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In the mid '60s, the Beatles were still very much together, but not necessarily on the exact same page.

Ringo Starr was a brand new father, happily soaking in the many blisses of domestic family life, while George Harrison was falling deeper into his studies of Eastern music and philosophy. Paul McCartney was investing his time into London's cultural scene — art galleries, operas, etc.

John Lennon's experience, however, was less stimulating, at least emotionally. He lived in Weybridge then, just far enough outside London for there not to be very much day-to-day excitement. He was regularly taking LSD and his relationship with wife Cynthia and son Julian was, in a word, deteriorating.

"I can get up and start doing nothing straight away," he told the journalist Hunter Davies in 1967 (via American Songwriter). "I just sit on the step, look into space, and think until it's time to go to bed. … If I am on my own for three days, doing nothing, I almost leave myself completely. I'm just not here. … I'm up there watching myself, or I'm at the back of my head. I can see my hands and realize they're moving, but it's a robot who's doing it."

Source: ultimateclassicrock.com/Allison R details

Sixty years ago, San Francisco native Gus Tham was living the dream. The 15-year-old was one of the bat boys for his hometown Giants.

"It was a fantastic job," Tham recalled.

At the time, the Giants played at the iconic Candlestick Park, and the team was packed with legends.

"Well, you start with the 3 M's: Mays, McCovey, and Marichal," Tham said.

Tham's tenure at Candlestick included not only the 3 "M's", but the Fab Four: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. On August 29, 1966, the Beatles came to San Francisco as part of their North American Tour.

"This was a big quick tour playing very large venues," music critic Joel Selvin said.

It was the Beatles' third performance in the Bay Area, and as it turns out, their final ticketed concert. The legendary rock band wanted to stop touring and go into the studio to record albums.

The group sent word that they would stop the tour early in Los Angeles. The tour's promoter Tom Donahue then traveled to Los Angeles, to serve them papers that if they did not show up, they would be breaking a legal contract. The Beatles then relented.

"The Beatles were so tired and done," said photo archivist Amelia D details

More than most artists, Paul McCartney has projected a sunny disposition and a positive outlook within his music. Not unfailingly, of course. But a solid percentage of McCartney’s songs will leave you feeling good when you’re finished listening to them.

He’s maintained that upbeat stance in his songs even when turmoil raged behind the scenes. “With A Little Luck”, for example, kept looking for the bright side, even as Wings, McCartney’s band at the time, was crumbling.
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Paul McCartney has always been looking for ways to spice up the recording process. In some cases, that meant finding a different location, somewhere that could liven up the somewhat dreary process of going into the studio and playing songs endlessly until they’re perfected.

Perhaps his wildest idea ever was to record a chunk of the 1978 album London Town on a boat. Well, technically, it was a fancy yacht called the Fair Carol that was moored in the Virgin Islands. McCartney chartered two more boats, one for other members of the band and one for him and his family, including wife Linda, who was pregnant at the time.

During those sessions on the boat, which details

The Beatles are arguably the greatest rock band – or even band – of all time, but they didn’t always get along.

The height of fame and their evolving lives eventually led them to separate, but not before one of the greatest guitarists of all time laid down an uncredited appearance in one of the band’s most legendary songs.

Eric Clapton was a surprise appearance in the studio, which forced the band to behave.

While John Lennon and Paul McCartney were viewed as the lyrical geniuses of the band, George Harrison emerged in his own right. Among his biggest hits was “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” which he wrote while at his mother’s house while thinking about the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Changes.

“The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there’s no such thing as coincidence – every little item that’s going down has a purpose,” Harrison revealed. “‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book – as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book a details

Sixty years ago, on Aug. 29, 1966, the Beatles played their final live show, at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. It was a turning point for the Fabs — the night that John, Paul, George, and Ringo quit the road. They signed off with one last bash at “Long Tall Sally,” four boys in the freezing fog and wind, proving to themselves one last time that they’re still the greatest rock & roll group, the toppermost of the poppermost. But then they took their goodnight bows, and that was it: the final twist. The final shout. The last stand of the Beatles as a live band.

They didn’t announce anything at Candlestick Park — none of the crowd had any clue this was the end. But all four Beatles knew it. They were sick of racing from town to town, for quickie 25-minute gigs where they couldn’t hear themselves play. They were sick of stadiums, with no room to explore their complex new sounds onstage. They were sick of saying “We’d like to carry on now” every night.

Candlestick turned out to be a new beginning — finally, they were free to experiment full-time in the studio, far away from the airports and hotels and dressing rooms. They were about to take off details

The solo careers of the four individual members of The Beatles received intense scrutiny from the press and music critics after the group’s breakup. And that attention really never let up.

Still, there are a few albums in their respective catalogs that feel like they never quite received their proper due. We’ve singled out one underappreciated album from each of the four members as examples.
‘Walls And Bridges’ by John Lennon

The music on Walls And Bridges gets somewhat overlooked because people tend to fixate on the biographical details of John Lennon’s early 70s period. For example, there’s a lurid interest in his so-called “Lost Weekend” antics in Los Angeles while separated from Yoko Ono. But Walls And Bridges came during a time when Lennon was able to pull focus. Commercially, it received a boost from “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”, Lennon’s smash duet with Elton John. But folks need to check out this album from start to finish, as it’s one of Lennon’s most consistent records. Album tracks like “Scared”, “Steel And Glass”, and “Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down And Out)” are pote details

Guests on Billy Corgan’s The Magnificent Others podcast have brought up some fascinating anecdotes in recent months. Gene Simmons told how Ace Frehley lifted a guitar solo from the Doors for a Kiss track. Zakk Wylde revealed how a chance to work with Guns N’ Roses sidelined his career with Ozzy Osbourne.

But few have delivered a history-changing story quite like Elliot Mintz. A friend of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Mintz has challenged the long-held belief that Lennon and Paul McCartney last met on April 25, 1976. According to that rather sad tale, McCartney turned up unannounced at Lennon’s New York apartment at the Dakota and was turned away by Lennon, who was busy with his son, Sean. Supposedly, the two former musical partners never met again.

Mintz, however, says the two men crossed paths two years later, during the Christmas holiday. And he knows, he says, because John and Yoko invited him over.

“They invite me to Dakota to spend one of the Christmas days with them,” Mintz tells Corgan. “And I go up to the Dakota, and I notice in the living room, there’s a vase with a single branch of a tree. That’s their Christmas decoration.

“I sat down o details

Paul McCartney's 1970 song "Maybe I'm Amazed" was born during one of the biggest changes of his life: the end of The Beatles and the beginning of his solo career.

More than five decades later, the song remains one of his best-known love songs and has earned major recognition, including a spot on Billboard's list of the 50 Best Rock Love Songs.

In Billboard's ranking, "Maybe I'm Amazed" came in at No. 13. The publication described it as McCartney's purest love song from his early solo years, pointing to its piano runs, guitar parts, and powerful vocals.

The song also received top recognition from Rolling Stone, which placed "Maybe I'm Amazed" at No. 1 on its list of the 100 Best Beatles Solo Songs.

Released on McCartney's self-titled debut solo album, McCartney, the song became closely linked to his relationship with his wife, Linda McCartney. It also captured a period when McCartney was moving forward after the breakup of the band that had made him world-famous.

The Beatles had been dealing with growing problems before their split became public. During the making of the White Album, Ringo Starr temporarily left the group. George Harrison also briefly quit during the "Get Back" rehearsals. details

64 years ago today, John Lennon wed Cynthia Powell in a small ceremony at the register office in Liverpool. With The Beatles' manager Brian Epstein as his best man and bandmates Paul McCartney and George Harrison present, the couple began what would be a short-lived marriage. But first, The Beatles had a show to play.

For Lennon, not even his own wedding stopped him from performing with The Beatles at the Riverpark Ballroom in Chester. The band played at the ballroom four Thursdays in the summer of 1962, with Ringo Starr joining the group for the first time only two days after they played their first gig there.

As the band began to soar into their newfound stardom, precautions had to be put in place for Lennon and his new wife to have a honeymoon. Their manager, Epstein, joined the couple for a belated honeymoon in Paris weeks after the ballroom shows, ensuring that the wedding news was kept private. But they couldn't hide the news for long — Cynthia was pregnant.

She gave birth to their son, John Charles Julian Lennon, on April 8, 1963, in Liverpool. According to People, Lennon was on tour at the time and wasn't able to see his wife and newborn son until three days later.

In 2011, Lennon's details

A new biography about the six-frame photoshoot for the Beatles’ final recorded studio album asserts that Paul McCartney insisted the Fab Four use the zebra-stripe crosswalk and move single file while crossing Abbey Road.

“The photographer, Iain Macmillan, came to the shoot with a series of wild designs and playful sketches to promote the band’s bubbly, carefree image. One sketch had the band up in a tree. Another had them jaywalking on their hands. Another had all four seated in lotus position, blocking traffic,” said the biographer, Derry Anderson, whose book “Come Together: The Story of the ‘Abbey Road’ Photoshoot” drops later this month. “Paul shut it all down. He said he wanted the band ‘all walking, all in sync, and we’re using the fucking crosswalk!’ Apparently, it was like pulling teeth to get him to hold the cigarette.”

At first, McCartney claimed not to remember that sunny August morning in 1969, but eventually broke down and confessed to having wanted even more restrictions on the band.

“I had us holding hands and looking both ways, yeah? The album was going to be called ‘Safety First.’ I had John an details

THE BEATLES’ brotherhood is to be brought to life in four blockbuster movies – just as series star Barry Keoghan battles real-life ructions with his own sibling.

Barry will play drummer Ringo Starr in The Beatles: A Four-Film Cinematic Event, directed by Sam Mendes.

It will see movies from each of the Fab Four’s perspectives drop simultaneously in April 2028. But off screen, I can reveal the relationship between Irishman Barry and brother Eric has soured.

I’m told Eric previously acted as Barry’s assistant on set and would often accompany him to filming. But now, word is that Eric is no longer welcome and has been absent from filming in recent weeks.

A source said: “Eric is back in Ireland and is not living with Barry at the house he is renting near London.

“Barry is in the honeymoon phase with his new girlfriend, Danica Hall, and she is not Eric’s biggest fan. Barry decided it was best that Eric didn’t stay with him and he has not been seen at filming.

“Eric didn’t always bring out the best in Barry so it is probably better that the brothers are not in each other’s pocket.”

The films a details

The Beatles’ timing in starting Apple Records wasn’t the best. Right about the time it was revving up, their own inner drama was demanding much more of their attention. Still, the short-lived label produced some outstanding records.

Members of the Fab Four did indeed help out with these artists on occasion. For example, here are four songs that they wrote that were recorded by Apple acts.  Paul McCartney’s track record of writing and recording hit singles with The Beatles earned him a lot of credibility from Apple acts. In the case of “Come And Get It”, he essentially demanded respect from Badfinger. He wrote the song and then made a full demo of it for the group. He then told them to make the recording of the song sound as close as possible to his demo. Otherwise, he wouldn’t allow them to have the song. Members of Badfinger initially fought against this insistence. But they eventually decided to relent to Macca’s wishes. That turned out to be a smart move. Their recording of the song, faithful to the demo, turned into their first major hit in 1970.

“Goodbye” by Mary Hopkin

A good chunk of time passed between “Those Were The Days&rdqu details

There’s a lot to cover in the life of The Beatles. Which is astounding, given they were together for such a short period of time, comparatively speaking. Many people have tried to tell this band’s story in narrative form. Inevitably, there is always something glossed over or left out for time’s sake. The highly anticipated upcoming films about the Fab Four need to devote serious time to the three songs below. These songs helped shape the band in consequential ways. Without these staples, The Beatles wouldn’t have become what we know them as today.

“Yesterday”

“Yesterday” did a lot for The Beatles. It expanded their demographic, proving they could be more than just pop sensations. The subject matter and song structure were far more sophisticated than their previous material. But more than that, “Yesterday” also opened the door to individualism for The Beatles, a development that would eventually become a thorn in their side.

Paul McCartney took on this song solo. This would develop into a trend, eventually separating him from John Lennon until the divide was too great to bear. There’s an alternative reality where songs like this never made details

Ringo Starr quit The Beatles on August 22, 1968, during the tense recording of the White Album.

Starr recalled telling John Lennon, “I’m leaving the group because I’m not playing well and I feel unloved and out of it.” That account comes from Anthology.  Lennon replied, “I thought it was you three!”

Starr reportedly spent two weeks on Peter Sellers’ yacht in the Mediterranean before returning.

Lennon sent him a telegram that read, “You’re the best rock’n’roll drummer in the world. Come on home, we love you.”

Despite the brief split, Billboard has since ranked The Beatles the best rock band of all time.

Arrival and Press Conference of the British Rock and Roll Band The Beatles.Universal History Archive / Getty Images
Inside Ringo Starr’s Brief Departure From The Beatles

Tensions had been building for weeks during the White Album sessions. Starr’s departure came as the band was working on “Back in the USSR.”

The remaining three Beatles recorded the song without him. Paul McCartney played drums on the track, with George Harrison on guitar and Lennon on bass. Starr&rs details

Thanks to John Lennon, the Beatles played their final Cincinnati concert 60 years ago at Crosley Field on Aug. 21, 1966.

When their concert was rained out the night before — Saturday, Aug. 20 — Lennon was the one who agreed to stay overnight here and perform Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. despite having a Sunday evening concert in St. Louis, DJ Jim LaBarbara said.

LaBarbara was one of seven people I interviewed in 2016 as part of a two-hour 50th anniversary special of the Beatles concert for Cincinnati Public Radio. Here’s the link to both hours, which has interviews interspersed with the songs played that day.
image of a ticket stub

A box seat ticket to see the Beatles cost $5.5.0 in 1966.

LaBarbara credits former WSAI-DJ Steve Kirk, who was one of the five Cincinnati DJs to bring the Beatles to Cincinnati Gardens in 1964, with convincing Lennon to reschedule the show for Sunday.

“John liked Kirkie. He had met him in '64 ... and he remembered how nicely he and the group at the radio station treated the Beatles in '64. So he said, 'We'll stay over and we'll do the show on Sunday. We'll go on at 11 or noon.' And Kirk said, 'Make it 1 o'clock because the kids go to details

It's been 45 years since John Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment, but Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney still checks in on his widow, Yoko Ono, a source tells Closer.

"It's no secret Paul and Yoko weren't fans of each other all those years ago, but they have a great understanding of each other these days and a genuine friendship," reveals the source. "Growing older has mellowed them both and time has healed a lot of the wounds."

McCartney, 84, opened up about his reconciliation with Ono, 93, to Rolling Stone in 2013. "I thought, 'If John loved her, there's got to be something. He's not stupid,'" he recalled. "It's like, what are you going to do? Are you going to hold a grudge you never really had?"

"Paul has also gone out of his way to defend Yoko in recent years and that's been very appreciated by her," adds the source. "They have both suffered a lot of loss over the years and they are able to give each some comfort, sharing old memories and stories and reminiscing about the times they shared with John."

McCartney famously fell out with Lennon when the Beatles broke up in 1970, but the pair were able to patch things up in the years prior to the "Imagine" singer's murder details

Sir Paul McCartney, 84, has lived a life that's full of music, from listening to his father James play dancehall songs on the piano as a child, to joining a skiffle group with John Lennon as a teenager, to becoming the biggest band of all time with The Beatles. Then, he forged a solo career as a member of Wings and under his own name that has yielded more number-one hits than any other songwriter.

McCartney's music has been a cornerstone of pop culture for over 60 years, but what are the songs that formed his musical taste? Paul recently revealed the ten songs that have "soundtracked my life" to the BBC's Vernon Kay on his show Tracks Of My Years, which premieres on May 25 on BBC Sounds and iPlayer.

The full episode has since aired, revealing the stories behind each of Paul's 10 song choices.

Paul McCartney reveals 10 songs that soundtracked his life:

10. John Lennon – "Imagine"
09. The Beach Boys – "God Only Knows"
08. Bob Dylan – "Tambourine Man"
07. Prince – "Kiss"
06. The Human League – "Don't You Want Me"
05. The Kinks – "You Really Got Me"
04. Elvis -… pic.twitter.com/rUQyERDQnA

Counting down his top 10 p details

The Beatles reshaped the course of popular music during their iconic run together. Decades after their split, they remain one of the most celebrated bands in history.

Billboard ranked The Beatles No. 1 on its list of the 50 greatest rock bands of all time. The Rolling Stones came in at No. 2, followed by Led Zeppelin at No. 3.

The publication credited the Fab Four’s seven-year run. That stretch produced 20 Hot 100 No. 1 hits and 12 classic albums. According to Billboard, rock as we know it may not exist without the band’s influence.

On August 20, 1969, Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr gathered in a recording studio for the last time. They met inside EMI Studios at 3 Abbey Road in London. No new music was actually recorded that day.

According to Ultimate Classic Rock, the band spent the day’s first part mixing “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” The session lasted three and a half hours. The details came from Mark Lewisohn’s official Abbey Road session notes. Lennon reportedly wanted the song to end abruptly rather than fade out.

The edit was made in a silent pause, right after the lyric “She’s so…&rdq details

Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney singing in the Cavern Club. 

There are a bunch of paparazzi photos circulating the internet of the four actors playing The Beatles in Sam Mendes' The Beatles – A Four-Film Cinematic Event, which is still quite a way away from hitting movie screens in 2028. The movies have been filming for a few months now (and are expected to be filming for quite a few more), and recently the faux Fab Four–Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr were snapped by photogs while filming the iconic Abbey Road cover photoshoot. The internet's response to how they look has been harsh.

Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, singing into a microphone with long hair and glasses. 'They Look Absolutely Ridiculous'

The cover of Abbey Road is one of the most iconic album covers of all time, so of course it had to be a part of the movie. In the photo, the four Beatles are crossing the street at a zebra crossing. Lennon is leading the way with a bushy beard and wearing a white suit; Starr follows him in a black suit. Then comes McCartney in a grey suit and no shoes, and trailing behind is Harrison in al details

A 1969 song by The Beatles never reached No. 1 or even charted as a single when it was first released, but it has now been recognized among the greatest classic rock songs that never topped the charts.

In a July 15, 2026 ranking, Collider placed "Here Comes the Sun" at No. 2 on its list of "The 10 Greatest Classic Rock Songs That Were Never No. 1 Hits, Ranked." The song was written and sung by George Harrison and appeared on The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.

The reason behind its unusual chart history is simple. During its original release period, "Here Comes the Sun" was intended as an album track rather than a single. Because The Beatles did not release "Here Comes the Sun" as a single in 1969, it did not have the opportunity to compete for a position on the singles chart at the time, per Collider.

However, that did not stop it from becoming one of the best-known songs in The Beatles' catalog. Collider's ranking puts the Harrison composition ahead of many other famous rock songs that also missed the top spot.

"Here Comes the Sun" came during a difficult period for Harrison and The Beatles.

Source: yahoo.com/Madz Dizon

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Ringo Starr showed off his eye-catching long locks as he enjoyed dinner with his Bond Girl wife Barbara Bach in Malibu on Tuesday.

The Beatles icon, 86, was worlds away from his look as a member of the iconic boyband as he headed to Tra di No with his wife of 45 years and a group of friends.

The outing came 64 years to the day after Ringo became a member of The Beatles, with himself, John Lennon, George Harrison and Paul McCartney forming the famous foursome, that would go on to be one of the most iconic bands of all time.

Barbara, 79, a former Bond Girl who starred in The Spy Who Loved Me, was arm-in-arm with her husband as she arrived at the restaurant dressed in a cream jacket and purple trousers.

The couple married in 1981 after meeting on the set of Caveman the year before, and divide their time between homes in London, Los Angeles and Monte Carlo.

Barbara had already found fame as KGB agent Anya Amasova – not too subtly referred to as Agent Triple X – in the tenth James Bond movie which centred on a plan by a megalomaniac to destroy the world and create a new one under the sea.

Source: dailymail.com/Laura Fox

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During the Beatles’ early hit-making years, John Lennon and Paul McCartney took most of the plaudits for their songwriting. George Harrison was slower to find his voice as a writer, and when he wrote his first solo composition for the Beatles, he was sick in bed. Even then, he wasn’t convinced what he had written could even be considered a song.

By the time the Beatles landed in Bournemouth, on England’s south coast, for a six-show residency at the Gaumont in August 1963, their debut album, Please Please Me, was already fueling the first ripples of Beatlemania. Harrison had come away from those sessions without a songwriting credit, despite handling lead vocals on “Chains” and “Do You Want to Know a Secret.”

Harrison had already co-written songs with fellow Beatles, including “In Spite of All the Danger” with Paul McCartney and “Cry for a Shadow” with John Lennon, but “Don’t Bother Me” was different. This was his first Beatles song written entirely by himself.

George Harrison of English rock and pop group The Beatles plays his 1963 Rickenbacker 360/12 guitar on stage during rehearsals for the ABC Television music televisi details

Anna Sawai fumbled her first audition. She was 11, living in Tokyo after her family bounced from New Zealand to Hong Kong to the Philippines. Her mother, Kaoru, found a listing for a stage production of Annie in Tokyo just one month after they arrived. She bombed. But she filled the next year with dance and singing lessons, working tirelessly with her mother. And she nailed her second audition, going on to play the title role in a live Nippon Television broadcast. "It was my first experience where I learned, if you want something, you really have to put your head in the game. You have to go straight through and commit to it," Sawai, 34, tells me during a video call from her home in Tokyo.

Hard work never scared Sawai. Her early roles demanded a lot from her. In 2009, she joined her first Hollywood production, James McTeigue's Ninja Assassin, as a ninja, a physically strenuous role. She knew at the time that she wanted to pursue acting, but her team, which she says was better positioned in the music industry, had other plans. She fell into the J-pop world, joining a buzzy girl group called Faky, which prevented her from acting until her contract was lifted. Nearly a decade later, in 2018, she finally left the group and l details

While Beatles fans dreamed of the group reuniting in the 1970s, David Bowie once revealed that he nearly managed to get John Lennon and Paul McCartney back together in 1974 to form a supergroup with him.

It was the year Bowie moved to New York City, just three years after Lennon himself had emigrated there. Shortly after Bowie’s arrival, he met Lennon at a party hosted by Elizabeth Taylor. Of all the Beatles, Lennon was his favorite.

“He was one of the major influences on my musical life,” Bowie said in an interview recorded in the 1980s. “I mean, I just thought he was the very best of what could be done with rock and roll, and also ideas.

Although he was nervous when the two met privately, they quickly formed a bond that led to Lennon visiting Bowie one night, with McCartney in tow.

As Bowie explained to Marc Riley on BBC Radio 6 Music, he was lodging at the time at the Pierre Hotel.

“I’d taken over a suite virtually for months and months,” he said. “I was kind of living there.”

Bowie explained that he was obsessed with the newly released Sony video recorder and would spend hours making his own films. “Fortunately, I was details

On this day, 64 years ago, a 22-year-old drummer from Liverpool stepped onto the stage with three other young musicians. Just like that, the rock and roll music industry had changed forever.

When The Beatles formed in 1960, the original group consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best. In 1961, Sutcliffe stepped away as their bassist to focus on a full-time career in painting.

Best was the group’s original drummer, but the bandmates had grown frustrated over his inability to improve. The group’s manager at the time, Brian Epstein, dismissed Best on Aug. 16, 1962.

Needless to say, The Beatles’ search for a new drummer would be quick. Two days later, Lennon found a potential replacement for Best and invited him to play at an Aug. 18 show.

On Aug. 18, 1962, Ringo Starr joined The Beatles on stage to perform at the Horticultural Society dance, per Oldies 93. The event was held inside the Hulme Hall in Port Sunlight, a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, England.

A large portion of The Beatles’ passionate fanbase initially opposed the band’s decision to swap Best for Starr. Nonetheless, the group stayed com details