Latest Beatles News
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......
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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...... 
Richard Perry, one of the great record producers of the 1970s and '80s whose greatest hits include the likes of No. 1 singles "Without You" by Nilsson and "Your So Vain" by Carly Simon, died on Dec. 24 of cardiac arrest in a Los Angeles hospital, according to his friend Daphna Kastner. He was 82. Mr. Perry produced more than 30 top 20 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, including Barbra Streisand's dynamic version of Laura Nyro's "Stoney End," in which one the legendary star dove into contemporary pop music for the first time; and a long string of hits by The Pointer Sisters, including the exhilarating "I'm So Excited" and "Jump (for My Love)." Other hits that have the unmistakable immaculate, powerful and precise Perry stamp include Leo Sayer's "When I Need You" (also a No. 1 on the Hot 100) and Burton Cummings' stately "Stand Tall" (a top 10 hit on the Hot 100 in 1977). Mr. Perry also received back-to-back Grammy nods for producer of the year, non-classical in 1977 and 1978. He had a 42-year span of top 10 albums on the Billboard Hot 200. He first made the top 10 in July 1968 with a very unlikely project, an album by pop-culture phenomenon Tiny Tim. He produced back-to-back No. 1 hits on the Hot 100 by two different artists -- Ringo Starr ("Photograph" and "You're Sixteen" in 1973-74) and Sayer ("You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" and "When I Need You," both in 1977)." The Starr smashes were historic -- the first and only time that a former Beatle had back-to-back singles that reached No. 1 on the Hot 100. Mr. Perry left Warner Bros. in 1970 and almost immediately became one of the most in-demand producers in pop. In 1973, Mr. Perry produced Starr's album Ringo. John Lennon wrote the opening track, "I'm the Greatest," which constituted the closest thing to a Beatles reunion in the decade between the band's breakup in 1970 and Lennon's death in 1980. 
Starr, Lennon and George Harrison all played on the track (along with Billy Preston and Klaus Voormann). Paul McCartney wasn't involved in the track, but he and Linda McCartney contributed another song, "Six O'Clock," which they appeared on. The album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200, kept out the top spot by Elton John's Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. In Jan. 1974, Rolling Stone named Mr. Perry "Producer of the Year" for 1973 in its Rolling Stone Music Awards "for his work with Carly Simon (with session drop-in Mick Jagger) and with Starr (with visitors Lennon, Harrison and McCartney)." His death was mourned by Rod Stewart and Barbra Streisand, among others, on Instagram. He is survived by his younger brothers Roger, Fred and Andrew. - Billboard...... Paul McCartney was joined by his Beatles bandmate Ringo Starr and Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood on the final night McCartney's global "Got Back"' tour at London's The O2 arena on Dec. 19. After honoring his late bandmate John Lennon during "I've Got A Feeling," McCartney said to a giddy crowd, "We've got another surprise for you. Bring to the stage the mighty, the one and only Mr Ringo Starr." The pair hugged on stage before McCartney quipped, "Should we rock? Get on your kit lad" to Ringo before the two jammed on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" and "Helter Skelter." Wood also appeared onstage during the show, playing guitar on "Got Back." McCartney introduced the song by talking about his old Höfner bass guitar that was stolen over 50 years ago, and was eventually returned after a public appeal. Holding the Höfner onstage, McCartney revealed that it was the bass' first stage appearance since it had gone missing: "I haven't played it in 50 years." There was also a festive surprise with a performance of his 1979 song "Wonderful Christmastime," accompanied by the Capital Choir who provided backing vocals on the song as snow confetti filled the venue. McCartney, who looked visibly emotional at the conclusion of "Now and Then," the 'final' Beatles song released in 2023 which was completed through the use of assistive AI, has no more shows lined up in the near future, but promised the crowd at the conclusion that "we'll see you again soon." His performance with Ringo has been shared on YouTube. - Billboard...... 
In other Beatles news, whisky maker Ballantine's has launched limited-edition John Lennon and Elton John celebratory whiskies just in time for the holidays. The new duo of limited-edition bottle designs which have been crafted to capture the essence of Lennon and John are the latest addition to Ballantine's True Music Icons collection, which previously saw the whisky company pay tribute to the likes of AC/DC and Queen. The new editions not only honour Lennon and John for their contributions to music, but also celebrate their friendship which was highlighted by the former Beatle's single "Whatever Gets You Thru The Night" featuring pair's iconic performance together in New York City's Madison Square Garden back in 1974, 50 years ago. Lennon's edition of the Whisky sees his self-portrait sketch logo on the bottle's label, while John's edition features a blue label with a holographic 'E' star logo as well as a drawing of his legendary 1975 performance at Dodger Stadium. The whiskies can be purchased at the ballantines.com website. - New Musical Express...... John Lennon's son Julian Lennon has undergone emergency following a skin cancer diagnosis. Julian recently took to Instagram to reveal his recent health scare, explaining that he had been on the way to New York for a Good Morning America appearance and press junket in support of his latest book, Life's Fragile Moments, when he received word from Dr. Tess Mauricio that melanoma had been discovered on his skin. "So instead of going home to put my Christmas tree up and happily finish the year off, relaxing at home, I flew directly back to Los Angeles, after all my work in New York was done, and went directly from LAX airport, to surgery, with a surgeon recommended by Dr Tess, [Dr. Tim Neavin] -- who spent several hours cleaning up and operating on me, with large margins, in the hope that we have, at the end of the day -- clear margins, which would mean being free from cancer," Lennon wrote. "The operation was a success, but we have yet to have the results of the biopsy, which we may not receive before Christmas." As he continued his post, he shared his gratitude for his medical team for their fast work at coordinating such rapid surgery and for "hopefully saving my life." "One can never be too confident in circumstances like this, but we all believe that Dr Tim has saved the day. So fingers crossed for now," he wrote, concluding with "this is also a timely reminder to all, to please get yourself checked out by your doctor... and you may just be saving your own life." Lennon's fittingly-titled latest book, Life's Fragile Moments, was released earlier in December as is his first photography collection, and features stills taken over two decades, including landscapes, urban scenes, and intimate portraits. - Billboard...... As his ongoing "Get Back" tour stopped in Manchester, UK on Dec. 14, Paul McCartney treated fans to a rare live rendition of his festive yuletide tune "Wonderful Christmastime" -- a moment that hasn't been seen live in six years. Sir Paul, 82, was joined by children from the You Should Be Dancing Theatre Academy, transforming the Co-Op Live arena into a winter wonderland. This performance was particularly special, as McCartney has only played "Wonderful Christmastime" live about a dozen times throughout his extensive solo career. The last time fans were treated to a live version was back in 2018 during a series of December shows in England and before that, it was during a Dec. 2016 performance on The Tonight Show. Originally released in 1979 as a standalone single, "Wonderful Christmastime" has become a staple of holiday playlists worldwide. The song was later included as a bonus track on some editions of the Beatles legend's McCartney II album. Earlier in December, "Wonderful Christmastime" reappeared on Billboard's Rock Streaming Songs chart at No. 15. It has previously flown to the runner-up rung in the 47 weeks it's spent on the list of the most-streamed rock tunes in the US. During the Manchester performance, Macca also treated fans to a mix of deep cuts and iconic hits like "Hey Jude" and "Band on the Run," in a hit-filled three-hour set. The early Beatles tunes that peppered the first hour of the set included a souped-up "Drive My Car" and the Motown-inspired "Got to Get You into My Life." McCartney's Manchester "Wonderful Christmastime" performance has been shared on YouTube. Meanwhile, the longtime vegetarian has launched an anti-bullfighting appeal ahead of his concerts in Madrid, Spain. In a new PETA campaign in Spain, the music legend declares, "I am Paul McCartney, and I oppose bullfighting." It comes as animal rights advocates in the country gather signatures for the No Es Mi Cultura popular legislative initiative, which aims to repeal the law that designates bullfighting as "cultural heritage" and empower Spanish communities to prohibit the violent blood sport. "Bulls feel pain and fear just as humans do, yet in the bullring they're terrorised, mutilated, and barbarically slaughtered in front of jeering crowds," says PETA Vice President for Europe Mimi Bekhechi. "PETA urges compassionate people everywhere to join Sir Paul McCartney in taking a stand against these bloody, merciless spectacles." International condemnation of bullfighting has continued to grow, including in Spain, where 93% of young people say they don't support the cruel spectacles. More than 100,000 PETA supporters have urged Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez to ban bullfighting. In more McCartney news, pop sensation Sabrina Carpenter has given Macca a shout-out during an appearance on CBS's The Late Show on Dec. 12. "When I was very, very young, my dad played me 'Rocky Raccoon' for the first time and I was so mesmerized by that song and the songwriting of it all that I fell in love with Paul McCartney," Carpenter told host Stephen Colbert. "I was convinced that was my husband, my future husband," she added of the now-82-year-old pop icon. "But he was quite old and I was so young I didn't understand that he was much older than me because I was looking at all these photos," she recalled thinking. "No, he's young, he's only like 10 years older than me. I didn't understand math I was a child." Colbert then asked Carpenter what it was like when she was finally able to meet the Beatles legend. "I just formed tears in my eyes and he was just so normal and casual and was so charming," she said. "It felt like I was entering an alternate universe like the Upside Down vibes? Like Stranger Things, but a lot happier than Stranger Things." What isn't strange, Carpenter noted, is that in every room McCartney enters he makes everyone feel "seen and heard," which was inspiring to see from someone she's "obsessed" with. Carpenter's Late Show interview can be viewed on YouTube. - Billboard/Music-News.com...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Ringo Starr participated in a playback of his new country music-themed album Look Up at Third Man Records in London on Dec. 13. "I love my voice on this. I love all the tracks actually, and you know, they're all in my key," the world famous drummer told the UK paper The Sun. Starr was joined at the event by famous faces including ex-Led Zeppelin frontman Jimmy Page, 80, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, 77, Eric Clapton, 79, Sir Bob Geldof, 73, and 66-year-old Jools Holland. Ringo's new album comes after he told Variety he suffered a near-fatal illness that forced him to cancel solo shows this year. He said he had a high white blood cell count of 12,000, which can mean an infection or inflammation, describing it as "a mad thing eating my body." Ringo, a father of three, added: "That's what saved your life -- they were fighting the attacker. And so with pills and medication, I got over it in two weeks." - Music-News.com...... 
Paul McCartney's ambitious yet ultimately abandoned collaboration with legendary sci-fi author Isaac Asimov has been unveiled in vivid detail through a new book published on Dec. 10, The McCartney Legacy, Volume 2: 1974 80, by authors Adrian Sinclair and Allan Kozinn. The proposed film that never came to fruition, tentatively titled Five and Five and One, featured an eccentric plot that intertwined aliens, McCartney's band Wings -- consisting of his wife Linda McCartney and ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine -- and their efforts to take Earth by storm. McCartney's original treatment for the story was brief, about 400 words long, but Asimov expanded it into a more detailed 1,800-word version. A fragment of McCartney's treatment reveals the unique premise: "A 'flying saucer' lands. Out of it get five creatures. They transmute before your very eyes into 'us' [Wings]. They are here to take over Earth by taking America by storm and they proceed to do this supergroup style. Meanwhile -- back in the sticks of Britain -- lives the original group, whose personalities are being used by the aliens." McCartney personally approached Asimov in 1974 to collaborate on the script, meeting in New York since Asimov had an aversion to flying. He quipped about the author's reluctance: "He can imagine himself into far-off galaxies, but he wouldn't get on a plane." Asimov expanded on the story, evolving the alien invaders into "energy-beings" from a dying planet who sought to occupy the Wings members rather than clone them. However, the beings were unable to comprehend human emotions like love, adding a philosophical layer to the narrative. Despite the intriguing concept, the project stalled. By early 1975, the collaboration was shelved, with Asimov reportedly leaving a pointed critique scrawled on the first page of his treatment: "Nothing ever came of this because McCartney couldn't recognize good stuff." The new book is part of a larger series chronicling McCartney's career and follows the first volume covering 1969-1973, which was published in 2022. In other McCartney-related news, actor Paul Mescal has apparently been tapped to star as Macca in the upcoming Beatles biopic series about each of the four members. During a conversation with director Christopher Nolan after a screening of Gladiator II at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles on Dec. 10, the film's director Ridley Scott discussed his next project, a thriller titled The Dog Stars. When asked if Mescal will star in the movies following his Gladiator role, Scott noted that the actor's schedule might prevent that from happening as he will be starring in Sony Pictures' upcoming Beatles project. "Paul is actually stacked up, doing the Beatles next. So I may have to let him go," he said, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Sony has yet to officially confirm Mescal's casting in the biopics, which will be helmed by Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes. - Billboard...... As Sean Lennon and the rest of his family prepare to mark the 44th anniversary of father John Lennon's death in New York City in 1980 on Dec. 8, Sean recently told BBC Radio 6 that his dad's untimely passing has had an impact on countless individuals throughout the world. No more have felt that impact, Sean says, than his mother Yoko Ono. Sean claimed that Yoko "never has moved on from that relationship" since John's passing, but agreed that the recent rerelease of John's 1973 LP Mind Games was something of a "love letter" to his parents. "I've never put it that way but I would say it's my best effort to try to be a good son," Sean said. Sean touched on his parents' relationship around the record's creation. At the time of Mind Games' writing, John was in the midst of the 18-month "lost weekend"' period in which he was separated from Ono. "A lot of people said like, 'Yoko wasn't around for this record, why are they featuring her in the booklet' or something," Lennon began. "And I think there's a lot of history, there's a lot of assumptions made about that time period because they were sort of on their way towards that famous separation that people called The Lost Weekend. But the truth is, even when they were apart they were always talking, so I don't think they ever really broke up, all his stuff was still in the apartment with my mum, it's not like they had a real separation. And on top of it, all my dad was thinking about was her. You look at the album cover, it's a collage of my mum literally the size of a mountain, and he's this little tiny thing sort of fading into the background" he continued. "And I think it's clear what his view of my mum was in his life. She was monumental, obviously. And the whole album is about her." - Billboard...... 
Responding to rumors that actor Barry Keoghan will portray him in an upcoming four-part Beatles biopic, Ringo Starr recently told Entertainment Tonight that "I think it's great... I believe he's somewhere taking drum lessons. I hope not too many!" Keoghan is already an Oscar nominee, thanks to his work in 2022's The Banshees of Inisherin. Starr's interview can be viewed on the Entertainment Tonight website. Although no official casting announcements have been announced yet, other actors rumored to be circling the project include Harris Dickinson as John Lennon, Paul Mescal as Paul McCartney and Charlie Rowe as George Harrison. Early in 2024, Sony Pictures Entertainment announced four separate Beatles biopics -- one focusing on each member of music's most iconic band. Sam Mendes, the Oscar-winning director whose credits include American Beauty (1999), Skyfall (2012) and 1917 (2019), will helm all four films and produce them through his Neal Street Productions. "I'm honored to be telling the story of the greatest rock band of all time, and excited to challenge the notion of what constitutes a trip to the movies," Mendes said in a statement at the time. - Billboard...... In other Beatles news, a handwritten letter which sees John Lennon pitching a new band to Eric Clapton is set to be auctioned in December. The eight-page letter, which is dated Sept. 29, 1971, is a draft of the final version which was sent to Clapton that same year. The contents of the letter show the beginnings of what could have been an interesting chapter in the story of rock music, with Lennon asking Clapton to form a new band. "You must know by now that Yoko (Ono) and I rate your music and yourself very highly, always have," the letter begins. As Lennon continues, he touches on Clapton's then-current dark period, which was marred by heroin addiction and a retreat from public appearances. "Eric, I know I can bring out something great, in fact greater in you that had been so far evident in your music," Lennon adds. "I hope to bring out the same kind of greatness in all of us, which I know will happen if/when we get together." The letter ultimately pitches the idea of Clapton performing as part of the prospective band, which would have included previous Plastic Ono Band members Klaus Voorman, Jim Keltner, Nicky Hopkins and Phil Spector. 
"And of course we had YOU!!! in mind as soon as we decided," it continues. By the time of the letter's writing, Clapton had previously performed as part of the Plastic Ono Band, appearing as part of the iterations of the group that existed between September and December 1969. Ultimately, Clapton would turn down Lennon's offer of joining the John's "supergroup." The draft of the letter also includes numerous corrections and edits, though it's unknown what the final version that was sent to Clapton looked like. Helmed by International Autograph Auctions Europe SL, the missive will go to auction on Dec. 5 for an expected sale of £100,000 - £150,000 (approximately $104,000 - $157,000), with bidding registrations already open. This isn't the first time the letter has gone up for sale, however, with a 2012 auction expecting the item to sell for a total of $30,000. The letter can be viewed on the autographauctions.eu website. - Billboard...... A new Beatles documentary from producer Martin Scorsese and director David Tedeschi, Beatles '64, is set to premiere on the Disney+ streaming channel on Nov. 29. Its subject is a familiar one: the Fab Four's arrival in the United States on Feb. 7, 1964, and the cultural maelstrom that followed. "Visually they are a nightmare: tight, dandified, Edwardian-Beatnik suits and great pudding bowls of hair," Newsweek sneered in a contemporaneous cover story quoted at length onscreen. "Musically they are a near-disaster: guitars and drums slamming out a merciless beat that does away with secondary rhythms, harmony, and melody." But while most accounts of the Beatles' U.S. invasion treat the boys themselves as conquering heroes, Beatles '64 does something a little different. It turns a refreshing and revealing lens on the band's first stateside fans as well -- the vast majority of them teenage girls, a group all too easily dismissed at the time. "These young women discovered something that nobody else knew," director Tedeschi (who previously edited Scorsese's Rolling Thunder Revue and George Harrison: Living in the Material World documentaries), tells Yahoo Entertainment. "And it turned out to be true." To capture that bigger, broader picture, Tedeschi raided the archives of the Maysles Brothers, the revolutionary fly-on-the-wall documentarians who followed the Beatles for their entire two-week initial visit, unearthing 17 minutes of never-before-seen footage in the process. All of the Maysles' material was then restored to crystalline 4K by director Peter Jackson's Park Road Post studio in New Zealand. Meanwhile, the Beatles' iconic Ed Sullivan Show appearances and raucous first U.S. concert at the Washington (D.C.) Coliseum were demixed and remixed using the same AI-assisted innovations as their other recent releases. And a handful of hardcore fans were asked to reflect on their youthful obsession, 60 years after the fact. The result is a triumph of technology and storytelling -- our clearest view yet into what Beatlemania looked like, sounded like and, most importantly, felt like for those who lived it. - Yahoo! Entertainment, 11/26/24...... 
In other Beatles-related news, Sean Ono Lennon has revealed to People magazine that he started making music in order to "fill the void" left by the death of his father, John Lennon. "I never played music because I was good at it," Sean explained. "I lost my father and I didn't know how to fill that void. Learning how to play his songs on guitar was a way to process the loss with an activity that made me feel connected to him," added Sean, who was born in 1975 to John and the artist Yoko Ono, and was only five years old when his father was shot and killed by Mark David Chapman in 1980. "When you've lost a parent, things like that motivate you- because you're trying to find them. Making music always made me feel like I was getting to know him better." Sean has released a number of solo records, including this year's Asterisms, and in recent years has become a sought-after producer for alternative bands including Fat White Family, Temples and The Lemon Twigs. Sean has also recently been nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package for the reissue of his father's 1973 album Mind Games, for which Sean oversaw new "meditation" mixes. "The whole album is about my mum," Sean explained in the new interview. "My dad declared to the world that 'John and Yoko' were one word. I think he always had his heart set on her. He was so in love with her. They had a legendary love and I think that this album is infused with that love. You can hear it." - New Musical Express...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, a guitar played by George Harrison in the early days of the Beatles has sold at auction for $1.27 million (£1.01million). The Resonet Futurama guitar was purchased by Harrison at a music store in Liverpool in 1959 and he went on to play it at at least 324 Beatles shows. The Nashville auction house Julien's had listed the expected price between $600,000 and $800,000, but the eventual price tag makes the instrument the most expensive guitar owned by Harrison ever to be sold at auction. The item was sold as part of an auction titled "Played, Worn & Torn II' that ran on Nov. 20-21. Other lots from music history were also donated by the likes of The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Eric Clapton, Nirvana and Prnce. - New Musical Express...... 
In her new memoir Cher: The Memoir, Part One, Cher claims that John Lennon once stripped off his clothes during a drunken night at the Playboy Mansion in 1974. The "Believe" hitmaker recalled having dinner at a restaurant in Los Angeles with the Beatle and his friend, singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, and asking the pair if they wanted to visit Hugh Hefner's famed mansion for its Sunday movie night. According to Cher, Lennon was "dying" to see the property so she drove them to the mansion, at which point she realised her companions were "drunker than I'd thought." Cher, a regular guest at the Playboy Mansion, led Lennon and Nilsson to the swimming pool's Grotto -- where they stripped naked. "Giggling and falling over each other, John and Harry followed me out into the grounds. Sitting them down inside the infamous Grotto -- it was like a huge cave that one end of the swimming pool went into -- I went to find a drink and when I came back they were standing in the middle of the Grotto naked but still in the water, thank God," she wrote in the book, which has been serialized by The Daily Mail. When the pop legend told the pair they were not a "pretty" sight, they threatened to leave the water. "I was trying not to laugh, but it was impossible not to as they threatened to wander around the mansion naked. It took me ages to get them back in their clothes. It was like herding drunks," Cher continued. She noted that while the mansion was "notorious for drunken orgies," the Sunday movie nights were more relaxed events featuring cocktails, dinner and the latest films. - New Musical Express...... Headlining the Corona Capital Festival in Mexico City on Nov. 17, Paul McCartney invited guitarist Jack White and singer-songwriter St. Vincent on stage to jam some Beatles songs. Macca treated fans in the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez Stadium to a 29-song set covering the breadth of his career. For "Get Back," Sir Paul invited St. Vincent to the stage, with Annie Clark lending searing guitar solos to a spirited performance of the 1969 track, before exchanging kisses with McCartney. St. Vincent made a second appearance for the show's epic finale, a rendition of "The End," which also saw Jack White adding his distinctive serrated guitar tone to the mix. Fan-captured footage of the performance can be viewed on YouTube. McCartney's performance was the grand finale of his tour in the region. In his fourth performance on Mexican stages -- and his first time at the famous festival in Mexico City -- the star achieved the feat of gathering the largest number of attendees the Corona Capital has seen in its 14-year history, according to promoter Ocesa, with nearly 82,000 people. - NME...... Ringo Starr has shared the new track "Thankful" featuring Alison Krauss, the latest single from his upcoming country album Look Up, on YouTube. "I love this track," Starr said in a statement. "I wrote it with my producer and engineer Bruce Sugar, and I feel we put an LA country sound to it. For the lyrics, I always like to focus on the positive, and for this song in particular, about what we can be thankful for. I hope it brings you some joy and peace and love." Starr previously shared the album's lead single "Time On My Hands." Comprised of 11 songs, Starr wrote the album alongside T Bone Burnett, Billy Swan and Bruce Sugar, and it marks his first full album in the country style in over 50 years and first LP since 2019. Starr is set to showcase the album in Nashville with a headline show at the Ryman Auditorium on Jan. 14 and 15. - NME......  |  |
On Nov. 8 The Beatles' purported "final song" "Now and Then" was nominated for Record of the Year and Best Rock Performance at the 2025 Grammy Awards -- marking the first time a song created with the assistance of artificial intelligence has earned a Grammy nomination. When "Now and Then" first came out in late 2023, the disclosure that it was finalized utilizing AI caused an uproar. At the time, many fans assumed that the remaining Fab Four members -- Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr -- must have used generative AI to deepfake the late John Lennon. That was not actually the case. Instead, the Beatles used a form of AI known as "stem separation" to help them clean up a 47-year-old, low-fidelity demo recorded by Lennon around 1977 and to make it useable in a finished master recording. However, some fans have drawn attention to the use of AI to isolate Lennon's original demo recording in the song. One post on X/Twitter noted (in Spanish): "Everything is fine with The Beatles - But this Grammy nomination is quite forced - And on top of that with AI to try to separate John Lennon's vocals from the piano of the original demo." This was countered by another X user, however, who argued: "The Beatles DID NOT USE AI to create a song but rather to isolate John Lennon's voice from a record that already existed and recorded new parts in a traditional way. winning the Grammy would be the least they could do for the last song made by the greatest band of all time." The two nominations for "Now and Then" mark the Fab Four's first nominations at the Grammy Awards in decades and the fourth time the group has been nominated in the Record of the Year category. They were first nominated in the category in the mid-1960s with "I Want to Hold Your Hand" and were later nominated for "Hey Jude" and "Let It Be" as well. The Beatles have never won in this category. With this nomination, the Beatles are setting the record for the longest span between nominations for any artist in history. However, Lennon and Harrison, who died in 1980 and 2001 respectively, do not meet Grammy eligibility requirements as they did not contribute newly recorded elements to the track, and are not listed in the official nomination. 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/New Musical Express...... Paul McCartney has paid tribute to his late friend, the legendary producer Quincy Jones, who died surrounded by family on Nov. 3. In a lengthy Instagram post, Macca recalled being introduced to Jones via The Beatles' producer George Martin in the early 1960s -- and his "very positive, loving spirit." McCartney wrote: "Dear Quincy Jones has passed and left those of us who knew him feeling sad. He was supremely talented, and I felt privileged to have known him for many years. He was friends with George Martin, the Beatles' producer and, between the two of them, produced some very fine music. Quincy or 'Quince' or 'Q', as he was known, always had a twinkle in his eye and had a very positive, loving spirit which infected everyone who knew him. His work with Michael Jackson is, of course, legendary and he had so many other strings to his musical bow. My main recollections of him were always the private moments that we shared, and I will never stop thanking Nancy for always arranging to visit him when we were in Los Angeles. These visits were fun and inspiring," McCartney continued. "But it is as a friend I would like to remember him. We always had fun in his presence and his legend will continue through the years, but it is those private moments we were lucky enough to have with the great man that I will always remember fondly." The long-standing friendship between Jones and McCartney included a series of playful back-and-forth jabs between the two. In 2018, Jones said in an interview with Vulture that Paul McCartney was "the worst bass player I ever heard" and that Beatles were "no-playing motherf-----s." Shortly after the interview, McCartney revealed that Jones had called him up to explain the situation and that the pair laughed about the incident. Other famous musicians and friends paying tribute to Jones include Lionel Richie, Nile Rogers, and more. - New Musical Express...... 
The console used to record the Beatles' legendary Abbey Road album has been restored and is up for sale on Reverb.com. The EMI TG12345 recording console -- which was used by the Fab Four to create their final LP in 1969 -- was created specially for EMI studios in 1968 and was the first of 17 consoles created by EMI. It played an important role in the ambitious sound that the band sought for Abbey Road The recording console, which disassembled and remained unused for over five decades, took five years to restore under the guidance of Beatles collaborator and former EMI engineer Brian Gibson. Gibson and a team of audio engineers and technicians were able to assemble the console with 70 per cent of its original parts and "faithfully reproduced the replacement parts to seamlessly work alongside their older counterparts."Speaking about the console on Reverb.com, Dave Harries -- who participated in numerous Beatles recording sessions with the machinery in the 1960s -- shared: "Abbey Road is one of the best albums that's ever been made, and it sounds so good because of this recording console. Because of the way that Abbey Road was recorded, the album has a distinctive sound that hallmarked the future of pop recording." He continued: "This particular console is a one-off. It's unique. You can't replace it. It sounds so good that it holds up against any modern console and, in many respects, it's probably better. Because in those days, it was built to a different standard -- cost, no object. EMI built this to be the best in the world." After the Beatles' breakup in 1970, the console was also used for various solo projects by all four members -- John Lennon ("Instant Karma!"), George Harrison ("All Things Must Pass"), Ringo Starr (Sentimental Journey) and Paul McCartney. A video presentation of the console by Reverb has been shared on YouTube. - New Musical Express.
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