Beatles News
Sean Ono Lennon Says It’s ‘Not a Burden’ to Be John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s Son: ‘It's Honestly a Great Privilege for Me’Sean Ono Lennon isn't ashamed to have famous parents.
While speaking to reporters in the press room at the 2025 Grammy Awards in Los Angeles on Feb. 2, the musician, 49, opened up about being the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and how that affects him as he navigates his own music career.
"In terms of balancing and being the custodian of [my dad's] music and my own music, it's not a burden. It's honestly a great privilege for me," Sean explained. "I just feel so lucky that I get to do good by my dad, you know?" continued the star, whose famous father was murdered in December 1980, when he was five years old.
"It seems like a privilege, as his son, to be able to give back," added Sean. "He gave the world so much, and he gave me so much, and I just feel really honored to be able to do justice by him if I can." Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Sean followed in his famous parents' musical footsteps from an early age. Over the course of his career, he released three solo albums, 1998's Into the Sun, 2006's Friendly Fire and 2024's Asterisms, as well as various projects with other bands.
At the 2025 Grammys, Sean won alongside Simon Hilton in the best boxed or special limited edition package category for the expanded version of his father's third solo studio album, Mind Games, originally released in October 1973.
Source: Nicholas Rice/people.com
NBC has confirmed that Paul McCartney and Paul Simon will perform on SNL50: The Anniversary Special, a live three-hour show airing Sunday at 8 p.m. ET.
The pair had previously been announced as participants on the Saturday Night Live celebration, but a new post on Instagram now lists them as performers, along with Miley Cyrus, Alabama Shakes’ Brittany Howard, Sabrina Carpenter, Lil Wayne and The Roots.
The telecast, from Studio 8H in New York’s Rockefeller Center, will also feature appearances by Adam Driver, Ayo Edebiri, Bad Bunny, Dave Chappelle, John Mulaney, Kim Kardashian, Martin Short, Pedro Pascal, Peyton Manning, Quinta Brunson, Robert De Niro, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Martin, Tom Hanks and Woody Harrelson.
Source: everettpost.com
The gold coin features Sir Paul's guitar as well as hidden references to his record-breaking career. Rare gold and silver coins honouring former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney are up for auction. The bespoke set of gold and silver coins, designed by The Royal Mint, will go under the hammer at Stack's Bowers Galleries.
One gold and four silver 5kg (11llb) pieces are set to be auctioned off for a combined sum of over six figures. Royal Mint A gold coin with Paul McCartney's signature on, guitar and piano. Presented in a wooden boxRoyal Mint
The bespoke gold coin took over 250 hours to make, including three days of hand polishing. The Royal Mint worked directly with Sir Paul's production company, MPL Communications, and with the legendary signer himself to develop the coins.
Rebecca Morgan, director of commemorative coin at The Royal Mint said: "This is an exciting opportunity for collectors and fans of Paul McCartney to own a unique item celebrating one of the most influential music artists and songwriters of all time.
"Each coin available at auction is a testament to the exceptional skills of our craftspeople at The Royal Mint". Speaking at the time the decision to mint the coins was announced, Sir Paul said: "It's not anything I would have ever expected to happen when I was a kid."
The silver coin is one of four available in this presentation format. The gold piece represents the largest gold proof coin produced as part of The Royal Mint's Music Legends series.
It took more than 250 hours to make, including three days of polishing, and was signed by Sir Paul during his 2024 Got Back tour in Paris.
The winning bidder will receive a short video from Sir Paul. Brian Kendrella, president of Stack's Bowers Galleries, said: "Paul McCartney's timeless music and multigenerational appeal continue to inspire and unite fans across the world, making this a memorable event that all can enjoy." A percentage of the revenue from the auction will be donated to charity, The Royal Mint said.
Source: bbc.com/Gemma Sherlock
Back in January Ringo Starr headlined two nights at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, joined by a lineup of all-star guests. Soon folks at home are going to get to see what went down.
The previously announced Ringo & Friends at the Ryman special will debut March 10 at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+.
Taped on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15, the special has Ringo performing with such artists as Sheryl Crow, Jack White, Brenda Lee, Mickey Guyton, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Emmylou Harris, The War and Treaty and more.
The special will include performances of Beatles classics, Ringo solo hits and songs from Ringo’s recently released country album, Look Up, which was produced by T Bone Burnett. It will also include Ringo discussing the influence country music has had on his life and career, with the guests also sharing stories of how Ringo has influenced their music.
“It is always a thrill to play the Ryman and this time we are going country!” Ringo shared. “T Bone has put together a great show. It was two nights of peace, love and country music.”
The special also featured an all-star performance of the Beatles classic “With A Little Help From My Friends,” with proceeds from the song benefiting California wildfire relief efforts.
Source: kslx.com
A new documentary, pieced together from unseen footage and carrying all-new interviews with those present at the time and nearest to the star, promises to tell the ex-Beatle’s post-Beatles come-down story that, it seems, – so far – the big names have successfully kept under cover.
New documentary, Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade, comes via Alan G. Parker the maker of Hello Quo and It Was Fifty Years Ago Today… Sgt Pepper And Beyond and features classic interviews with all the usual suspects (Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney) plus new, perhaps more candid chat from Tony Bramwell the Apple Records CEO, Earl Slick, Lennon’s guitarist), Vinny Appice, his drummer, and tour manager Henry ‘The Horse’ Smith.
Of course, we’re all familiar with tales of Beatles sublime success. There’s their own official and suitably epic Anthology series. We’ve Martin Scorsese’s George Harrison-focused Living In The Material World delivering its ‘unique perspective’, and Peter Jackson’s tragedy-turned-triumph Get Back, all telling tales that fit a known narrative and leave a smile on your face.
And with Sam Mendes set to turn the birth and subsequent success of the fab four into four, standalone, movie-each, superhero-style origin stories, it seems that the gilding of the Beatles’ lily only seems set to continue.
Source:musicradar.com/Daniel Griffiths
John Lennon and The Beatles’ music is teaming with hopeless romantic tropes. “Girl,” “Here, There and Everywhere,” “Something,” and “In My Life” are just a few of the notable ones that come to mind. However, there are hoards of other ones that exist in the Beatles’ expansive and decorated catalog.
John Lennon was always an artist in every sense of the word, thus, he seemingly always liked to place himself in the very setting of his songs. That being so, when Lennon sat down to write the Beatles’ 1964 single, “If I Fell,” he made sure to write it on a dramatically appropriate piece of paper—A Valentine’s Day Card.
John Lennon and The £7,800 Valentine’s Day Card
It is unclear where and when John Lennon wrote the lyrics for “If I Fell” on the back of a Valentine’s Day Card, though, both Lennon and Paul McCartney have spoken candidly about the song’s meaning and context. Regarding the latter, “If I Fell” appeared in the Beatles’ film A Hard Day’s Night. In the scene, Lennon comedically mimes the song to Ringo Starr. Although, that still doesn’t explain the subject matter behind the song’s lines.
In the book, All We Are Saying, Lennon stated, “That’s my first attempt to write a ballad proper. That was the precursor to ‘In My Life.’” “And it’s semi-autobiographical, but not consciously. It shows that I wrote sentimental love ballads, silly love songs, way back when.”
McCartney, who helped Lennon write the song, chimed in by saying, “People tend to forget that John wrote some pretty nice ballads. People tend to think of him as an acerbic wit and aggressive and abrasive, but he did have a very warm side to him really which he didn’t like to show too much in case he got rejected.” “We wrote ‘If I Fell’ together but with the emphasis on John because he sang it. It was a nice harmony number, very much a ballad,” concluded McCartney in the book, Many Years From Now.
Source: americansongwriter.com/Peter Burditt
Paul McCartney is treating New Yorkers to a third surprise concert, Friday, February 14—truly proving that he is a gift that keeps on giving. McCartney announced the Valentine's Day performance on his Instagram this afternoon. Tickets are on sale right now.
The third performance comes after giving about 600 people a show to remember Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
The lucky audience members happened to get over to the Bowery Ballroom box office first on Tuesday and many of those who got tickets for the Wednesday night show were already camping out in hopes another concert would be announced. Apparently, actors Emma Stone, Anne Hathaway and supermodel Karlie Kloss managed to attend on Wednesday night. And likewise, people were already lining up outside the venue on Thursday hours before the third concert announcement went live.
Tickets from third party vendors are not being honored to weed out fake tickets, so tickets must be gotten in person.
Source: timeout.com/Shaye Weaver
Over half a decade after the international superstars broke up, 44 years after the death of John Lennon and 23 years after the passing of George Harrison, The Beatles released their 2025 Grammy-winning song, “Now And Then.”
During the recent Grammy Awards ceremony on Feb. 2, The Beatles won their eighth Grammy Award, receiving nominations for record of the year and best rock performance, winning the latter of the two. Because of the death of half of the members of the mid-20th century pop group, the recording of the new Grammy-nominated record was unlike any other.
The origin of the song is derived from an unreleased demo that the late Lennon made three years before his assassination in 1980. In 1994, the three living members at that time came together to work on three previous demos: “Free as a Bird,” “Real Love,” as well as “Now and Then,” releasing the first two in 1995 and “Now And Then” in November 2023.
“Free as a Bird” was quite successful, winning best music video, short form, as well as best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal at the 1997 Grammy Awards. In addition, the single peaked at number two on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the US Billboard Hot 100.
This newest song, however, was made differently from “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love.” While the earlier songs were really just continuations of the early demos, “Now and Then” was almost completely remade and reworked using McCartney and Starr’s current work as well as some help from artificial intelligence to smooth out Lennon’s vocals throughout the song.
Due to the subpar recording quality of Lennon’s demo, pulling the vocals out of the mix was not an easy task, especially with the technology that was available when the band initially revisited the demo in the mid-1990s.
Source: alleghenycampus.com/Evan Belkin
In terms of legacy-making months, February has always been good to The Beatles. The band’s triumphant 1964 appearance on "The Ed Sullivan Show" will always resound in the history of popular music, to be sure. Then there’s the group’s first full-length concert at the Washington Coliseum a few days later. And these Fab Februarys have never truly ebbed, with Paul McCartney staging a series of intimate, pop-up concerts in Brooklyn this very week.
Which brings us to the latest Beatles book to hit the shelves. Robert Rodriguez and Jerry Hammack, the authors of "Ribbons of Rust: The Beatles’ Recording History in Context," are undertaking one of the most ambitious new projects in Beatles studies. In a painstaking effort to account for the band’s origins and influences, Rodriguez and Hammack contextualize the bandmates’ lives and work in terms of their historical and sociocultural moment. The book series draws its name, by the way, from the recording tape upon which the group imprinted their masterworks, those “ribbons of rust”—iron oxide bonded to polyethylene terephthalate.
The first volume in the series traces the fertile and transformative era from July 1954 through January 1963, when the Beatles were poised to conquer Great Britain with the chart-topping “Please Please Me” single. Rodriguez and Hammack are ideally situated to undertake this multivolume work. Rodriguez is the author behind one of Beatles criticism’s seminal books, "Revolver: How the Beatles Reimagined Rock ‘n’ Roll," and the host of the popular "Something about the Beatles" podcast. For his part, Hammack is the author of "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual" series.
Source: salon.com
“Hey, that was a Beatles scream!” Paul McCartney said, responding to a female audience member’s shriek midway through his exuberant surprise concert at New York’s Bowery Ballroom on Tuesday night. “Okay girls, let’s get it over with,” he mock-sighed. “Let’s hear your Beatles screams.”
A huge percentage of the audience complied, producing a credible impersonation of the shrieks that shook the world in 1964 while McCartney listened, then nodded in approval and said, “OK that’s enough.” While some would have basked in the moment, Sir Paul has probably heard enough screaming in his 83 years to burst a thousand eardrums.
But for the lucky people in the room, it was a night worth screaming over: Seeing Paul McCartney and his ace band play a 575-capacity venue that later in the month is hosting shows by such artists as Bartees Strange, Willow Avalon and Jesse Welles. The show was announced suddenly at noon, with no advance warning:
And at 6:44 p.m. on the nose, the band — led by McCartney — walked down the narrow stairs leading from the Bowery dressing room to the stage and launched straight into “A Hard Day’s Night,” soaring through a tight but relaxed career-spanning set that featured lots of banter, much of it in direct response to comments shouted by audience members.
There was plenty to shout about: Although McCartney said they’d had just one rehearsal the day before, this band — guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist-bassist Brian Ray, keyboardist Paul “Wix” Wickens and powerhouse drummer Abe Laboriel Jr., accompanied on some songs by a three-piece horn section — has been together for a dozen-plus years and has toured nearly every one of them (and just wrapped a 23-date European jaunt last Dec. 19), so it’s safe to say they’re tour-tight even after one rehearsal.
And the show, with a tightened version of that tour’s two-plus hour setlist, spanned McCartney’s entire recorded career, from 1963 (“From Me to You”) to his 1970s solo hits and even last year’s “final” Beatles song, “Now and Then.” In between, of course, was nearly every song you’d need to hear: big crowd singalongs on “Hey Jude” and “Ob-la-di Ob-la-da,” romps through “Get Back,” “Jet” and “Got to Get You Into My Life”; deeper cuts like “Letting Go,” “Let Me Roll It” and “Mrs. Vandebilt”; a pair of 21st-century tracks (“My Valentine,” “Come on to Me”); acoustic songs like “I’ve Just Seen a Face” and a solo “Blackbird.”
Source: variety.com/Jem Aswad
