Beatles News

 The Grammy Awards will come earlier than usual in 2014, and will have something extra special. Ringo Starr confirmed for me tonight that The Beatles will likely be celebrated twice–once during the Grammy Awards, and then again the next night. The plan right now is for a special Beatles segment during the Grammys on January 26th to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their arrival in America on February 7. 1964.

Then, on January 27, the Monday night after the Grammys, there will be a special Beatles show in Los Angeles at the Convention Center. Right now it’s supposed to entail a lot of different acts playing Beatles songs. Ringo says that so far he and Paul McCartney have discussed only the “possibility” of their participation. “It’s not like we’re not going to do it,” he told me. “But it might be cool to have all these other bands doing our stuff, and we’re watching.” Knowing Paul and Ringo, though, it might be hard to keep them off the stage. And for a true Beatles anniversary celeb details

Paul McCartney has never dwelled in yesterday, even if he remembers it quite well. At 71, he's just released his 24th post-Beatles album, New, and is generating music at a pace that puts artists a quarter of his age to shame. And in a remarkably candid cover story by Rolling Stone contributing editor Jonah Weiner (on newsstands Friday) McCartney discusses the drive keeps him creating fresh music — as well as the memories of his Beatles bandmates that continue to shape his life today.

Perhaps most shockingly, McCartney reveals that although he's always teaming up with fresh talent — New features production by Adele collaborator Paul Epworth, Amy Winehouse producer Mark Ronson, Giles Martin (son of legendary Beatles producer George) and frequent Kings of Leon partner Ethan Johns — he also consulted with another source, someone who knows his music intimately: John Lennon. "If I'm at a point where I go, 'I'm not sure about this,' I'll throw it across the room to John," McCartney tells& details

In a photograph in the new biography of the Beatles, "Tune In" by historian Mark Lewisohn, John Lennon stands in a Hamburg street in his underwear in the middle of the night, reading a copy of the Daily Express dated October 1960.

"One of the things he read in that paper was that when Eddie Fisher stayed with Elizabeth Taylor when she was in the London Clinic, he slept on the floor in the same room," Mr. Lewisohn said in an interview. "And in 1970, John did the exact same thing with Yoko, in the London Clinic. He slept on the floor." Mr. Lewisohn could just make out the headline "Castro Seizes Envoy" in the photo, so he tracked it down, hoping it would help date the picture. Knowing that John Lennon generally read the Daily Express every day cover to cover, Mr. Lewisohn read that issue, too, wanting to know what Mr. Lennon would have seen. He says he loves the coincidence that Mr. Lennon, unwittingly or not, re-enacted a scene he would have read about a decade before. "I like the parallel that he read it, and then 10 years later did the same thing," he says.

EXCLUSIVE The Grammy Awards will come earlier than usual in 2014, and will have something extra special. Ringo Starr confirmed for me tonight that The Beatles will likely be celebrated twice–once during the Grammy Awards, and then again the next night. The plan right now is for a special Beatles segment during the Grammys on January 26th to commemorate the 50th anniversary of their arrival in America on February 7. 1964.

Then, on January 27, the Monday night after the Grammys, there will be a special Beatles show in Los Angeles at the Convention Center. Right now it’s supposed to entail a lot of different acts playing Beatles songs. Ringo says that so far he and Paul McCartney have discussed only the “possibility” of their participation. “It’s not like we’re not going to do it,” he told me. “But it might be cool to have all these other bands doing our stuff, and we’re watching.” Knowing Paul and Ringo, though, it might be hard to keep them off the stage. And for details

Former Beatle Ringo Starr may be the latest music legend headed toward a residency in Sin City. The 73-year-old drummer-turned-frontman hinted at the possibility Tuesday at a press conference in Hollywood to announce Latin American tour dates for Ringo and His All Starr Band.

"You mean like 'The Golden Drums?' Like - what is it - 'The Red Piano?'" he quipped, invoking the name of Elton John's Las Vegas show. "It's been talked about, but nothing's been finalized. We have a couple years before that happens, I believe. So what is the answer? Not yet." The Beatles already have a strong track record in the Nevada gambling capital. The Cirque du Soleil production "Love" - which features the music of the Fab Four - has been a staple on The Strip since 2006.

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Who says Japanese people listen only to young, stylish J-pop and K-pop superstars? Former Beatle and rock legend Paul McCartney has made it into the Japanese hit charts with his first album in six years, appropriately titled NEW, making it to number 2, just behind Big Bang’s Seungri’s solo debut album.

This is also the first time that a musician over 70 years old has broken into the Top 10, which can be a sign that Japan’s greying population is going back to the “classics”. Or maybe people really just have a soft spot for former members of The Beatles. Whatever reason is good news for McCartney, who will be touring Japan this November, as his album sold 23,000 copies as of this Sunday, from data compiled by Oricon, the Tokyo-based music sales tracker. It’s also been 31 years since he has last made it into the Japanese charts and his concert tour will be his first since 2002.

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A small Swedish town set the stage for the Beatles' first ever gig outside the UK, a fact celebrated half a century later, despite local press at the time dubbing it an "amateur jig".

Autumn 1963. Bengt-Åke Bengtsson and some 20 female admirers waited for the British band to alight at Arlanda airport, near Stockholm. There were nine gigs on the calender, inlcuding a stop in Karlstad. "An amateur jig," wrote a less-than-impressed critic in the pages of the local newspaper, Nya Wermlands-Tidningen. Bengtsson, however, disagreed "I think that's utterly wrong. The Beatles came along with something new," Bengtsson told the TT news agency on Wednesday. "It was fantastic, novel and fresh. And it wasn't just the music - it was the clothes, the hair, the chat." 

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Source: The Local, Sweden

Photo Credit: Jan Collsioo/TT

Ringo Starr needs a little Help! finding five teenage fans that he photographed during The Beatles’ first tour of America in 1964. The group were snapped by Starr in Miami Beach, Florida, after their car drew up alongside the convertible The Beatles were in.

A sixth youngster can be seen in the background on the right-hand side. They would now be in their sixties and the musician is hoping that they will come forward, or that someone will recognise them. The picture is being published for the first time in Starr’s new book Photograph, along with over 200 never-before-seen shots. Starr, 73, wrote in the book: ‘It’s just a great shot. They're looking at us and I'm photographing them.’ He added: ‘I love pictures put together, showing different times of your life.’

Yoko Ono has been saying for years that she wasn't responsible for The Beatles' 1970 breakup. Now, the 80-year-old singer and artist is expressing gratitude for the clearance given to her by a Beatle himself. Ono told the U.K. Times that she is "very, very thankful" for the comments Paul McCartney made last year in which he said he no longer blames her for the band's split.

"I mean, I was shocked. I thought, 'Now you are saying it? Now, after 40 years? But it was very good. In the atmosphere that the world created for us, it was not easy for him to say something like that." McCartney and John Lennon's widow have famously sparred for years over songwriting credits in The Beatles' catalog as well as the band's aforementioned breakup, and many fans are quick to ascribe blame to Ono for the split. The two musicians have spent years pointing fingers at each other in the media regarding the true nature of The Beatles' decline. Ono once called McCartney the less-talented Salieri to Lennon's Mozart, while McCartney said she is not the "b details

George Harrison's extraordinary musical career will be feted this coming Saturday at New York City's Beacon Theatre by the Fab Faux, dubbed "the greatest Beatles cover band" by Rolling Stone senior editor David Fricke. Legendary rock critic and Sirius XM radio host Dave Marsh enthused, "Amazingly, they're so good at it you learn new things about the originals."

The band, a labor of love born in 1998 when neighbors Jimmy Vivino (bandleader/guitarist for Conan O'Brien) and Will Lee (bassist for Paul Shaffer's CBS Orchestra on the Late Show with David Letterman) came up with the idea during a communal elevator ride in their apartment building. Jimmy and Will are joined by lead-singing drummer/producer Rich Pagano (Rosanne Cash, Patti Smith, sugarCane cups), guitarist Frank Agnello (Marshall Crenshaw, Phoebe Snow), and keyboardist/guitarist Jack Petruzzelli (Joan Osborne Band, Rufus Wainwright). Harrison would have been 70 years old this past February.

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A few months ago, Beatles drummer Ringo Starr collected some of his personal pictures for the e-book Photograph. Now, that book is being printed in a limited edition physical version, but it won't come cheap. It's due out on November 22 throughGenesis Publications.

Bound with leather and featuring gold foil, the tome costs a whopping £345 ($581.91). The books are hand-numbered, with each one signed by Ringo himself. Those who are considering forking out the cash for the book can console themselves by knowing that the money goes to a good cause, since Ringo is donating all of his royalties to the Lotus Foundation. It's available to pre-order here. Photograph features more than 250 rare and never-before-seen images, which chronicle Ringo's early life, his time in the Beatles, and more. Starr said in a statement, "I love pictures put together, showing different times of your life. At the time, I never thought that there would be a whole book of my photographs."

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John Lennon's life is celebrated again! Theatre Within, the grassroots non-profit behind the annual celebration of John Lennon in NYC, announced the line-up for the 33rd Annual John Lennon Tribute, set for Friday, December 6 at 8PM at Symphony Space in New York City. 

Steve Earle will top a stellar line-up including Raul Malo (lead singer of the Mavericks), Marc Cohn, Teddy Thompson, Dana Fuchs ("Sexy Sadie" in the hit film Across the Universe), and returning fan favorites Joan Osborne, R&B great Bettye LaVette, Toshi Reagon, Rich Pagano (of The Fab Faux). Lennon Tribute creator and MAD Magazine Senior Editor Joe Raiola will be appearing for his 33rd consecutive year. Plus, The Buffers, an a cappella group from Hamilton College, N.Y., has planned a special all vocal medley honoring the music legend. "It's beautiful that Theatre Within continues to honor John's memory and have such a powerful and positive impact with its annual Tribute to him," sa details

For Paul McCartney, the decision to fill most of the Beatles’ albums with songs composed alongside John Lennon — rather than those of George Harrison and Ringo Starr — came down to productivity.

“There’s only four people,” McCarney told Howard Stern. “So you’ve got to go: ‘Well, two of us will do this.’ Or you’ve got to say: ‘We’re all going to write equally.’ Well, in that case, Ringo better up his game a bit — because John and I were writing; George and Ringo weren’t.”Over time, of course, Harrison began grow by leaps and bounds as a songwriter. By 1969, he’d crafted a No. 1 single for the Beatles in “Something.” “He’d written a couple before that on some of the earlier albums,” McCartney says. “They were really good. He was starting to shape up. But he’d never seemed that interested — I suppose, because John and I were kind of dominating it.”

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Some revolutions have been hatched in neighborhood pubs; others in the streets. Fifty years ago this week, in a downstairs basement in London, Beatles John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote "I Want to Hold Your Hand." They recorded it the next day. While they hoped it would reach No. 1 on the charts, neither artist dreamed it would become the seminal song of a generation.

Most historians believe the Beatles' first appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" on Feb. 9, 1964, marked the turning point in popular culture. To the uninitiated, that's mostly true. John, Paul, George and Ringo's performance that winter night was watched by a record-breaking 40 million people coast to coast. I was one of them. Another person who watched that fateful night was Jack Paar, the legendary host of "The Tonight Show." Paar had introduced the lads from Liverpool to America three months earlier when he aired a tape of them entertaining British audiences. Despite being only a sophomore at Cubberley High School at the time, I still remember watching Paar's clip like it was ye details

Brian Wilson thinks Paul McCartney is the best musician around today and branded the musician as the most ''gifted'' singer he's ever listened to. The Beach Boys singer branded the former Beatles musician as the most ''gifted'' singer he's ever listened to and praised the 'Let it Be' singer for his innovative sounds.

When asked by TheAquarian.com whom he rates today, he replied: ''Gee, that's a hard question to answer. I think Paul McCartney, you know? ''Because he's probably the most gifted musician I've ever known and he brings new and beautiful things to people.'' Brian admitted he initially felt self-conscious about being deaf in his right ear, but claims the disability motivated him to write The Beach Boys 1966 album, 'Pet Sounds', recognised as one of the most influential records in the history of popular music. The 71-year-old musician mused: ''Well, I mean, I felt a little bit inadequate about my right ear so I think I overcompensated when I wrote Pet Sou details