Beatles News

Greatest hits albums are rarely considered art. Typically, they are money grabs in the latter half of an artist’s career. Not to downplay the inherent merits of a greatest hits compilation, as they are a good way for newcomers get a foothold in an artist’s sound. The Beatles had many greatest hits compilations, but the two that encompass the breadth of their time together are 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, a.k.a the “red and blue” albums. Allen Klein, the Beatles’ late-stage manager, compiled both of these albums. One grievance (of many) that fans have with Klein was his decision to remix the songs on both of these compilations in stereo. John Lennon also joined in on that grievance. Learn more about Lennon’s qualms with these compilations below.

There was much contention towards the end of the Beatles’ career. Klein was meant to sort out the band, but only ended up sending them into further turmoil. There was really no fixing the band’s numerous issues. If you stopped one leak, another would only let in water faster.

Creative differences ran rampant towards the end of the Beatles’ tenure. This certainly drove a wedge between the foursome. Nevertheless, details

The former Beatles member, 85, shared this information with USA TODAY in May 2023. Ringo named one of his longtime collaborators, Jim Keltner, for the honor. He and Jim first met in 1971 in London, where they were introduced by George Harrison, Ringo's former and late Beatles bandmate. In 1989, Ringo & His All-Starr Band launched and Jim was included as a member. The 83-year-old musician has participated as an occasional guest from 2006 to 2023 for the live rock supergroup created by producer David Fishof.

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Ringo told the outlet, "Jim is my all-time hero drummer, no one is as good as him − I love Jim, and that’s about it."

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He also took a moment to highlight Dave Grohl, former drummer of Nirvana and the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters, in the interview. Ringo said, "I've seen Dave Grohl play straight. He was doing backup at some party, and he was doing it straight. And I was like, OK, wow."

Jim, born James Lee Keltner, is known for his session work. details

Sting is thankful to The Beatles for opening the "floodgates for songwriters to have an attempt at writing songs".

The Every Breath You Take singer's touring guitarist Dominic Miller has released a songbook of 14 of the Fab Four's tracks for classical guitar titled The Beatles arranged by Dominic Miller: Guitar Solo Songbook.

Miller has revealed that he and Sting, 74, have often discussed the music and career of The Beatles, and the former Police frontman believes that the compositions of Sir Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Sir Ringo Starr paved the way for British musicians who followed, like himself.

In an interview with Rick Beato on his YouTube channel, Miller said: "As Sting has often said, actually – and we talk about this sometimes – is that the Beatles, by doing those songs and coming up with those compositions, they kind of gave a license for everyone else to have a go.

“These guys from Liverpool, if they can do it, everyone should try, and so it opened the floodgates for a lot of songwriters to have an attempt at writing songs, which had never really happened before in England, like pop songs – verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge.”

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The beauty—and arguably the secret ingredient—of The Beatles was the band’s ability to bring four distinct personalities and abilities together to create something cohesive, catchy, and fun to watch. Fans swooned over Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr as individual musicians. The Fab Four inherently implied all four musicians were notable and distinct. But as far as the behind-the-scenes operations were concerned, two people ran the show.

As founding members and the two musicians who had been playing together the longest, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were the natural choice for any two songwriters of the four. Starr, for his part, seemed content to be the band’s backbone and throw in a novelty song every now and then. But for the band’s youngest member, George Harrison, this was a wall he would throw himself against time and time again before The Beatles’ final split in 1970.

According to an interview in Anthology, McCartney and Lennon discussed Harrison’s role in the group privately. “It was an option, you know, to include George in the songwriting team,” he said. Optional, sure. Wanted? Maybe not.  Paul McCartney and details

Sir Paul McCartney needs no introduction as a former member of the Beatles, one of the most revered bands in music history, and as a successful solo artist in his own right. After nearly seven decades in the music industry, McCartney is still admired for his vocals, songwriting, and proficiency on multiple musical instruments by fans worldwide. It would therefore seem unlikely that the nineteen-time Grammy Award winner and veteran artist would have any issues performing, but according to McCartney, there is one song he struggles to play live because of a particular tragedy and his deep emotional connection to it. Why Paul McCartney Can't Perform "Here Today" Without Getting Emotional.

Eventually, McCartney's grief inspired him to pen the song "Here Today," which was written in 1981 but released the following year. During the same interview, McCartney recalled what the writing session was like or "Here Today", "I found a room and just sat on the wooden floor in a corner with my guitar and just started to play the opening chords to 'Here Today.'" One particular song lyric, McCartney explained, was the most profound for him: "'The night we cried,' that was to do with a time when we were in Key West, down in Florida... details

The recent Beatles Anthology updated series means there are no more secret recordings. Producer Giles Martin says no more secret Beatles tracks will ever be released.

The producer has spent a number of years going through the Fab Four’s archives for the Disney Plus revived Beatles’ Anthology series and remixed albums and tracks but he doesn’t believe there is anything new left to uncover.

According to The Sun newspaper, he said: “I don’t think there’s anything. I always say that then something turns up. “But I don’t think there’s anything. It’s incredible how much interest there still is over Beatles stuff.

“You do hear new things on this Anthology box set. There’s that first round of Helter Skelter, which for me is great because it’s really raw. It’s proper in your face music. “And then people go, ‘Well, how come we haven’t released the 20-minute long version of Helter Skelter?’ I think we’re done.”

Giles’ father, Sir George Martin – who died in 2016 – was known as “the fifth Beatle” for his work with the band and Giles has enjoyed g details

The star of new movie Avatar: Fire and Ash mentioned the Fab Four more than once when she was given the Colbert Questionnaire on a recent episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

And, like everyone, she had a favorite. Hers was John Lennon — who, along with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, formed the British rock band that famously invaded America — before he was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980, at just 40.

She confessed to Colbert, who asked whether she's ever asked for a celebrity's autograph, that she'd once written Lennon a special message.

"I wrote a several-page letter on lavender stationery with purple ink,' Weaver said. "'Dear John.' It was like five pages front and back. And I folded it up. I put an envelope, and I dropped it off at this restaurant that I heard he went to."

She couldn't recall what she's written, but she didn't seem to want to.

"I hope they threw it away," Weaver said.

In the same interview, the three-time Oscar nominated star was asked about the first concert that she attended, which was of course the Beatles.

Weaver, who's 76, thought she might have been 12 when she details

Ringo Starr is preparing to extend his late career love affair with country music, confirming that a new studio album is in development and pencilled in for release sometime in early 2026. The untitled project will again explore country and Americana territory and reunites the former Beatle with producer T Bone Burnett, the creative partnership that reshaped Starr’s recording direction with 2025’s Look Up.

Starr has completed his core recording work and is now navigating schedules around final production and label timelines. While no release date has been locked, February or March remains the most likely window, positioning the album as a direct continuation of the creative momentum that began last year.

The new record will once again see Starr working closely with Burnett, a producer whose résumé spans roots music, film soundtracks and heritage American songwriting. Burnett’s influence on Look Up was widely credited with giving Starr a grounded, authentic sound that aligned naturally with his long-standing affection for country music. That same sensibility is expected to guide the 2026 album.

Starr has also returned to songwriting with longtime collaborator Bruce Sugar, c details

On this day (January 2) in 1971, George Harrison topped the Billboard 200 with All Things Must Pass. The triple-album marked his first release since The Beatles officially parted ways in April 1970. Musicians on the album include Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, Alan White, Pete Drake, and many more.

Harrison began working on All Things Must Pass at EMI Studios the month after The Beatles officially broke up. Co-produced by Harrison and Phil Spector, sessions for the album stretched into October. Finally, after months of work, Harrison released the three-LP collection on November 27.

Upon its initial release, All Things Must Pass consisted of three LPs. The first two contained the album’s 18 official tracks, many of which were passed over for inclusion on previous Beatles albums. The third LP contained a collection of five live studio jams.
George Harrison Won the Race to the Top of the Singles Chart.

Paul McCartney was the first member of the Fab Four to score a No. 1 album after the band broke up. His album, McCartney, reached the top of the Billboard 200 on May 23, 1970, and stayed there for three weeks. Interestingly, Let It Be dethroned McCartney’s solo release.

Harrison, on the o details

Amidst the cold studios and rising tensions of January 1969, the Fab Four managed to set aside their differences to record one last chart-topping legacy.

On the morning of January 2, 1969, four men walked into the drafty, cavernous Twickenham Film Studios in London. To any onlooker, they were the biggest stars on the planet. To themselves, they were a band on the brink of collapse. This was the beginning of what was intended to be a "return to roots" project for The Beatles, originally titled “Get Back”. It would eventually become their final released album, “Let It Be”.

The atmosphere that first morning was far from the polished magic fans heard on their records. The studio was freezing, the lighting was harsh, and the group was being trailed by film cameras capturing every rehearsal, every argument, and every yawn. Paul McCartney, acting as the de facto director of the group, wanted to strip away the complex studio tricks of their previous albums. His goal was simple: The Beatles playing live, together in a room, with no overdubs.

But the reality was complicated. After years of being the most famous people on earth, the individual Beatles were drifting apart. John Lennon was inc details

Name a music industry record, and chances are the Beatles hold it. With the release of their 1963 debut album Please Please Me, a quartet of shaggy-haired musicians from Liverpool forever altered the listening experience of rock music enthusiasts. Comprised of George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Star, the Beatles remain the best-selling artists of all time more than five decades after their split. That’s perhaps what makes the events that occurred in North London on this day in 1962 all the more mystifying in hindsight.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon Differed on the Beatles’ Failed Decca Audition

“Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein.” While former Decca Records head Dick Rowe denied ever uttering these words on Jan. 1, 1962, they have continued to endure in Fab Four lore as an example of monumentally poor judgment.

The way Rowe told it, he gave Decca A&R representative Mike Smith a choice between the Beatles and another “guitar group,” Brian Poole and the Tremeloes. Smith chose the latter mainly for logistical reasons—their hometown of Dagenham was closer to the West Hampstead studio than Liverpool.

Nonetheless, it was details

 The actress who plays Ringo Starr’s first wife in a forthcoming biopic has admitted that she couldn’t name all four members of The Beatles. Mia McKenna-Bruce, 28, also said she was unfamiliar with most of the band’s songs until she was cast as Maureen Starkey.

Sam Mendes is directing four Beatles biopics, each focusing on a different member of the band, to be released in 2028.

McKenna-Bruce’s casting was announced while she was filming an adaptation of Agatha Christie’s The Seven Dials Mystery with Martin Freeman. The actress revealed that Freeman teased her over her lack of Beatles knowledge. “We sang Eleanor Rigby and Yellow Submarine at school, but it wasn’t my jam,” she told Tatler.

“On Seven Dials, Martin Freeman was asking me to name all the Beatles. I didn’t know. Then he’d ask me: ‘What band was Mick Jagger in?’ I was like, ‘I have no idea, Martin’, and he was like, ‘Aargh!’

“Yet now, I’m like: ‘Oh my God, the Beatles are underrated! This is good! It’s music I’d sit and listen to on the train.’”
The Beatles films will star Pau details

By 1974, George Harrison had recorded countless number 1 albums, sold out tours across the globe, and he had enough of being in the biggest band in the world, The Beatles. The lead single from his fifth studio album, Dark Horse, “Ding Dong, Ding Dong,” has long divided fans, with half enjoying the New Year’s optimistic festivities and the other half disregarding it as a novelty piece. Where critics saw emptiness, Harrison shared a sentiment that had been dear to him for years. When we put the song in a wider context instead of jumping to easy, harsh conclusions, it becomes far more interesting and impactful than one might think on the surface.
Criticism of George Harrison’s Single Rang Out Loud

“Ding Dong, Ding Dong” was the lead single from George Harrison’s fifth solo studio album, Dark Horse, which was released in 1974. Harrison wrote the song to be a sing-along classic to enjoy festivities, and crucially to embrace the future by letting go of the past in welcoming the new year. Critics and fellow musicians alike have speculated that Harrison wanted to follow in the successful footsteps of the British glam rock Christmas tunes of 1973 and 1974 by Wizzard and Slade, but n details

It was a moment of horrible deja vu for music fans around the world — a mentally unwell man had attacked one of the Beatles, leaving him for dead.

It's a headline that could have been from December 8, 1980, but it was also sadly true of this day, December 30, 1999, when George Harrison was stabbed in his home.

Unlike his former bandmate John Lennon, Harrison survived the attack by a knife-wielding attacker, though Harrison's friends and family speculated it ultimately hastened his death from lung cancer less than two years later.

But like the fatal attack on Lennon outside the Dakota Building in New York, the stabbing of Harrison was another case of someone with mental health issues slipping through the cracks and not getting the help they needed before doing something horrible to a much-loved musician.
A troubled man struggling

About a month before he broke into Harrison's home and stabbed the former Beatle, Michael Abram was in a psychiatric ward in Merseyside, the English county centred around Liverpool.

The 33-year-old father of two had been grappling with addiction and undiagnosed schizophrenia for the previous decade, according to reporting from the BBC and The Guardian a details

Did John Lennon really steal music from other musicians? That’s been the hot subject of debate among Beatles fans for decades. Many of those accusations aren’t based in reality. However, when it comes to a few songs from back in John Lennon’s heyday, it really does seem like he stole at least part of some famous tunes. I’ll let you form your own opinion on that. Let’s take a look at three songs that John Lennon allegedly stole from other musicians!

“Come Together” by The Beatles

This might just be one of the biggest songs of the 20th century. “Come Together”, released in 1969, is a blues-rock venture that went on to be one of the most-covered songs of all time. And according to lore, it wasn’t entirely John Lennon’s brainchild.

Some believe that “Come Together” boasts a very similar melody and overall song structure to rock and roll icon Chuck Berry’s tune, “You Can’t Catch Me”. In fact, Chuck Berry (or whoever owned the copyright to that song) even sued The Beatles over it. The suit was settled out of court without much fanfare, and Berry would later collaborate with Lennon. Apparently, there were no ha details