Beatles News
Fifty years ago this week four boys from Britain took a boat ride in Miami. They had appeared on television the night before, a program called The Ed Sullivan Show, and they wanted to cut loose. So they hopped into the prototype of a new offshore race boat named The Cigarette. The boat's builder, a man whose company would later become synonymous with go-fast boats, fired up the 435-horsepower engine, and hit the throttle.
Philatelists rejoice: The U.S. Postal Service will unravel several lines of celebrity-adorned stamps over the next two years, with subjects ranging from Apple founder Steve Jobs to gay rights activist Harvey Milk. It will also be offering numerous music-related stamps, including Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix this year and a James Brown stamp next year. 2015 will also see a re-release of Elvis Presley's 29-cent tribute from 1993 — the Postal Service's best-selling stamp ever — according to The Washington Post. A stamp for John Lennon has been planned for an as-yet-unannounced date.
A teenager from Metro Detroit won this month the John Lennon Songwriting Contest's "LOVE, LOVE, LOVE" Valentine's Day competition. "LOVE, LOVE LOVE" is part of the annual contest named for The Beatles member and is considered a prestigious international competition.
"One, two, three, FOUR!" Never has a foreign invasion of a country's culture been announced in such a way. But so it was when American disc jockeys began playing the B-side of a 45 rpm record by a popular British rock 'n' roll quartet in January 1964. The radio release of The Beatles' Capitol recording of "I Want to Hold Your Hand" backed by "I Saw Her Standing There" - some weeks before the record company planned as the story goes - touched off a revolution that permeated everyday life in America and remains permanently ingrained in our culture five decades later.
She came in through the bathroom window. No. Really. She did. Emma Eldredge, a 63-year-old retired nurse from Gloucester, England, is remembering the time she broke into Paul McCartney's London house in early 1969 and stole a pair of the great man's trousers. "I just did it to have a look," she says, matter of factly.
Michele Blanchard agreed to accept a reduced fee to represent the former model in 2007 after Mills told her she could no longer afford to pay her $5,000 (£3,100)-a-month fee, but when her client scored a $39 million (£24.3 million) divorce settlement from McCartney, the PR felt she deserved the full amount backdated.
If you watched the Beatles' 50th anniversary special last week, you couldn't miss Yoko Ono. John Lennon's widow sat in the front row at the live tribute alongside her son, Sean, and she seemed to be enjoying the heck out of it. She wore a black top with a plunging neckline and a brimmed hat that she kept on throughout the show. She rose from her seat frequently to dance, showing off moves that a much younger woman might envy.
He may not be a household name, but over the last few decades Mark Rivera has toured and recorded with some of the biggest stars in music. Since 1982, the multitalented musician has been the saxophone player in Billy Joel‘s backing group and he also serves as music director of the current edition of Ringo Starr’s All Starr Band.
Sir Paul McCartney is being celebrated by fellow songwriters with a special one-off prize at the NME Awards recognising his contribution to music over the past half century. The music weekly has chosen to honour him after approaching a number of musicians who were united in naming him as being unmatchable in his craft.
An exclusive hair salon has fallen out with Sir Paul McCartney over its secret formula for his hair dye. The Beatle , 71, started visiting Guy Thomas in New York in 2004 after his then-wife Heather Mills allegedly criticised his hairdo.
