Beatles News

Paul McCartney Asks Rock Hall of Fame to Induct Joe Cocker: ‘He Would Be Extremely Happy’ to ‘Find Himself Where He Deserves to Be’
Paul McCartney is petitioning for late English blues-rock singer Joe Cocker to be inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame this year.

In a letter dated Feb. 25, and addressed to “rock and rollers,” McCartney described Cocker, who died in 2014 at age 70, as a “great man and a fine singer” with a unique style. “He sang one of our songs, ‘With A Little Help From My Friends,’ a version produced by Denny Cordell, which was very imaginative,” McCartney wrote.

Indeed, the Sheffield-born singer’s 1968 interpretation of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help From My Friends” put a electric spin on the classic, as memorably parodied by John Belushi on “Saturday Night Live.”

Source:variety.com/Thania Garcia

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Ringo Starr and His All Starr Band’s tireless Peace and Love tour is returning to the Strip.

It’s an unofficial title, but it Starr’s enduring message. His band is back at The Venetian Theatre from Sept. 17, 19, 20, 24, 26 and 27 . All shows are at 8:30 p.m., and tickets are on sale 10 a.m. Friday Pacific time at Ticketmaster.com.

Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Buck Johnson and Gregg Bissonette make up the current All Starrs. The band most recently played The Venetian for three dates in May.

Starr has released his first country album, “Look Up.” He played the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville on Jan. 14-15, to air as “Ringo & Friends Play the Ryman” at 8 p.m. Pacific/Eastern on Monday and streaming on Paramount+ in the U.S.

Starr’s superstar friends in that special include Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell, Mickey Guyton, Emmylou Harris, Sarah Jarosz, Jamey Johnson, Brenda Lee, Larkin Poe, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, The War And Treaty and Jack White.

Starr assembled his band in 1989 and has toured consistently since, frequently switching up the roster. His shows at The Venetian have usually lasted up to 2½ hours, wi details

An “extremely rare” vinyl album by The Beatles, gifted by George and Pattie Harrison to a friend, has sold for £10,000.

The self-titled record, commonly known as the White Album because of its plain white sleeve, was sold on Monday by Tracks Auctions music memorabilia auctioneers.

A photo of the item on the auction house’s website shows the name of the band embossed onto the record sleeve along with the serial number 0000012.

The item is described on the web page as an “extremely rare low numbered stereo vinyl pressing of The Beatles White Album”.

“Very few copies of the album with this low a number have surfaced to the market,” the description adds.   The lot details include a letter from the vendor which describes how they became friends with Harrison, the band’s lead guitarist, and his then-partner.

The note reads: “In the sixties I was a fashion photographer in London.

“I’d known Pattie Boyd for some time and I was at her mews flat just off Hyde Park Corner one evening in 1964.

“The phone rang, I answered it, and it was George Harrison calling from the USA where The Beatles were tou details

English singer, songwriter and guitarist John Lennon (1940-1980), English singer, songwriter and bassist Paul McCartney, English musician, singer and drummer Ringo Starr and English musician, singer, songwriter and guitarist George Harrison (1943-2001) of the Beatles attend a press party at the home of manager Brian Epstein supporting the release of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, May 19, 1967, in London, United Kingdom.

It’s not unusual to see The Beatles on the music charts in the United Kingdom. In fact, it’s fairly commonplace, as the beloved rock band is still so popular to this day, decades after the musicians broke up, that millions of people buy and stream the group’s most successful releases in great enough numbers to keep the rockers on at least a handful of tallies.

What is interesting to watch every week is which one of The Beatles’ albums manages to hold on. Despite the fact that the group hasn’t released a new album or even a compilation in years, the Fab Four regularly trades one project for another on the charts in the country where it all began. Sometimes there’s a reason for the switch, and in other instances, it seems much more random.
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George Harrison's mother said he was very focused on making money in The Beatles. He didn't predict he'd make all that much, though.

In both The Beatles and his solo career, George Harrison raked in more money than most people can imagine making. He didn’t initially think this would be the case, though. In the early years of The Beatles, just as Beatlemania was kicking off in earnest, Harrison predicted that the band wouldn’t be able to become millionaires. Here’s why.
George Harrison didn’t think The Beatles would be able to make much money

In 1964, The Beatles were beginning to see immense success. They were popular enough that one interviewer asked Harrison if he was a millionaire. He quickly denied this.

 “It’s so hard to become a millionaire,” he said in a 1964 interview with the BBC, per American Songwriter. “Maybe if we were just a solo act, then whoever it was, you’d probably be a millionaire. But with four, you know, it’s hard.”

Source: cheatsheet.com/Emma McKee

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Fans of Ringo Starr have dubbed The Beatles' drummer "unbelievable" after spotting him at a recent live show.

Starr, 84, continues to stun members of the public with his energetic performances. The songwriter behind tracks like Yellow Submarine and The No No Song has delighted music lovers yet again with his antics on stage. Some have since called the drummer "unbelievable" after a viral video of his performance was posted to X.

The legendary musician has continued to tour and even performed at the legendary venue, the Grand Ole Opry House, last month. The stage has seen songwriters like Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash perform, and Starr has since been honoured with a performance at the venue.What's more, a clip from another live appearance from Starr has had fans all saying the same thing. One wrote: "Ringo Starr at 84-years-old. Unbelievable." Those who had attended Starr's live shows in the past were delighted to see him continue his work on stage.

One user wrote: "I caught him and the All-Starr Band in November 2023, and he was absolutely fantastic. One of the best shows I've ever seen (I mean, Edgar Winter! Come on!) and that's saying something as I've seen a lot. I regret not making the effort to see details

Despite being cut from a scene in the Beatles‘ 1964 film A Hard Day’s Night as a young teen, and again years later from a session piece he recorded for George Harrison‘s All Things Must Pass that never made the album, Phil Collins always loved the band and said “All My Loving” would be a song he’d take to a deserted island.

“The Beatles were the reason I’m in this business,” Collins told BBC in 1993. “Although I’ve been playing the drums since I was 5, it was The Beatles that suddenly gave me a purpose. This, I think, sums up that early-mid ’60s feeling from me when I was in school, really loving it.”

He even named the band’s 1966 album Revolver one of his favorite albums. “There is also a great consistency throughout the record [‘Revolver’],” said Collins. “With vinyl albums, you would have big moments like the end of side one, the beginning of side two, and the end of the record, and with something like ‘Revolver’ you would listen to it with great care, from the beginning to the end. 

Source: americansongwriter.com/Tina Benitez-Eves

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No matter how much you know about the Beatles, there’s an upcoming documentary coming to public television stations this month that you do not want to miss courtesy of American Public Television.

Divided into three parts, “The Beatles Come to America,” “Deconstructing Rubber Soul,” and “A Trip Through Strawberry Fields”, Deconstructing The Beatles, with acclaimed “Beatle-ologist” Scott Freiman, guides you, step by step, on an educational journey through several of The Beatles’ milestone albums and the fascinating stories that accompanied them.

While the craze known as “Beatlemania” had taken over the U.K., in the fall of 1963, the Beatles were practically unknown in America. Through the efforts of band manager Brian Epstein, TV host Ed Sullivan, and a teenage fan from Silver Spring, Md., all of that would change by February 1964.

Source: tellyspotting.kera.org/Bill Young

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BRIT Awards viewers were baffled after The Beatles lost out at tonight's ceremony. The Fab Four were up for the Best Song Award at the biggest night in British music for last year's Now and Then.

The song was written by John Lennon as a solo single in the late 1970s and finished by surviving bandmates Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo Starr. The award nod was the first time they had been nominated for a BRIT Award in over 40 years.

The legendary band previously won the Outstanding Contribution to Music accolade in 1983 and British Group and British Album of the Year for ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. However, they lost out tonight as Charli XCX picked up the award for Guess.

The 32-year-old pop star teamed up with Billie Eilish for the track and took to the stage to accept the award. She said: "Thank you, this is cool. I'm really happy that a song about underwear now has a BRIT Award. Very important stuff. I'm sure that proves something about songwriting, but I'm not sure what.

"Thank you to Billie, I asked whether she wanted to be on the song about three days before we shot the music video, and five days before it came out so shout out to her for moving with pace.

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It’s simply not possible to be the biggest band of a whole century and not get into a mishap or two. The Beatles, both collectively and as individual people, got into hot water a few times throughout their career. Even the quiet one, George Harrison, got deported from Germany back in the day.

The story takes place at the very start of The Beatles’ career. In 1960, an early iteration of the band was set and ready to make it big. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and original bassist Stuart Sutcliffe were sent by then-manager Allan Williams to Hamburg in Germany with another band. The intention was to get them to build an audience outside of their home country. It was a smart move, considering Hamburg was where Brian Epstein first caught a whiff of the Fab Four.

The early days weren’t so easy, though. McCartney was on the hunt for a drummer, as the band lacked any real form of percussion. They needed a temporary fill-in for their sets in Hamburg, which was difficult considering how pricey drumsets were at the time.

Source: Em Casalena/americansongwriter.com

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The late singer, who was assassinated in New York City in 1980, became furious during a guest appearance with his wife, Yoko Ono, and left the room as he didn't see the humor in the music track. The song that infuriated Lennon was Magical Misery Tour - it was written by comedians Tony Hendra and Michael O'Donoghue and was part of Radio Dinner, the very first album release by magazine National Lampoon, which came out in 1972, just years after The Beatles broke up.

The track satirized Lennon, using inspiration from an interview he gave to Rolling Stone in 1970, and didn't paint the singer in a positive light, featuring swearing from him and also the proclamation that he was a genius. But making fun of Lennon's voice, Hendra delivered lines such as "I resent performing for you f-----s tell me what do you know?" and "I don't owe you f-----s anything, and all I got to say is f--k you, the sky."

Source: themirror.com/Chiara Fiorillo

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Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote songs about each other in the 1970s. Here's why McCartney felt irritated enough to write about Lennon.

After The Beatles broke up, Paul McCartney and John Lennon spent the next several years at each others’ throats. McCartney sued The Beatles because of their manager, Allen Klein, and Lennon felt a great deal of resentment over the way his former bandmates treated Yoko Ono. McCartney admitted he wrote a song about Lennon and Ono. While it wasn’t as blatant as Lennon’s eventual response, Lennon could tell the song was about him.

Relations between McCartney and Lennon had so degraded by the 1970s that they began expressing their frustrations through song. McCartney said Lennon’s political preaching began to grate on his nerves. “I was looking at my second solo album, Ram, the other day and I remember there was one tiny little reference to John in the whole thing,” McCartney told Playboy in 1984 (per Beatles Interviews). “He’d been doing a lot of preaching, and it got up my nose a little bit.”

Source: cheatsheet.com/Emma McKee

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John Lennon, the legendary singer-songwriter, activist, and co-founder of The Beatles, left an indelible mark on the world of music and culture. His songs, both with The Beatles and as a solo artist, have transcended generations, inspiring millions with their raw emotion, poetic lyrics, and timeless melodies. From heartfelt ballads to powerful anthems of peace and love, Lennon’s music reflects the depth of his artistry and the complexity of his soul. Whether exploring themes of personal introspection, social justice, or universal harmony, his songs continue to resonate as deeply today as they did decades ago.

In this article, we’ll take a journey through the top 10 most popular John Lennon songs of all time—tracks that have not only defined his career but also shaped the soundtrack of our lives. From iconic hits that became cultural anthems to deeply personal compositions that reveal the man behind the music, these songs showcase Lennon’s genius in its purest form. Whether you’re a lifelong fan or just beginning to discover the magic of Lennon’s artistry, this list is sure to remind you why his music remains as powerful and relevant as ever. Get ready to celebrate the legacy of one of details

It may seem the four Beatles were fated to be together. But in reality, the group's lineup was defined from the beginning by the members accepting their individual limitations and bringing in players who could make up for them.

It’s well known that, in the beginning, the Beatles had three guitarists: John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney. Along with bassist Stuart Sutcliffe and drummer Pete Best, the five-piece Beatles landed in Hamburg in 1960, where for roughly two years they honed their skills.

But when Sutcliffe left the group in July 1961 to continue his art studies, it fell to McCartney to take over bass guitar duties. The instrument was beyond Lennon's abilities, and Harrison’s lead guitarist skills were too valuable.

But perhaps most crucial to that decision was McCartney's ill-fated attempt at a guitar solo on his first gig with Lennon. It not only put him off playing lead guitar — it also led directly to Harrison being hired as the group's lead guitar. And it all happened one fateful night in January 1958.

Source: guitarplayer.com/Christopher Scapelliti

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Ringo Starr, the iconic drummer of The Beatles, has been profoundly influenced by music throughout his life.

From his early days in Liverpool to his global fame with the Fab Four, music has been both a sanctuary and a driving force for him - and his work has made it into iconic artists' favourite songs lists across generations.

But the drummer has revealed one of his own inspirations, that helped shape his and The Beatles' music: Ray Charles. In a 2005 interview with CBC, Starr revealed that his favorite song is the American star's 'Tell the Truth'.

“I love it, I love the live version", said Starr. "Just always blowing me away."

'Tell the Truth' was originally recorded by The “5” Royales in 1959. Ray Charles, known for his soulful interpretations, covered the song the same year, infusing it with his distinctive style.

The live version, in particular, showcases Charles’ dynamic performance and the energetic response of the audience, elements that seemed to resonate deeply with Starr.

Source: express.co.uk/Maria Leticia Gomes

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