Beatles News

Today would have marked George Harrison’s 73rd Birthday. Although it’s been more than 14 years since he passed away from cancer, the youngest member of The Beatles is far from forgotten. Harrison was one of the most iconic musicians of his time but “didn’t like the idea of being too popular”. Here are 8 surprising facts about the “Quiet Beatle”…

His Date Of birth Is Often Disputed For most of his life, Harrison thought his birthday was February 25th. You'll find most books and biographies state this date, even Wikipedia do to this day. However, near the end of his life, Harrison insisted that he was born on February 24th, 1943 at 11:50PM. A family document has revealed this to be true.

He Took LSD For The First Time By ACCIDENT We all know Harrison and The Beatles were no strangers to drugs. Their introduction to LSD ignited a major change in their creative direction. However, John Lennon and Harrison's first acid trip was entirely accidental. Harrison and Lennon were given coffee laced with LSD by their dentist at a dinner party. "Suddenly I feel the most incredible feeling come over me. It was something like a very concentrated version of the best feeling I'd ev details

Russian born Alexandra Callas is the lead supporting actress in the movie 10 Days in a Madhouse, playing the sociopathic nurse Miss Grupe, opposite Caroline Barry in the lead role of Nellie Bly and Christopher Lambert, (Hail, Caesar!, Highlander, Mortal Kombat), as the troubled doctor who runs the asylum, E.C. Dent. 

She reflected recently on an encounter with Paul McCartney and how he changed the course of her life forever. "In Los Angeles, I passed by the Capitol Records building the other day, and thought of The Beatles, of course. How lucky we are to live in the same era with them. It's hard not to be starstruck by even looking at the building where their legend had started." 

"In 2004 I was living in Moscow, Russia and was a host of a show on one of the top radio-stations, Monte Carlo (102,1 FM). By that time I had an impressive list of artists of all kinds and genres whom I had interviewed throughout my radio/TV career, including Patrick Swayze, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Steve Tyler of Aerosmith, Madonna, REM, LL Cool J, Backstreet Boys and many, many more.

Also, having been surrounded by a lot of famous and powerful people ever since I was a little girl, just because of who my dad was, I co details

Famously, within about five minutes of becoming the world’s biggest band, The Beatles hated playing live. George Harrison and John Lennon (in that order) were particularly against the idea, with the former gleefully noting “That’s it then, I’m not a Beatle anymore” in August 1966, hours after the Fabs final ‘proper’ concert at San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. This was before 'Sgt Pepper' had even been written, by the way.

Harrison was to remain an integral member of the group, but his statement was clear enough: The Beatles as a money making exercise and cultural force existed almost entirely because of their image, which in turn was a direct result of their touring successes, and now that era of the band had come to an end, things would change.

In some ways, the seeds of their eventual split started at that final gig. While Lennon and Harrison stuck closely to their guns, Paul McCartney was still giving interviews a couple of years later saying he’d be open to taking the band on the road again, while manager Brian Epstein even drew up a full tour route – kept secret from ‘the boys’ – after Pepper had come out. But it was never to be. details

Peter Hooton, the Liverpool musician best known as the vocalist of Scouse band The Farm, has taken the helm of a new group set up to help Liverpool unlock the full economic potential of The Beatles.

The Beatles Legacy Group has been launched followed a report published earlier this month, which claimed that the Fab Four’s ongoing legacy is worth £81.9m to the city’s economy each year and supports 2,335 jobs.

While the study noted the success of the city’s current visitor offer, it also highlighted the challenges facing Liverpool in curating and maintaining the authenticity of The Beatles heritage for fans.

Claire McColgan MBE, the director of culture at the city council’s Culture Liverpool service, will join Peter Hooton in the group, as will Marketing Liverpool director Chris Brown and Liverpool BID Company chief executive Bill Addy.

Dr Mike Jones of the University of Liverpool’s Institute of Popular Music, who was one of the report’s authors, will also serve as a member of the group.

Commenting on his appointment, Peter Hooton said: ”‘I’m delighted that I’ve been asked by the Mayor to chair the Beatles Legacy Group.&ldquo details

Photographs taken by Tom Murray, many not seen in public before, will be on show at a special exhibition in the new offices of Jacobs Allen Chartered Accountants. Tom, a Bury town councillor, has photographed a host of celebrities and members of the Royal family and his Mad Day pictures of The Beatles, taken in 1968, have been shown all over the world.

His exhibition, which will feature Hollywood stars and iconic names from the fashion world, will raise money for Action Medical Research and its Fight for LIttle Lives campaign.

Between March 7 and 11 his collection will be viewed privately for corporate sponsors benefitting several local charities and on Saturday March 12 and Sunday March 13 the exhibition opens to the public. Many exhibits will be available to purchase with 10 per cent going to charity.

Among the photographs on show are those of Sir Dirk Bogarde, John Huston, Dustin Hoffman, Elizabeth Montgomery, Angelica Huston, Ives St Laurent, Ralph Lauren, Giorgio Armani and Tom’s pictures of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon with their children.

Tom was named World Press Photo award winner three times and has received numerous international awards for his work on newspaper and magazin details

Details surrounding Rouse's death on Saturday (20Feb16) have yet to be released, but according to reports he suffered from a lengthy illness.

Rouse began scoring films at Abbey Road Studios in the 1970s and he worked with the band on their Beatles at the BBC, Anthology and CD reissue series. He was also part of a group that won a Grammy Award for the Beatles stereo remix box in 2011. He also worked on the band's Love album.

Paying tribute to Rouse, a message on the Beatles' Facebook.com page reads, "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of Allan Rouse... and in particular Fiona his wife who cared for him with such tenderness and consideration following his illness.

"Allan joined Abbey Road studios in 1972 and during his time there made an invaluable contribution towards preserving the music and legacy of The Beatles. He worked on all the releases with extraordinary dedication and loyalty... Allan was a true friend of the band and of everyone at Apple, and will be remembered with great affection by those of us who were lucky enough to spend time working with him. From Paul, Ringo, Olivia (Harrison), Yoko (Ono) and everyone at Apple."

Beatles producer Sir George Martin's son Giles Martin add details

James McCartney found working on his new album "cathartic".

The 38-year-old musician - who is the son of Beatles star Paul McCartney - believes his new LP, titled 'The Blackberry Train', is an "evolution".

He said: "It's all been an evolution. This set of songs definitely has a harder edge, but it's a continuation of the last album. The main thing for me is to not conform or compromise.

"I like the music to have elements of the avant-garde, psychedelic, and be just a little against the grain. But in the end, it's about having as much emotion as possible for me, musically and lyrically. It's all about the music being cathartic, heartfelt and true."

The opening track of James' album, 'Too Hard', can be downloaded instantly if the album is pre-ordered.

Of the track, he shared: "I wrote it in Los Angeles, and tried to infuse it with a country feel to really bring out that desperation, and the idea of trying too hard. "Dhani Harrison came into the studio and we both collaborated on the guitar solo in the song." The Blackberry Train will be released on May 6 and fans can preorder the album now on JamesMcCartney.com

Source: mykawartha.com

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A lock of John Lennon's hair that was snipped as he prepared for a film role has sold for $35,000 at auction.

Dallas-based Heritage Auctions said Saturday that the 4-inch lock of hair was purchased by Paul Fraser, a United Kingdom-based memorabilia collector. A German hairdresser kept a tuft of Lennon's hair after giving him a trim before the Beatle started filming 'How I Won the War,' a dark comedy released in 1967. 

The movie follows the World War II misadventures of British troops led by an inept commander. The hair was one of several Beatles-related items on auction. A photograph of the iconic band signed by all four members went for $42,500.

And a sealed copy of the band's 'butcher' cover for the 'Yesterday and Today' album went for $125,000. Weird as it may seem to some, selling famous people's hair is a lucrative business. Also on sale on Paul Fraser's site is a strand of Marilyn Monroe's hair, on sale for £399.00, while Beliebers can get their hands on a strand of the singer's locks for the same price. 

By: Alexandra Genova

Source: Daily Mail

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They loved The Beatles in sixties, yeah, yeah, yeah and we still love them today, yeah, yeah, yeah.

On November 6, 1963, when The Beatles played at the old ABC Theatre in Northampton for the second time that year,the first being on March 27, one 18-year-old police cadet walked out of Campbell Square police station and into the car park and knocked on a limousine with black out windows.

The passenger window was rolled down about two inches by one John Lennon and the police cadet, Richard Moisey posted in a sheaf of pink carbon typing paper and a pencil.

John Lennon took the items and shut the window. A few minutes later the window opened two inches and out came the papers containing the Beatles autographs. 

Some had two Beatles signatures, others three and some lucky ones had all four autographs from the Fab Four. Richard who was the youngest person in the building had been sent out by the female secretaries and typists who were looking through ever window and ever vantage point to see if they could catch a glimpse of The Beatles.

As soon as he returned into the building he had his own experience of Beatlemania when he was mobbed as all the excited secretaries wanted the Beatles autog details

Eric Clapton has announced that his 23rd studio album, “I Still Do,” will be released May 20. It features his versions of such blues classics as Robert Johnson’s “Stones In My Passway” and Leroy Carr’s “Alabama Woman Blues,” along with Clapton’s rendition of “Little Man, You’ve Had a Busy Day,” a 1934 chestnut previously recorded by Paul Robseon, Perry Como and Eddy Arnold. (The full track listing for “I Still Do” appears below.)

The album also contains “I Will Be There,” a song of unknown vintage, which features vocals and acoustic guitar by one Angelo Mysterioso (a musical nom de plume used in previous decades by the late George Harrison). The former Beatle and Clapton were close friends who were married, in succession, to the same woman, Patti Boyd. Clapton first used his Mysterioso alias on the 1969 Cream album, “Goodbye.”

“I Still Do” is being released by Clapton’s own Bushbranch label, in association with Encinitas-based Surfdog Records. It is the English blues-rock guitar legend’s third consecutive U.S. release through Surfdog.

Launched 31 years ago, the plucky indepe details

John Lennon’s flower-emblazoned Rolls-Royce limousine was rolled off a flatbed truck, driven a short distance, and pushed into the lobby of the Royal B.C. Museum on Tuesday. The famous Phantom V touring limousine that once delivered the Beatles to Buckingham Palace in 1965 — the Fab Four received medals from the Queen — spat out plumes of white smoke as it was driven to the museum’s doors.

“It’s a canvas with a motor,” museum curator Lorne Hammond said of the 3,000-kilogram vehicle. “It’s a complicated thing to manage.” Regarded as a treasured piece of Beatles’ history and exhibited throughout North America for more than 20 years, the well-oiled machine will be displayed in the museum’s lobby until April 28.

Kasey Lee, conservation manager at the museum, said she barely slept Monday while going over the logistics of transporting the vehicle from a warehouse — in an undisclosed area in Greater Victoria — to the museum. The paint is fragile and any condensation would have played havoc with it. A tarp would scratch it. An accident would be disastrous. “It gives me more headaches than any other piece in our collection,” L details

Late Beatle George Harrison liked to laugh, as evidenced by his fondness for Monty Python and the financial backing he provided for the comedy troupe’s 1979 comedy classic, Life of Brian. According to Genesis singer-drummer and solo superstar Phil Collins, the music legend also got a kick from playing pranks on his acquaintances.

When he was 18, the then unknown Collins got a day’s work playing congas on a session for Harrison’s 1970 triple album, All Things Must Pass. Although Collins’ percussive efforts did not appear on the finished product, the event remains a treasured memory. “I went to Abbey Road, and recorded with Harrison, and Ringo was playing drums,” he tells EW. “Unfortunately, I cashed the check, because I needed it. The 15 quid meant a lot in 1969.”

Collins met Harrison several more times over the years, and the pair became friendly — friendly enough for the Beatle to prank the Genesis member, anyway. In 2001, shortly before Harrison’s death, he put out a remastered version of All Things Must Pass and around the same time sent Collins what he claimed was a version of the track on which he had played featuring the drummer’s missing ha details

Ringo Starr’s official Twitter account retweeted ‘f*** the Beatles’ after it was hacked by a prankster.

The legendary drummer’s account also said that One Direction’s Harry Styles was ‘a bit smelly’, in a post retweeted and liked hundreds of times. But a post from ‘Team Ringo’ on his official Facebook page apologised for ‘any confusion’ and said the Twitter account had been hacked. It said: “For friends following on Twitter the account was hacked this morning and we are working on resolving the issue. “Sorry for any confusion this may have caused. Peace & Love, Team Ringo.”

Ringo Starr's staff said his Twitter account was hacked after he retweeted a 'f*** the Beatles' post, as screengrabbed by a Buzzfeed journalist. One tweet from Ringo’s account had read: “Being honest here, @Harry_Styles was a bit smelly”.

The pair had been pictured in a photo together at the pre-GRAMMY gala earlier this week in Beverly Hills, California. The tweets were swiftly deleted, while Ringo fans shared their anger on his Facebook page that people would dare to hack his account.

Fan Brooks Fisher said: “You sh details

According to WWD, McCartney is planning to launch her first menswear range in time for the spring 2017 season.

Though a spokesperson for the brand declined to comment on the speculation, a male line would be natural progression for the designer, who is best known for her tailoring, separates and knitwear.

Developing ranges aimed at the men's market is an emerging trend in the fashion world, with iconic fashion houses such as Balmain and Marni both launching collections recently.

McCartney, 44, launched her fashion house in 2001, and she has since been focused on the womenswear market.

Her current collections include ready-to-wear, lingerie, eyewear, fragrance and children's clothing. Last year also marked the tenth anniversary of the successful Adidas by Stella McCartney line, which is a range aimed at the active younger audience.

In 2010, McCartney was appointed Team GB’s Creative Director for the 2012 Olympics by Adidas and designed the uniforms worn by British athletes who were competing in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Source: Sunday World

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Musicologists and verbose rock fans have dedicated thousands upon thousands of words to the merits and "behind the music" details of "important" albums such as the Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. But how many books have you read about Mick Jagger's solo debut, She's the Boss? How about Bill Wyman's 1974 solo outing, Monkey Grip? Should we even bother asking about the Charlie Watts Quintet's Long Ago and Far Away?

Let's face it, regardless of how great (or, in these three cases, decent-ish) they might be, solo albums by members of legendary rock bands—from the Stones to the Beatles to Led Zeppelin to Guns N' Roses—rarely (if ever) attain the same legendary status of the music released by the bands themselves.

For instance, let's take this George Harrison fellow.

Guitar-centric magazines and websites (like this one) have, deservedly, slathered decades worth o' praise on Harrison's 1962-to-1970 guitar work with the Beatles. We've broken down his guitar solos from "Something," "I'm Only Sleeping," "Let It Be" and "Old Brown Shoe." We've applauded his introduction of sitars and 12-string electric guitars into pop music. We've even dedicated Guitar World lessons to his late-Beatles-era acoustic w details