Beatles News

John Lennon is the latest iconic personality to secure a worldwide licensing, global branding and rightsmanagement agreement with Epic Rights. Yoko Ono has pacted with Epic Rights CEO Dell Furano to develop a worldwide initiative encompassing the career of her late husband.

Epic Rights will develop two new programs for the John Lennon legacy: the John Lennon Classic brand for products featuring the artist's name, likeness and signature; and the Bag One Arts brand based on drawings by John Lennon from rare archival sketches. These drawings encompass the years 1964 through 1980 and celebrate human love and communication, including his iconic and instantly recognizable self-portrait. Epic Rights will introduce the new John Lennon programs to potential licensing partners at the June 2014 Licensing Expo in Las Vegas. As the worldwide merchandise and licensing agent for John Lennon Classic and Ba details

With ‘Mad Men’ set to end its acclaimed run on AMC next year, there will undoubtedly be a void in ’60s-set programming that needs to be filled. Enter NBC, who are reportedly in talks to create a series about the history of the Beatles.

Deadline says that the network is working with Michael Hirst, Ben Silverman and Teri Weinberg, the same production team that created ‘The Tudors,’ which ran on Showtime from 2007-10. Bob Greenblatt, who was President of Entertainment for Showtime during the period that the story of King Henry VIII aired, is currently the chairman of NBC. The series is still in the early stages of development, but it is expected to have an eight-episode run, so the question of how much they’ll be able to tell is up for grabs. Still, the history of the Beatles is an oft-told tale — not least of which by the group itself in their remarkable 1995 ‘Anthology’ documentary — so fictionalizing it can lead to all sorts of questions about accuracy. And then there’s th details

Five years to the day after the release of The Beatles in Mono, a box set of the group's monaurally mixed catalog through 1968, the band is issuing a vinyl version of the box set. Although the quartet put out stereo versions of their albums concurrent with the mono ones throughout most of their career, the Beatles considered the mono versions as definitive.

The limited-edition 14-LP Beatles in Mono vinyl box set includes the group's first nine U.K. albums – from Please Please Me to The Beatles – the American-compiled Magical Mystery Tour and a collection of Mono Masters, which consist of non-album singles and tracks, all on 180-gram vinyl with artwork matching the original releases and a 108-page hardbound book. Each mono LP will also be available to purchase individually, outside of the box set. Grammy-winning engineer Sean Magee and Grammy-winning mastering supervisor Steve Berkowitz details

Ringo Starr, who is currently on tour with his All Starr Band, is also bringing his artwork to New York City. What started merely as a diversion to pass the time, has since developed into an iconic collection of artwork. This year Ringo has created a unique set of 'self portraits' that truly showcases his evolution as a visual artist.

On June 19th, a collection of Starr's self-portraits will be unveiled at a VIP opening reception and exhibition at the Soho Contemporary Art Gallery, 259 Bowery, New York, NY 10002(www.sohocontemporaryart.com) To attend this VIP opening reception you must be one of the first 50 to purchase a signed piece by Ringo Starr. Artwork is on sale now. You will have the opportunity to meet him on June 19 at a private reception and have a photograph taken with him. Very limited space. Please call or email Soho Contemporary Art gallery for a pdf of the exhibition catalogue. Phone: (646) 719 1316 Email: info@sohocontemporaryart.com. "Soho Contemporary Ar details

Paul McCartney's postponed Out There tour dates left thousands of disappointed fans and promoters scrambling to adjust their schedules. And while the long-term costs of his recent viral infection are likely to be minimal, show delays and cancellations can become rife with complications.  

McCartney had to pay perhaps hundreds of thousands of dollars for the musicians, crew, trucks and buses he hired to set up the shows originally planned for June, concert-business sources say, but he also likely had insurance in case of cancellation. "It would be a huge catastrophe if Paul couldn't tour again, ever," says Doc McGhee, manager of Kiss, Darius Rucker and others. "But a postponement is just an inconvenience. I've seen people cancel shows that are sold out and come back later and do 50 percent [of the] business — I would doubt that would happen to a Beatle." Although McCartney, 71, had to postpone all of his June shows in the U.S. to new dates in October, he said in a statement this week that he details

Ringo Starr is once again ready to get by with a little help from his musical friends, as the rock legend kicks off a brand-new North American tour with his All Starr Band tonight in Rama, Canada.  Todd Rundgren has been a member of this All Starr Band lineup since 2012, and he says playing in the group is “the best gig you could have.”

He tells ABC News Radio that Ringo pretty much treats everyone in the band as equals, and that includes the Beatles drummer himself. “There’s no kind of, like, Ringo class and our class,” explains Rundgren.  “We stay at the same hotels that he stays in.  We fly in the same plane that he flies in…You know, it’s not ‘I’m the star and the boss and you guys just work for me.’  He’s very…proud of the fact that this is a real band and he’s part of it.” Todd, of course, seems grateful to be part of the All Starr Band too, explaining somewhat jokingly that he almost didn’t meet Starr&rsqu details

Jimmy Nicol, the stand-in drummer for Ringo Starr at the start of The Beatles’ 1964 world tour, sitting all alone at the departure lounge at Essendon Airport, waiting for his flight home to England.

Packed in his luggage is a copy of The Advertiser newspaper from two days earlier. Splashed across the front page is a picture of Jimmy, born in London, three Lads from Liverpool and DJ Bob Francis, standing on the Adelaide Town Hall balcony in front of an ecstatic mob of adoring fans. Even the three “official” Beatles were amazed by the fanatical reception they received in Adelaide at the start of their Australian tour that saw 300,000 on the streets — so just imagine how mind-blowing it was for the newest band member? Complaining he could no longer cope with the “mediocrity of life”, Nicol, walked out of his London flat three years after that remarkable winter’s day in Adelaide and effectively disappeared for the next four decades. Born James George Nicol in 1939, a month before the start details

The Mahwah Museum will host the Les Paul 99th Birthday Gala 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Trustees Pavilion at Ramapo College. A live and silent auction will be held, offering an array of special guitars and music memorabilia, in addition to live entertainment by the Les Paul Trio and a raffle drawing of autographed guitars and pick guards.

The live auction will include a Hofner bass guitar and pick guard signed by Paul McCartney, one Fender Squire solid-body electric guitar autographed by Pete Townshend and a second with an autograph by Chuck Berry on the pick guard. For a full list of auction items and information about online bidding, visit mahwah museum.org. Wine, hors d’oeuvres and light fare will be provided. Tickets ($25 for both the gala and raffle) are available 1 to 4 p.m. today at the Mahwah Museum, 201 Franklin Turnpike; at Robbie’s Music on Route 17 north; at Devon Fine Jewelry in Wyckoff; at Alto’s Music on Route 59 in Airmont, N.Y.; and online at mahwahmuseum.org.

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The U.S. Congress is working to update laws on who gets paid for recorded music, in a possible omnibus bill, as old CDs pile up at yard sales and music lovers increasingly shift to streaming services such as Pandora and Spotify.

One bill, the RESPECT Act, would close a loophole that allows digital music services, like SiriusXM, to stream music recorded before 1972 without paying for them. These include legends such as The Beatles, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross and other Motown artists. A second bill, the Songwriter Equity Act, would give songwriters more leeway to argue for higher royalties when their songs are played by digital streaming services. Songwriting and recordings are licensed separately. Representative Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat from New York, said on Tuesday he was working on an omnibus bill to address these and other legal issues as digital streaming has replaced broadcast radio and albums as the most popular way of listening to music. "We can create a better system for radio competitors, for artists and songwri details

The new single, "The High Road" from Brent Bourgeois and Julian Lennon (the auditory clone of his father, John Lennon) is fooling listeners into believing there is a newly unearthed gem from the Beatles

ELK GROVE, Calif., June 10, 2014 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The new single, "The High Road" from Brent Bourgeois and Julian Lennon (the auditory clone of his father, John Lennon) is fooling listeners into believing there is a newly unearthed gem from the Beatles. Bourgeois' former band Bourgeois Tagg was best known for their Beatle-esque hit, "I Don't Mind At All." Now, teamed up with the son of the former Beatle, he's at it again. In "The High Road," he and Lennon trade verses behind a track that also features Bourgeois' former bandmates Larry Tagg and Michael Urbano. The result details

Paul McCartney has rescheduled the U.S. tour dates he had originally scheduled to begin in mid-June for October. His Out There tour will now resume in Albany on July 5th. The former Beatle is still recuperating from the virus that forced him to postpone several dates in Japan and South Korea. See the rescheduled dates, as well as McCartney's July and August dates, below.

"I'm sorry, but it's going to be a few more weeks before we get rocking in America again," McCartney said in a statement. "I'm feeling great, but taking my docs' advice to take it easy for just a few more days. Look forward to seeing you all soon."

The 71-year-old postponed a string of dates in Asia in late May when he came down with a virus and was hospitalized in Tokyo. At the time, his rep said, "He will make a complete recovery and has been ordered to take a few days rest."

Prior to postponing the U.S. tour dates, this leg of McCartney's Out There tour was meant to wrap up in San Francisco, where he would play th details

Paul McCartney began the ’70s in an alcoholic haze and ended them in a Japanese jail. The decade in between was one long and winding road. A new book, “Man on the Run: Paul McCartney in the 1970s,” by music journalist Tom Doyle, reveals just how unprepared McCartney was for life beyond the Beatles.

He was shaken to the core by the band’s demise and further undone by John Lennon’s vitriol. Doyle, who conducted extensive interviews with McCartney and almost everyone else still alive from the singer’s dark decade, tells the story of a man who almost didn’t make it out of the ’60s and the Beatles alive. “He knew he was in trouble the morning he couldn’t lift his head off the pillow. He awoke facedown, his skull feeling like a useless dead weight. A dark thought flashed through his mind; if he couldn’t make the effort to pull himself up, he’d suffocate right there and then,” Doyle writes, pulling from McCartney’s recollections. “Somehow, as if it was the hardest thing he’d ever details

Beatles fans will be able to hear, for the first time ever, the unedited version of an interview that John, George and Ringo gave to Melbourne radio personality Binny Lum ahead of their Australian tour in April 1964.

The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) will publish the 16-minute conversation to mark the 50th anniversary of The Beatles’ Australian tour tomorrow, 11 June. Edited versions have been broadcast and included on special discs over the years, but the full interview had never been released. Radio curator Maryanne Doyle says, “The Beatles were at the height of their popularity and it was a real coup that an Australian radio personality, unknown in the UK, had managed to secure an interview with the English rock band, the hottest property in show business. The fact that this occurred says as much for Lum’s tenacity as her well connected network of contacts.” Lum’s recordings (including interviews with a young Barbra Streisand, Fred Astaire details

As a high-end software recreation of the Sixties-vintage VOX Continental 300 transistor-based combo organ, VOX Continental-V is the latest addition to Arturia's acclaimed Analog Classics lineup where it sits alongside an authentic recreation of another archetypal Sixties staple, Wurlitzer-V (based on the classic 'Wurly' electric piano).

Introduced in 1962, the VOX Continental -- or 'Connie' as affectionately it became known -- was originally designed to address the needs of touring musicians, but became musically much-loved in its own right. As such, it prominently featured on many hit records of the time, including The Animals' classic 'House Of The Rising Sun' in 1964 and, a little later, 'Light My Fire' by The Doors. Onstage, The Beatles performed a memorably frenzied version of 'Help!' B-side 'I'm Down' during their August 1965 performance at New York's Shea Stadium with John Lennon playing a VOX Continental using his elbows at times! Despite being phased out of production in the early-Seventies, the VOX Continental has s details

Fifty years ago, on Thursday, June 11, 1964, four lads from Liverpool, England, arrived in Australia on their first world tour – John, Paul, George … and Jimmy. A fifth, Ringo, newly recovered from tonsillitis, took over from Jimmy Nicol and assumed his rightful place a couple of days later.

The strange and stirring sound of the Beatles – or the latest electronic noise, depending on whose side you were on – had shot up the Australian charts the previous December. But even the most enthusiastic shrieking fans at the old Sydney Stadium in Rushcutters Bay couldn’t have guessed that half a century later the musical landscape would still be reverberating from the band’s impact. To celebrate the 50th anniversary of that trip to Australia, four fab contemporary Australian songwriters explain how the Beatles influenced their lives, their record collections and their music. 

Sarah Blasko

Beatles breakthrough: I actually heard Paul McCartney firs details