Beatles News

David Bowie will be honoured with a tribute concert in New York later this year, with some legendary musicians set to take to the stage. Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Mick Jagger are amongst those expected to remember the star.

The event - named The Music of David Bowie - was already set to take place at Carnegie Hall before the singer died on Monday, but following his passing, the 31st March event will now be a memorial show.

According to the Daily Star, The Beatles and Rolling Stones legends are expected to join the likes of Sir Elton John as part of the line-up.

Meanwhile, a statement on the event's website reads: "The unexpected death of David Bowie has turned this tribute, which we have worked on for the past 7 months, into a memorial concert... "This year's concert will certainly be remembered as a poignant celebration of his music by his friends, peers, and fans.

"We are deeply saddened by the news. The timing of our public on-sale date is bizarre in its timing and the show is taking on many more emotions. RIP David and may God's love bewith you."

By: Alistar McGeorge

Source: The Mirror

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Newly enrolled at the Liverpool School of Art, a young and hungry musician named John Lennon was beginning to survey the landscape for like-minded talent. He was immediately taken with a dashing young Scot; a gifted painter with miles of style and a piercing James Dean stare.

The future rock legend knew right away that this lad was the real deal. The two immediately became flatmates, and Lennon enlisted the young man to play bass for a band they had agreed to call “the Beatals” (and then eventually, the Beatles, as a reference to Buddy Holly’s band, “the Crickets”.)

Stuart Sutcliffe wasn’t much of a musician. Though he’d only had basic musical training, Lennon insisted he join the band because, in the words of George Harrison, Stuart “looked so cool.”

Sutcliffe did happen to be a talented artist though, and he will be having a posthumous show of his artwork at Harper’s Apartment on East 74th Street, a new branch of the East Hampton bookstore, Harper’s Books.

“People always wonder what would’ve happened if Sutcliffe had lived,” said Harper’s owner, Harper Levine via email. “He wasn’t going back to details

Being the daughter of a Beatle has its perks: Stella McCartney tapped Beach Boy Brian Wilson to perform during the presentation of her Autumn 2016 collection Tuesday evening at iconic Los Angeles record shop Amoeba Music. Wilson, who ran through a slew of hits as McCartney snapped photos from the front row, embodied the Hollywood location's spirit, especially as he crooned "California Girls."

It was fitting as the evening marked the first time London-based designer Stella McCartney has shown a collection in LA. "It just felt right to be in LA right now," the designer told ELLE.com. "It's a place I spend a lot of time, and I have a lot of friends here. [Amoeba is] somewhere we've wanted to show for a really long time and we finally got them to say yes. I think my dad is the only person that's closed down the store, really."

And, as it turns out, showing your collection just a few days after the star-studded Golden Globes is the perfect way to net a killer crowd: The evening's attendees included Gwyneth Paltrow, Orlando Bloom, Mary J. Blige, Ringo Starr, Katy Perry, Kate Hudson, Melanie Griffith, Anjelica Huston, Chelsea Handler, Sarah Silverman, Nicole Richie, and more.

By: Emily Zemler

Source: El details

Along with his music, David Bowie lives on through his art. The singer is among many giants in the music biz who created their own pieces over the years. You can see some of that art at a gallery in Michigan.

Bowie passed away of cancer just days after his 69th birthday and the release of his new album "Blackstar." Gerard Marti owns Robert Kidd Gallery located at 107 Townsend St. in Birmingham near Detroit.

The gallery houses all kinds of artwork from some of the biggest names in music history. Along with pieces from Bowie, you can find art made by Steven Tyler, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, Tony Bennett and many more.

New pieces come in all the time and all of the pieces are for sale. You can see some of those pieces in the photo gallery at the top of this story. Marti also has great pieces of memorabilia, including autographed pieces from The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

Marti used to work in the music industry in the 70s and 80s for EMI,  so as you can imagine, he has a lot of connections.

By: Edward Pevos

Source: Michigan Live

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Seventy-four-year-old Stevie Calrow will audition on this weekend’s edition of The Voice and he’s got a pretty interesting backstory: he gigged with The Beatles.

Calrow, who hails from the Fab Four's native Liverpool, often used to go and watch the band play at the local Cavern Club and one night in 1962 found himself called up to sing. “I got a shout out from the DJ at the time to go down to the band room and perform with The Beatles,” Calrow tells The Voice co-host Marvin Humes in what is the second episode of this year's series.

“I told everybody, nobody believed me!” “I did sing with The Beatles. Three songs. It’s the best backing I’ve ever had in my life,” he jokes. “It’s a memory to treasure”.

Joining the legendary band was actually somewhat of an SOS. “They’d done 14 days of gigs on the trot and they’d worn their voices out completely,” Calrow told the Liverpool Echo in 2013. Finding Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best backstage, Calrow said the DJ explained: “Do you want to get up and sing with them because they can hardly talk, never mind sing.&rdqu details

Musicians and celebrities have taken to Twitter and their websites to pay tribute to legendary singer David Bowie, who has died at the age of 69, his representative confirmed to ABC News.

The great Paul McCartney of the Beatles took to his page to post a touching tribute, beginning by writing, "Very sad news to wake up to on this raining morning. David was a great star and I treasure the moments we had together."

He continued: "His music played a very strong part in British musical history and I’m proud to think of the huge influence he has had on people all around the world. I send my deepest sympathies to his family and will always remember the great laughs we had through the years. His star will shine in the sky forever."

Here are what other celebrities had to say about the legend.

By: Kelly Stevenson

Source: ABC News

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Pop historians believe they have uncovered a mysterious lost Birmingham gig by The Beatles. And they’ve issued an SOS in the hope that members of the public who were at the 1962 concert will get in touch.

The Fab Four were then unknowns and Ringo Starr had only just joined the group. Not surprisingly, the set was played to a sparse audience at The Ritz Ballroom in Kings Heath.

Details of The Beatles’ gig at the same venue in February 15, 1963, are well-documented.

Then, the world’s greatest group was riding high in the charts with Please Please Me and they arrived at The Ritz to a chorus of screaming girls. But Bob Prew and Ken Whittaker, who organised the celebrations to mark the 50th anniversary of the ‘63 show, were stunned to be told it was The Beatles’ second visit. No fewer than four people have approached them, claiming to have been in the audience. “There must be something in it,” said Ken. “We have received the same information from four independent sources, all saying the same thing.

“It was apparently an ordinary Sunday, it was not crowded. Remember, no-one had heard of them. “They were just The Beatles. “I’ve gone details

The faux Fab Four are back.

You’ll have a chance to relive those strawberry fields, golden days of yesteryear or maybe introduce your kids and grandkids to what have become timeless tunes, when the Las Cruces Symphony Orchestra joins “Classical Mystery Tour: A Tribute to the Beatles” to present a pair of pops concerts Jan. 16-17 at New Mexico State University’s Atkinson Music Center Recital Hall.

“It’s one of my favorite pops shows. They look like the Beatles. They sound like the Beatles and dress like them, from their first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show to the last part of their career. It’s a great show,” Lonnie Klein, LCSO’s music director and conductor, said.

“We sold out when they appeared with us in 2005. People loved them, danced and had a great time. They were on their feet after the first song and they never sat down,” said Klein, who added that audience members are welcome (and encouraged) to dress up in outfits representing their fave Beatle eras, from the early moptop hairstyles and suits and ties to Sgt. Pepper garb, Nehru jackets, and hippie psychedelic costumes.

The tribute group stars Jim Owen (John Lennon) on details

Robert Balser, an animator who co-directed the cartoon sequences of the Beatles' 1968 musical fantasy film Yellow Submarine, passed away January 4th at a Los Angeles hospital following complications from respiratory failure. He was 88. Balser's widow Cima Balser confirmed her husband's death to the Animated World Network.

Yellow Submarine was Balser's first feature film in a career that would eventually span five decades. The animator and co-director Jack Stokes led a team of 200 artists in creating the cartoon Beatles' trippy journey to Pepperland to battle the Blue Meanies, a production that took 11 months and over $1 million. (Stokes passed away in 2013.)

The feature film was borne out of the Beatles' hatred of their American cartoon series: A similar deal with a production company for an animated series in the U.K. resulted in the Fab Four only agreeing to do the film due to contractual obligations; they didn't even voice their own animated counterparts. With only the film's title track and four new Beatles songs to work with, Balser and his collaborators created a story concocted only by "whiskey and imagination," the animator told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review in 2012, when the remastered film was released details

Ringo Starr will be getting by with a little help from his friends again in 2016.

The 12th and longest-running incarnation of his All-Starr Band, together since 2012, is planning to hit the road again in the new year. "Yes, we are going out again, I believe next summer," Todd Rundgren -- who was part of the second All-Starr Band during 1992 as well as in the current lineup -- tells Billboard. "We decided to do another American tour, and I hear rumors of possibly going back to the Pacific Rim in October or something like that." There are scheduling challenges, of course -- notably guitarist Steve Lukather's commitments to Toto and keyboardist Greg Rolie's involvement with the reunited early Santana lineup, as well as Rundgren's solo projects. But all concerned seem more than willing to work around any conflicts.

"As far as Ringo`s concerned, as long as everyone is able to show up he's probably just going to keep doing this until either he can't do it anymore or one or more of us can't do it anymore," Rundgren says. Starr himself notes that "I love this band. I love the guys and we all get on well and everyone is cool. I'm keeping it together." And Rundgren concurs that this All-Starr collective has a little somet details

The original Beatles Gear book was published back in 2001 and, over the past decade-and-a-half, it’s become the go-to bible for anyone with an interest in the extensive equipment the Fab Four dabbled with during their incredible albeit brief career.

The new expanded Ultimate Edition, which has recently hit the shops, provides fascinating new interviews, 650 new and previously unpublished photos and a slew of surprising recent gear-related discoveries that author Andy Babiuk has helped uncover.

One astounding addition to Beatles Gear is the inclusion of John Lennon’s original 1962 Gibson J-160E acoustic, which had been lost for over 50 years. This was the guitar that Lennon wrote many of The Beatles’ early hits on before it was stolen in December 1963 at the Astoria Cinema in Finsbury Park, London.

“This one happened last summer when a guy contacted me on the phone,” explains Andy, “I get a lot of people calling and emailing with stuff but 99% of the time, it’s nothing or just nonsense.

“Anyway, this guy said, ‘My friend’s got John Lennon’s J-160E’. So I was like, ‘Hey, right, okay… well, send me the picture&rsquo details

So you've spent the first week of 2016 glued to the highly anticipated release of the full Beatles catalog streaming on Spotify and Apple Radio? Us too. We've played all the songs on repeat, shed some tears (of joy), got nostalgic, and earned for peace, just like you.

And while we could go on and on about the many romantic first dance song opportunities (All You Need is Love, In My Life, Something, I'm Happy Just to Dance With You, just to get you started), it's time to talk about the many loves of all the Beatles. More specifically the Beatles weddings that still make us swoon. They may have had nine brides between them, but these Beatles weddings were so subtle and under the radar (lots of register's offices to keep the screaming fans away), while still hitting all the fashionable '60s staples (miniskirts galore).

John and Yoko

They were a force to be reckoned with. John Lennon met and fell in love with Yoko Ono in 1966. At the time, Lennon was famously married to Cynthia Lennon, with whom he shared a son, Julian. After John's divorce from Cynthia was final, John and Yoko were free to tie the knot. And they wanted to do it in true romantic fashion, on the train to Paris. "We wanted to get married on a details

The Beatles’ rise to prominence in the United States in February 1964 was a significant development in the history of the band’s commercial success.In addition to establishing the Beatles’ international stature, it changed attitudes to popular music in the United States, whose own Memphis-driven musical evolution had made it a global trendsetter.

The Beatles’ first visit to the United States came at a time of great popularity in Britain. The band’s UK commercial breakthrough, in late 1962, had been followed by a year of successful concerts and tours. The start of the Beatles’ popularity in the United States, in early 1964, was marked by intense demand for the single “I Want to Hold Your Hand”—which sold one-and-a-half million copies in under three weeks—and the band’s arrival the following month.The visit, advertised across the United States on five million posters, was a defining moment in the Beatles’ history, and the starting-point of the British Invasion.

These images were taken by Dr. Robert Beck, who died in 2002 and left them in an archive of photographs and slides in his Hollywood home.

Source: The Vintage News

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Concord, backed by Wood Creek – an investment manager with over $2.5 billion in committed capital – merged with independent publisher The Bicycle Music Company in April last year.

At the same time, it raised $100m to help expand its market presence. Since then, it’s gone on a bit of a spending spree, snapping up the likes of Fearless Records and Wind-Up Records and signing a worldwide JV with US indie Razor & Tie. Just last month, Concord licensed the global recorded rights to R.E.M’s classic ‘Warner Bros’ catalogue – a deal executed under the nose of the major label which helped make the band’s name. Now Bicycle Music has entered into exclusive worldwide publishing agreements with the Estate of George Harrison, which MBW believes was previously administered by Wixen.

The deal includes the Harrisongs catalogue, as well as the works of Dhani Harrison. The agreement covers George Harrison’s songs from the Beatles’ “White Album” (1968, featuring “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”), “Abbey Road” (1969, featuring “Something” and “Here Comes The Sun”) and “Let It Be” (1970), as well as so details

Over Christmas, when the Beatles catalogue finally got released on several music-streaming services, Spotify notably among them, a few of us waited to see not whether anybody wanted the old songs but which ones they would want. Would the audience in 2016 make smart choices, or confused ones, about music already a half century old?

Well, not only was there an audience out there—many millions have already streamed the Beatles songs—but, more important, with an eerie wisdom-of-crowds instinct, the choices it made did perfect justice to the spread of talent in the band and its distinctive interminglings. On Spotify’s list of the top-ten most-streamed songs of the Christmas weekend, there were, the Independent in London reported, three all-Johns (“Help,” “All You Need Is Love,” and “Come Together”), three all-Pauls (“Let It Be,” “Yesterday,” and “Hey, Jude”), two fifty-fifties (“Love Me Do” and “I Want to Hold Your Hand”), one George (“Here Comes the Sun”), and one cover (“Twist and Shout”). It was a perfectly balanced and insightful list.

This much justice was done and wisdom show details