Beatles News
One of the most prolific and potent artists of all time, The Beatles delivered 13 full-length records for their fans. The band would grow and evolve from their boyband roots to something entirely more special, transcending genres, music, and fandom to become one of the best bands of all time.
The Beatles had such a strong career it’s not unusual to find fans have passionate affections for a particular moment in their career trajectory, or a particular era, let alone a particular album. But what was George Harrison’s favourite Beatles album of all time?
The quiet Beatle as he was often, and affectionately, known may be more accurately described as the too-often-overlooked Beatle. One of the finer songwriters of his generation with tracks like ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’ cements him in the pop music pantheon. It’s a place that is too often forgotten about.
Source:Jack Whatley/faroutmagazine.co.uk
John Lennon met Yoko Ono in 1966 and soon left his first wife Cynthia Lennon and started up a relationship with the artist. Shortly after they were married in 1969, he told The Beatles he no longer wanted to be part of the band. His romance with Ono is often the focus of The Beatles fans’ anger regarding the group’s split, with many blaming her for drawing him away from mainstream music and into more experimental endeavours.
During an interview with Howard Stern last year, Paul McCartney opened up on the divide between him and his childhood friend Lennon following the disintegration of the band.
On the period of time during which he and Lennon exchanged jibes through their solo music, the Wings star laughed: “We were writing songs at each other, weaponising songs.”
However, he went on to admit his relief that they reconciled their feud before Lennon was fatally shot in 1980.
Source: Minnie Wright/express.co.uk
At times, John Lennon would get annoyed when people read too much into The Beatles’ music. When he wrote “Glass Onion,” he said he was having a laugh at the expense of fans who would take a song and “play it backwards and stand on your head and all that.”
But John wasn’t above reading into lyrics — even Beatles lyrics. In one case, he said Paul McCartney had Yoko Ono on his mind when he sang, “Get back to where you once belonged.” (Paul said he wrote it about the fictional Jojo and Loretta.)
John also had ideas about the meaning behind another late classic by Paul: “Hey Jude.” In the song, when Paul sings that a man who’s found his ideal woman should “go and get her,” John took it as a reference to the new relationship in his (John’s) life.
Source: cheatsheet.com
John was one quarter of the world famous band The Beatles, along with Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison. The four of them were thrust into the spotlight at a young age, but soon struggled to cope with the magnitude of their popularity. Artistic differences drove the band apart and in 1970 they split, with all of them going on to create their own solo material although animosity remained for a good few years afterwards.
Many credit John with being the most famous Beatle, particularly after his tragic death in 1980 when he was shot by a crazed fan outside his New York apartment.
When he died he was married to Yoko Ono, but an uncovered letter from 1958 revealed the strength of feeling John had for his girlfriend and, later his first wife, Cynthia Powell.
Writing in Vanity Fair in 2012, Bruce Handy revealed how the music icon wished his love interest a Happy Christmas.
Source: Kate Nicholson/express.co.uk
Paul McCartney’s newest collaboration isn’t what you think.
To promote his 2018 album Egypt Station, McCartney’s team reached out earlier this year not to his record label -- but to sweater label Lingua Franca to create a collection of limited-edition cashmere sweaters embroidered with titles of two of the album’s tracks: “People Want Peace” and “Do It Now.”
“Is this for real?” Lingua Franca’s founder and longtime Beatles fan Rachelle Hruska MacPherson recalls thinking when she received the email from the Beatle’s reps.
Indeed it was: two hundred emails later, the premium jumpers, as the British call sweaters, are now available for $400 apiece at McCartney’s official merchandise shop.
Artists have been selling limited-edition merch for years, but McCartney is one of many acts working to elevate their offerings even further beyond the standard concert t-shirt and enlisting new partners to help. Kanye West spurred many of these efforts with his wildly successful pop-up shops across the country in 2016, the year of his Life of Pablo Tour.
Source: Mia Nazareno/billboard.com
Dr. Dre hasn’t released an album since 2015 and hasn’t gone on tour since the turn of the millennium. His last production credit on a No. 1 hit was in 2009, when he worked the boards on Eminem’s “Crack a Bottle.” But the hip-hop superproducer still topped all other music stars in earnings this decade, pulling in an estimated $950 million thanks mostly to his roughly 20% stake in Beats, the bass-heavy headphone maker Apple bought for $3 billion in 2014.
Other stars had more traditional ways of making money. Taylor Swift was the decade’s second-biggest earner with $825 million followed by Beyoncé with $685 million, both profiting from multiple centimillion-dollar tours, several multiplatinum albums and a slew of multimillion-dollar sponsor partnerships with brands from Adidas to AT&T.
Forbes measures the industry’s top-earning musicians annually for the Celebrity 100 by looking at touring data from Pollstar, music consumption numbers from Nielsen and interviews with managers, agents and many of the stars themselves. The list doesn’t include behind-the-scenes earners such as agents, managers and promoters, nor does it deduct living expenses or taxes.
Source: Zack O'Malley Greenburg/forbes.com
Paul McCartney, 77, prepares to unwind for the festive period as he and wife Nancy Shevell, 60, arrive at JFK airport ahead of Christmas
Published: 03:17 EST, 23 December 2019 | Updated: 08:46 EST, 23 December 2019
He recently revealed he's produced an album of carols only for his family after struggling to find 'good Christmas records'.
And Paul McCartney prepared for the festive period as he and his wife Nancy Shevell touched down at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport on Sunday evening.
The Beatles icon, 77, carried his essentials in a black duffle bag as he joined his partner, 60, in her native state, ahead of their annual trip to St Barts.
Source: Rianne Addo/dailymail.co.uk
If you go by creative output, The Beatles’ 1968 trip to India was a huge success. During their stay in Rishikesh studying transcendental meditation under the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the members of the world’s most famous band wrote about 30 songs.
The Fab Four recorded most of them for The White Album, and fans know them well. While abroad, Paul McCartney wrote (among other tracks) “Rocky Raccoon,” “Why Don’t We Do It in the Road,” and “Back in the U.S.S.R.” (the last one with a minor assist from Beach Boy Mike Love).
George Harrison came back with “Sour Milk Sea,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” and a few others. John Lennon wrote “Julia,” “Dear Prudence,” “Sexy Sadie,” and more. In fact, their time was so productive that John and Paul each wrote a song following the same lecture by the Maharishi.
Paul’s tune, “Mother Nature’s Son,” went out on the White Album later that year. As for John’s song (titled “I”m Just a Child of Nature” at first), that one never went out as a Beatles track. However, it became one of John’s most famous solo works.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Does any album have more acclaim than Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band? If so, we’d like to see someone make that case. For decades, that 1967 release has stood as a monument in The Beatles’ career (and in music in general).
In the ’90s, Paul McCartney he said he’d pick Pepper as his favorite Fab Four album (should he be forced to make such a choice). Looking back some 25 years, Paul thought the album still held up and was proud of his prominent role in its production.
In his typically conflicted way, John Lennon recognized the importance of the record (especially “A Day in the Life“) while poking holes in the concept and general reception. “The Pepper myth is bigger, but the music on The White Album is far superior,” he said in 1971.
Source: cheatsheet.com
Born on October 9, 1940, John Lennon grew up to become one of the most influential individuals of his time. Best-known as a founder and co-lead vocalist of the Beatles, he is renowned for his musical talent and prolific writing abilities, establishing the group as one of the greatest of all time. However, his life went far beyond Strawberry Fields and wanting to hold hands. He was an incredibly complex person that led a life of highs and lows just like any other person. Take a look to see what made John Lennon’s life so interesting and how he became the cultural icon that he is today.
Source: Scott Croker/idolator.com
