Latest Beatles News
The Who have apparently parted ways with their current touring drummer, Zak Starkey, after nearly three decades, following the band's recent run of London shows. A spokesman for the legendary English group said: "The band made a collective decision to part ways with Zak after this round of shows at the Royal Albert Hall. They have nothing but admiration for him and wish him the very best for his future."
Tensions reportedly came to a head in mid-March when Daltrey complained onstage about Starkey's performance during The Who's Teenage Cancer Trust charity gigs. A report of the first performance suggested that Daltrey stopped several songs mid-performance, citing difficulty hearing the band over the drums. It also said that Daltrey paused their final song, "The Song Is Over," and told the audience: "To sing that song I do need to hear the key, and I can't. All I've got is drums going boom, boom, boom. I can't sing to that. I'm sorry guys." On Apr. 13, Starkey, the son of
Beatles drummer
Ringo Starr, posted an all-caps message to his Instagram pate that "Toger Daktrey [sic]... [was] unhappy with Zak the drummer's performance at the Albert Hall a few weeks ago is bringing formal charges of overplaying and is literally going to Zak the drummer." Starkey joined the band during their 1996 "Quadrophenia" world tour. He was introduced to drumming by The Who's original drummer,
Keith Moon, a close family friend of the Starrs', who gave him a drum kit for his eighth birthday. He went on to play major shows with the group, including the 2010 Super Bowl and the 2012 London Olympics. Zak Starkey has also played with the likes of
Oasis, Johnny Marr, Paul Weller and
Graham Coxon. He currently performs in the recently-formed supergroup
Mantra of the Cosmos, also featuring former members of the
Happy Mondays, Black Grape, Oasis and
Ride. -
Billboard...... Producers of the new
John Lennon documentary
Borrowed Time have announced the film will receive its world premiere at London's Cine International Film Festival in May. The four-day event is taking place at the Karma Sanctum Soho Hotel in the capital from May 7 to 10 and will include the first screening of the biopic on May 9. The film's director
Alan G. Parker will also be on hand for an exclusive talk after the screening.
Borrowed Time is an ambitious new documentary that uses archive footage, never-before-seen interviews and eyewitness accounts to explore the final decade of the Beatle legend's life. The film's trailer was shared in February and can be viewed on
YouTube. "Follow the legend as he evolves beyond The Beatles, creating revolutionary music and standing at the forefront of anti-war protests that would make him one of the most influential pop culture icons of all time," reads the film's official synopsis. "For the first time ever, the full story of how John and Yoko met is revealed and watch as the curtain is lifted on the 1981 comeback tour that never came to be," reads the documentary's logline. Meanwhile, another Lennon-related film project,
One To One: John & Yoko, opened in UK cinemas on Apr. 11. The
Kevin Macdonald-directed film explores the couple's time in New York City from 1971 to 1973. -
New Musical Express......
Pete Best, the original drummer for
The Beatles, has announced his retirement. The 83-year-old Best announced his retirement on X, with his brother
Roag Best confirming that the drummer will no longer be performing as part of the eponymous
Pete Best Band going forward. "Well what an absolutely wonderful ride we've had. However, everything comes to pass," Roag noted. "My brother Pete Best has announced today he is retiring from personal appearances and performing with the group. His daughter has informed me its due to personal circumstances." Pete himself acknowledged his retirement, reposting the original announcement and adding, "I had a blast. Thank you." Best's association with The Beatles began in the late 50s when
The Quarrymen -- which was comprised of
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and
Ken Brown -- approached his mother Mona to perform at her Liverpool venue, the Casbah Coffee Club. The Quarrymen evolved into The Beatles in 1960, and following brief stints with Tommy Moore and Norman Chapman, the group recruited Best as their drummer ahead of launching a residency in Hamburg, Germany in August of that year. After two years with The Beatles, Best was ousted by manager
Brian Epstein in favor of Ringo Starr. Various stories have circulated as to the reason for Best's dismissal, though his alleged lack of ability, his chemistry within the band, and his purported attractiveness have since been raised as possible explanations behind his firing. Following his time with the band, Best performed with other bands including
Lee Curtis and the All-Stars and
The Pete Best Combo, which notably attempted to capitalize on Best's prior work by releasing an album coyly titled
Best of the Beatles. Best later enjoyed a successful career in civil service, raised a family, qualified for early retirement, and made millions from the Beatles'
Anthology One album, which featured 12 tracks on which he drummed. The
Pete Best Band is currently scheduled to perform at the Liverpool Beatles Museum on Aug. 23, though it's currently unknown if Best's retirement from the band will impact the planned appearance. More info can be found at liverpoolbeatlesmuseum.com. -
Billboard...... In other Beatles-related news,
John Lennon's half-sister
Julia Baird has said that an actor from Liverpool should play him in the forthcoming Beatles biopics, directed by
Sam Mendes. Speaking to
The Telegraph, Baird weighed in on her late brother's casting, in which it was recently announced that London-born actor
Harris Dickinson (
Babygirl) will play Lennon. "Yes, of course" she replied when asked if it should be a Scouser (a person from Liverpool) playing him. "No one else can get that Liverpool intonation. Nobody," she said. On the subject of being consulted about the movie, Baird replied: "[Mendes is] never going to ask me! I'm the last person he would want to talk to because then he can't make it up." Later in the interview, she described John Lennon as: "a brilliant older brother, very bossy -- a family trait." She does, however, regret his fame, given it led to his murder at the hands of fanatic Mark David Chapman in 1980. "To be John's sister is a privilege that I couldn't begin to describe to you. But given the choice I wish he'd never seen a guitar." When asked why, she replied: "Well, then he might have been an art teacher and he'd still be here." All four films -- one dedicated to each Beatle -- will premiere in Apr. 2028, in what Mendes describes as the first "bingeable moment in cinema." -
New Musical Express......
Beatles fans have been voicing their opinions about the new cast of the upcoming biopics of Beatles members directed by
Sam Mendes being shared. After months of speculation about Mendes' forthcoming film about the Fab Four, a series of announcements were made by the director at the end of Sony's CinemaCon on Mar. 31. For the most part, many fans are pleased with the new announcements, praising the cast for their acting ability and sharing their confidence that the help of the hair and makeup will help them resemble the original four. "This might be one of the greatest things I've ever seen," one user on X/Twitter responded to the news, while another added: "The Beatles, reimagined with this cast? I'm already in line for tickets." Others, however, were less convinced about the line-up for the films and took to social media to criticise the cast as looking too different from the real Fab Four. "In what world do you think that group looks like the Beatles, great talent, bad casting," one wrote. Another added: "Four famous men who look nothing like the Beatles star in the Beatles films!! Okay.." while a third chimed in: "The way none of them look like the ppl they r playing& . these r just four mid white guys trying to play four mid white guys." While some took an issue with the cast not resembling the original band members generally, some had more specific issues with the bill. This included a complaint at Sony for opting to "cast whatever popular actor is trending at the time and hope for the best", and a handful of comments about Harris Dickinson potentially being "too tall" to play
John Lennon. "
Harry Dickinson is too tall. Casting error," one stated, while someone else questioned why the actor chosen is less of a household name than his three castmates: "It's funny that they chose the least known actor to be John Lennon," they wrote. -
New Musical Express......

At the end of a Sony Pictures CinemaCon presentation on Mar. 31 in Los Angeles, it was revealed that the "Fab Four" in the studio's upcoming
Beatles series of films -- one each dedicated to
John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and
Ringo Starr -- will be
Harris Dickinson (as Lennon),
Paul Mescal (as McCartney),
Joseph Quinn (as Harrison), and
Barry Keoghan (as Starr). In another blockbuster announcement, project director
Sam Mendes revealed that all four films will arrive in Apr. 2028, though not at the same time. Sony Pictures head
Tom Rothman added that the franchise will be titled
The Beatles - A Four-Film Cinematic Event, and that the films will mark the first "bingeable moment in cinema." Mendes, who has not confirmed the order in which the four films will be released, confirmed that filming all four films will take over a year, but is confident for an Apr. 2028 launch. Mendes says he toyed with the idea of a Beatles mini-series but ultimately decided that "the story was too huge to fit into a single movie." Each of the four films will be told from the perspective of one of the four Beatles. It is also the first-ever film to be granted music rights to the Beatles' discography. The films were first announced back in Feb. 2024. Sony Pictures has also posted on
X announcing the full cast. -
New Musical Express...... In other Beatles-related news, a YouTuber named
Ian Hartley has uploaded a rare studio recording of the '70s prog rock band
Yes covering the Fab Four's "Eleanor Rigby" to
YouTube. The intense cover of the 1966 Beatles classic is said to have been recorded by Yes and producer
John Anthony at London's Polydor Studios in Feb. 1969. "This particular recording has never been publicly released before," Hartley noted. "Here is the first (failed) take of the ER run-throughs as recorded in raw form at the time. Apart from some speed correction, no remastering was done to the master tapes." The uploader added: "Depending on reactions to this, further such things might follow." There are three known takes of Yes recording "Eleanor Rigby" in the studio, according to the Yes Fans forum, but none have been released officially. The exact origins of the Hartley's Yes audio are not known. Back in 2009, however, Bonhams auction house in London listed a tape recorded with John Anthony on Feb. 14, 1969. This included three other songs: Yes' cover of
Stephen Stills' "Everydays," their take on
Leonard Bernstein and
Stephen Sondheim's "Something's Coming," and Yes' own composition "Dear Father." Yes released their self-titled debut album later in 1969 via Atlantic. None of the tracks known to have been recorded with Anthony made the final tracklist. However, versions of "Everydays," "Something's Coming" and "Dear Father" were featured as B-sides of Yes' first three single releases. At the time of writing, the Yes's "Eleanor Rigby" cover has been streamed on YouTube over 8,000 times. -
NME, 3/31/25...... On Mar. 27, London's legendary Abbey Road Studios celebrated its recent extensive restoration with an event called
Synergy In Motion, which combined contemporary dance and music in a unique event. The choreography was helmed by Royal Ballet choreographer
Joseph Toonga and set to the film scores of composer
Daniel Pemberton (
Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), remixed and arranged by
Jordan Rakei, Abbey Road's Artist in Residence. The studio has now reopened and is in operation for recording sessions. Abbey Road Studio One is described by the northwest London studio as "world's largest purpose-built recording studio," and can comfortably host 100-piece orchestras. The room is primarily used for the recording of classical and movie scores, with the soundtracks to a number of blockbusters having been recorded in in the space, including much of
John Williams' movie canon, such as
Raiders of The Lost Ark, Star Wars: The Return of The Jedi, as well as the
Harry Potter movies. The premises was first built as a residential townhouse in 1831, and was converted into a recording studio a century later, reopening as EMI Studios in 1931. A number of classical greats including
Edward Elgar and
Sergei Prokofiev recorded there; in 1958, Studio Two was opened, with a number of influential acts like
The Beatles and
Pink Floyd recording in the space. The studio is currently owned by Universal Music imprint Virgin Records. -
Billboard......

A Vancouver, B.C. record store owner has discovered he that he bought, unbeknownst to himself, a rare and unknown
Beatles recording from 1962. A few years ago, Rob Frith of Neptoon Records bought a reel-to-reel tape labelled "Beatles demo." But he didn't bother to actually listen to it; he just assumed someone had put a Beatles bootleg on the tape. Recently as he was transferring some tapes at broadcaster
Larry Hennessey's recording studio and brought along the Beatles tape. "All of a sudden, it was like the Beatles are in the room playing," he said, a sense of astonishment still in his voice. "The quality was that good." Turns out, it really was a Beatles demo -- a legendary session they recorded on Jan. 1, 1962, for Decca Records. Decca rejected the band, which is arguably the biggest mistake in music history. Instead, EMI signed the Beatles a few months later and they became a worldwide sensation. The tape features the Beatles' original drummer
Pete Best, not
Ringo Starr. Most of the songs are covers like "Money," "To Know Him is to Love Him" and "The Sheik of Araby." But there are three original songs by
John Lennon and
Paul McCartney: "Like Dreamers Do," "Hello Little Girl," and "Love of the Loved." Not all 15 recordings in the Decca session have been officially released, although it's been widely bootlegged. Five songs from the session were officially released on the
Beatles Anthology I in 1995. Whoever sold the Beatles tape probably didn't know what it was: they didn't hype it to Frith. "I actually can't remember who I bought it from," Frith said. "I think it was an engineer that worked in Vancouver for years and years that was moving." Frith won't be able to legally reproduce the music on the tape for copyright reasons. But it has value as an artifact: a copy of the Decca sessions that once belonged to Beatles manager
Brian Epstein, which had only half the recordings, sold for 62,500 pounds (about CDN$117,000) in 2019. -
Canoe.com...... "Live Odyssey," described as "a celebration of the rich tapestry of British music... offering a unique experience for music lovers of all ages" through "a groundbreaking tribute to the sounds that shaped Britain," is set to launch on May 22 in the London borough of Camden.
John Lennon's sister
Julia Baird will be unveiling a multi-sensory immersive exhibit dedicated to the late
Beatles member on its opening which "details the early years that shaped Lennon through to a life of stratospheric fame with The Beatles." "This is the brutally honest story of The Beatles legend by his sister Julia, who reveals the unorthodox childhood they shared, memories of their mother, renewed family bonds, and the many sides of John Lennon," according to a press release. Elsewhere in the exhibition, fans will move through six different rooms, each immersing guests in a different musical era and recreating the sights, sounds, and cultural moments that define each decade. Also included in the list of acts set to be represented are
The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Sex Pistols, David Bowie, Oasis, Duran Duran, Radiohead, Coldplay, Adele and many more. Tickets for the experience are currently on sale, and a portion of sales will support the Music Venue Trust. -
New Musical Express......

The first trailer for the upcoming
John Lennon and
Yoko Ono documentary
One to One has been shared on
YouTube. The two-minute clip opens with audio of Lennon calling someone named Howard, in which the woman on the other end begins to spell out the singer's name only to realize who she's talking to. "You're a member of the Beatles?" she asks. "That's right, yeah," Lennon answers nonchalantly. From there, the footage explodes into a collage of images of bombs falling in the Vietnam war and the couple preparing for a charity show as Lennon says, "good morning, folks. Have you had your breakfast yet?," accompanied by footage of the former Beatle having his bowl of morning cereal. The movie, directed by Oscar-winning director
Kevin Macdonald, is a chronicle of the couple's new life in New York post-Beatles in 1972, following them as they move into an apartment in Greenwich Village and prepare for their "One to One" concerts, a two-show all-star charity event for children with special needs that they threw at Madison Square Garden in Aug. 1972. It was the only full-length performance by Lennon in the wake of the Fab Four's split two years earlier and in addition to the
Plastic Ono Band it featured sets by
Stevie Wonder, Sha Na Na and
Roberta Flack, among others. -
Billboard...... A two-hour
Ringo Starr special,
Ringo & Friends at the Ryman, is currently streaming on-demand on the Paramount+ channel for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers. The special, which premiered on Mar. 10 on the CBS network, celebrates the music and legacy of Starr through the lens of country music. The
Beatles drummer brought his love of country to life with two concerts taped at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium on Jan. 14-15. In an exclusive clip from
Billboard on
YouTube, Starr, with a little help from friends like
Jack White, performs the
Carl Perkins rockabilly classic "Matchbox," which the Beatles covered in 1964. Other "friends" in the special include S
heryl Crow, Emmylou Harris, Mickey Guyton, Jamey Johnson, Rodney Crowell, the War and Treaty, and
Billy Strings and
Molly Tuttle, both of whom appear on Ringo's new album
Look Up, a current country Top 10 LP. -
Billboard...... In other
Beatles-related news,
Lady Gaga has revealed that the late
John Lennon would be her dream collaborator. During a fan-led presser for her new album
Mayhem, Gaga was asked by a fan was about her dream collaborator, dead or alive. "I think it would have been John Lennon. I think he had such a beautiful heart and I think that's one of my favorite things in like the history of music is when you don't just remember an artist for their music but you remember them for their heart," she said. In 2012, the "Born This Way"' hitmaker was awarded the Lennonono Grant For Peace by Lennon's widow
Yoko Ono. She also performed a cover of "Imagine" at the opening of the inaugural European Games in Baku, Azerbaijan back in 2015.
Mayhem, Gaga's highly anticipated seventh album, arrived on Mar. 7. -
New Musical Express......
Joey Molland, the guitarist and last surviving member of the Beatlesque '70s rock band
Badfinger, passed away on Mar. 1 while surrounded by his longtime partner, Mary, his two sons and other family members, according to a post on Badfinger's Facebook page. He was 77. While a cause of death was not specified, Molland had faced ongoing health challenges in recent years, including a recent battle with pneumonia. "Thank you, Joey for keeping the band's music alive for so long and for being a friend to us all," the Facebook post read. The Welsh band Badfinger, originally known as
The Iveys, was one of the first acts signed by
The Beatles' Apple Records. Molland joined the group in 1969, after the recording of their debut album,
Magic Christian Music, which featured the
Paul McCartney-written hit "Come and Get It." The song reached No. 7 on the
Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in 1970. Molland's first album with Badfinger was 1971's
No Dice, co-produced by Beatles road manager
Mal Evans. The set featured two of the band's most iconic tracks: "No Matter What" and "Without You." The latter became
a No. 1 hit after being covered by
Harry Nilsson, with
Mariah Carey also covering the tune later. Badfinger's main lineup of Molland (guitarist),
Pete Ham (singer/guitarist),
Tom Evans (bassist) and
Mike Gibbins (drummer) recorded five albums together through 1974, producing hit singles like "Day After Day" and "Baby Blue" from 1972's
Straight Up, both co-produced by
George Harrison. "Baby Blue" was notably featured in the closing scene of the final episode of the TV series
Breaking Bad in 2013. After the death of Ham, who died by suicide in 1975, Molland and Evans (minus Gibbins) reunited to revive Badfinger, with the guitarist taking on a larger role in songwriting and vocals for the albums
Airwaves (1979) and
Say No More (1981). Outside of his work with Badfinger, Molland contributed to Harrison's epic
All Things Must Pass and
The Concert for Bangladesh albums, and played guitar on
John Lennon's 1971 classic "Jealous Guy" and
Imagine's "I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier." Throughout his career, Molland recorded music both as a solo artist and as a member of the band
Natural Gas. In the early 1980s, he formed his own version of Badfinger, known as
Joey Molland's Badfinger, and continued to tour with the act until the summer of 2024. Molland was the last surviving member of Badfinger's core lineup, following the deaths of Ham, Evans (who also died by suicide in 1983) and Gibbins, who passed away from a brain aneurysm in 2005. -
Billboard......
Paul McCartney is giving a little help to his late friend
Joe Cocker as the "blue-eyed soul" singer is a contender for the class of 2025
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Sir Paul has written a letter to the Rock Hall -- an international voting panel composed of more than a thousand artists, historians and music industry professionals -- suggesting that Cocker be chosen for induction. "Joe was a great man and a fine singer whose unique style made for some fantastic performances," McCartney wrote of the "Woman to Woman" singer in the letter obtained by
Billboard. "He sang one of our songs 'With a Little Help From My Friends,' a version produced by
Denny Cordell which was very imaginative." Macca continued: "All the people on the panel will be aware of the great contribution Joe made to the history of Rock and Roll. And whilst he may not have ever lobbied to be in the Hall of Fame, I know he would be extremely happy and grateful to find himself where he deserves to be amongst such illustrious company." The
Beatles legend sweetly signed the note, "Paul (McCartney)." McCartney is a two-time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honoree, as he was inducted in 1988 as a member of The Beatles and in 1999 as a solo artist. Cocker, who died in 2014, is a first-time nominee. He's up for the Rock Hall's Class of 2025 alongside 13 other musical greats, including
Bad Company, The Black Crowes, Mariah Carey, Chubby Checker, Billy Idol, Joy Division/New Order, Cyndi Lauper, Man, Oasis, Outkast, Phish, Soundgarden and
The White Stripes. Cocker, who died from lung cancer in 2014 at the age of 70, has been eligible since 1989, and is currently sitting in the top seven selections of the online fan vote that's being conducted by the Rock Hall. Fan voting is being conducted via vote.rockhall.com until Apr.21. Voters can vote once per day and choose up to seven of the 14 nominated acts. The Class of 2025 will be revealed in late April, and this year's Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony will take place in Los Angeles in the fall. -
Billboard......
Paul McCartney has commented on his forthcoming
Wings book
Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run. Scheduled for release on Nov. 4 via Liveright/W. W. Norton and Allen Lane/Penguin Press, the book is authored by McCartney and edited by historian
Ted Widmer, featuring an in-depth personal account of his post-
Beatles band, as told by McCartney, key players, and family members. "I'm so very happy to be transported back to the time that was Wings and relive some of our madcap adventures through this book," said McCartney in a statement. "Starting from scratch after The Beatles felt crazy at times. There were some very difficult moments and I often questioned my decision. But as we got better I thought, 'OK this is really good.' We proved Wings could be a really good band. To play to huge audiences in the same way The Beatles had and have an impact in a different way. It was a huge buzz." A description of the book notes that it is "organized around nine Wings albums," implying the narrative begins with 1971's
Ram and also includes 1976's triple live record
Wings over America. The volume also contains 150 black-and-white photographs, of which many are unseen, and focuses on many iconic stories of the band's history, including how they "survive a robbery on the streets of Nigeria [during the 1973
Band on the Run sessions], appear unannounced at various university halls, [and] tour in a sheared-off double-decker bus with their children."
Wings: The Story of a Band on the Run follows a number of recent Wings-related releases, including a
50th anniversary reissue of
Band on the Run and the long-awaited arrival of the live record and film
One Hand Clapping in 2024. A
50th anniversary reissue of 1975's
Venus and Mars is also scheduled to arrive on Mar. 21. -
Billboard......

In other
Beatles-related news, a piece of toast that was left behind by
George Harrison in 1962 has been sold. The crust of the bread left over by the late Beatles legend was saved by a fan named Sue Houghton, who was 15-years-old at the time. According to the
Daily Express, she preserved the bread on a scrapbook page alongside the caption: "Piece of George's breakfast 2-8-63." The date noted indicates that the bread was from around the time that the Fab Four made their return to Liverpool after seven weeks of touring. As reported by the
New York Post, the fan had taken the remains from Harrison's plate after befriending his family and making a visit to their home. Her scrapbook also contained other memorabilia from Harrison, including fluff from under his bed and thread from his jeans. The bread was originally sold in 1992 when Houghton auctioned off her scrapbook for $1,600 (1,265) to fund home repairs. Now it has been reported that the leftover piece of bread has changed hands again, with memorabilia collector Joseph O'Donnell buying the piece of toast, although the price he paid has not been publicly disclosed. O'Donnell did, however, say that it has been preserved by being framed in UV-protected glass of museum standard. "It's a brilliant story that is both bizarre, historical and a story I'll continue telling friends, memorabilia collectors and fellow Beatles fans," he said. The
NY Post also highlights that word of the swiped piece of toast has made its way over to members of The Beatles, and has become an inside joke to the members. In 1992 for instance, Harrison jokingly claimed that the toast couldn't have belonged to him in an interview with Vox.com, saying: "I ate all my toast! I never left any!" Harrison died in November 2001 following a battle with lung cancer at age 58. -
New Musical Express......
Paul McCartney closed out the 50th-anniversary special of NBC's
Saturday Night Live on Feb. 16 with a stirring performance of
The Beatles'
Abbey Road medley, "Golden Slumbers"/ "Carry That Weight"/ "The End." Sir Paul, who was a musical guest on the show in 1980, 1993, 2010 and 2012 and made cameos in 2006, 2013 and 2015, also previously appeared on
SNL's 40th anniversary special. His performance with members of his touring band -- guitarist
Rusty Anderson, bassist/guitarist
Brian Ray, keyboardist
Paul "Wix" Wickens and drummer
Abe Laboriel Jr. -- can be viewed on
YouTube. In 1993, McCartney appeared in a skit with the late
SNL cast member
Chris Farley in which a starstruck Farley asked the Beatle legend "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.' Is that true?," before being overjoyed when the artist said he thinks it is. Now some fans are speculating Macca's latest
SNL performance was a nod to Farley. The skit can be viewed on
YouTube. -
Billboard......

In other
Beatles-related news,
Ringo Starr has told Britain's
Mojo magazine that he loves living in Los Angeles, where he has lived on and off since 1973. "When I first came to America and we landed in New York, I wanted to live in New York," said Starr, who was born and raised in Liverpool. "And then we want on tours around and we came to Los Angeles, I'd think, 'Uh ... maybe Los Angeles. No New York! Maybe Los Angeles. L ... A!' I just loved the atmosphere. I loved the light. I loved the heat." Despite this, Ringo says he's never been tempted to surf in the Pacific Ocean. "It took me seven years to go to the ocean. A limo took me down the Pacific Coast Highway. I got out the car, walked across the beach, put my feet in the water, turned around, walked back to the car and went for lunch." -
Music-News.com...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, details of the forthcoming
John Lennon documentary
Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade have been revealed. The film follows the legend as he evolves beyond The Beatles, creating revolutionary music and standing at the forefront of anti-war protests that would make him one of the most influential pop culture icons of all time. Musicians, journalists, and close friends of the man himself set the record straight on the truth behind many famous Lennon moments, brought to life by rare archive footage, including never-before-seen interviews. For the first time ever, the full story of how John and
Yoko Ono met is revealed and the curtain is lifted on the 1981 comeback tour that, sadly, never came to be. Speaking on the upcoming release director
Alan G. Parker said: "I am so excited to share
Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade with UK audiences. I've made a number of films, but this is the first one that feels personal. I never met John Lennon, but through his music he became the older brother that this bullied kid needed."
Borrowed Time: Lennon's Last Decade opens in UK cinemas on May 2, with an exclusive Director's Cut available on the Icon Film Channel on the same day. Special Q&A events about the documentary are to be announced soon. -
Music-News.com...... Performing a surprise concert at New York's iconic Bowery Ballroom on Feb. 11,
Paul McCartney relived his Beatlemania days with several of the band's classic tracks and paid tribute to late bandmate
John Lennon. McCartney, 82, announced the impromptu gig earlier in the day and, unsurprisingly, it swiftly sold out, with 575 lucky fans treated to a once-in-a-lifetime show. Sir Paul, backed by guitarist
Rusty Anderson, guitarist and bassist
Brian Ray, keyboardist
Paul "Wix" Wickens and drummer
Abe Laboriel Jr. -- kicked off proceedings in style performing the 1964 Beatles hit "A Hard Day's Night," then dusted off his '70s band
Wings' 1975 track "Letting Go," which he hadn't performed live in 11 years. 1966's
Revolver track "Got to Get You Into My Life" followed, and other rarities included Wings' "Let Me Roll With It" -- which was last featured in his set at the iTunes Festival in 2007 -- alongside a jam of "Foxy Lady" by
The Jimi Hendrix Experience. Elsewhere, Macca gave a stirring stripped-back acoustic performance of the tear-jerking Beatles tune "Blackbird." McCartney was amused to reminisce about the Beatlemania days when he heard a "Beatles scream" and demanded more shrieking from the "girls." "OK, let's get it out of the way. Girls, give me a Beatles scream," he quipped. Paul also paid tribute to Lennon when performing The Beatles' "final song," 2023's "Now And Then," which Lennon had penned in the 1970s and was finished with the help of AI. He said: "Let's hear it for John." After performing a three-song encore of "Golden Slumbers," "Carry The Weight" and "The End" from
Abbey Road, the legend declared: "This has been a blast -- we've loo-ved it." McCartney was in the Big Apple to help NBC's
Saturday Night Live celebrate its 50th anniversary on Feb. 16. The venerable comedy show announced on
X/Twitter on Feb. 14 that musical performances by McCartney,
Paul Simon, Cher, Sabrina Carpenter, Miley Cyrus, Lil Wayne and other famous acts will be combined with a three-hour primetime special which will feature various live sketches which will see both past and present
SNL cast members, special guests, and retrospectives celebrating the show's 50th anniversary. The special will air 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on NBC and simulcast on Peacock. -
Music-News.com/Billboard/New Musical Express......

As part of the huge wave of releases for Record Store Day on Apr. 12, previously unreleased performances from
John Lennon's post-
Beatles final full-length solo concerts will be released on vinyl as
Power To The People - Live At The One To One Concert, New York City, 1972. The special 180-gram yellow vinyl will feature performances by John and
Yoko Ono'
Plastic Ono Band, backed by the NYC group
Elephant's Memory, from their pair of "One to One" benefit concerts at Madison Square Garden in New York City. John and Yoko played a matinee and evening performance to a total of 40,000 people on Aug. 30, 1972, to benefit children with special needs, and raised a whopping $1.5 million, with some of the money raised going to the Willowbrook State School in Staten Island, N.Y., which was infamous for its poor conditions. The historical event, two years after the dissolution of the Beatles, also saw performances by the likes of
Stevie Wonder and
Roberta Flack. Produced by the couple's son,
Sean Ono Lennon, the four tracks have been remixed and re-engineered from the original multi-track tapes by
Paul Hicks and
Sam Gannon. They include the previously unreleased performances of "Well Well Well," "Cold Turkey" and Yoko's "Don't Worry Kyoko (Mummy's Only Looking For A Hand In The Snow)," while "Instant Karma! (We All Shine On)" has been newly remixed. The release is limited to just 5500 copies worldwide, and more info can be found on recordstoreday.com. Meanwhile, the One To One concerts are explored in great detail in the forthcoming film,
One to One: John & Yoko. Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker
Kevin Macdonald (
The Last King of Scotland, Marley), the documentary is an expansive look at the 18 months John and Yoko spent living in Greenwich Village in the early 1970s and delivers never-before-seen material and newly restored footage of John's only full length, post-Beatles concert. The film will air on HBO in the US and will be available to stream on Max in late 2025. -
Music-News.com......
Paul McCartney has paid tribute to the late "beautiful, sweet" UK singer
Marianne Faithfull who passed away in London on Jan. 30 at age 78. The following day Sir Paul took to his official Instagram account o share a black and white photo of him alongside Faithfull, writing. "What sad news that Marianne Faithfull has passed away." He continued: "She came into my life in the Sixties and was a beautiful, sweet 17 year old who radiated innocent joy. Then through the years I was lucky enough to run into her and to become a life-long friend. It's very sad to think that I won't be meeting her again but my memories of our encounters over the years will always bring me joy. May god bless you Marianne and guide you in the next steps of your journey - Paul." Faithfull was a key figure in the 'Swinging London' arts and music scene in the '60s, becoming one of the leading female artists during the British Invasion era. She is remembered for hits including 'As Tears Go By' and for her roles on stage and screen, and also for her four-year relationship with
The Rolling Stones frontman
Mick Jagger. -
New Musical Express...... Despite having starred in a Pizza Hut commercial back in 1995,
Ringo Starr revealed he's actually never eaten pizza before during an appearance on ABC's
Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Jan. 29. As part of his chat, host
Jimmy Kimmel asked Ringo to set some rumors about himself straight, including the claim that the famous drummer had never eaten pizza. "I've never had a pizza," Starr confirmed, as the audience expressed their shock at the news. "Or a curry." "I'm allergic to several items," he continued. "With pizza, you don't know what you're putting in it half the time. Or the curry. So I'm strict with myself since it makes me ill immediately." "I used to think you had the greatest life, and now I realize mine is better," Kimmel joked in response. Added Starr: "Yours is better because you've had a pizza." In a 1995 Pizza Hut marketing campaign, Starr promoted the pizza chain's newly-introduced stuffed crust as part of a 30-second spot which saw him teasing a reunion from
The Beatles. The ad's punchline sees Ringo joined by members of
The Monkees instead ("Wrong lads," he quips), with all four musicians appearing to bite a piece of pizza -- crust-first. Ringo is promoting his 21sth studio album
Look Up, which has debuted in the Top 10 on
Billboard all-genre Top Album Sales Chart and at No. 27 on the Top Country Albums Chart. -
Billboard......

In other Beatles-related news,
Wings' classic 1975 set
Venus and Mars will be reissued in a special half-speed master vinyl edition to mark its 50th anniversary. The
original version of the LP arrived ahead of Macca and co's legendary "Wings Over The World" tour, and was preceded by the US Number One single
"Listen To What The Man Said". Additionally, the album featured "Letting Go" -- a fan favorite in McCartney's solo live set to this day. The album peaked at No. 1 in the US and UK, and went on to sell over four million copies worldwide. The 50th anniversary vinyl edition was cut at half speed using a high-resolution transfer of the original master tapes from 1975 by
Miles Showell at the historic Abbey Road Studios in London. The 50th anniversary edition
Venus and Mars is set for release on Mar. 21, and the album will also arrive in Dolby Atmos on streaming sites for the first time, newly mixed by
Giles Martin and
Steve Orchard. The reissue marks the first scheduled Wings release of 2025, following the theatrical release of the film
One Hand Clapping and its accompanying 1974 live-in-studio album in 2024. Wings also shared a five-decade edition of their 1973 third album,
Band On The Run, in early 2024. In December, McCartney teased that he hoped to finish a new solo album in 2025. -
New Musical Express...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, pop sensation
Robbie Williams has tied The Beatles' record for the most UK No. 1 albums with his latest album
Better Man. The original soundtrack to his acclaimed
Michael Gracey-directed biopic,
Better Man is currently at the top of the UK's Official Albums Chart, drawing level with The Beatles' 15 UK No. 1's. -
Music-News.com...... After the British government expressed support for a policy that would allow tech companies to use creators' works to train AI models unless creators specifically opt out,
Paul McCartney says the proposed AI copyright law could "rip off" artists. In an interview with the BBC set to air on Jan. 26, Sir Paul warned that the proposal could "rip off" artists and lead to a "loss of creativity." "You get young guys, girls, coming up, and they write a beautiful song, and they don't own it, and they don't have anything to do with it.

And anyone who wants can just rip it off," McCartney, 82, said. "The truth is, the money's going somewhere Somebody's getting paid, so why shouldn't it be the guy who sat down and wrote 'Yesterday'?" In late 2024 the UK government, currently controlled by the Labour Party, launched a consultation to explore how copyright law can "enable creators and right holders to exercise control over, and seek remuneration for, the use of their works for AI training" while also ensuring "AI developers have easy access to a broad range of high-quality creative content." But McCartney maintains that it's the government's job to protect the people. "So you know, if you're putting through a bill, make sure you protect the creative thinkers, the creative artists, or you're not going to have them," he said in the interview.
The Beatles' final song, "Now and Then," released in 2023, utilized a form of AI called "stem separation" to help surviving members McCartney and
Ringo Starr clean up a 60-year-old, low-fidelity demo recorded by
John Lennon, making it suitable for a finished master recording. In early 2024, around 200 musicians signed an open letter directed at tech companies, digital service providers and AI developers. The letter criticized irresponsible AI practices, calling it an "assault on human creativity" that "must be stopped." -
Billboard...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front,
Ringo Starr's new country album
Look Up has debuted in the Top 10 on
Billboard all-genre Top Album Sales Chart for the week of Jan. 25. The 11-song album, recorded in Nashville and produced by
T Bone Burnett, was released Jan. 10 and reached the No. 7 position on the chart in its debut week. It also opens at a career-best No. 27 on the Top Country Albums Chart, marking Ringo's second entry on the list, and at No. 12 on Americana/Folk Albums Chart. -
Billboard......
Ringo Starr celebrated the release of his new country album
Look Up with two concerts at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15. Each show featured Starr welcoming a star-studded lineup of his fellow music luminaries, including
Sheryl Crow, Jack White, Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell, The War and Treaty, Jamey Johnson, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Mickey Guyton, Sarah Jarosz and
Larkin Poe. Legendary producer/musician
T Bone Burnett, the producer of
Look Up, hosted the show, welcoming artists throughout the evening, as some performances featured artists in collaboration with Starr, while other performances featured the evenings guest offering solo performances. "I feel blessed tonight, with all these great players coming out," Starr told the audience, as he performed a selection of songs from
Look Up with the other musicians. The show concluded, appropriately, with an all-star singalong of
The Beatles classics "Yellow Submarine" and "With a Little Help From My Friends," which saw additional artists join Starr onstage, including rock and country music trailblazer
Brenda Lee (the Beatles once opened for Lee back in the 1960s, prior to the Fab Four's breakthrough). -
Billboard......
In other Beatles-related news, a new documentary focusing on a pivotal 18-month period in the lives of
John Lennon and wife
Yoko Ono will be released exclusively in IMAX on April 11.
One to One: John & Yoko, directed by
Kevin Macdonald, will then make it's streaming debut later in 2025 on the Max platform. The core of the film will focus on John and Yoko's "One to One Concerts," a two-show charity event for children with special needs that took place at Madison Square Garden in Aug. 1972. The concert featured the only full-length performances by Lennon following the Beatles' split two years earlier. The benefit shows also featured performances by the likes of
Stevie Wonder, Sha Na Na and
Roberta Flack, among others.
One to One made its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in 2024 and will be featured this month at the Sundance Film Festival. A high-energy one-minute trailer for the doc, available for streaming on
YouTube, features home movie footage of the couple on the Staten Island Ferry, hanging with Andy Warhol and visiting the Statue of Liberty, where they both famously gave a power fist salute to the quintessential symbol of freedom and opportunity. The montage is cued to their song "New York City," a chronicle of the couple's love affair with the city Lennon called home until his murder in Dec. 1980. -
Billboard......
Ringo Starr's son
Zak Starkey says he was "s------g my pants" before playing the iconic Liverpool venue The Cavern for the first time with his band
Mantra of the Cosmos. Interestingly, Zak had only visited his dad's home city once before and had never stepped foot inside the famous music venue where the legendary Liverpool band -- which also included
Paul McCartney and the late
John Lennon and
George Harrison -- started out. That all changed when Zak's group -- completed by
Happy Mondays' Shaun Ryder and
Bez and former
Oasis bassist
Andy Bell -- played two shows there in one day, with Zak admitting it was a "surreal" experience. Ahead of the gigs, former Oasis drummer Zak contacted the group's guitarist
Noel Gallagher for some reassurance. The
Wonderwall hitmaker sings on the supergroup's latest single, "Domino Bones (Gets Dangerous)," which was launched at the Cavern gig. Zak told the
Liverpool Echo: "It was very surreal. I was s------g it -- proper s------g it until I got on there and it was amazing. The music is like holy music isn't it." Recounting his conversation with Noel, he added: "Before I was ss------g my pants. I was sitting in my room, and I text Noel saying I was s------g it. He said, 'Get down there and get on, what are you talking about?'" Ahead of the gigs, Zak spoke about playing the venue his parents used to go on dates to. The musician -- whose late mother Maureen worked as a hairdresser in Liverpool -- said: "Can't believe I've never even been there. There's a great deal of family heritage at the Cavern, aside from the Beatles, my parents courted there who knows I may have even been conceived there." -
Music-News.com......
Ringo Starr has announced he is taping special L.A. wildfire relief concerts at Nashville's historic Ryman Auditorium on Jan. 14 and 15 to give a little help to his friends in the West. The former Beatle's upcoming concert special will air this spring on CBS and Paramount+, with some of the proceeds benefiting wildfire relief amid the ongoing crisis in the Los Angeles area. Titled "Ringo & Friends at the Ryman," the two-hour special will find Starr performing songs from his new country album,
Look Up, which arrived Jan. 10. He'll be joined by a star-studded list of friends on stage, including
Billy Strings and
Molly Tuttle -- both of whom collaborated on the drummer's new LP -- as well as
Sheryl Crow, Rodney Crowell, Mickey Guyton, Emmylou Harris, Sarah Jarosz, Jamey Johnson, Brenda Lee, Larkin Poe, The War and Treaty, and
Jack White. Ringo will also delve into his life and career as his guest stars reflect on their own personal memories of his influence in the special. Proceeds from the show will go toward the American Red Cross supporting people affected by the fires devastating L.A. County. Meanwhile, Starr has revealed that he and
Elton John's mum left one of the Rocket Man's gigs due to not knowing any of his songs. Speaking to
The Sunday Times about an Elton concert that he attended at London's Wembley Stadium, Starr said: "He came on and said, 'I'm only going to do the new album.' Me and his mother left after three tracks because we didn't know them." Addressing why he no longer introduces new songs during his
All-Starr Band shows, the drummer said: "The band sounds great. We have a fun time and we just do it. In the late '90s I would put in, like, two or three from the new album, and you could feel the room empty. It happens to everybody." Elsewhere in the chat, Ringo also addressed his vocals, admitting that he is not a fan of his voice. "I can hold a tune, as long as it's in my key," he told the paper. "And it just worked out with the Beatles because John and Paul were great writers. That's what made us. I'd get one song. And a couple of them were really good, you know, 'With a Little Help from My Friends' and 'Yellow Submarine.' They're still huge and I still do them on tour. They wrote me a lot of really nice songs." -
Billboard/New Musical Express......
Ringo Starr released his new country & western-themed album,
Look Up, on Jan. 10 via Lost Highway/UMG Nashville. Produced by
T Bone Burnett, the set is Starr's first full-length album in six years after releasing a series of EPs. "I did love country music before I was in the band," says the former
Beatles drummer, who tried to move to Texas when he was 18 because of his fondness for country and blues music. "We got plenty of it in Liverpool, because the lads who were in the merchant navy would bring not only rock and roll over, but country -- and when country bands went on tour in England, they always played Liverpool." With Ringo singing lead, the Fab Four famously remade such country hits as
Buck Owens' "Act Naturally" and
Carl Perkins' "Honey Don't," and in 1970, Starr's second solo LP,
Beaucoups of Blues, was a country album he recorded in Nashville with noted country producer/musician
Pete Drake, famous for his work with
Tammy Wynette, Bob Dylan and
Charlie Rich. Burnett recruited leading Americana, folk and bluegrass music artists including
Alison Krauss, Billy Strings, Molly Tuttle, Larkin Poe and
Lucius to appear on
Look Up, many on multiple tracks.
Look Up's first single, "Time on My Hands," features classic country elements of heartbreak and lost love over an aching pedal steel, but like many Ringo songs -- and as reflected in the album's title -- it ends on a positive note. "If you listen to a lot of my songs, not only the country but the pop songs, the last verse is always an up," Starr says. "That's what I want to present -- there's a break in the clouds and the light comes through." -
Billboard...... As former President
Jimmy Carter, who passed away on Jan. 29 at age 100, was memorialized at the Washington National Cathedral on Jan. 9, country stars
Garth Brooks and
Trisha Yearwood paid tribute to the nation's 39th commander-in-chief with a moving cover of
John Lennon's 1971 homage to peace, "Imagine." Brooks played the song's iconic melody on an acoustic guitar, singing, "Imagine there's no heaven/ It's easy if you try/ No hell below us/ Above us, only sky," his voice echoing through the majestic 188-year-old Washington National Cathedral, which has hosted the funeral and memorial services for almost all of the 21 Presidents who've died since Congress approved its charter in 1893. The deliberate pace of the performance -- and the addition of a piano accompaniment -- appeared to move many of the dignitaries on hand, which included all the former living Presidents. Soon-to-be-ex-President
Joe Biden bowed his head at one point as his successor, former President
Donald Trump seemed to close his eyes briefly during the performance. "You may say I'm a dreamer/ But I'm not the only one," Brooks sang as wife Yearwood joined in, matching his vocals on the lines, "I hope someday you'll join us/ And the world will live as one." That final line was delivered as the couple looked into each other's eyes and held the moment for a beat, with Brooks leaning in to give Yearwood, his wife since 2006, a kiss on the cheek. In addition to the Brooks/Yearwood performance and a number of other moving tributes from Carter's family, the funeral included a eulogy by Biden, who is less than two weeks away from the end of his term, after which he will be replaced by twice-impeached former President Trump. After the funeral, Pres. Carter's body will be flown back to Georgia for a private family funeral before he is buried on the grounds of his home in Plains next to his late wife of 77 years,
Rosalynn Carter. Footage of the "Imagine" performance has been shared on
YouTube. -
Billboard......

In a new interview with the UK publication
The Guardian, John Lennon's eldest son
Julian Lennon says he's "not part of
The Beatles' "inner circle." With the recent resurgence of the legendary quartet's work, including
Peter Jackson's
Get Back (2021),
David Tedeschi and
Martin Scorsese's
Beatles '64 (2024), and the 2024 restoration of
Michael Lindsay-Hogg's 1970 film,
Let it Be, Julian said he's often the last to know about any activity with the Fab Four's camp."It's news to me half the time. I'm not part of the inner circle -- I never have been," he admitted. "You have to realise that when Dad left, when I was between three and five (it was a bit of a process), it was just mum and me, and we had nothing to do with the Beatles or Dad. I visited him on the odd occasion but we were very much on the outside. I'm thankful that Sean and I get on like a house on fire -- we're best buddies and he tells me what he can, but things are pretty secret on the Beatles front." He continued: "[It's] extraordinarily strange but I'm not upset about it. I'd rather be excited and impressed by what they did and continue to do. As a fan, I'm just as curious as anybody else, although I do find myself going, 'how is it possible that there's another Beatles film?'" Julian also spoke about his photography work and his newest release, the coffee table book
Life's Fragile Moments. Alongside discussions of how new music isn't on the cards just yet (a failed attempt to hit the late-night talk show circuit in 2024 left him "heartbroken"), Julian said he continues to "build up a body of work, a foundation that I can stand on, that nobody can take away from me." "And I continue to do so," he said. "It's not to show off, it's just to prove to myself that I can actually do this stuff. I'm not interested in fighting other people's opinions." Lennon recently took to social media in December to urge his followers to undergo regular doctor visits following an emergency surgery after a second skin cancer diagnosis. Just before the end of the year, on Dec. 30, Lennon updated his followers that he had received "the 'all clear'" from his doctors. -
Billboard...... When the Grammy Awards' Recording Academy nominated
The Beatles for two awards -- Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance -- for their "final" single
"Now and Then," fans of the band were pleased. However only the two surviving Beatles --
Paul McCartney and
Ringo Starr -- will be eligible to receive a Grammy because due to Recording Academy rules the two deceased Beatles --
John Lennon and
George Harrison -- have each been dead for more than five years and cannot meet the test for "new recordings" -- "material that has been recorded within five years of the release date." There is precedent for this.
Nat "King" Cole was not nominated when daughter
Natalie Cole won Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Performance in 1992 for their studio-created duet "Unforgettable." He had died in 1965. Furthermore, Lennon was not included the last time the Fab Four were nominated, 28 years ago, for Best Pop Performance and Best Music Video, short-form, both for "Free as a Bird," and Best Music Video, long-form for
The Beatles Anthology. McCartney co-produced "Now and Then" with
Giles Martin, the son of legendary Beatles producer
George Martin. Both McCartney and Giles Martin are nominated for Record of the Year as producers of the single, as are eight engineer/mixers and a mastering engineer -- but not John and George. If "Now and Then" wins Record of the Year, McCartney will complete his sweep of the Big Four awards, though it will have taken him longer to do so than any other act in Grammy history. He won Best New Artist in 1965 (with The Beatles), Song of the Year in 1967 for "Michelle" (in tandem with Lennon) and album of the year in 1968 for The Beatles' landmark
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. The winners of the 68th Grammy Awards are set to be revealed at a ceremony on Feb. 2, 2025 at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. -
Billboard