Beatles News

Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote some of their most iconic Beatles songs in the music room of 57 Wimpole Street, the home of McCartney’s girlfriend, Jane Asher. The home, described in Barry Miles’ Many Years From Now as a “Peter Pan house,” was a sprawling, six-story home with plenty of room for Asher’s parents and siblings to live and work comfortably. McCartney joined the fold after getting the fuzzy end of the lollipop in an apartment Brian Epstein rented for The Beatles after hotel staff began complaining of squealing fans running rampant down the halls, looking for the young lads from Liverpool during their stay.

That “fuzzy end” was the smallest room in the whole flat, which was the only one available after the rest of The Beatles called dibs on the room they wanted. (McCartney was late to arrive at the apartment, hence the smallest room.) After lamenting his living conditions for so long, Asher suggested that he move into her family’s house. Her mother already approved. He had a great relationship with the rest of the Asher family. And besides, how fun would it be to live with your girlfriend in a cushy London house that had all the homey atmosphere that The Bea details

John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr of the Beatles started out in Liverpool, England, but it wasn’t long before the band took the entire world by storm. As the group ascended to superstardom, the famed foursome expanded their horizons and put down roots around the UK and beyond.

The group’s 1964 song “I’ll Follow the Sun” is “a ‘Leaving of Liverpool’ song,” McCartney explained in his 2021 book The Lyrics. “I’m leaving this rainy northern town for someplace where more is happening.” The Beatles’ rise to fame is explored in the 2024 documentary Beatles ’64 (streaming on Disney+), featuring never-before-seen footage of the group and its packs of fans during the frenzy of Beatlemania. Of course, it wasn’t all massive crowds and wild concerts; the four led quieter lives in their time at home, where they penned and practiced some of their greatest hits. To provide a peek behind the curtain into their private worlds, we’ve rounded up some domestic snapshots of the iconic musicians below.

Source: MSN

The Beatles' new biopics have hit a major stumbling block as filmmakers have reportedly been banned from shooting on the iconic Abbey Road. Earlier this year Sony confirmed the cast for the four Beatles projects following a sea of speculation, with all four films set to be released in April 2028.

Gladiator II hunk Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Barry Keoghan will star as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn will play George Harrison in the films about The Fab Four. However, with production underway, it's now been claimed bosses have been blocked from filming at the iconic Abbey Road crossing.

Sam Mendes, who is directing the films, had wanted to recreate the Beatles' 1969 album cover on the crossing. Westminster Council have reportedly refused permission as filming at the legendary location would force result in the road being temporarily closed, causing traffic chaos.

Gladiator II hunk Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney, Harris Dickinson will play John Lennon, Barry Keoghan will star as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn will play George Harrison in the films.  However, with production underway, it's now been revealed bosses have been blocked f details

In late December 1999, former Beatle and accomplished guitarist George Harrison endured what one can only describe as a nightmare. That night, one Michael Abram scaled the side of Harrison’s home, broke in, and confronted Harrison with a large knife.

The fact that the assailant even made it inside is nothing short of astonishing. After Harrison’s former bandmate, John Lennon, was violently murdered by a former fan in 1980, Harrison took extensive measures to make sure his estate in Liverpool, England, was as safe as possible. Harrison himself had dealt with stalking incidents in the 1990s, leading him to install searchlights, barbed wire, guard dogs, and private security. Somehow, Abram evaded it all, leading to a stand-off between himself and Harrison in the home’s main hall.

Harrison allegedly chanted the “Hare Krishna” mantra to distract the man and attempted to disarm him. Harrison was badly injured in the fight, suffering multiple stab wounds that included a punctured lung. The fight ended when his wife, Olivia, threw a lamp at the assailant and knocked him out. Police arrived shortly after, and Harrison was rushed to the hospital.

Fortunately, Harrison survived. A doct details

Yoko Ono has long been blamed for “breaking up the Beatles.” The now-92-year-old artist has endured decades of sexist, racist abuse from still-bitter Beatles fans. Now, a recovered phone call featured in the new documentary One to One: John & Yoko—which will premiere on HBO and HBO Max at 8 p.m. tonight—reveals Ono felt abandoned by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr at the height of this horrific harassment.

Directed by Kevin Macdonald, this documentary is an intimate look at the life of John Lennon and Yoko Ono during an 18-month period where they lived together in New York City in the early 1970s. In addition to restored footage of Lennon and Ono’s “One to One” concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City in 1972—Lennon’s only full-length concert after the Beatles and before his murder in 1980—the documentary also features never-before-heard phone calls from Ono and Lennon, who recorded all their calls at the time.

In a phone call between Ono and musician David Peel—a New York friend of the couple, who occasionally performed with Lennon at political rallies—Ono details the horrific verbal and physical abuse she face details

One of the key characteristics that defined The Beatles early in their career was that they were a single unit. It wasn’t John, Paul, George, and Ringo; it was just The Beatles. This was, of course, due to their tight-knit friendship, but as the years rolled by, external forces seemed to interfere with their friendship and professional partnership, ultimately ending the band. However, despite these forces, The Beatles stayed true to a pact they had made before their breakup.

For a moment, put aside the last three or so years of The Beatles’ career. Put aside Yoko Ono, creative control, the death of Brian Epstein, financial disputes, and just recall how close friends they were. As a matter of fact, Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones called them the “four-headed” monster because of their tight-knit bond. As a result of that tight-knit bond, The Beatles made an admirable promise to each other that both solidified the end of the iconic rock band, but also kept their historic legacy intact. The promise was that if one band member quit, then The Beatles would not go on without them.

Source: Peter Burditt/americansongwriter.com

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It has been nearly 60 years since The Beatles’ The White Album was released, and it is widely considered to be one of their finest works to date. Containing huge hits such as the George Harrison-penned “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the Paul McCartney solo “Blackbird”, and the Beach Boys and Chuck Berry’s controversial parody “Back In The U.S.S.R.”, the album is packed with quality songwriting and compositions. One of their most underrated songs from the album is “Don’t Pass Me By,” a song that not even the dynamic songwriting duo McCartney-Lennon can take credit for.

Around 1963-1964, Ringo Starr wrote “Don’t Pass Me By”, which is his first and one of his few solo compositions he had written for the band. However, it was released as part of The White Album, meaning that the band took between four to five years to record and release the song. The reasons why this is the case vary, but it soon came into fruition after the Fab Four’s iconic trip to India.
Ringo-Starr-Hard-Rock-Live Image via Robert Bell/INSTARimages

Even drummers with little songwriting experience, like Starr, have their stroke of songwriting genius. Fo details

The only thing that could outshine the news of The Beatles breaking up was the swirling, speculative rumors of whether they would ever get back together—something that John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison had to answer to often in the years that followed the Fab Four’s split. The public’s curiosity was understandable. They were the biggest rock band in the world in the latter half of the 1960s (bigger than Jesus, so they say). Their dissolution was the end of a movement, not just an era.

As one might expect from four distinct personalities, each of The Beatles had a different explanation for why the band was no more. During a 1981 Good Morning America interview, Harrison put it in familial terms. “The simplest way of saying it is like when you grow up in a family and everybody grows up, and they all leave home, and the brothers and sisters all go and get married and lead their own lives, you know. It’s like really asking them all to go back and live with their mom and dad again.”

He continued, “For us, as individuals, we all had our own lives to lead. We had a lot of experiences, other than being four people stuck in the same hotel room together, details

Ringo Starr & His All Starr Band have announced the first of their 2026 tour dates.

The group concluded its 2025 concerts in September with a series of performances at the Venetian in Las Vegas. The new tour starts in late May and runs through mid-June. "I am happy to be touring again in the spring," Starr said in a press release announcing the shows. "See you all in June. Peace and love."

The All Starr Band currently includes Steve Lukather, Colin Hay, Warren Ham, Hamish Stuart, Gregg Bissonette and Buck Johnson.

Starr's latest album, Look Up, was released in January, marking his return to country music after a several-decade hiatus. He famously recorded Buck Owens' "Act Naturally" with the Beatles, and the 1970 solo LP, Beaucoups of Blues, was recorded in Nashville.

He and Look Up producer T Bone Burnett are now in the studio working on a follow-up album. Where Is Ringo Starr's All Starr Band Playing in 2026?

Starr and His All Starr Band will hit the road on May 28 for a date in Temecula, California. Over the next few weeks, they will perform dates in San Diego, Tucson, Denver and Phoenix.

The run is scheduled to conclude with a concert at the Greek Theatre in Los details

If you are a devout Beatles fan, then you know the history behind their iconic No. 1 hit song, “Come Together”. If you don’t, then long story short is that Chuck Berry’s song “You Can’t Catch Me” heavily influenced John Lennon during the writing process. As a matter of fact, the opening lines in both songs are nearly identical. Consequently, after the song’s release, Berry’s publishing company, Big Seven Music, accused Lennon of plagiarism.

Instead of settling the case in court, Lennon agreed to record three songs for Big Seven Music. Though it seems this concern was a concern from the start, as Paul McCartney voiced his perspective on the matter when John Lennon first showed him the song back in the late 1960s. Paul McCartney Loved the Song, but He Knew John Lennon Needed To Change It Up.

In an interview with Dana Carvey and David Spade on Fly On The Wall, Paul McCartney recalled the moment John Lennon showed him “Come Together”. Paul McCartney seemingly dug the song, but he knew that if they didn’t alter some things, Berry’s parties would meet the band with legal action.

“We’re in Abbey Road Studio number two details

On December 8, 1980, John Lennon passed away in front of The Dakota Hotel in New York City. 21 years later, George Harrison passed away on November 29, 2001, after a battle with lung cancer. A battle he’d fought for roughly four years after he received a cancer diagnosis in 1998. 17 days before his passing, Harrison met with his good friends Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney for the last time, which was on this day, November 12, 2001, at a hotel in New York City.

Harrison’s battle with cancer was both lengthy as well as diverse, as the man didn’t just have one type of cancer. Originally, in 1998, Harrison had a throat tumor. Subsequently, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, and in 2001, the thing that ultimately took his life was a brain tumor brought on by the cancer. The day he passed away, the news was reported across the globe, and other than leaving behind one of the greatest legacies in pop culture history, his death also became a warning against smoking.

Nevertheless, on this day, November 12, 2001, Harrison scored a little bit of peace before his death when his friends and former bandmates met with him at a hotel in Manhattan.

At the time of their meeting, George Harriso details

By the time George Harrison and Bob Dylan were in the Traveling Wilburys with Tom Petty, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne in 1988, the two already had established a long friendship, and collaborations, from the early 1960s, first co-writing, Harrison’s All Things Must Pass opening track “I’d Have You Anytime,” during sessions in November 1968 at Dylan’s home in Woodstock, New York.

Both remained friends through Harrison’s death in 2001 and collaborated on several more songs including co-writing several songs for the Traveling Wilburys, including “End of the Line” and “Handle With Care,” along with “Nowhere to Go” (“When Everybody Comes to Town”), a song they co-wrote in the late ’60s and later recorded at Dylan’s home in Greenwich Village in New York in 1970.

“Bob Dylan is the most consistent artist there is,” said Harrison. “Even his stuff, which people loathe, I like. Every single thing he does represents something that’s him. He may write better songs tomorrow, sing high on this album and low on another, go electric or acoustic, go weird or whatever, but the basic thing that causes all this chang details

True love can and often does manifest in strange, mysterious ways—like the time John Lennon wrote a particularly pining Beatles song that he would later come to realize was about Yoko Ono. At the time he wrote the song, he had yet to meet Ono at her avant-garde art exhibition at the Indica Gallery in London. That wouldn’t happen until early November 1966, almost one year to the date that Lennon and the rest of the band recorded the song that they would feature on Rubber Soul.

As Lennon explained in Anthology, he wrote the Rubber Soul track, “Girl”, with no particular girl in mind. “There is no such thing as the girl,” he clarified. “She was a dream. But the words are all right. It wasn’t just a song. And it was about that girl. That turned out to be Yoko, in the end. The one that a lot of us were looking for.”

From the intimate performance that captured every breath Lennon took before a vocal phrase to the dreamy instrumental arrangement, he certainly captured what it was like to wistfully imagine the partner of your dreams who has planted themselves firmly in your mind’s eye. “Is there anybody going to listen to my story all about the girl who ca details

For the most part, who took the lead on each Beatles song made sense. No one else could’ve sung “Yellow Submarine” but Ringo Starr, and no one could’ve sung “Yesterday” but Paul McCartney. They had four vocalists with very different strengths, and they used them to their utmost advantage. There was one song, however, that John Lennon wished he had taken the lead on instead of his songwriting partner, McCartney. Find out which song Lennon thought his bandmate “didn’t sing too well” below.

McCartney’s voice works twofold. He can deliver intimate vocals that shine on his ballads. He can also roughen up his vocals a bit and better align them with his blues influences. Most fans don’t have any issues with McCartney’s lead vocals, but Lennon took issue with his performance on “Oh! Darling” from Abbey Road.

According to McCartney, he found the vocal part in that song difficult to get right. His voice needed to equal the passion in the lyrics, which is not an easy feat. According to the former Beatle, he tried to record the vocal several different ways before finding a take he was happy with.

“I mainly remember wanting to g details

The documentary One to One: John & Yoko turns its lens to John Lennon and Yoko Ono during the period when they first moved to New York in the early 1970s, following the breakup of the Beatles. It was a time when the couple left London behind for a small apartment in Greenwich Village, where they began mixing with political radicals, free thinkers, and activists. It was a transformational period in their lives that led to the creation of some of Lennon’s most politically charged music.

At the time, Ono was receiving intense backlash from Beatles fans who blamed her for the band’s demise. In the doc, she details the abuse she endured at their hands, and why she believes the Fab Four themselves might have fanned the flames of public resentment—whether knowingly or not. Through archival footage, candid phone calls, and Lennon’s own reflections, One to One reframes the era as a deeply turbulent time where love, art, and politics collided.

Source: Erin Maxwell/tvinsider.com