burns said.
Source: Maia Anderson/music.mxdwn.com
