Beatles News

The Beatles may have new songs with John Lennon coming thanks to new technology.

During an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dhani Harrison, son of George Harrison, revealed that a couple of songs by the Beatles, originally released in the 1990s, will be remixed using artificial intelligence to enhance John Lennon’s vocals.

Following Lennon’s tragic passing in 1980, the other members of the Beatles received demos of the songs from his wife Yoko Ono. Lennon had recorded the vocals and piano for the demos at his home before he died.

The surviving members added their vocals and instrumentation and released “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love” as new songs by the band.

They also worked on “Now And Then,” but decided to shelve the piece after finding Lennon’s vocals and the piano for the song could not be separated.

Later, AI made it possible for Lennon’s vocals to be isolated from the piano. Paul McCartney contributed bass and piano to the track and Ringo Starr added drums, while guitar by George Harrison was provided through a recording from the 1990s, before his death in 2001. “Now And Then” was released in 2023 as the Be details

Film director Kevin Macdonald and Co-Director/Editor Sam Rice-Edwards intriguingly slice together footage never seen before from the 18 months John Lennon and Yoko Ono lived in Greenwich Village. The film ‘One-To-One: John Lennon and Yoko Ono’ documents a tumultuous part of US history. Kevin Macdonald remarked: “People of the 70s, musicians were engaged in a way we should get back to.”
Historical footage documents history as it happened

“In the film there are interesting parallels between 1972 and where we are now,” notes Sam Rice-Edwards. “I didn’t know that much about Yoko when we started. For me it deepened my understanding. Getting into her head with the missing daughter, searching for her into the 90s.”

Hearing the stories told by Yoko Ono herself back in the 70s, provides insights rarely told. Did you know John Lennon went to the first feminist convention in Boston as the only man? The film shows the women voting on whether to throw him out.

Sean Ono Lennon oversaw the remastering of the audio. Much of the footage is from Lennon’s only full-length, post-Beatles concert. Yoko Ono, herself, did not participate in the making of this film details

Ringo Starr is set to appear on Tuesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he’ll discuss his recently released country album, Look Up.

The album is already a success for Ringo, landing on several Billboard charts, including the all-genre Top Album Sales chart, where it’s at #7.

The album is also #1 on the Current Rock Album sales, Americana/Folk Album sales and Current Country Album sales charts, at #4 on the Current Digital Album sales chart and #6 on the Overall Digital Album sales chart.

It’s even landed on the rock charts, at #23 on the Billboard Rock Albums chart and at #30 on the Rock & Alternative Albums chart.

Meanwhile, on the all-genre Billboard 200, Look Up debuted at #147 and is now Ringo’s 20th album to land on that chart.

“Thanks everyone who supported me with Look Up, produced by T Bone Burnett, who did a great job, and all the musicians on it I want to thank,” Ringo shared on social media. “It’s just been a great experience for me to make this record and have the experience of it actually doing great, it fills my heart. Peace and love. Thank everybody. Thank you.”

Look Up, co-written and produced b details

Fans of The Beatles are praising George Harrison as one of the “greatest guitarists” of all time – for one reason in particular.

A thread of praise for the late guitarist has been shared on Reddit, where fans of the Fab Four focused on how great a player Harrison was. A post to The Beatles’ subreddit asked: “Where would you rank George Harrison in the ‘greatest guitarist’ conversation?” Users were emphatic in how great a guitarist Harrison was, with members of the group saying his best trait was how he “served the song.”

One user wrote: “He served the song. Plain and simple. Not a show off. What did the song need? He provided it. And he was stellar with what he provided. I don’t think George himself would give a shit about where he “ranked” among other players. We shouldn’t either. He was perfect for The Beatles.”

Another reply suggested this was true for all four members. They wrote: “I think that can be said for every Beatle too. A great musician doesn’t need to shred like a god, being a great musician is understanding what the song needs and providing it, it’s being able to make the musici details

It is considered one of the band's finest tracks.  Sir Paul McCartney and John Lennon’s songwriting drove The Beatles to monumental heights, reinventing popular music in the process. The two wrote the vast majority of the band’s songs with their work given the joint credit of Lennon-McCartney.

Having made a pact before they were famous, every song that John and Sir Paul wrote during this time was credited to the two of them - even if one had written it independently. They were at their best when they worked together, as the contrasting approaches and styles that Sir Paul and John boasted complimented one another, coming together to compile an unrivalled collection of songs.

About their partnership, Music and Musicians magazine's Wilfred Mellors wrote in 1972: "Opposite poles generate electricity: between John and Paul the sparks flew. John's fiery iconoclasm was tempered by Paul's lyrical grace, while Paul's wide-eyed charm was toughened by John's resilience."

Few Beatles releases illustrate this in such a stark manner than the February 1967 double A-side single 'Penny Lane'/'Strawberry Fields Forever'. The former was written by Sir Paul and the latter was written by John, both reflectin details

Paul McCartney urged the British government not to make a change to copyright laws that he says could let artificial intelligence companies rip off artists.  The government is consulting on whether to let tech firms use copyrighted material to help train artificial intelligence models unless the creators explicitly opt-out.

McCartney told CBS News partner BBC that would make it harder for artists to retain control of their work and undermine Britain's creative industries.

"You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don't own it, and they don't have anything to do with it. And anyone who wants can just rip it off," the 82-year-old former Beatle said in an interview to be broadcast Sunday. An extract was released Saturday by the BBC.

"The truth is, the money's going somewhere. When it gets on the streaming platforms, somebody is getting it, and it should be the person who created it. It shouldn't be some tech giant somewhere," he said.

Britain's center-left Labour Party government says it wants to make the U.K. a world leader in AI. In December, it announced a consultation into how copyright law can "enable creators and right holders to exercise control ove details

Former Beatles drummer Ringo Starr has been enjoying plenty of media attention for his new country-flavored album, Look Up. As he’s explained in multiple recent interviews, Starr has been a fan of country music since he was a child, and his love of the genre is apparent from the material he sang with the Fab Four.

In a new article in the U.K. magazine Mojo, Paul McCartney talked about Starr’s affinity for country music and why he thinks the genre is well-suited for his Beatles bandmate.

“He always loved country from the first minute I met him,” McCartney shared. “He liked the old country singers like George Jones and people like that, and he was a big fan of that.”

Sir Paul added, “I think, you know, maybe, it suits his personality. He’s a very sincere, straightforward guy, and I think that’s the sort of theme behind a lot of country music.”

Starr’s amiable nature inspired Beatles fans to launch a “Ringo for President” campaign back in 1964. Mojo jokingly asked McCartney if he would support a Starr candidacy, and Paul seemed amenable to the idea … well, sort of.

“Ringo for President? Yeah, absolutel details

Legendary guitarist George Harrison said he “couldn’t join a band” with Paul McCartney after The Beatles’ split.

Harrison would work with Fab Four bandmates John Lennon and Ringo Starr on various projects after The Beatles’ break-up, but he and McCartney would only work together once before revisiting unreleased material from the band. McCartney and his wife, Linda, provided backing vocals on All Those Years Ago, the fourth track of Harrison’s 1981 album, Somewhere in England. He and McCartney, joined by drummer Starr, would lay down new instrumentals for Free as a Bird and Real Love.

But Harrison maintained for years he could not join a band with McCartney again, and while it was “nothing personal”, the Something and All Things Must Pass songwriter said he was more inclined to work with Lennon. A press conference appearance from Harrison confirmed he “couldn’t join a band” with his former bandmate again.

He said: “Paul is a fine bass player, but he’s a bit overpowering at times. To tell the truth, I’d join a band with John Lennon any day, but I couldn’t join a band with Paul McCartney. It’s nothing personal; details

Instruments used in the recording of The Beatles' classic album 'Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band' have gone on display in Liverpool. French horns were used on the 1967 album, which was number one in the UK charts for 23 straight weeks, and two of them have now been exhibited at Liverpool Beatles Museum on Mathew Street.

Sian Kenrick, whose late father Tony Randall played the horn, got in touch with the museum in December. After officials confirmed they would like to put the instrument on display, Mr Randall’s family got in touch with the relatives of John Burden, another of the four French horn players on the album.

Museum owner Roag Best said: "He was the guy Paul McCartney stood next to and, because Paul couldn’t transcribe music, he would hum the tune and say ‘can you write that down?’ He would have to write the music for the other French horn players."

Before he died, Mr Burden remembered the session saying: "They didn’t really know what they wanted. I wrote out phrases for them based on what Paul McCartney was humming to us and George Martin. All four Beatles were there but only Paul took an active interest in our overdub."

Families of both musicians details

Ringo Starr spent the first decade or so of his time as a musical superstar as one-fourth of the biggest band in the world. The music he released with The Beatles continues to make history, selling and streaming its way onto the charts to this day.

As millions of people around the world keep listening to The Beatles, Starr is focused on his solo career. He took a sonic risk with his latest release, which has paid off beautifully, as he earns a very special win—one that has eluded him throughout his decades-long post-band life.

Starr’s latest project Look Up debuts at No. 1 on a pair of charts in the U.K. this week. The set marks his first to rise to the summit on any of the main albums tallies in the nation under his own moniker.

Look Up launches in first place on both the Official Americana Albums and Official Country Artists Albums charts. Unsurprisingly, Starr hasn’t worked much in country or Americana before, so the title marks his first time reaching either of those rosters in any capacity.

Starr has released dozens of projects outside of The Beatles, though he hasn’t been nearly as successful as the other three former members of the rock group. Many of his full-lengt details

Two songs by the Beatles, originally released in the 1990s, are set to be remixed using artificial intelligence to enhance John Lennon’s vocals, Dahni Harrison, son of George Harrison, revealed during an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.

After Lennon was shot and killed in 1980, the other members of the Beatles received demos of the songs from his wife Yoko Ono. Lennon had recorded the vocals and piano for the demos at his home before he died.

The surviving members added their vocals and instrumentation and released “Free As a Bird” and “Real Love” as new songs by the band.

They also worked on “Now And Then,” but decided to shelve the piece after finding Lennon’s vocals and the piano for the song could not be separated.

Later, AI made it possible for Lennon’s vocals to be isolated from the piano. Paul McCartney contributed bass and piano to the track and Ringo Starr added drums, while guitar by George Harrison was provided through a recording from the 1990s, before his death in 2001. “Now And Then” was released in 2023 as the Beatles’ last song.

But as for “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love,” th details

Sir Ringo Starr inadvertently has his late Beatles bandmate George Harrison to thank for his new country album.

The Fab Four drummer worked with T Bone Burnett on the LP, titled 'Look Up', with the American musician co-writing and producing the 11 tracks that feature.

Ringo, 84, had known Burnett, 77, for many years, but it was a chance between the pair back in November 2022 at a party to launch Olivia Harrison's book 'Came the Lightening - Twenty Poems for George' at the Sunset Marquis hotel in Los Angeles that inspired them to record together.

After being sent one song by Burnett, the pair met up in Los Angeles and the guitarist told Ringo he had nine tracks in total ready to go and so they quickly decided they would make a country music album.

Recalling being at the event to support George's widow Olivia, Ringo said: "We bonded as friends in the ‘70s because I was a resident in LA for a while and I had a lot of parties and any party I had he was there. I did not invite him once! He would be there and he’d come with one of the band. So he would be there and I got to know him a little bit.

"How this record came about was because Olivia was reading poems for George at the Suns details

You’d be forgiven for wondering what year it is when looking at some of the names in the running for the 2025 Brit Awards.

This year’s nominations include some serious throwbacks with the likes of Coldplay, Bring Me The Horizon, The Cure, and even The Beatles all getting nods.  The Beatles’ AI-enhanced track Now and Then featuring John Lennon’s rediscovered vocals has landed the icons their second-ever song of the year nomination.

This is the first time in 42 years the group as a whole has been nominated for anything at all – even honorary awards. Sir Paul McCartney has landed a handful of nods over the years, but his last nomination was in 1990, not including his outstanding contribution to music honour 17 years ago.

Source: metro.co.uk/Danni Scott

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The Beatles kept up a very prolific recording pace throughout their time together in the ’60s. Even when they gave themselves a little breathing room between records, they pushed the pedal to the metal when they returned to action. For example: the double LP The White Album in 1968.

As a result, the group’s songwriters had to keep their ears open for inspiration so they could fill out these records. On “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” which appeared on The White Album, Paul McCartney used the motto of a musician acquaintance as a crucial jumping-off point to writing the song.

The Beatles headed to India in 1968 to study meditation. In between their mantras, however, they had a lot of free time on their hands. And with their minds cleared of distractions, they were able to churn out a boatload of fresh material, which is why they ended up recording a double album when they got back to work.

“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” was one of those songs they wrote during their stay. Paul McCartney was responsible for writing it. But, as he explained in The Beatles Anthology, the title was donated to him:

“I had a friend called Jimmy Scott who was a Nigerian conga player, who I used to details

French horns used to create the sound of one of The Beatles’ most acclaimed albums have gone on display.

The brass instruments can be heard on Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which was released by the group in 1967 and was number one in the UK charts for 23 straight weeks.  Two of the four French horns used on the album have been exhibited at Liverpool Beatles Museum.  Sian Kenrick, whose late father Tony Randall played the horn, got in touch with the museum in December.

After officials confirmed they would like to put the instrument on display, Mr Randall’s family got in touch with the relatives of John Burden, another of the four French horn players on the album.

Museum owner Roag Best said: “He was the guy Paul McCartney stood next to and, because Paul couldn’t transcribe music, he would hum the tune and say ‘can you write that down?’  “He would have to write the music for the other French horn players.”

Before he died, Mr Burden remembered the session saying: “They didn’t really know what they wanted. I wrote out phrases for them based on what Paul McCartney was humming to us and George Martin.

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