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When The Beatles burst onto the scene in the early 1960s, they had a clear image. Their mop-top hair and love songs aimed at the seas of screaming fans made them the ultimate teenage heartthrobs, fueling Beatlemania. Their lyrics spoke directly to a version of “you,” teasing flirtation. But as the band grew, the device of using women’s names evolved into a sophisticated literary device to romanticize the mundane every day. In their almost-decade together, The Beatles used women’s names in the titles of 18 songs, meaning that it was never just a phase. From “Lovely Rita” to “Eleanor Rigby,” “Sexy Sadie” to “Michelle,” the named figures helped the band grow into sharp storytellers who found magic and power in the ordinary.

The Beatles had matured sonically and narratively by the time Revolver came around in 1966, and “Eleanor Rigby” is a great example. They were smart enough to stick to a technique that worked for them—using a specific name in the title. But they had developed the substance to go beyond romance, using Eleanor to amplify the voices of “all the lonely people.” Of course, they continued with romantic narrati details

1975 was the year one of the greatest collaborations in the history of music happened. David Bowie was at the peak of his career. He'd had his commercial breakthrough in 1972 with the release of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and had previously enjoyed great success with his legendary single, "Space Oddity." But he had yet to conquer the American charts. That didn't happen until 1975, and in a way that surprised even Bowie himself. In 1974, he got to meet one of his greatest heroes, and thanks to that meeting, a number-one single was born.  David Bowie Was Terrified to Meet John Lennon

"I think we were polite with each other, in that kind of older-younger way," Bowie explained. Apparently, he didn't have to introduce himself, since Lennon knew who he was, and treated him like an up-and-coming artist, which intimidated Bowie. "I was sort of, ‘It’s John Lennon!’ I don’t know what to say. ‘Don’t mention The Beatles, you’ll look really stupid.’”

Visconti explained that, despite the awkward first meeting, Lennon took a liking to Bowie. The pair became friends, and months later, when Lennon invited him to hang out in his ho details

Sir Paul McCartney treated George Clooney to a personal performance of When I'm Sixty-Four when he reached the age last year.

The Hollywood actor marked the milestone in May 2025 and he has now revealed he received a special video message from McCartney in which he belted out the Beatles classic as a birthday surprise.

When asked about his 64th birthday, George told The Los Angeles Times newspaper: "I actually got a message from Paul, which is pretty cool ...

"It was a video of him playing When I’m Sixty-Four ... I never really thought when I was cutting tobacco in Augusta, Kentucky, that I would meet Paul, much less become friends with him.

"I feel very in awe. In the scheme of people, you look at Michael Jordan as the best to ever play the game. Paul’s got to be in the conversation as one of the greats of all time. So it’s really something to have him call up and do When I’m Sixty-Four for you."

When asked if he ever sends messages to McCartney, the actor revealed he exchanges messages with the Beatles legend "from time to time".

George went on to recall the chat he had with the musician after hearing Beatles track Now and Then, which was released in 2003 details

Paul Mescal reveals he's started writing his own music after filming the Beatles biopic and shares how Paul McCartney reacted to learning the Irish actor would be playing him.  Paul Mescal has revealed he's been inspired to start writing music after filming the Beatles biopic.

The actor, 29, plays Paul McCartney in the upcoming four-part film series, alongside Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.

Mescal is doing all of his own singing in the films and told British GQ of the role: 'I've learned so much. It's really inspired a love'.

Confirming that he is now penning his own music, he continued: 'I've always loved music, but getting to play one of the great songwriters and great frontmen has really lit a fire in terms of personally writing music and engaging and hearing music in a different way.'

Mescal, who previously showcased his vocal abilities in the musical films Carmen and The History of Sound, also revealed how McCartney reacted upon learning he'd been cast to play him, as he praised the 'brilliant' Liverpudlian.

'He's the most brilliant man, Mescal gushed. 'I feel emotionally attached to him. He received me wit details

In the new Disney+ documentary series "The Beatles Anthology," a 1991 interview is presented in which the then-surviving Beatles describe secretly spiking the tea served to engineer Geoff Emerick and producer George Martin with "uppers" in order to get them to do studio work later into the night.

In Episode 9, George Harrison described how Emerick and Martin would want to quit for the day around 5:30, while the band wanted to continue recording.

"Some of the people here, the engineer, for instance, would be always like, trying to go home at 5:30. And we'd all be like, well, you know, trying to make history or whatever. And Mal [Evans], our roadie, had this big teapot, it was a big aluminum teapot, and he'd go out. And I remember one specific incident where he made a pot of tea and we doused the tea with uppers. And then he was up there with George Martin, and I think it was Geoff Emerick, giving them the tea. 'Cause they were, you know, "Can we go home now?" No, you can't, you bastard. Have a cup of tea. And, you know, until they were up there, you know like, til 11:00 at night."

Paul McCartney continues, "Yeah, and then they didn't want to go home. … They don't know to this day, until they s details

Greatest hits albums are rarely considered art. Typically, they are money grabs in the latter half of an artist’s career. Not to downplay the inherent merits of a greatest hits compilation, as they are a good way for newcomers get a foothold in an artist’s sound. The Beatles had many greatest hits compilations, but the two that encompass the breadth of their time together are 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, a.k.a the “red and blue” albums. Allen Klein, the Beatles’ late-stage manager, compiled both of these albums. One grievance (of many) that fans have with Klein was his decision to remix the songs on both of these compilations in stereo. John Lennon also joined in on that grievance. Learn more about Lennon’s qualms with these compilations below.

There was much contention towards the end of the Beatles’ career. Klein was meant to sort out the band, but only ended up sending them into further turmoil. There was really no fixing the band’s numerous issues. If you stopped one leak, another would only let in water faster.

Creative differences ran rampant towards the end of the Beatles’ tenure. This certainly drove a wedge between the foursome. Nevertheless, details

The former Beatles member, 85, shared this information with USA TODAY in May 2023. Ringo named one of his longtime collaborators, Jim Keltner, for the honor. He and Jim first met in 1971 in London, where they were introduced by George Harrison, Ringo's former and late Beatles bandmate. In 1989, Ringo & His All-Starr Band launched and Jim was included as a member. The 83-year-old musician has participated as an occasional guest from 2006 to 2023 for the live rock supergroup created by producer David Fishof.

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Ringo told the outlet, "Jim is my all-time hero drummer, no one is as good as him − I love Jim, and that’s about it."

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READ MORE: Danity Kane's Aubrey O'Day talks band reunion and being 'made under Diddy'READ MORE: John Lennon's son has one major fear when it comes to The Beatles' legacy

He also took a moment to highlight Dave Grohl, former drummer of Nirvana and the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in the interview. Ringo said, "I've seen Dave Grohl play straight. He was doing backup at some party, and he was doing it straight. And I was like, OK, wow."

Jim, born James Lee Keltner, is known for his session work. details

Sting is thankful to The Beatles for opening the "floodgates for songwriters to have an attempt at writing songs".

The Every Breath You Take singer's touring guitarist Dominic Miller has released a songbook of 14 of the Fab Four's tracks for classical guitar titled The Beatles arranged by Dominic Miller: Guitar Solo Songbook.

Miller has revealed that he and Sting, 74, have often discussed the music and career of The Beatles, and the former Police frontman believes that the compositions of Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr paved the way for British musicians who followed, like himself.

In an interview with Rick Beato on his YouTube channel, Miller said: "As Sting has often said, actually – and we talk about this sometimes – is that the Beatles, by doing those songs and coming up with those compositions, they kind of gave a license for everyone else to have a go.

“These guys from Liverpool, if they can do it, everyone should try, and so it opened the floodgates for a lot of songwriters to have an attempt at writing songs, which had never really happened before in England, like pop songs – verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge.”

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The beauty—and arguably the secret ingredient—of The Beatles was the band’s ability to bring four distinct personalities and abilities together to create something cohesive, catchy, and fun to watch. Fans swooned over Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as individual musicians. The Fab Four inherently implied all four musicians were notable and distinct. But as far as the behind-the-scenes operations were concerned, two people ran the show.

As founding members and the two musicians who had been playing together the longest, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the natural choice for any two songwriters of the four. Starr, for his part, seemed content to be the band’s backbone and throw in a novelty song every now and then. But for the band’s youngest member, George Harrison, this was a wall he would throw himself against time and time again before The Beatles’ final split in 1970.

According to an interview in Anthology, McCartney and Lennon discussed Harrison’s role in the group privately. “It was an option, you know, to include George in the songwriting team,” he said. Optional, sure. Wanted? Maybe not.  Paul McCartney and details

Sir Paul McCartney needs no introduction as a former member of the Beatles, one of the most revered bands in music history, and as a successful solo artist in his own right. After nearly seven decades in the music industry, McCartney is still admired for his vocals, songwriting, and proficiency on multiple musical instruments by fans worldwide. It would therefore seem unlikely that the nineteen-time Grammy Award winner and veteran artist would have any issues performing, but according to McCartney, there is one song he struggles to play live because of a particular tragedy and his deep emotional connection to it. Why Paul McCartney Can't Perform "Here Today" Without Getting Emotional.

Eventually, McCartney's grief inspired him to pen the song "Here Today," which was written in 1981 but released the following year. During the same interview, McCartney recalled what the writing session was like or "Here Today", "I found a room and just sat on the wooden floor in a corner with my guitar and just started to play the opening chords to 'Here Today.'" One particular song lyric, McCartney explained, was the most profound for him: "'The night we cried,' that was to do with a time when we were in Key West, down in Florida... details

The recent Beatles Anthology updated series means there are no more secret recordings. Producer Giles Martin says no more secret Beatles tracks will ever be released.

The producer has spent a number of years going through the Fab Four’s archives for the Disney Plus revived Beatles’ Anthology series and remixed albums and tracks but he doesn’t believe there is anything new left to uncover.

According to The Sun newspaper, he said: “I don’t think there’s anything. I always say that then something turns up. “But I don’t think there’s anything. It’s incredible how much interest there still is over Beatles stuff.

“You do hear new things on this Anthology box set. There’s that first round of Helter Skelter, which for me is great because it’s really raw. It’s proper in your face music. “And then people go, ‘Well, how come we haven’t released the 20-minute long version of Helter Skelter?’ I think we’re done.”

Giles’ father, Sir George Martin – who died in 2016 – was known as “the fifth Beatle” for his work with the band and Giles has enjoyed g details

The star of new movie Avatar: Fire and Ash mentioned the Fab Four more than once when she was given the Colbert Questionnaire on a recent episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

And, like everyone, she had a favorite. Hers was John Lennon — who, along with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, formed the British rock band that famously invaded America — before he was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980, at just 40.

She confessed to Colbert, who asked whether she's ever asked for a celebrity's autograph, that she'd once written Lennon a special message.

"I wrote a several-page letter on lavender stationery with purple ink,' Weaver said. "'Dear John.' It was like five pages front and back. And I folded it up. I put an envelope, and I dropped it off at this restaurant that I heard he went to."

She couldn't recall what she's written, but she didn't seem to want to.

"I hope they threw it away," Weaver said.

In the same interview, the three-time Oscar nominated star was asked about the first concert that she attended, which was of course the Beatles.

Weaver, who's 76, thought she might have been 12 when she details

Ringo Starr is preparing to extend his late career love affair with country music, confirming that a new studio album is in development and pencilled in for release sometime in early 2026. The untitled project will again explore country and Americana territory and reunites the former Beatle with producer T Bone Burnett, the creative partnership that reshaped Starr’s recording direction with 2025’s Look Up.

Starr has completed his core recording work and is now navigating schedules around final production and label timelines. While no release date has been locked, February or March remains the most likely window, positioning the album as a direct continuation of the creative momentum that began last year.

The new record will once again see Starr working closely with Burnett, a producer whose résumé spans roots music, film soundtracks and heritage American songwriting. Burnett’s influence on Look Up was widely credited with giving Starr a grounded, authentic sound that aligned naturally with his long-standing affection for country music. That same sensibility is expected to guide the 2026 album.

Starr has also returned to songwriting with longtime collaborator Bruce Sugar, c details

On this day (January 2) in 1971, George Harrison topped the Billboard 200 with All Things Must Pass. The triple-album marked his first release since The Beatles officially parted ways in April 1970. Musicians on the album include Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Alan White, Pete Drake, and many more.

Harrison began working on All Things Must Pass at EMI Studios the month after The Beatles officially broke up. Co-produced by Harrison and Phil Spector, sessions for the album stretched into October. Finally, after months of work, Harrison released the three-LP collection on November 27.

Upon its initial release, All Things Must Pass consisted of three LPs. The first two contained the album’s 18 official tracks, many of which were passed over for inclusion on previous Beatles albums. The third LP contained a collection of five live studio jams.
George Harrison Won the Race to the Top of the Singles Chart.

Paul McCartney was the first member of the Fab Four to score a No. 1 album after the band broke up. His album, McCartney, reached the top of the Billboard 200 on May 23, 1970, and stayed there for three weeks. Interestingly, Let It Be dethroned McCartney’s solo release.

Harrison, on the o details

Amidst the cold studios and rising tensions of January 1969, the Fab Four managed to set aside their differences to record one last chart-topping legacy.

On the morning of January 2, 1969, four men walked into the drafty, cavernous Twickenham Film Studios in London. To any onlooker, they were the biggest stars on the planet. To themselves, they were a band on the brink of collapse. This was the beginning of what was intended to be a "return to roots" project for The Beatles, originally titled “Get Back”. It would eventually become their final released album, “Let It Be”.

The atmosphere that first morning was far from the polished magic fans heard on their records. The studio was freezing, the lighting was harsh, and the group was being trailed by film cameras capturing every rehearsal, every argument, and every yawn. Paul McCartney, acting as the de facto director of the group, wanted to strip away the complex studio tricks of their previous albums. His goal was simple: The Beatles playing live, together in a room, with no overdubs.

But the reality was complicated. After years of being the most famous people on earth, the individual Beatles were drifting apart. John Lennon was inc details

Name a music industry record, and chances are the Beatles hold it. With the release of their 1963 debut album Please Please Me, a quartet of shaggy-haired musicians from Liverpool forever altered the listening experience of rock music enthusiasts. Comprised of George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Star, the Beatles remain the best-selling artists of all time more than five decades after their split. That’s perhaps what makes the events that occurred in North London on this day in 1962 all the more mystifying in hindsight.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon Differed on the Beatles’ Failed Decca Audition

“Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein.” While former Decca Records head Dick Rowe denied ever uttering these words on Jan. 1, 1962, they have continued to endure in Fab Four lore as an example of monumentally poor judgment.

The way Rowe told it, he gave Decca A&R representative Mike Smith a choice between the Beatles and another “guitar group,” Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Smith chose the latter mainly for logistical reasons—their hometown of Dagenham was closer to the West Hampstead studio than Liverpool.

Nonetheless, it was details

 The actress who plays Ringo Starr’s first wife in a forthcoming biopic has admitted that she couldn’t name all four members of The Beatles. Mia McKenna-Bruce, 28, also said she was unfamiliar with most of the band’s songs until she was cast as Maureen Starkey.

Sam Mendes is directing four Beatles biopics, each focusing on a different member of the band, to be released in 2028.

McKenna-Bruce’s casting was announced while she was filming an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Seven Dials Mystery with Martin Freeman. The actress revealed that Freeman teased her over her lack of Beatles knowledge. “We sang Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine at school, but it wasn’t my jam,” she told Tatler.

“On Seven Dials, Martin Freeman was asking me to name all the Beatles. I didn’t know. Then he’d ask me: ‘What band was Mick Jagger in?’ I was like, ‘I have no idea, Martin’, and he was like, ‘Aargh!’

“Yet now, I’m like: ‘Oh my God, the Beatles are underrated! This is good! It’s music I’d sit and listen to on the train.’”
The Beatles films will star Pau details

By 1974, George Harrison had recorded countless number 1 albums, sold out tours across the globe, and he had enough of being in the biggest band in the world, The Beatles. The lead single from his fifth studio album, Dark Horse, “Ding Dong, Ding Dong,” has long divided fans, with half enjoying the New Year’s optimistic festivities and the other half disregarding it as a novelty piece. Where critics saw emptiness, Harrison shared a sentiment that had been dear to him for years. When we put the song in a wider context instead of jumping to easy, harsh conclusions, it becomes far more interesting and impactful than one might think on the surface.
Criticism of George Harrison’s Single Rang Out Loud

“Ding Dong, Ding Dong” was the lead single from George Harrison’s fifth solo studio album, Dark Horse, which was released in 1974. Harrison wrote the song to be a sing-along classic to enjoy festivities, and crucially to embrace the future by letting go of the past in welcoming the new year. Critics and fellow musicians alike have speculated that Harrison wanted to follow in the successful footsteps of the British glam rock Christmas tunes of 1973 and 1974 by Wizzard and Slade, but n details

It was a moment of horrible deja vu for music fans around the world — a mentally unwell man had attacked one of the Beatles, leaving him for dead.

It's a headline that could have been from December 8, 1980, but it was also sadly true of this day, December 30, 1999, when George Harrison was stabbed in his home.

Unlike his former bandmate John Lennon, Harrison survived the attack by a knife-wielding attacker, though Harrison's friends and family speculated it ultimately hastened his death from lung cancer less than two years later.

But like the fatal attack on Lennon outside the Dakota Building in New York, the stabbing of Harrison was another case of someone with mental health issues slipping through the cracks and not getting the help they needed before doing something horrible to a much-loved musician.
A troubled man struggling

About a month before he broke into Harrison's home and stabbed the former Beatle, Michael Abram was in a psychiatric ward in Merseyside, the English county centred around Liverpool.

The 33-year-old father of two had been grappling with addiction and undiagnosed schizophrenia for the previous decade, according to reporting from the BBC and The Guardian a details

Did John Lennon really steal music from other musicians? That’s been the hot subject of debate among Beatles fans for decades. Many of those accusations aren’t based in reality. However, when it comes to a few songs from back in John Lennon’s heyday, it really does seem like he stole at least part of some famous tunes. I’ll let you form your own opinion on that. Let’s take a look at three songs that John Lennon allegedly stole from other musicians!

“Come Together” by The Beatles

This might just be one of the biggest songs of the 20th century. “Come Together”, released in 1969, is a blues-rock venture that went on to be one of the most-covered songs of all time. And according to lore, it wasn’t entirely John Lennon’s brainchild.

Some believe that “Come Together” boasts a very similar melody and overall song structure to rock and roll icon Chuck Berry’s tune, “You Can’t Catch Me”. In fact, Chuck Berry (or whoever owned the copyright to that song) even sued The Beatles over it. The suit was settled out of court without much fanfare, and Berry would later collaborate with Lennon. Apparently, there were no ha details

An Antiques Roadshow guest was adamant that an item signed by John Lennon and George Harrison is 'not going anywhere' despite its £1,000 to £1,500 value. On Sunday night's episode of the show (December 28) Fiona Bruce presented a showcase of 'unseen treasures' from Trentham Gardens in Staffordshire.

‌Throughout the show, valuable items included a rare Shamshir sword and a painting by George Leslie Hunter. Plus, Fiona's antiques knowledge was also put to the test with three pieces of pottery with Cubist designs, and ceramics expert John Sandon chatted about his life in antiques.

‌One man showcased a restaurant bill from his parents dated in 1965, that at first Marc Allum described as 'unremarkable'. It wasn't until the man explained that his parents were joined by some 'interesting people' in the London restaurant - who were none other than John Lennon and George Harrison.

‌Marc Allum said: "So this looks like a pretty unremarkable restaurant bill from Parks restaurant in Beauchamp Place in London, what's going on with it?"

When explaining the backstory, the man said: "My parents had a very special anniversary dinner, and my father said to the restaurant maître d' details

In 2007, Paul McCartney told an interviewer that the Beatles song When I’m Sixty-Four had been on his mind. “Heard it a lot recently – I wonder why?” he said, with a laugh.

Everyone knew the answer: The ex-Beatle had turned 64. And so did I, recently. The song has been on my mind, too. In fact, I can’t stop thinking about it. I sing it in the shower, whistle it as I walk to work, and hum it on my way home. I even played it for my students in class.

They weren’t impressed. The song is about old age, which is something that young people usually don’t think about. And why should they, really? When I’m Sixty-Four reminds us about how much we get wrong when we imagine aging. It’s probably good to put it out of our minds, as best we can.

Mr. McCartney composed the song’s tune on his father’s piano when he was a teenager. His father, Jim McCartney, was a jazz trumpeter who took Paul to big-band shows. The melody has a jaunty cabaret sound. But Mr. McCartney didn’t add words to it until much later, around the time his dad turned 64; it was recorded in 1967 for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Mr. McCartney was only details

In 2026, the 60th anniversary of The Beatles' first compilation of old hits will be celebrated. A Collection of Beatles Oldies (But Goldies!), released for Christmas in 1966, aimed to satisfy the insatiable appetite of fans frustrated by the gap between the releases of Revolver (August 1966) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (June 1967). The group still had three good years ahead. Even before their break-up, the respectable sales of this premature best-of hinted at the quartet's ability to perpetuate itself beyond its own demise, which was officially announced by Paul McCartney on April 10, 1970.

Since then, from compilations to remixes, from archive discoveries to documentaries, The Beatles, their music, and their legend have become an inexhaustible source of products designed to fuel nostalgia. Logic would suggest that this seam should be running dry – after all, the band's generation, the baby boomers, is nearing extinction, and nostalgia implies having experienced what one now misses.

But that is without counting the digital age and its ability to blur the boundaries of reality. The constant bombardment of Beatles music and footage – from the release of the 1973 compilations (the "blue" a details

The Beatles, the famous British rock band formed in 1960, have become one of the most revered and successful musical acts in history. Their classic hits such as "Here Comes The Sun", "I Want To Hold Your Hand", and "All You Need Is Love" helped the Fab Four to change the face of popular music forever. As many ardent fans know, some of their most famous songs have interesting backstories. One such song, written by George Harrison, could have been one of The Beatles' biggest hits, but instead it became part of Harrison's solo discovery, and the reason why is quite intriguing.

As ardent music fans will know, Frank Sinatra had a love-hate relationship and opinion when it came to The Beatles. For example, in a press release for his 1965 released album A Man and His Music, Sinatra didn’t hold back when it came to criticizing the British band and their new-age sound, choosing instead to prop up his own music, “If you happen to be tired of kid singers wearing mops of hair thick enough to hide a crate of melons…it should be refreshing.” However, at the same time, he also begrudgingly gave the group their much-deserved props when the moment called for it.

Case in point, Sinatra praised the George details

Shunning The Beatles seems like almost an impossible task, especially given how inescapable their music, history, and cultural presence have been since the 1960s. Yet Zak Starkey, the son of Ringo Starr, recently admitted he deliberately avoided listening to the Fab Four until he was well into his twenties.

During an interview with Q1043 New York, the 60-year-old Starkey, who is an exceptionally talented drummer in his own right (having played with the likes of The Who, Oasis, and Johnny Marr, among others), offered up this surprising revelation.

"I'll be honest, when I was a kid, The Beatles were in my way," Starkey said (transcribed by Ultimate Guitar). "I was in groups from a really young age, and I was getting press attention, but they were only paying me attention, and they weren't paying the rest of the band attention."  "And I got a bit resentful of this. And that sort of got me into a place where I sort of shunned The Beatles, for a long time. A few people say that's why I have an identity of my own."

But as previously mentioned, finding his own identity on the drum kit proved exceptionally beneficial, leading to a gig with The Who from 1996 through 2025. A band which he was details