Beatles News

Andy Warhol freaked out Sean Lennon by giving him a taxidermied pet cat for his eighth birthday.

When asked what Warhol was “going for” when he chose the gift, Lennon told Page Six, “I really don’t know.”

The singer revealed that when he unwrapped the gift, his mother, Yoko Ono, was “kind of disturbed despite her love of cats” and that the family’s (living) felines were “immediately enraged.”

In the story — revealed for the first time in an exhibit called “Letters to Andy Warhol” that just opened at the Cadillac House — Lennon writes, “After a brief time on a shelf in my bedroom, it was decided that Andy’s cat should reside permanently in the window of the office on the ground floor,” where it stayed until “neighbors complained and we had to take it down.”

He added, “Each day on my way to school I would walk by the office and wonder why it was that Andy gave me that cat.”

Asked if Warhol had run the idea by his parents before giving their son a dead cat, Lennon said, “My dad [John Lennon] wasn’t around at the time — it was just me and my mom &mdas details

A letter from John Lennon and Yoko Ono to Paul McCartney and wife Linda is up for sale at auction, with bidding expected to reach $20,000 (£16k).

The undated letter sees Lennon responding to prior correspondence from Linda which he says left him “wondering what middle aged cranky Beatle fan wrote it”. Lennon writes in his letter: “I hope you realise what shit you and the rest of my ‘kind and unselfish’ friends laid on Yoko and me, since we’ve been together”.

Elsewhere, Lennon goes on to say that he doesn’t “resent” his former Beatles bandmate but that he feels “sorry for him”. He also predicts that the McCartneys’ marriage would be over within two years.

See and read the letter in full below.

Robert Livingston from RR Auction says of the letter: “It was likely written shortly before Lennon and Ono’s departure for America. The draft captures the intense rivalry between the two men in the months, and even years, surrounding the breakup of the Beatles.” 

Dear Linda and Paul, I was reading your letter and wondering what middle aged cranky Beatle fan wrote it. I resisted looking at the la details

The touching tribute will no doubt resonate with pop culture fans who've mourned their idols.

It has, of course, been one of the most prolific years for celebrity deaths. So it's perhaps not surprising that 2016's famous losses have been remembered in a touching tribute to British talent, inspired by The Beatles ' legendary Sgt. Pepper album, no less. Uploaded to Twitter on Saturday by a user called Christthebarker , the montage - which features everyone from Terry Wogan to Labour MP Jo Cox - has quickly gone viral and attracted international attention for its poignancy.

Using the famous LP sleeve as a blueprint, the design features more than forty famous face and has been shared in excess of 1,000 times. Populating the front row are David Bowie, who died of cancer in January, Muhammed Ali, Gene Wilder, Prince and Victoria Wood, plus Caroline Aherne and Motorhead's Lemmy. Although he actually passed away in 2015. Before them sees the word 'BREXIT' spelled out in red flowers, while Donald Trump's iconic Make America Great Again hat features alongside a Leicester City shirt, which offers a nod to their triumphant title win.

Others who feature in the collage include Carla Lane, Alan Rickman, Denise Robertso details

Leon Russell, who sang, wrote and produced some of rock 'n' roll's top records, has died. He was 74. An email from Leon Russell Records to The Associated Press says Russell died Sunday in Nashville.

The email cites Russell's wife as the source of the information.

Russell had heart bypass surgery in July and was recovering from that at the time of his death. He had been planning on resuming touring in January, the email said. Russell's official website also says the musician died Sunday. Besides his music, Russell was known for his striking appearance: wispy white hair halfway down his back and that covered much of his face.

Russell played keyboard for the Los Angeles studio team known as the Wrecking Crew, helping producer Phil Spector develop his game-changing wall of sound approach in the 1960s. He wrote Joe Cocker's Delta Lady and in 1969 put together Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, which spawned a documentary film and a hit double album.

As a musician, primarily a pianist, he played on The Beach Boys' California Girls and Jan and Dean's Surf City. He also played guitar and bass. Russell produced and played on recording sessions for Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Ike and Tina Turner, the Rol details

Being original Beatles drummer Pete Best has never been easy, but it was especially tough in 1964 when Beatlemania swept the world and he had to watch from the sidelines. In March of 1964, the Beatles had the top four songs on the Hot 100: "She Loves You," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," "Twist and Shout" and "Please Please Me." They were four of the most famous people on the planet, but when Pete Best walked onto the set of I've Got a Secret that month nobody knew who he was.

He introduced himself to the panel as Pete Best from West Derby in Lancashire, England before whispering his secret to host Gary Moore. "I left my job two years ago," he said. "I was one of the Beatles." The panel was merely told his secret involved something he did. Bess Myerson (Miss of America of 1945 and a staple of 1950s television) immediately noticed his haircut. "Could you be a new kind of bug that we've imported from England?" she asked. "Do you have anything to do with your predecessors, the Beatles?"

Bill Cullen was up next, and like many Americans at the time, he was fixated the Beatles' haircuts, thinking he might be their barber. He did get Best to say he still "vaguely" had something to do with the Beatles. Betsy Palmer (who wen details

Fashion designer Stella McCartney unveiled her first menswear collection on Thursday at London's famous Abbey Road recording studio, where she promised men a more free and fun wardrobe.

She chose to present the collection at the recording studio made famous by her father, Paul McCartney, and his three fellow Beatles when they named one of their albums after Abbey Road. The fashion show referenced the 1969 album cover, which shows the band walking across Abbey Road, by parading models over the same white stripes to photographers' flashes.

McCartney said the venue was special both for its musical and family ties.

"It really means a lot to our family this studio... seeing and hearing what's been created here, the best music in the world. It's such an iconic place. So many people have recorded here," she said.

Pink Floyd, Radiohead, the Manic Street Preachers and Blur are just some of the other bands to have recorded at Abbey Road in recent years.

McCartney, who trained at the Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, has built a reputation as a designer but has only just decided to enter the world of menswear. The collection shown at Abbey Road ranged from playful casual wear, such as details

The identity of the true "fifth Beatle" has been hotly debated for half a century, but the strongest case can be made for Sir George Martin. The band's trusted and loyal producer, Martin served as expert and conspirator, taskmaster and mad scientist, friend and father figure throughout the band's studio life. He shaped their songs in ways that are seldom appreciated but impossible to forget.

Unlike most producers of his era, his creative daring fostered an environment where it was acceptable to explore and expand the realm of the possible. He played with the Beatles, in every sense of the word — by picking up an instrument, or merely indulging their curiosity and translating their abstract musical fantasies into reality. "He was always there for us to interpret our strangeness," recalled George Harrison. It's difficult, and frightening, to imagine the Beatles' artistic trajectory had they been paired with anyone else. His role as a confidant, advocate and realizer cannot be overstated.

These are 10 of our favorite moments in the Beatles' catalog that we owe to George Martin.

"Please Please Me" (1963)

When John Lennon and Paul McCartney first played "Please Please Me" for George Martin durin details

“I don’t think of the Fifth Beatle as an activist book. I certainly don’t have a political agenda but I do hope it’s an inspiring book. I hope that when people finish reading it they close the book inspired to chase their own dreams in the world however they see fit.” – Vivek Tiwary

The Fifth Beatle is the graphic novel debut of Tony Award Winning Broadway Producer Vivek J. Tiwary. This New York Times #1 Best Selling exploration of pop culture & personal identity brilliantly chronicles the story of “Gay, Jewish, Kid from Liverpool” Brian Epstein, The Beatles visionary manager. Myself being a “Bleek (Black Geek) from The Bronx” could relate to Brian’s outsider status and my discussion with Vivek (pronounced like cake) a self described, “Weirdo Indian Kid from the Lower East Side” made me realize what we shared in common.

Vivek and I are both first generation Americans. Vivek’s folks are Guyanese of Indian extraction, my parents were from Barbados. We bonded sharing West Indian tidbits and his parents traditional expectations on career choice really hit home for me. While at Wharton Business School, on track to j details

Before George Martin's death on March 8th, the legendary producer and "fifth Beatle" aligned with PBS for an eight-part series titled Soundbreaking: Stories From the Cutting Edge of Recorded Music. For the series, which was five years in the making, Martin and his son Giles recruited over 150 artists to share behind-the-scenes stories about the art of recording.

The first two Soundbreaking episodes are scheduled to premiere March 14th at the SXSW Film festival with a PBS premiere set for November. Rolling Stone has the exclusive first look at the Soundbreaking trailer, featuring Ringo Starr, Elton John, St. Vincent, Bonnie Raitt and Don Was discussing their craft.

"My first meeting with the Rolling Stones, I ended up with Mick Jagger sitting here and Keith [Richards] sitting here, and they were both talking at the same time," says Was, who first worked with the Stones on 1994's Voodoo Lounge. "Keith said, 'You sure you want to be the meat in this sandwich?'"

Directed and produced by Jeff Dupre and Maro Chermayeff, the series features 150 exclusive and original interviews with both artists and producers. Paul McCartney, Tom Petty, Roger Waters, Roger Daltrey, Dave Grohl, Questlove, Bon Iver, Willie Nelson details

In the late Sixties, the Beatles and Eric Clapton kicked off a nearly five-decade-long tradition of recorded collaborations.

Sure, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"—the only official EMI Beatles recording Clapton ever played on—is an undisputed highlight, but Slowhand's fretwork also graces recordings by all four solo Beatles. In fact, the former Yardbird is the only guitarist—ever—who played on a Beatles album and on official studio recordings by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Clapton even wrote (and played on) a tune for Ringo—"This Be Called a Song"—in 1976. As we'll see, Clapton and the former Beatles also played on the same sessions for different artists throughout the decades.

Today, however, we'll restrict our focus to the late Sixties through 1970, the golden era of Clapton-Beatle collaborations. We'll explore the the rest of the Seventies, Eighties, Nineties and beyond in the near future.

Although they had already been friends since the Beatles' "moptop" period, Clapton and Harrison never got together in a recording studio (to actually record something) until a few years later. And once they started, the floodgates were open details