Beatles News

When Mark Benson decided to join a Beatles tribute band in the early 1980s, he never imagined the gig would last more than a few months, never mind a few decades.

“We never intended this would be full-time, and I never thought this would be anything other than a baby-boomer thing, playing a party or a class reunion or a nightclub or two,” said Benson, who has been playing John Lennon in the band 1964 ... The Tribute for 32 years. The band has been performing at venues large and small across the country since 1984.

“We were all in Top 40s bands, but none of us played in the same band at the same time,” said Benson, who hails from Akron, Ohio. “We were moving away from Top 40 and thought this would be fun to do to keep performing. We thought it was something we might do once a month, once every two months, but by the second year, we were doing it full time.” 

“I don’t think The Beatles have ever gone out of style,” Benson said. “We falsely assumed it was going to be a baby boomer kind of thing, that the people who grew up in that time period would be most for it. There really isn’t any demographic that isn’t represented in The Bea details

David Bowie will be honoured with a tribute concert in New York later this year, with some legendary musicians set to take to the stage. Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Mick Jagger are amongst those expected to remember the star.

The event - named The Music of David Bowie - was already set to take place at Carnegie Hall before the singer died on Monday, but following his passing, the 31st March event will now be a memorial show.

According to the Daily Star, The Beatles and Rolling Stones legends are expected to join the likes of Sir Elton John as part of the line-up.

Meanwhile, a statement on the event's website reads: "The unexpected death of David Bowie has turned this tribute, which we have worked on for the past 7 months, into a memorial concert... "This year's concert will certainly be remembered as a poignant celebration of his music by his friends, peers, and fans.

"We are deeply saddened by the news. The timing of our public on-sale date is bizarre in its timing and the show is taking on many more emotions. RIP David and may God's love bewith you."

By: Alistar McGeorge

Source: The Mirror

details

Newly enrolled at the Liverpool School of Art, a young and hungry musician named John Lennon was beginning to survey the landscape for like-minded talent. He was immediately taken with a dashing young Scot; a gifted painter with miles of style and a piercing James Dean stare.

The future rock legend knew right away that this lad was the real deal. The two immediately became flatmates, and Lennon enlisted the young man to play bass for a band they had agreed to call “the Beatals” (and then eventually, the Beatles, as a reference to Buddy Holly’s band, “the Crickets”.)

Stuart Sutcliffe wasn’t much of a musician. Though he’d only had basic musical training, Lennon insisted he join the band because, in the words of George Harrison, Stuart “looked so cool.”

Sutcliffe did happen to be a talented artist though, and he will be having a posthumous show of his artwork at Harper’s Apartment on East 74th Street, a new branch of the East Hampton bookstore, Harper’s Books.

“People always wonder what would’ve happened if Sutcliffe had lived,” said Harper’s owner, Harper Levine via email. “He wasn’t going back to details

Being the daughter of a Beatle has its perks: Stella McCartney tapped Beach Boy Brian Wilson to perform during the presentation of her Autumn 2016 collection Tuesday evening at iconic Los Angeles record shop Amoeba Music. Wilson, who ran through a slew of hits as McCartney snapped photos from the front row, embodied the Hollywood location's spirit, especially as he crooned "California Girls."

It was fitting as the evening marked the first time London-based designer Stella McCartney has shown a collection in LA. "It just felt right to be in LA right now," the designer told ELLE.com. "It's a place I spend a lot of time, and I have a lot of friends here. [Amoeba is] somewhere we've wanted to show for a really long time and we finally got them to say yes. I think my dad is the only person that's closed down the store, really."

And, as it turns out, showing your collection just a few days after the star-studded Golden Globes is the perfect way to net a killer crowd: The evening's attendees included Gwyneth Paltrow, Orlando Bloom, Mary J. Blige, Ringo Starr, Katy Perry, Kate Hudson, Melanie Griffith, Anjelica Huston, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Nicole Richie, and more.

By: Emily Zemler

Source: El details

Along with his music, David Bowie lives on through his art. The singer is among many giants in the music biz who created their own pieces over the years. You can see some of that art at a gallery in Michigan.

Bowie passed away of cancer just days after his 69th birthday and the release of his new album "Blackstar." Gerard Marti owns Robert Kidd Gallery located at 107 Townsend St. in Birmingham near Detroit.

The gallery houses all kinds of artwork from some of the biggest names in music history. Along with pieces from Bowie, you can find art made by Steven Tyler, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Tony Bennett and many more.

New pieces come in all the time and all of the pieces are for sale. You can see some of those pieces in the photo gallery at the top of this story. Marti also has great pieces of memorabilia, including autographed pieces from The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Marti used to work in the music industry in the 70s and 80s for EMI,  so as you can imagine, he has a lot of connections.

By: Edward Pevos

Source: Michigan Live

Read More >& details

Seventy-four-year-old Stevie Calrow will audition on this weekend’s edition of The Voice and he’s got a pretty interesting backstory: he gigged with The Beatles.

Calrow, who hails from the Fab Four's native Liverpool, often used to go and watch the band play at the local Cavern Club and one night in 1962 found himself called up to sing. “I got a shout out from the DJ at the time to go down to the band room and perform with The Beatles,” Calrow tells The Voice co-host Marvin Humes in what is the second episode of this year's series.

“I told everybody, nobody believed me!” “I did sing with The Beatles. Three songs. It’s the best backing I’ve ever had in my life,” he jokes. “It’s a memory to treasure”.

Joining the legendary band was actually somewhat of an SOS. “They’d done 14 days of gigs on the trot and they’d worn their voices out completely,” Calrow told the Liverpool Echo in 2013. Finding Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best backstage, Calrow said the DJ explained: “Do you want to get up and sing with them because they can hardly talk, never mind sing.&rdqu details

Musicians and celebrities have taken to Twitter and their websites to pay tribute to legendary singer David Bowie, who has died at the age of 69, his representative confirmed to ABC News.

The great Paul McCartney of the Beatles took to his page to post a touching tribute, beginning by writing, "Very sad news to wake up to on this raining morning. David was a great star and I treasure the moments we had together."

He continued: "His music played a very strong part in British musical history and I’m proud to think of the huge influence he has had on people all around the world. I send my deepest sympathies to his family and will always remember the great laughs we had through the years. His star will shine in the sky forever."

Here are what other celebrities had to say about the legend.

By: Kelly Stevenson

Source: ABC News

Read More >>

Pop historians believe they have uncovered a mysterious lost Birmingham gig by The Beatles. And they’ve issued an SOS in the hope that members of the public who were at the 1962 concert will get in touch.

The Fab Four were then unknowns and Ringo Starr had only just joined the group. Not surprisingly, the set was played to a sparse audience at The Ritz Ballroom in Kings Heath.

Details of The Beatles’ gig at the same venue in February 15, 1963, are well-documented.

Then, the world’s greatest group was riding high in the charts with Please Please Me and they arrived at The Ritz to a chorus of screaming girls. But Bob Prew and Ken Whittaker, who organised the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the ‘63 show, were stunned to be told it was The Beatles’ second visit. No fewer than four people have approached them, claiming to have been in the audience. “There must be something in it,” said Ken. “We have received the same information from four independent sources, all saying the same thing.

“It was apparently an ordinary Sunday, it was not crowded. Remember, no-one had heard of them. “They were just The Beatles. “I’ve gone details

The faux Fab Four are back.

You’ll have a chance to relive those strawberry fields, golden days of yesteryear or maybe introduce your kids and grandkids to what have become timeless tunes, when the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra joins “Classical Mystery Tour: A Tribute to the Beatles” to present a pair of pops concerts Jan. 16-17 at New Mexico State University’s Atkinson Music Center Recital Hall.

“It’s one of my favorite pops shows. They look like the Beatles. They sound like the Beatles and dress like them, from their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show to the last part of their career. It’s a great show,” Lonnie Klein, LCSO’s music director and conductor, said.

“We sold out when they appeared with us in 2005. People loved them, danced and had a great time. They were on their feet after the first song and they never sat down,” said Klein, who added that audience members are welcome (and encouraged) to dress up in outfits representing their fave Beatle eras, from the early moptop hairstyles and suits and ties to Sgt. Pepper garb, Nehru jackets, and hippie psychedelic costumes.

The tribute group stars Jim Owen (John Lennon) on details

Robert Balser, an animator who co-directed the cartoon sequences of the Beatles' 1968 musical fantasy film Yellow Submarine, passed away January 4th at a Los Angeles hospital following complications from respiratory failure. He was 88. Balser's widow Cima Balser confirmed her husband's death to the Animated World Network.

Yellow Submarine was Balser's first feature film in a career that would eventually span five decades. The animator and co-director Jack Stokes led a team of 200 artists in creating the cartoon Beatles' trippy journey to Pepperland to battle the Blue Meanies, a production that took 11 months and over $1 million. (Stokes passed away in 2013.)

The feature film was borne out of the Beatles' hatred of their American cartoon series: A similar deal with a production company for an animated series in the U.K. resulted in the Fab Four only agreeing to do the film due to contractual obligations; they didn't even voice their own animated counterparts. With only the film's title track and four new Beatles songs to work with, Balser and his collaborators created a story concocted only by "whiskey and imagination," the animator told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 2012, when the remastered film was released details