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When Carole King made the rounds introducing herself to all four of The Beatles at a party at the Warwick Hotel in New York City, the songwriter came face to face with each musician’s unique personalities (and reputations): Paul McCartney was affable and chatty, George Harrison was quiet but polite, Ringo Starr “was Ringo,” and John Lennon was snarky to the point of being downright rude.

At the time, King didn’t press Lennon to see if his behavior was actually directed toward her or if she was an unfortunate but unintentional victim of one of his sulkier moods. She was hardly a nobody at the party, after all. Even McCartney stopped to tell her what a great influence she and her songwriting partner, Gerry Goffin, were to him. But at 23 years old, getting blown off by one of the biggest rockstars in the world was going to sting, no matter how many hits she had under her belt.

During a 2012 interview at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, King described the memorable moment. Lennon was the last Beatle she had to introduce herself to. “He’s standing with two women, neither of whom was Cynthia [Lennon, his first wife]. He looks high; he looks like he’s totall details

For some people, an album is simply a collection of singles and a few fillers and nothing more. Paul McCartney, however, is an artist who typically considers his work more carefully. He and the Beatles helped define the modern album—work that seems to expand the bounds of what an album was in the decades before their rise to fame. Because of this, McCartney fans were shocked when he made an album full of what he called “throwaways.” Find out which album that was below.

McCartney’s writing always stood in stark contrast to his bandmates’. By the end of their tenure, the band had all but given up on McCartney’s whimsical songwriting voice. To pursue that creative ambition, he needed to shed the weight of the other Beatles.

Though he got his wish, it wasn’t as easy a road as he might have thought before the band broke up. Of course, changing gears might have seemed like heaven to McCartney in the middle of the Beatles’ tenuous relationship, but finding solo success was almost equally as hard.

Fans wanted more of the same, which they couldn’t have after the Beatles parted ways. In hindsight, it would’ve been impossible to please everyone with a debu details

There has never been a band comparable to the Beatles, so it stands to reason that capturing their music-altering run as a film would require an approach just as unprecedented.

That seems to be the logic behind Sony Pictures' The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, the collection of biopics — each told from the perspective of an individual band member — officially unveiled at CinemaCon earlier this year.

The four interconnected films are currently casting up ahead of production and a planned 2028 release. In the meantime, here's everything you need to know about the ambitious project.
Who is playing the Beatles in the movies?

Sony understandably made a spectacle of their casting announcement, revealing the four leads for the "Cinematic Event" at CinemaCon, all of whom are actors on the rise from the British Isles.

Oscar nominee Paul Mescal will play Paul McCartney. Babygirl breakout Harris Dickinson will be John Lennon. The Banshees of Inisherin Best Supporting Actor nominee Barry Keoghan will play Ringo Starr. Stranger Things and The Fantastic Four: First Steps actor Joseph Quinn will be George Harrison.  Who else has been cast?

Casting outside of the details

An “impractical” song written before She Said, She Said is the first psychedelic song John Lennon ever wrote.

The Beatles member behind hits like Come Together and I Am the Walrus confirmed an earlier song was actually his first test of psychedelic-tinged songwriting. Lennon would confirm this two years after The Beatles had officially split up, giving an interview breaking down his writing style in the early years. Though the song proved “impractical” compared to the popular She Said, She Said, it would be the first time Lennon had written with a psychedelic intention in mind. A few candid reflections on the song in question were shared in 1972, where Lennon wished he had stuck to the “original idea” he had for Tomorrow Never Knows, a song which featured on Revolver.

He said: “This was my first psychedelic song. Tomorrow Never Knows… I didn’t know what I was saying, and you just find out later. I know that when there are some lyrics I dig, I know that somewhere people will be looking at them.

“Often the backing I think of early-on never comes off. With ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ I’d imagined in my head that in the background you details

Had he lived, Lennon would have celebrated his 85th birthday on October 9, 2025. Here are five songs written by John Lennon but recorded by other acts.

John Lennon’s body of work is staggeringly impressive. With The Beatles and as a solo artist, he created some of the most enduring music of the rock era. And though it represented a small fraction of his creative output, his work as a writer for (and in one case, with) other artists is worthy of note. In addition to his production credits (for wife Yoko Ono, The Silkie, David Peel and the Lower East Side, Mick Jagger and Harry Nilsson), Lennon composed songs expressly for other artists he admired. Nearly all of that activity took place between his leaving The Beatles in 1969 and the start of his retirement/hiatus in 1975. Had he lived, Lennon would have celebrated his 85th birthday on October 9. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the first of many compilations surveying his solo work – 1975’s Shaved Fish – here are five songs written by John Lennon but recorded by other acts.

“God Save Us” by Bill Elliot & the Elastic Oz Band (single, 1971)

In the years immediately following The Beatles’ breakup, Lenno details

The Beatles had wanted to put on a final performance before they split up.

Though Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr would play out a show on the roof of Abbey Corps Headquarters, the four had spoken of playing a regular, attended show. Lennon would say it’s the reason he had agreed to a television special, which had been scrapped during the making of the band’s final two albums. Harrison would also say he “really wanted to play” but that the opportunity to do so had simply not occurred during their sessions together. McCartney would also suggest a live show was the right time to “light a rocket and really take off for the end” of the band. Plans for a show beyond the rooftop gig never came to be, though it seemed the band were keen on performing together in front of a planned, ticketed audience.

Lennon would say during the Get Back sessions in 1969 that he would have liked to play live with The Beatles again. He said: “I would dig to play onstage, you know? I mean, if it was all… everything was all right and there was no messing and we’re just gonna play onstage.

“You know, that’s why I said yes to the TV show. details

 English actor James Norton will play Brian Epstein, the influential manager of the Beatles, in the upcoming four-part musical biopic by director Sam Mendes.

He’ll star in “The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event,” as the unconventional project has been dubbed, alongside Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Harrison Dickinson as John Lennon and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr and Joseph Quinn as George Harrison.

Epstein, a legend among Beatles fans and often considered the band’s fifth member, met the Fab Four in 1961 and helped propel them into a global phenomenon. He was with the group until he died in 1967 from a drug overdose at age 32. (Epstein’s own epic story was immortalized in the 2024 biopic “Midas Man.”)

Sony, the studio behind the films, declined to comment on Norton’s casting, which was first reported by Deadline.

Mendes is making four separate movies, one from each Beatles member’s point of view. All four installments will debut on the big screen in April 2028. The films are expected to intersect to capture the band’s improbable journey from Liverpool to the center of global culture, leading to their 1970 breakup. Given details

The story of how one of The Beatles' biggest ever songs was almost not released under the band's name.

The Beatles were always so much more than the sum of their parts.  Despite the delights of John Lennon and Paul McCartney's solo careers (and those of George Harrison and Ringo Starr, too), when the Fab Four were together they genuinely changed the history of popular music and the whole society.

But even when they were together there were moments when individual members of the band were in complete creative control.

That was especially true on The Beatles (aka The White Album), when each corner of the band was frequently off doing their own thing. But there's one much earlier example that really stands out, too.  'Yesterday' is one of the most famous Beatles song that very nearly wasn't a Beatles song. This is why.
Who wrote 'Yesterday'?

Like the vast majority of The Beatles' original songs, 'Yesterday' was credited to Lennon–McCartney. It says it right there on the label.

But we all know that while some of the duo's songs for the Fab Four were true co-writes and many were driven by one of the pair and polished by the other, there were songs that were prett details

Saoirse Ronan is set to play photographer and musician Linda McCartney in the upcoming Beatles biopic.

The Oscar nominated actress will play alongside Paul Mescal, who takes up the role in the four films, directed by Sam Mendes.

The films are set for simultaneous release, with each film focusing on one of the four band members. Saoirse Ronan is set to play photographer and musician Linda McCartney in the upcoming Beatles biopic.  

Linda married Paul in 1969, with the pair going on to have three children together.  Born and raised in New York City, Linda was the second of four children to Louise and Lee Eastman. Linda attended Scarsdale High School and then Vermont College, where she obtained an Associate of Arts in 1961.

She majored in Fine Arts at the University of Arizona, where she also developed a fondness for photography. Linda didn’t complete her studies due to the tragic death of her mother in a plane crash in 1962.  Linda got her start in photography when she took up a receptionist and editorial assistant gig with Town & Country magazine. 

Before Paul, Linda was married to Joseph Melville See Jr. They married in 1962 and divorced t details

Jack Walters is a film and television journalist based in Newcastle, UK. He is a Senior Writer on Screen Rant's New Movies team, and has also published work at Loud & Clear Reviews, Next Best Picture, and ScreenSphere.

Another important casting announcement was recently unveiled for Sam Mendes' four Beatles biopics. Saoirse Ronan will officially play Linda McCartney in the four-movie cinematic event, while Anna Sawai, Aimee Lou Wood, and Mia McKenna-Bruce are reportedly circling the roles of Yoko Ono, Pattie Boyd, and Maureen Starkey, respectively.

Mendes' Beatles films will be released simultaneously in April 2028, with each movie detailing the Beatles' story from a different band member's perspective. This will be a very interesting step forward for the biopic genre, and it crucially means that certain characters will appear multiple times across the movies - so it's even more important that they're accurately cast.

8. Cynthia Lennon - Depending on which era of the Beatles' career these movies take place throughout, Cynthia Lennon will need to be present to some degree. Even if Sam Mendes decides to set his stories after John and Cynthia's breakup, there's no way to write her out of the details

Before he was known as a writer, producer and one of the world’s foremost fingerstyle guitarists, Laurence Juber spent three years, from 1978 to 1981, as a member of Wings. Prior to that, he had established himself as an in-demand London session guitarist. An invitation to jam with Wings guitarist-bassist Denny Laine soon changed into a life-changing event when Paul and Linda McCartney joined in.

After playing a few blues and reggae tunes, Paul turned to Juber and asked, “What are you doing for the next few years?”

“It was in that nanosecond that everything flashes in front of you,” Juber says. “I had spent my entire teenage years and beyond becoming a studio musician, and then there's Paul McCartney offering me a gig.

“On the one hand, you think, What am I giving up? On the other hand, I was in a place in my life where, if there was going to be a big change, the universe was kind of leading me to it. How could I say no?”

Juber contributed guitar parts to the 1979 Wings album, Back to the Egg — his fire-spitting solo on the punk-rockabilly number “Spin It On” is a particular standout — and he played with Wings on their 19-dat details

Paul McCartney will release "McCartney III" in December, a new collection of stripped-back songs all written, performed and produced by the ex-Beatle, 50 years after his first solo album.

Recorded this year in Sussex in southern England, McCartney III is mostly built from McCartney's live takes on vocals and guitar or piano, overlaying his bass playing and drumming.

It joins two other albums - McCartney and McCartney II - created single-handedly by the 78-year-old at critical times in his life, in 1970 and 1980, when he was seeking a creative rebirth.

"I was living lockdown life on my farm with my family and I would go to my studio every day. I had to do a little bit of work on some film music and that turned into the opening track and then when it was done I thought what will I do next?" said McCartney.

He turned to half-finished fragments he'd created over the years.  "Each day I'd start recording with the instrument I wrote the song on and then gradually layer it all up, it was a lot of fun. It was about making music for yourself rather than making music that has to do a job. So, I just did stuff I fancied doing. I had no idea this would end up as an album."

 McCartney's details

Most of what made The Beatles magical was, of course, the band members themselves. The Fab Four had such a perfect mix of songwriting, performing, and instrumental talent packed into the band. But themselves alone weren’t what made The Beatles so great. Their producers, agents, and occasional collaborators also helped produce some of the Fab Four’s best songs. Let’s take a look at just three very famous Beatles collaborators who made a few noteworthy contributions.

The OG Rolling Stones leader was involved with The Beatles in a few ways. He was around during the process of producing “Yellow Submarine”, but he was also brought into the mix a few years later during sessions for the song “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)”.

This song was recorded during sessions for Magical Mystery Tour, but the song itself wasn’t released until after Jones’ passing. Specifically, you can hear the tune on the 1970 finale Let It Be. Jones can be heard playing the sax on the song. Considering he was better known as a guitarist, some people may not know that’s him on “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)”.

Eric Clapton was associated with The Beatles details

When The Beatles first arrived on the international music scene via their introduction to America, they were the good boys of rock ‘n’ roll. Clean-cut, boyishly charismatic, well-behaved, and in line with the societal standards of the time. Many of their contemporaries, such as The Rolling Stones, were not that. For the early years of their career, Paul McCartney and The Beatles held onto that image, and while they never went full “bad-boy”, they did start to drift away from this innocent and respectable image.

3 Nostalgic Songs From the 1970s That Will Bring You Back to Your First Love

There is no way to know if The Beatles did this on purpose. In reality, who cares if they did or didn’t? Nevertheless, The Beatles’ image went from the boys next door to counter-culture figures around 1966. Of course, there was not one thing that marked this transition, but a big one was seemingly when Paul McCartney confessed to taking a psychedelic drug on national television in 1967.

In retrospect, do people care that The Beatles did drugs? No, but given the day in age and their former reputation, it was a huge deal. An enormous deal given that the media of the time sensationalized, details

Paul Simon wrote “Bridge Over Troubled Water” on Blue Jay Way, a location made infamous by George Harrison in The Beatles song of the same name.  Paul Simon and George Harrison became friends and performed together on Saturday Night Live in 1976.
Simon described Harrison as “amazing ... brave, open, kind.”

Simon & Garfunkel were at the height of their folk-rock fame in 1969 when they recorded one of their most enduring classics. Yet, few fans realize this song has a surprising connection to The Beatles.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were writing and recording “Bridge Over Troubled Water,” and other songs for what would become the album of the same name in the latter part of 1969. After wrapping up a television special and a grueling tour, the exhausted duo set out to finish this seminal album.

Simon said in a 1972 interview with Rolling Stone that his and Garfunkel’s Beatles connection came via George Harrison, in a home on Blue Jay Way, immortalized in the Magical Mystery Tour song of the same name.

“We were in California. We were all renting this house. Me, Artie and Peggy [Harper], (Simon’s wife) were living in this house with details

Producer George Martin wasn’t called the “fifth Beatle” for no reason. Truly, this man is responsible for getting the Fab Four their start and had a big hand in many of their greatest hits. And among those hits, Martin spoke about his top picks and favorite tunes. Let’s look at just a few of George Martin’s favorite Beatles songs, shall we?

This No. 1 US hit from the Fab Four was one of George Martin’s top picks. Years ago, Martin appeared on a 1995 episode of BBC Sounds’ Desert Island Discs, where Sue Lawley would interview various big names in the music world to learn more about their favorite songs and general music taste. Martin appeared on the show to talk about his favorite tunes, like “Oboe Quartet in F Major” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and “Bess, You Is My Woman Now” by George Gershwin. “I Want To Hold Your Hand” from 1963 made it to his list.

This one’s not a song, per se, but a medley of songs that make up more than half of a massively famous Beatles record. George Martin described the second side of Abbey Road from 1969 as “very much [his] favorite” and described the medley as “one o details

UMe’s announcement today that it is reissuing Ringo Starr’s first four solo albums on colored vinyl on Oct. 24 puts a spotlight on his celebrated 1973 album Ringo, which enabled him to set a pair of Billboard Hot 100 records that he holds to this day.

Starr is the only ex-Beatle to land two No. 1 singles from one studio album and the only one to release back-to-back singles that both reached No. 1. Starr topped the Hot 100 in November 1973 with “Photograph,” which he co-wrote with his former Beatles bandmate George Harrison. His follow-up, “You’re Sixteen,” a jaunty remake of a 1960 hit by Johnny Burnette, reached No. 1 in January 1974.

Both singles were released from Starr’s third studio album, Ringo, which was produced by Richard Perry, one of the hottest producers of the era. (Perry died last December at age 82.) Starr’s first two studio albums were Sentimental Journey, a 1970 collection drawn from the Great American Songbook, and Beaucoups of Blues, a 1970 country- and folk-shaded album recorded in Nashville. So Ringo was his first contemporary pop/rock album. On the album, Starr collaborated with his Beatles bandmates John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Harr details

There are a few sayings that you need to keep handy when record collecting. The chase is better than the catch. A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. And in a recent month at Discogs, the online database of audio recordings and marketplace, one saying stands true: beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Or more accurately, a record's worth is really how much a person is willing to pay for it. And it might shock you how much someone paid for an EP by an Irish quartet, and how it outsold The Beatles.

When Discogs revealed its monthly "The 25 Most Valuable Records Sold" report for September 2025, it was surprising to see that an ultrarare copy of The Beatles' debut album, Please Please Me, came in at second place. At No. 1? The debut release from U2.

U2 (Bono, The Edge, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.) experienced their breakthrough success in the 1980s with albums like War, The Unforgettable Fire and The Joshua Tree. But in 1979, they were just starting out, releasing their debut EP, Three.

The band pressed 1,000 copies of their three-song EP, each coming with a hand-numbered sticker on a CBS (Columbia Broadcasting System) sleeve. This particular copy has the band's name spelled as "U-2" on details

‘I’ll be around for another 60 years’: Lost tapes reveal John Lennon’s best-laid plans. Only ‘acts of God’ can stop me making music, former Beatle told DJ five years before he was shot dead in New York

John Lennon said he believed he would keep making music for “another 60 years” five years before his death, a newly-unearthed recording has revealed. The Beatles star was shot dead outside his residence in New York in 1980, aged 40.

In the interview, carried out by DJ Nicky Horne in 1975, he said: “Apart from acts of God, I will be around for another 60 years and doing it until I drop.”

Horne recently rediscovered the original recordings in his basement, and elsewhere in the conversation Lennon said he was dissatisfied with his work and wanted to throw away his album Walls and Bridges.

Mark Chapman shot Lennon in the back four times when the musician returned home on Dec 8 1980. Just hours before, Lennon had signed an autograph for Chapman, who remains in prison.   Horne said Lennon had made him feel comfortable by baking him chocolate cookies and insisting on doing the interview cross-legged on the carpet in his details

The upcoming quartet of Beatles biopics is one of the most intriguing film projects currently in the works – and one of the stars of the movies has given an update about his "dream" role in Sam Mendes's ambitious project.

Harris Dickinson – who will portray John Lennon in all four films – spoke to RadioTimes.com about the process of getting into character as the iconic musician during an exclusive interview to promote his directorial debut Urchin.

“ It's been amazing," he said. "It's such a unique experience to play someone of that calibre. I mean, it's intimidating, but it’s enriching, it's like an opportunity to delve into something incredibly complex and challenging, which I've loved."

He continued: "I feel really lucky to go to work every day and get to, kind of, attempt to dig into who and what that is."

The films will also star Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison and Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, with a lengthy shoot having got under way during the summer.

Some reports have suggested that the filming process will take as long as 15 months ahead of the simultaneous release of all four films in 2028, but Dickinson has by no mean details

Four-time Academy Award nominee Saoirse Ronan (Brooklyn) has inked a deal to play Linda McCartney, the first wife of The Beatles’ Paul McCartney, in Sam Mendes’ The Beatles — A Four-Film Cinematic Event, multiple sources tell Deadline.

Reps for Sony declined to comment. Ronan joins a cast that includes Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney, Barry Keoghan as Ringo Starr, Joseph Quinn as George Harrison, and Harris Dickinson as John Lennon. With each of the Mendes-directed Beatles films telling the story of a different member of the band, Ronan is expected to feature prominently in the installment centered on McCartney, though it’ s unknown to what extent she might appear in the other three.

Linda McCartney was a photographer, musician and animal rights activist who rose to prominence in the 1960s with her portraiture of The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix and The Doors. The first female photographer to have her work on the cover of Rolling Stone, she married Paul McCartney in 1969 and worked alongside him as part of his band Wings in his post-Beatles career. A passionate advocate for vegetarianism and animal welfare, she launched her own company, Linda McCartney Foods, in 1991 and passed away from ca details

For the first time since it was originally published in 2000, Chronicle Books will release The Beatles Anthology, 25th Anniversary Edition in a unique co-release with Disney+, UMG, and Apple Corps
The Beatles’ expanded Anthology Collection music releases will also be released Nov. 21 by Apple Corps Ltd./Capitol/UMe
The Beatles’ restored, expanded “Anthology” documentary series begins streaming November 26 on Disney+

RINGO: In 1963 the attitude of my whole family changed. They treated me like a different person.

One absolutely clear vision I had was round at my auntie’s, where I’d been a thousand times before. We were having a cup of tea one night and somebody knocked the coffee table and my tea spilt into my saucer. Everyone’s reaction was, "He can’t have that. We have to tidy up." That would never have happened before. I thought then, "Things are changing." It was absolutely an arrow in the brain.

Suddenly I was "one of those," even within my family, and it was very difficult to get used to. I’d grown up and lived with these people and now I found myself in Weirdland.

GEORGE: My family changed, but in a nice way. They were details

Imagine, released in 1971, dug as deep lyrically as John Lennon’s solo debut (John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band). But Lennon also focused on making the album a more commercial affair that would reach a wider audience. He ended up with perhaps the most beloved album of his career. Here are five tidbits of trivia surrounding the songs on Imagine.

The whole idea behind the Imagine album was for John Lennon to deliver his opinions and beliefs in ways that were much more palatable to the music listening masses. Thanks to this strategy, the title track became an anthem almost instantly upon its release. Lennon had borrowed some ideas from Yoko Ono’s work for the concept of imagining a better world. After the song was released, Lennon mused that he should have given Ono credit as a co-writer. Years later, he would make good on his devotion to Ono’s musical input, as she would write and sing half the songs on Double Fantasy. 

John Lennon did everything he could to leave behind the specter of The Beatles once he left the group. On his first solo album, he even included the song “God”, which made clear his intention to put the Fab Four in his rear view mirror. But he didn’t shy away fro details

April 10, 1970, is one of the most memorable days in music history. It is the day the world lost the greatest band of all time, The Beatles. The Beatles’ breakup came in the form of a press release announced by Paul McCartney. To this day, the breakup seemingly makes many skip a heartbeat and lose a breath or two. It was just that culturally severe to the world. Though it wasn’t unexpected, as The Beatles’ breakup was years in the making, and their growing divide was rather common knowledge.

The most common timeline of The Beatles’ demise more or less starts in 1968 with the recording of the White Album and ends in 1970 with McCartney’s announcement. That is the arc the majority of fans refer to and have accepted. However, a source close to The Beatles once said that their demise started years before their end. Specifically, after The Beatles quit touring.

That source is Hunter Davies, the author of the only authorized biography of The Beatles. According to Davies, The Beatles’ decline started before the White Album, and in total, lasted roughly around four years.

Source: Peter Burditt/americansongwriter.com

details

Las Vegas has hosted its share of spectacles (and then some), but nothing quite like the night Sir Paul McCartney turned Allegiant Stadium into Abbey Road West. One of pop music’s most celebrated living legends brought his Got Back tour to Sin City, and the result was a euphoric, nearly three-hour romp through a rock n’ roll time machine that had nearly 60,000 fans singing, dancing, crying, and grinning like teenagers seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan all over again.

It was McCartney’s first show at Las Vegas’ shiny Allegiant Stadium—opened in 2020—and the energy was off the charts from the opening chord. With no Los Angeles stop on this leg, the stars turned out in force, with Amy Schumer, Drew Carey, and even Celine Dion among the crowd of fans and fellow icons who came to worship at the altar of Macca.

McCartney remains the embodiment of rock’s eternal youth. At 83 years young, he’s still cheeky, tireless, and bounding across the stage like a man half his age. This Got Back run marks his first major North American tour since 2022, and though he’s now playing to grandkids of his original fans, the music has lost none of its bite or brilliance.

He an details