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When The Beatles first started out, you knew exactly who led the band. Paul McCartney and John Lennon (already branded Lennon-McCartney) claimed songwriting credits and lead-vocal duties for 10 of the 12 songs appearing on the band’s 1964 Capitol debut.

When both sang in unison on No. 1 tracks like “She Loves You” and “Love Me Do,” you could barely separate the two. Later on, as Paul and John worked more on their own, you could tell the differences between their styles.

On “Hey Jude,” which became The Beatles’ all-time biggest hit, there was no question you were listening to a Paul tune. However, by the time the band had racked up its record 20 No. 1 hits, John had a large number to his name.

Of the eight chart-topping songs John sang lead on, his last chart-topper became his biggest hit with the Fab Four. In fact, only one Beatles tune charted for a longer period.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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About two dozens of Czech and foreign artists Monday decorated with the famous Lennon Wall in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic, with new pictures and inscriptions of "love and peace".

The wall, which is the outer side of the park garden opposite the French Embassy building, was a memorial to singer-songwriter John Lennon.

Since the 1980s, it has been filled with John Lennon-inspired graffiti and pieces of lyrics from Beatles' songs. In the past years, it has become one of the most popular tourist attractions in Prague and was seen as a symbol of global ideas such as "love and peace".

The artwork, namely "Meet Art", was co-created by artists from the Czech Republic and those from Slovakia, Serbia, Canada and Sultanate of Oman. Some tourists also contributed their talents. They painted the entire wall with one of the motifs of "All you need is love", title of the Lennon's famous song.

The action aims to return the previous role to the Wall and make passers-by to write their own poems on the wall instead of dirty words and vulgar pictures, said the organizers. 

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ohn Lennon's iconic round glasses could sell for more than $20,000 at Omega Auctions (Image: Omega Auctions)

A pair of John Lennon’s iconic round glasses could sell for over $20,000 when they go up for auction in the U.K next week.

The glasses will be offered at Omega Auctions on March 26, as part of a dedicated Beatles sale featuring memorabilia and rare records.

They originate from the private collection of Barry Finch, a designer who worked with The Beatles in the late 1960s as part of a Dutch art collective known as ‘The Fool’.

Lennon gave Finch the glasses in 1967, as the pair collaborated on ideas for the inner sleeve artwork of Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Source: news.justcollecting.com

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The former Beatles beatkeeper appeared to confirm a 20th solo album was in the works on guitarist Steve Lukather’s Facebook page.

Lukather, who plays in Starr’s All-Starr Band, posted a photo of the group in a recording studio. Starr posted a photo of the pair together on Twitter and wrote “In the studio again with the great Steve Lukather what a guy. Peace and Love.”
The 78-year-old drummer signed a publishing deal with BMG in 2018 that gives the company rights to his solo material and the few tracks he wrote with The Beatles. His last album was 2017’s “Give More Love,” which features the single “So Wrong for So Long." Paul McCartney, Starr’s former Beatles band mate, recorded on two of that album’s tracks. Rock and Roll legends Joe Walsh, Dave Stewart, Jeff Lynne and Peter Frampton also helped out on that project.

Source: Brian Niemietz/nydailynews.com

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Whether you go by total record sales, number of hit singles, or overall hysteria levels, The Beatles have been the band to top since the early ’60s. In particular, their album sales (now nearing 185 million copies) set a mark we doubt anyone can beat.

Once they went their separate ways, each former member of The Beatles scored multiple No. 1 singles on their own. However, when the band was together, you find the Lennon-McCartney songwriting duo handling most of the lead-singing duties on the band’s top hits.

In George Harrison’s case, it took until Abbey Road (The Beatles’ last studio record) to get the lead vocal on a No. 1 (“Something,” which George wrote). As for Ringo, the closest the band’s drummer got was No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts as lead vocalist.

Bu if you look at the Fab Four’s 20 chart-topping hits, you find something unusual: John Lennon and Paul McCartney can claim an almost equal number of No. 1 hits on lead vocals.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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“THE MAGIC THING about Liverpool is that it isn’t in England,” said Margaret Simey author and politician.

So perhaps it is unsurprising then, that when The Beatles played Dublin in 1963 John Lennon declared on behalf of the whole band: “We’re all Irish”.

In the years that followed Lennon would record ‘The Luck of the Irish’ and ‘Sunday Bloody Sunday’, while Paul McCartney sang: ‘Give Ireland back to the Irish’.

The Liverpool-Irish influence on John and the other Beatles is best understood once you realise that in the middle of the 19th century there were more Irish-born people living in Liverpool than in Limerick or Derry.

Liverpool had the fourth highest population of Irish born people of any city in the world, coming only after Dublin, Cork and Belfast.

Source: Francis Kenny/thejournal.ie

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Aren’t modern supercars gaudy? Roaring through Knightsbridge, brazen paint jobs startling the pigeons. Such a far cry from the coachbuilt class that used to count for a custom finish.

In the good old days, going bespoke meant commissioning something elegant from your local coachbuilder. Maybe a nice open-top body for your Bentley or some special leather for your Aston. Perhaps a maroon-on-silver finish, if you were feeling bold. But a flamboyant amber wagon with a bed in the back? Absolutely not.

And certainly not a Rolls-Royce. That’s like painting a moustache on a picture of the Queen. Or re-coating Tower Bridge in lime green. How can a car project the stoic understatement of the British establishment when its shell is the colour of mustard?

Source: Chris Rowlands/gq-magazine.co.uk

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Ringo Starr recalled how the formation of his All-Starr Band in 1989 saved him from becoming lost in alcoholism, and set him on a road to a “fun” life once again.

The former Beatle said he’d reached rock bottom with his addiction issues, and needed to be persuaded to return to work after a stint in rehab.

“I was afraid at the beginning,” Starr told Rolling Stone in a new interview. “[I thought,] ‘I don’t know how you do anything if you’re not drunk.’ That’s where I ended up. I couldn’t play sober, but I also couldn’t play as a drunk. So when I did end up in this rehab, it was like a light went on and said, ‘You’re a musician, you play good.’”

The band was formed when his lawyer told him that a group of artists that originally included Joe Walsh, Levon Helm, Clarence Clemons, Billy Preston and Rick Danko “wanted to back me on a tour.” However, Starr admitted: “I didn’t think anybody would come. I only knew three drummers and I was one of them.”

Source: ultimateclassicrock.com

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Steve Cropper was recently added to the Dave Mason Band tour, which is totally awesome, and not just because he'll now be appearing with Mason at Vancouver's Vogue Theatre next Thursday (March 21).

It's also totally awesome because three days ago I got to interview the guitar legend for the first time ever. Cross that one off the bucket list!

Cropper called me up from his home in Nashville and we chatted about a bunch of stuff. At one point I asked him about that time he was planning to work with the Beatles in 1966.

Apparently the Fab Four were fans of Cropper's guitar playing, and his production work with artists like Otis Redding--who he cowrote "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay" with. The story goes that Beatles manager Brian Epstein travelled to the famed Stax Studios in Memphis to see about recording there, so I asked Cropper if that story was true.

Source: straight.com

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Even the biggest Beatles fans might get surprised by numbers the Fab Four put up over the years. Start with the group’s 183 million record sales that dwarf that of every other recording artist. That number tops all the album sales of the mighty Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones combined.

Of course, The Beatles didn’t just sell LP records; the band also had an uncanny knack for cranking out hit singles. Over the years, the band topped the charts with no fewer than 20 songs. Not even Elvis put up that many.

Most Beatles fans know John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the lion’s share of those songs. However, George Harrison got on the board late in the group’s career as well. In fact, despite the band’s phenomenal early success, The Beatles scored their biggest hits just before the band split up in 1970.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Darlene Fedun, and Wade Lawrence of the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts weigh in on why Woodstock is relevant nearly fifty years later. Patrick Oehler, Poughkeepsie Journal

Tickets to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Woodstock with a former Beatle at the original festival site will be available this week.

Ringo Starr and his All-Starr band will perform at the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts on Aug.16, with tickets going on sale at 10 a.m. Friday. A presale for Bethel Woods members begins 10 a.m. Wednesday.

Bethel Woods in Sullivan County sites on the site of the original Woodstock Music and Art Fair, which was held on Aug. 15-18, 1969.

"I always love playing Bethel Woods," Starr said in a release from Bethel Woods, and how great to do it this year on the anniversary of Woodstock.

"I wasn't there at the first one, but I've always promoted what it stood for — Peace, and Love and Music," he said.

Source: Ryan Santistevan, Poughkeepsie Journal

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Ariana Grande’s recent and sustained run at the pop charts has been nothing short of a marvel. And like the great pop explosions of the past—Elvis Presley, the Beatles, and Michael Jackson, to name but a few—she is poised for immortality. And rightly so.

During the week of February 19th, Grande laid claim to her place in pop music history. First, she tied the Beatles’ April 1964 record for holding down the top three spots on the Billboard Hot 100. With “7 Rings,” “Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored,” and “Thank U, Next” lording over the Hot 100, she matched the Beatles’ 55-year-old record.

As far as hit singles go, the Fab Four’s highwater mark was memorialized with the April 4, 1964, issue of Billboard, when their music occupied the top five chart positions—the only time in pop-music history that a single act has accomplished such a feat. With “Can’t Buy Me Love” holding down the top slot, “Twist and Shout” was second and “She Loves You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand” and “Please Please Me” rounded out the top five.

Source: Kenneth Womack/salon.com

The Beatles may have been known as “the Fab Four,” but when you look at the songwriting credits two names always appear: John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It took until late in the group’s existence for George Harrison to find his way as a songwriter.

In fact, it wasn’t until Abbey Road, the band’s last studio album, that a Harrison tune (“Something”) reached No. 1 on the charts. As for Ringo Starr, the band’s carefree drummer, there weren’t many songwriting credits to speak of on any Beatles albums.

The only two Beatles songs Ringo got sole credit for were “Don’t Pass Me By” (1968) and “Octopus’s Garden” (1969). However, he did sing lead vocals on several tunes. Besides his own two tracks, you’ll catch him singing the lead on “With a Little Help From My Friends” from Sgt. Pepper’s.

However, Ringo’s biggest hit is the song people associate him with the most. That would be “Yellow Submarine,” and it came awfully close to topping the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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In a new interview with Joe Rogan, Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth revealed the truth about how Paul McCartney and John Lennon created the dark sound within The Beatles, and how their balance helped create it. Alternative Nation transcribed Roth and Rogan’s comments.

Roth: We will do it in the old Beatles style, here is the best way to go for somebody that’s interested [in Jazz]. The old Lennon note and McCartney note. The McCartney note is always kinda happy. I’ve actually bumped into Sir Paul over at Henson Studios and he’s really happy.

His note would be something along the lines of… [Roth sings happy song notes] Hear how pretty that sounds? I’ll do it again…[Roth does it again] Lennon? He’s the salt in the caramel, baby. He’s got it. There’s a darkness, there’s an edge, there’s a shadow. Listen to the last three notes…[Roth does a darker version of the happy song notes]

Source: Mike Mazzarone/alternativenation.net

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Inspired by the late Steve Jobs’ commencement speech at Stanford University where he shared how auditing a calligraphy class in college inspired him years later to add diverse fonts to Apple computers, we set out to visit classes around campus that make us think differently about what it means to be educated. This is one in a series of drop-ins.

When professor Armando Tranquilino takes out his blue Rickenbacker bass guitar, students are not only entertained but they’re learning about the social and historical impacts of one of the world’s biggest bands.

The History of The Beatles (MUH 2370) is an unorthodox course attracting students of all majors. It’s taught face-to-face and online by Tranquilino, a composer and musician. The professor takes an in-depth look at the social changes of the 1960s and the mass influence of the Fab Four.

Source: news.fiu.edu

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Staff at the British Heart Foundation (BHF) were stunned when a plastic bag left at their local fundraising store included a super-rare demo cut of The Beatles first ever single, "Love Me Do"

They say charity begins at home, but for an anonymous resident of sleepy Midhurst in West Sussex, England, it started with their record collection. Or, to be more precise, their decision to donate 25 of their old records to a nearby charity.

Staff at the British Heart Foundationthis link opens in a new tab (BHF) were stunned to find a plastic bag left at their local fundraising store included an ultra rare demo cut of The Beatles first ever single “Love Me Do.”

Source: Phil Boucher/people.com

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The passionate letter, which was written in 1971, is currently up for auction in Boston

A letter written by John Lennon in 1971, in which he details his anger with his record label and the music industry at large over the ‘Two Virgins’ album he released with Yoko Ono, will be sold at an auction in the US tomorrow.

The letter has recently resurfaced and been put up for auction, with the sale – which is being conducted by RR Auctions in Boston, Massachusetts – expected to reach a price of £15,000 when bidding ends tomorrow (March 14).

Addressed to “Martin George of Rock Ink”, the auction house cites “noted Beatles expert” Perry Cox in affirming that the letter was sent to the late Beatles producer George Martin. However, author Mark Lewisohn has subsequently told The Times that he believes that Lennon was actually responding to the journalist Martin George, who wrote for “a magazine or a weekly underground newspaper called Ink“.

Source: Sam Moore /nme.com

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SATURDAY 4 MAY 2019
LONDON PALLADIUM

On May 4th at London’s Palladium, The Analogues will bring to life one of music’s most cherished and expansive LPs, The White Album – playing the 30-track record in its entirety, from the very first to very last note.

It takes a special kind of obsessive to perfectly recreate on stage an album never made to be performed live. But The Analogues are no ordinary Beatles fans. They are the type to instigate a viral campaign to help locate the exact bell sound from “Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me And My Money", listening to every submission on the phone (they eventually found it in a Maritime store) – or spend months trying to track down a real harpsichord, even if it only appears on one Beatles track (“Piggies”).

The Beatles stopped performing in 1966, fed up of the constant hysteria at their shows that began to inhibit rather than propel the band forward. This decision meant albums such as 1968’s The White Album were driven by studio experimentation and, while they changed music, fans were never able to experience the records live. Indeed, many thought it could not be done.

Fifty years on details

If you look into The Beatles’ album sales, you find one unbeatable record after another. It all starts with cumulative sales. At 183 million units sold, no recording artist comes close to the Fab Four.

The band also dominated the Billboard charts unlike any other artist selling records in America. Over the years, the band posted 20 No. 1 hit singles on the Billboard Hot 100. Not even Elvis could match that total.

That brings us to the band’s long-playing (LP) records on the Billboard 200. Once again, The Beatles hold the record for No. 1 albums (19), and no one is close. (Jay-Z has 13.) The figure becomes more amazing when you consider the group only stayed together for seven years.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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Cultural immortality belongs to a very few, a subject that comes up in a pair of documentaries this week devoted to 20th-century icons, John Lennon and Richard Pryor.
The A&E presentation "John and Yoko: Above Us Only Sky" is the more intimate of the two -- a deep dive into the making of Lennon and wife Yoko Ono's "Imagine" album in 1971, which feels like must-see TV for rock fans. Later in the week, Paramount Network will air "I Am Richard Pryor," the latest in a series of "I Am" biographies devoted, frequently, to those who died too soon.
Culled in part from an extensive trove of home video -- including never-before-seen footage shot around Lennon's place in Tittenhurst Park, England -- with up-to-date interviews, "John & Yoko" provides a glimpse of Lennon in his studio/home, interacting not only with his wife but in recording sessions with fellow Beatle George Harrison, guitarist Eric Clapton and producer Phil Spector.

Source: Brian Lowry, CNN

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If Alan White’s résumé was limited to playing drums on John Lennon’s Imagine and George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass, it would be pretty impressive. But about two years after appearing on those pivotal Beatles solo records, he was recruited by Yes — then at the peak of their creative powers — to replace the outgoing Bill Bruford. The band has seen a ludicrous amount of lineup changes since that time, but the one constant has been White’s presence behind the drum kit. These days, back issues limit his time onstage with Yes to a handful of songs a night, but he still tours with the band and hopes to play for longer periods of the show after he regains his full strength.

Source: Rolling Stone

The story of ground-breaking British film studio HandMade Films, which was founded by legendary former Beatle George Harrison and made such films as Monty Python’s Life of Brian, is set to be told in An Accidental Studio, a feature documentary from AMC U.K. for its international networks.

The film will be the first original from AMC U.K. and it will debut on the British channel on 4 May and on AMC channels internationally later in the year. It has never-before-seen interviews with key players including Richard E. Grant, Terry Gilliam and Michael Palin and sets out to capture an extraordinary moment in film history through the eyes of the filmmakers and actors involved, as well as the man who started it all, music legend Harrison, who features in archive interview footage.

Source: Tim Peacock/udiscovermusic.com

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Filmmaker Michael Epstein couldn’t believe his luck when Yoko Ono gave him access to hours of forgotten footage of her life with John Lennon.

The singer and performance artist decided it was time to show fans the home videos shot at the couple’s Tittenhurst Park home in England and in New York in 1970 and 1971, and called in Epstein to sort through it. The result is John & Yoko: Above Us Only Sky, which will air on America’s A&E network next week.

The thrilled director is still pinching himself after realizing he had his hands on Lennon’s mythical Clock movie and unseen footage of George Harrison performing with Lennon.

“Yoko realized there was all this material that had been shot that nobody had ever seen,” he tells WENN. “I thought I had seen everything and I thought I knew the story, but I remember seeing this footage for the first time and just being blown away…

Source: canoe.com

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If you ever look at the list of top-selling recording artists, you’re going to get some surprises. For example, the album sales of Jimi Hendrix (23 million units) don’t come close to the numbers posted by, say, the Dixie Chicks (30.5 million).

But once you get to the top 10, things start making sense. That’s where you find names like Elvis Presley, The Beatles, and Michael Jackson. These artists electrified entire generations, and their albums continue to sell at a remarkable clip decades after their release.

Source: cheatsheet.com

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A brand new tour of the Cavern Club is launching next week.

The free tour will allow visitors to take a peek behind the scenes at the famous Mathew Street venue.

For the first time in the club's 62-year history, Beatles fans can enjoy a 45-minute tour ‘behind the curtain’ to see what happens backstage.

Led by guide Dale Roberts, the free tour will run every weekday morning except Wednesdays.

Source: Ellen Kirwin/liverpoolecho.co.uk

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