Beatles News

George and Amal Clooney, Paul McCartney, and Meryl Streep were among the celebrities who trekked to Washington, D.C., on Friday for President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama's farewell celebration at the White House. They were among those spotted arriving at the White House for the late-evening event, along with Gloria Estefan, Magic Johnson, Anna Wintour, Bradley Cooper, Harvey Weinstein, Lorne Michaels, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Kelly Rowland, Tracee Ellis Ross, David Letterman, Gloria Estefan, Tyler Perry, Robert De Niro, Jon Hamm, Ken Burns, Stevie Wonder, Al Roker, Chris Rock, and Lena Dunham.

His entry into show business was a film role, playing a son of then-Hollywood megastar Claudette Colbert in a movie made near the twilight of her storied career. For a time, he shared the top floor of his parents' home with Paul McCartney, and became a friend and trusted business associate of The Beatles. He played a key role in shaping the careers of Rock and Roll Hall of Famers James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt, serving as manager and record producer for both. But many know Peter Asher best as one half of British Invasion-era singing duo Peter and Gordon, who recorded a string of memorable hits in the mid-1960s including "A World Without Love," "I Go To Pieces" and "Lady Godiva." At 72, Asher remains an acclaimed record producer, currently nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for "Bright Star," the original Broadway cast album of the play with an original score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell.

A unique piece of art depicting the bums of the famous Beatles foursome has been cordoned off. The copper moulds of the Beatles backsides on the Hoe have had metal railings placed around them, and it looks as if someone has been digging around the modern piece of art. One reader wrote to The Herald saying: "[I was] walking across the Hoe yesterday [and] I came across the sorry state of the Beatles Bums fenced off and the leg of part of the fence standing in the beaten copper nice to see the £19,000 cost has not been completely wasted." But Plymouth City Council it is "just carrying out some general maintenance work to reinstate the ground where it has worn away.

Liverpool’s legendary Cavern Club is about to celebrate a landmark birthday. The Mathew Street landmark turns 60 on Monday, January 16 – and Cavern bosses are planning a year of celebrations including concerts, albums and a new book. The original Cavern, based in the cellar of an old warehouse, was opened by jazz fan Alan Sytner on Wednesday January 16, 1957 – on the opening night the headliner was the Merseysippi Jazz Band. Of course it’s best known for its 60s incarnation as the pulsating heart of Merseybeat, and as the stage for one Liverpool band in particular. The Beatles played the Cavern 292 times between February 9, 1960 and August 3, 1963. But there’s more to the history of the club, which was closed in the early 1970s and resurrected a decade later, than just the Fab Four. Here are 25 things you might not know about the Cavern

History is a playground-abused soccer ball, touched by 88,000 grubby fingertips. Multi-dimensional, vastly panoramic, and full of lies and optical illusions, history can never be tacked flat to the wall: I suppose this is why you rarely see ninth graders with posters over their frilly pink beds of the evacuation of Dunkirk or the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia at Appomattox Courthouse. However, myth, and the pop that comes before complicated desire, can be leveled, smoothed, and suitable for framing. But try framing a soccer ball! This particular sphere is larger than Everest (yet simultaneously as tiny as a perfect sugar grain, because it is familiar and sweet on each and every one of our lips). The titanic, light-speed-spinning orb we call the Beatles. Look below it, and you’ll see it balances on the out-stretched index finger of a short Welshman named Allan Williams.

An old newspaper that John Lennon used to forge the autographs of the rest of the Beatles is now tipped to sell for £1,500. The singer/songwriter, who was known as the joker of the band, faked the signatures of Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on a photograph of the fledgling group. The image showed the young Fab Four crowning the 15-year-old Carnival Queen for the town of Northwich, Cheshire, in 1963. It appeared on the front page of Alkali News - an in-house magazine for chemical giant ICI and the teenager in the photo was the daughter of an ICI employee. The snap was taken by the late photographer Les Goode who later sent a copy of Alkali News to the Beatles in the hope they would sign it. It was returned with the message 'All the best from the Beatles,' followed by the apparent autographs of the 'Fab Four' all in the same blue pen. It is thought Mr Goode believed the signatures were all genuine. But when his widow recently took the newspaper to an auctioneers to sell it was realised they were indeed forgeries.

Sir Paul McCartney saw in the New Year with an unexpected appearance on stage with The Killers. The Las Vegas band were performing in St. Barts for Russian billionaire and Chelsea football club owner Roman Abramovich when the Beatle made a surprise appearance. McCartney played one of his old band’s songs, ‘Helter Skelter’, with the four-piece, who are led by Brandon Flowers. “So far, so good,” read the caption underneath a video of the performance posted on The Killers’ official Facebook page. A day later, McCartney posted a New Year’s message on his website, writing: “Happy New Year’s Day. May this year be a happy and peaceful one for you and your family and everyone around the world. Love Paul.”

THE BEATLES CHANGED THE COURSE OF MUSIC HISTORY. BUT WHAT IF THEY HADN’T? Can you imagine music, culture or life in general without the past century’s defining moment in music history? Just try to picture our world without the Beatles. It’s like going down a rabbit hole and finding hundreds more rabbit holes in front of you. Your mind spins, your head hurts, and when you think you’ve come up with a cohesive and plausible vision, the reality of your delusion sets in. “Too depressing. No Beatles: no British Invasion. No British Invasion: no Stevie. No Brucie. No Byrds. Bob Dylan doesn’t plug in. Depressing,” said Steve Van Zandt of E Street Band and member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Yes. All of that. And more. Nevertheless, we conducted a roundtable on the subject with several music history experts.

They've been enjoying the sun-soaked weather in St. Barts over the festive period. Now continuing their romantic break away, Sir Paul McCartney, 74, and wife Nancy Shevell, 57, savored in a late evening dip on Friday on the West Indies island. The mega star's glamorous other half flaunted her enviable shape in a demure navy two-piece as she covered her petite frame with a festive red fringed blanket. Although wrapping her torso, the brunette beauty showcased her toned lithe limbs as she marched across the white sand with her long-term love. The businesswoman - who serves as vice president of her family's transportation organisation - teased at her taut stomach as her blanket tousled in the holiday paradise wind. Nancy - who first started dating the music maestro in 2007 - held onto her white towel as her wet locks were styled off her face into a sleek look while she smiled and joked with her music legend hubby.

The man credited with discovering the Beatles and who became the band's first manager has died at the age of 86. Allan Williams was also the original owner of Liverpool's Jacaranda Club. The Jacaranda tweeted: "Today our founder and the man who discovered the Beatles passed away. Allan Williams, you will be missed." Williams worked with The Beatles from 1960 to 1961, getting the band gigs in Britain, and in Hamburg where their future development was shaped. Born in Bootle, Williams opened Jacaranda on Slater Street as a coffee bar in 1957 and it became a popular meeting place for many of the young musicians who were soon to make Merseybeat a worldwide phenomenon. Paul McCartney, John Lennon and Lennon's fellow art school student Stuart Sutcliffe were among the customers and they asked Williams if they could play at the club. Initially, he asked them to work on decorating the venue before allowing them on stage. After helping to secure the band gigs at other venues, Williams personally drove the van to take the Beatles to Hamburg in 1960. But he parted company with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe in 1961. The following January, the band - minus Sutcliffe - signed a five-year contract with Brian Epstein.