Beatles News
It's been 40 years since model Pattie Boyd married musician Eric Clapton.
The two had met in the late 1960s, when Boyd was married to Clapton's close friend, George Harrison. Clapton fell in love with Boyd, but at the time, she wouldn't leave Harrison to be with him.
Clapton penned the song "Layla" about his feelings for Boyd. According to author Barry Hill, Clapton was inspired by a poem called "The Story of Layla and Majnun," which portrayed the poet as a man driven to madness by his unattainable love.
Julien’s Auctions and The Beatles Story present a spectacular Beatlemania memorabilia auction on Friday, May 9-10th. The two-day event, Music Icons: The Beatles In Liverpool, held for the first time at The Beatles Story Museum in Liverpool, UK, the birthplace of The Beatles, as well as online at juliensauctions.com, will feature items from John Lennon’s guitar strap and the Yesterday and Today ‘butcher’ album prototype, and a baseball signed by The Beatles.
John Lennon, signed Yesterday and Today ‘butcher’ sleeve, image courtesy of Julien’s Auctions
In addition Julien’s Auctions will partner once again with The Beatles Story to bring their Beatles and Merseybeat “Memorabilia Day” back home to Liverpool on Friday, May 10th 2019 (12-8 p.m. GMT) for a spectacular two-day Beatlemania event.
Source: Chris Jenkins/artsandcollections.com
The Beatles legend Paul McCartney admits that he had no idea about Michael Jackson’s dark side before watching his latest documentary, Leaving Neverland.
Here is what Sir Paul McCartney said about Michael Jackson, and his ‘dark side’ to Radio Futuro in Chile:
“Obviously Michael was a great singer, a great artist and a great dancer. For years we’ve loved that. Nobody knew about the other side that’s shown in that movie.
When I knew him he was a really nice guy. I didn’t know about the dark side. It makes it very difficult to look back on the memories which were good memories, to think, oh boy, there was other stuff going on.
For me, I’m OK to just stay with the personal memories I had of him. The other side is the other side. I don’t know about that.
I can understand why people are very disappointed in him and angry that he had the dark side.”
Source: metalheadzone
Legendary Beatles producer Sir George Martin will be inducted into the Music Business Hall of Fame during the 61st annual Music Business Association (Music Biz) conference on May 7 in Nashville. The late luminary, who produced a record 23 No. 1 hits on the Hot 100, will be inducted by his son, Giles Martin.
Music Biz launched its Hall of Fame last year, inducting Tower Records founder Russ Solomon. It aims to celebrate the achievements of industry executives, companies, media, venues, institutions and others who have made significant contributions to the music business.
In addition to Martin, this year’s Hall ceremony will recognize major labels Atlantic Records and Capitol Records; indie label Sub Pop; industry execs Ahmet Ertegun, Herb Abramson and Miriam Abramson; music industry landmarks the Apollo Theatre, CBGB, Hitsville U.S.A., Sun Studio, and the Troubadour; and Rolling Stone magazine.
Source: Billboard Staff/billboard.com
Still on the rise, the Fab Four and the Greatest goofed around before one of Ali's fights for a now-epic photo op.
There’s no denying that The Beatles and Muhammad Ali were all skilled at delivering powerful hits in their own rights. It wasn’t until February 18, 1964, however, that their paths eventually crossed at Miami Beach’s 5th Street Gym. New British rockers George Harrison, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr — otherwise known as the Fab Four — were stateside for a live Ed Sullivan Show performance when they met a largely unknown 22-year-old underdog boxer named Cassius Clay. For his part, the fighter, who would, weeks later, change his name to Muhammad Ali, was in Miami to get in the ring for a bout with the heavily favored Heavyweight Champion Sonny Liston.
To drum up publicity while in the United States, the boys from Liverpool actually first approached Liston to participate in a photo op ahead of the match. When Liston unequivocally refused — and even reportedly threw some metaphorical jabs at the band — the Beatles rolled with the punches and recruited his opponent instead. Photographer Harry Benson captured the meeting of the legends that day in a series of pictures worth far more than a thousand words.
Source: biography.com
One of Sir Paul McCartney's school books has sold at auction for £46,800 after a bidding war by two fans.
It was snapped up for nearly 10 times its estimate by a UK telephone bidder at an auction of Beatles memorabilia in Newton-le-Willows, Merseyside.
Sir Paul, 76, used it for his English Literature lessons at Liverpool Institute High School for Boys.
A pair of John Lennon's glasses went for £9,600, but a cassette of George Harrison songs went unsold.
Sir Paul's school book was owned by a family, based in Liverpool, who said they have had it "for as long as they can remember".
It contained 22 pages of essays by the Beatle when he was a teenager including pieces about Thomas Hardy's novel The Return of the Native and John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost.
The book also featured a doodle of a man smoking, and critical comments by his teacher Alan "Dusty" Durband. But the Beatle got impressive grades for his work, B- to B++.
Source: bbc.com
George Harrison’s sitar was damaged in an “unfortunate accident” at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London.
Olivia Harrison, widow of the late Beatle, loaned the complex instrument to the famous institution.
A spokeswoman for the museum said that the sitar was repaired following the incident.
“In 2016, during preparation for a temporary exhibition an unfortunate accident occurred causing partial damage to a sitar on loan from Olivia Harrison,” the V&A said.
“The care and protection of objects entrusted to us is of the utmost importance and we take these matters extremely seriously.
“Following conservation assessment, one of the sitar’s gourds was fully repaired in consultation with leading experts, and no permanent damage was sustained.
Source: irishexaminer.com
The Beatles perform Don't Let Me Down on rooftop 1969
November 20th 1963. The Beatles superfan Jacquie Graham was sixteen years ago and couldn’t get a ticket to the Fab Four’s show in Manchester. Nevertheless, she’s revealed to Express.co.uk in an exclusive interview how she ended up meeting The Beatles thanks to her panda toy. Jacquie can’t quite recall why she had the plush animal with her, but she and her friends tried their luck at the concert venue. She said: “We got to the Apollo. Knocked on the stage door and this chap came out and took the Panda.”
Jacquie continued: “He just took it out of our hands and shut the door.
“We were absolutely furious. Very, very upset.”
As a result, the girls took a taxi to the Daily Mirror in Manchester and explained to the paper what had happened.
They ended up back at the Apollo with a photographer, who managed to get into the venue and retrieve the panda toy – but that’s far from the end of the story.
The Beatles: AMAZING story of how one fan met Fab Four thanks to a stuffed TOY (Image: PHOTOBOX)
Jacquie revealed: “And the next thing we know, we’re invited into the foyer of the Apollo.
“We were interviewed and then led off to another room and they were there!
Source: George Simpson/express.co.uk
With all the turbulence rattling The Beatles by the late ’60s, it’s a small miracle the band lasted (sort of) until 1970. By then, it had been years since the Fab Four quit touring and a good while since they enjoyed the company of one another in the recording studio.
If you read about the recording session for “Come Together,” John Lennon’s biggest hit with The Beatles, you can feel the sadness of Paul McCartney as he describes the date. (Paul wanted to sing backing vocals but felt stupid asking John.)
In this type of situation, the best the four great musicians could do was go out and make careers for themselves. As every fan of their music knows, that’s exactly what they did. And, being who they were, each landed a No. 1 single on the Billboard charts within four years.
Being the people they were, it almost meant there was a competition to be the first to top the charts. “The quiet Beatle” ended up being the one to make it there first.
Source: cheatsheet.com
By August 1964, The Beatles had already gotten a heavy dose of know fame and fortune in America. Fans had lined the streets wherever they went and fainted every time they played a few notes. They’d also sent three Beatles records to No. 1 on the charts within six months of their arrival.
Yet not everyone thought they had staying power. The band that dropped songs like “Love Me Do” and lines like “She loves you / Yeah, yeah, yeah” didn’t exactly knock out the top songwriters of the era.
It would take another year until tunes like “Yesterday” would turn their idol Chuck Berry into a fan. What’s more, even though Bob Dylan saw The Beatles as a force of nature, he kept such thoughts a secret from the hepcats.
“I just kept it to myself that I really dug them,” Dylan told biographer Anthony Scaduto (per Rolling Stone). “Everybody else thought they were just for the teenyboppers.” Yet while everyone knows they revered Dylan, his admiration for The Beatles never got the same mileage.
Source: cheatsheet.com
