Beatles News
On Tuesday, Oct. 22, Paul McCartney’s son James posted a photo of himsef and his sister Stella McCartney with Dhani Harrison, the son of late Beatles guitarist George Harrison, after watching him perform in London.
“Great gig last night in London watching @DhaniHarrison!” James, 47, wrote in the caption to the photo posted on X (formerly Twitter).
“Please support his music here https://dhaniharrison.com/musici 🎶❤️,” he added. In the snap, which appeared to have been taken
Dhani is the only son of late Beatles member George and his second wife Olivia Harrison. The musician died at age 58 of lung cancer on Nov. 29, 2001.
The McCartneys have remained supportive friends of Dhani’s over the years. In August 2016, Dhani performed at Stella’s collection showcase in Los Angeles and he has also been seen cheering her on in the front row at her fashion shows.
Dhani told Daily Mail in 2012, “Of all of them, I think I’m most similar to Stella and Mary [McCartney],” speaking of all the Beatles children. “I really relate to the way they’ve dealt with their circumstances — they’re like big sisters to me."
In 2009, Dhani and his mother Olivia, 76, were also supported by former Beatles member Paul, 82, as George was honored with a star at The Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony. Eric Idol, Paul McCartney, Olivia Harrison, Tom Hanks and Dhani at the ceremony honoring the late George Harrison with a star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2009.
Dhani studied physics in college and worked as an aerodynamicist before he eventually decided to follow in his dad’s footsteps of pursuing a career in music in 2001. “He taught me how to make records from an early age,” he told the Daily Mail. “I grew up in a recording studio.”
Source: Escher Walcott/people.com
Raymond Schillinger of You Can’t Unhear This looked back at the history of “Here Comes the Sun”, a seminal song by The Beatles that was both perfect and unusual in so many different ways.
Here Comes The Sun has become one of the most popular and treasured Beatles songs, a gateway into their music for many new fans. This 3-minute gem of unforgettable songwriting is also packed with intriguing anomalies, production quirks and even a mystery.
The song was written entirely by George Harrison in 1969, rather than John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Harrison, who wasn’t yet known for his incredible song writing skills, took the reins that summer, both musically and lyrically, by adding new and innovative instruments like the Moog synthesizer, running his guitar through a rotating Leslie speaker made for keyboards, and adding vari-speed pitch control to the final song.
With just days to go before the album was set to be mixed, George felt that his song needed one final ingredient: the fabulous and otherworldly sounds created by a new electronic instrument called the Moog.…With all of the pieces finally in place on the packed 8-track tape, the beautifully layered recording of Here Comes the Sun was finally ready to be mixed…where of course the anomalies continued… This intentional adjustment, often called vari-speed, was occasionally used by The Beatles to lend a special texture to their studio recordings.
Source: MSN
John Lennon and Yoko Ono visited "one of the best palm readers in Greece," where they received a grim warning – that the Beatle would be killed on an island.
The claim was made by their close friend Elliot Mintz. The former Los Angeles radio and TV announcer, who met the couple in the early ‘70s, has written a new memoir, "We All Shine On: John, Yoko, & Me," with the blessing of their son, Sean Lennon.
"The palm reader was very emphatic about the fact that John would be killed on an island," Mintz told Fox News Digital. "When I think of islands, I think of the obvious places surrounded by water, and I was raised in New York. I just never thought of it as an island."
"But Yoko had relationships with psychics, tarot readers, astrologers, and others in what I called the ‘paranormal world,’" he shared. "She consulted with these people for years on an almost daily basis… There were very few decisions Yoko made without first getting clearance or guidance from these people."
Despite the reader’s concerning message, the couple didn’t seem fazed. In his book, Mintz noted how Lennon felt he didn’t need bodyguards because "I’m just a rock ‘n’ roll singer."
"All [my] life, I’ve had guys around me who were supposed to be protecting me," said Lennon, as quoted in Mintz’s book. "When [the Beatles] toured, there were hundreds of police around us. But if they want to get to you, they’re gonna get you. They could get you in Disneyland. Look at all the people that Kennedy had around him. I don’t need bodyguards. I don’t want them… Even the thought of it makes me cringe."
Source: Stephanie Nolasco/foxnews.com
The legendary recording console used on The Beatles' Abbey Road is going up for sale on gear marketplace Reverb.
Custom-built for Abbey Road Studios (then known as EMI Studios) in 1968, the EMI TG 12345 MK1 was installed in Abbey Road's Studio 2 control room and used by George Martin and Geoff Emerick to record The Beatles' final album the following year, before being utilized on solo projects from all four members of the band, including John Lennon's John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Paul McCartney's McCartney.
The console was so beloved by the Fab Four that Harrison is said to have asked EMI if he could buy his own, a request that was denied out of fear that the console would be replicated and sold to competitors.
A team of engineers and technicians assembled by MJQ Ltd, who will be selling the console through their Reverb store, has spent four years restoring the desk under the watchful eye of former EMI engineer and Beatles collaborator Brian Gibson. The console now contains 70% of its original parts, with the remainder made up of painstakingly recreated replacements that have been custom-built to mirror the sound of the original unit, using the same materials and processes as the original components.
Source: Matt Mullen/musicradar.com
The Beatles changed the face of music within a decade of time. But even generations later, their influence and legacy continues to grow, and one way to prove that is through their streaming numbers.
At the time of this writing, the Beatles are ranked the 103rd most listened to artist in the world on Spotify and have over 36 million monthly listeners. Compared to contemporary artists — Taylor Swift for example, who was the single most listened to artist on Spotify in 2023 – these may not seem like very impressive numbers. But when one considers that the Beatles predated the streaming era by several decades and broke up over 50 ago, it's impossible to dismiss this feat.
But what if we break it down even further? Which Beatles songs have been streamed the most? Below, we're counting down the 20 most-streamed Fab Four songs. The below data concerns Spotify numbers specifically, the most popular music streaming service globally, and is of course, subject fo fluctuations. But at of the time of this writing (Oct. 18, 2024), here's where things stand.
20. "All You Need Is Love"
From: 1967 Single
Number of Streams: 207,147,492
Even people who know very little about the Beatles and their catalog are familiar with the sing-along chorus of "All You Need Is Love," an anthem of the flower power movement that frankly is just as relevant today as it was in 1967.
19. "Strawberry Fields Forever"
From: 1967 Single
Number of Streams: 217,356,703
When "Strawberry Fields" was first released in 1967, many were unsure exactly what to make of it — "utterly bizarre, creative, strange and different," as Pete Townshend put it. Yet, decades later, it's become almost synonymous with John Lennon's whimsical style of songwriting and serves as the namesake of a memorial in New York City's Central park, located steps from where the Beatle was murdered.
18. "And I Love Her"
From: A Hard Day's Night (1964)
Number of Streams: 224,348,905
Interestingly, the Beatles only played "And I Love Her" once outside of the studio for a BBC radio program. Nevertheless, the song got a spotlight in the 1964 film A Hard Day's Night, propelled by that lovely acoustic guitar riff from George Harrison.
Source: Allison Rapp/ultimateclassicrock.com
So many celebrities have appeared on "The Simpsons," that 36 seasons later, the cameos have become a crutch for the show. Worse, the guests have gone from voicing characters (take Dustin Hoffman's uncredited appearance in "Lisa's Substitute") to just appearing as themselves.
The cracks were already showing in the show's golden age. Season 7's "Lisa The Vegetarian" features Paul and Linda McCartney showing up at the end to reassure Lisa she's made the correct choice of vegetarianism. The McCartneys are depicted as friends of fellow vegetarian Apu Nahasapeemapetilon (Hank Azaria), who tend to his secret garden on the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart. After Lisa and the meat-loving Homer reconcile at the end, McCartney's "Maybe I'm Amazed" closes the episode out.
Paul McCartney was the last surviving Beatle to cameo on "The Simpsons" (Ringo Starr beat him to the punch in season 2's "Brush with Greatness", followed by the late George Harrison in season 5's "Homer's Barbershop Quartet"), and he's far from the most loathsome Englishman to appear on the show (that'd be former Prime Minister Tony Blair). But this cameo came with a demand that had series-long ramifications: Mr. and Mrs. McCartney wanted Lisa to remain a vegetarian. Not just at the end of the episode, no, but for the entirety of the series henceforth.
Source: Slash Film
Ringo Starr is giving his two cents on the "Swiftie effect."
The former drummer for The Beatles recently weighed in on the craze surrounding music superstar Taylor Swift, and he made a bold comparison to the days of Beatlemania. While sitting down for an interview with American Songwriter, Starr was asked if he believes the "Bejeweled" singer can hold a candle to the amount of cultural influence that The Beatles had.
Of course, he replied, "I do."
"Taylor is 'the now' one," Starr, 84, told the outlet, while quipping that he and the rest of his Beatles bandmates are the "still now" ones.
Starr also mentioned other famous artists, like Madonna, who have certainly had their moments of taking over popular culture, but he seemed to imply that Swift is the dominant influential force for this generation.
During the interview, Starr went on to further sing Swift's praises, stating, "I think Taylor Swift is great anyway."
"She’s pulling them in, you know," he continued, before telling a personal anecdote about his experience meeting the "Anti-Hero" singer.
"When we talk about her, I always have to mention that the first time I met her, she was 14. She was at the Grammys with her mother," the music icon recalled. "Then, I saw a photo of her the other day, just yesterday, of her and her mother."
"So mom's still at it," he said with a laugh.
Fans on social media were glad to hear Starr's take on Swift's monumental level of fame, as one user on X (formerly Twitter) pointed out that Starr is among the only people "who can truly understand the power of fan hysteria."
"Ringo acknowledging Taylor's impact is truly iconic," another user added.
Source: Carly Silva/yahoo.com
Tracked at Abbey Road Studios in February 1968 during a promotional video shoot for Lady Madonna, which was the A-side of the upcoming single, Hey Bulldog tends to fly under the radar of most casual fans, but it actually represents a critical point in the history of The Beatles: it was one of the last sessions tracked as a band before internal tensions drove the team apart.
“Hey Bulldog turned out so well there was some campaigning from John Lennon for it to serve as the A-side of the single instead of Lady Madonna,” said producer Geoff Emerick in Mark Lewisohn’s 1998 book, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions.
Source: Brian Fox/guitarworld.com
For nearly 10 years, John Lennon and Yoko Ono spoke almost every evening, sometimes for hours at a time, with their close friend Elliot Mintz.
Mintz, a Los Angeles radio and TV host, had grown close to the couple after first interviewing Yoko for her 1971 album, Fly, which led to a series of late-night conversations with Yoko — or John — and eventually, both. Over time, Mintz became one of their closest confidantes. So trusted that it was he whom Ono asked to go through John’s belongings after he was murdered on Dec. 8, 1980.
Nearly 44 years after the rock legend’s death, Mintz, 79, has written a book about their intimate friendship, We All Shine On: John, Yoko & Me.
It was a decision Mintz, who remains very close to Ono, 91, and her son, Sean Lennon, 49, made carefully. “We all know where it’s going to end,” he says. ”I was drawing from a lifetime of experience, most of it happy and joyous but I also knew we would be treading on some very sensitive waters.”
In the exclusive excerpt below, Mintz recalls a visit to their apartment in the fabled Dakota building on Manhattan’s Upper West Side after the murder of Mintz’s close friend, actor Sal Mineo, best known for his roles in such classics as Rebel Without A Cause, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, and Giant.
After Mineo was stabbed by a mugger outside of his West Hollywood apartment on Feb. 12, 1976, Mintz accompanied his body on a flight to New York and attended his funeral.
Source: Liz McNeil/people.com
Paul McCartney gave John Lennon a “step by step” plan to help his fellow Beatles star get back together with his wife, Yoko Ono. The revelation is part of a memoir by Elliot Mintz, a radio host, that describes his close personal relationship with the couple.
In We All Shine On, Mintz describes how in 1974, while Lennon was producing an album for singer Harry Nilsson entitled the Pussy Cats, McCartney turned up at the recording studio.
Lennon was in the midst of his famous “lost weekend”, in which he had separated from Ono and spent 18 months partying in Los Angeles with other stars, including Nilsson. During this time, Lennon also began his infamous affair with 23-year-old May Pang, who flew to Los Angeles as his personal assistant.
After Lennon expressed his desire to reunite with his wife, Mintz says McCartney reportedly offered to speak to Lennon for Ono and visited his fellow Beatles star at the recording studio. The two had not performed together since the Beatles had split.
“They were all just looking at us, thinking that something big was going to happen. To me, it was just playing with Paul”, Mintz recalls Lennon saying about the encounter. Sometime afterwards, McCartney sat down with Lennon and “laid out, step by step, what he would need to do to win Yoko back”, the excerpt from The Times reads.
Source: Frankie Vetch/telegraph.co.uk
