Beatles Page 2

It doesn't matter that they are considered one of the most influential rock bands in history, Quincy Jones has nothing good to say about The Beatles - particularly Ringo Starr. Though, in all honesty, he has few positive things to say about the rock genre in general.

Quincy Jones at the premiere of 'Sandy Wexler'

In a recent interview with Vulture, the 84-year-old multi-Grammy winning record producer opened up about everything from managing Michael Jackson to dating Ivanka Trump. But perhaps one of the most inflammatory comments he made was in records to John Lennon and Paul McCartney's legendary group The Beatles.

Continue reading: Quincy Jones Confesses He Hates The Beatles' Music

Sir Paul McCartney has backed a campaign to stop iconic music venues from closing.

The Beatles star has spoke out in support of Labour MP John Spellar's move to introduce a bill in the Commons that will change planning laws and protect music venues from closing.

He said: ''Without the grassroots clubs, pubs and music venues my career could have been very different. If we don't support music at this level, then the future of music in general is in danger.''

Continue reading: Sir Paul McCartney Backs Campaign To Stop Music Venues Closing

Radiohead's Philip Selway and Ringo Starr has got to be one of the coolest live collaborations this year - and there have been quite a few. They performed a rendition of 'With a Little Help From My Friends' during Ringo's New York show earlier this week.

Ringo Starr celebrates his birthday

The drummer and the former Beatle united for a performance of the 1967 Beatles number from their 'Yellow Submarine' album on Wednesday night (November 15th 2017) at the Beacon Theatre in New York City as part of the Ringo Starr All Starr Band tour dates. 

Continue reading: Radiohead Star Philip Selway Plays Beatles With Ringo Starr

The original handwritten score that the Beatles wrote for 'Eleanor Rigby' is being put up for auction in Cheshire next month, signed by Sir Paul McCartney. It will be sold alongisde a number of other items related to the protagonist of the song - although coincidentally.

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney at the premiere for 'Eight Days a Week'

The music sheet was written in pencil by the band's long time producer George Martin, with the lyrics by Paul McCartney who signed it. It's expected to fetch upwards of £20,000 ($26,000) at auction in Warrington in September.

Continue reading: 'Eleanor Rigby' Music Sheet By The Beatles Up For Auction

Beatles fans of the UK will now be able to wear their band passion on their sleeves, literally, as Selfridges unveils a brand new T-shirt collection to celebrate 50 years of their 1967 album 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' alongside the new re-release.

The Beatles merchandise on sale at Selfridges

From today (July 19th 2017), music fans can purchase exclusive 50th anniversary T-shirts, hoodies and jackets at Selfridges in London, Manchester and Birmingham as part of the store's Capsule Collection entitled '50 Years of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'. The brand has been launched in partnership with Universal merch company Bravado.

Continue reading: Selfridges Unveil New Beatles Merch For 'Sgt. Pepper' 50th Anniversary

After a long-running legal wrangle, Sir Paul McCartney and Sony have finally reached a deal regarding the ownership of publishing rights to The Beatles’ back catalogue, settling what had looked like a case that was going to shake the music industry to its foundations, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The 75 year old star had gone to a U.S. court and sued Sony/ATV in an attempt to regain the publishing rights to 267 of the Fab Four’s classic tracks.

Paul McCartney and Sony have reached a deal over The Beatles' publishing rights

Continue reading: Paul McCartney Reaches Deal With Sony Over Beatles Songs Publishing Rights

The Beatles are expected to hit number one in the UK with their 50th anniversary release of 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' as the official chart announcements prepare to be released this week. Being the best-selling album in the UK of all time, it has a good chance of making it to the top once again. 

The Beatles to get to number one in the UK again?

The landmark album, which Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr took to the top of the charts in 1967, has returned as part of a special anniversary re-release featuring previously unheard material and brand new mixes and is available as a single or double CD, or even a 6 CD deluxe box set.

Continue reading: The Beatles Expected To Top Charts With 'Sgt. Pepper' 50th Anniversary Album

With all the recent coverage regarding another 1960s superstar, Bob Dylan, here at Contactmusic, it may have been easy to let him steal the spotlight from his most popular contemporaries from that era, The Beatles, who this year celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of their biggest albums.

Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney at The Beatles documentary premiere

However, something intriguing seems to be afoot. Today the celebrated pop/rock band published a video on their Facebook featuring coloured lines which recall old television sets. The video is backed by an excerpt from 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts' Club Band (Reprise)'.

Continue reading: The Beatles Tease 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' 50th Anniversary Release

The world's most successful pop group The Beatles is re-visited in Ron Howard's comprehensive documentary 'The Beatles: Eight Days a Week', released today. They were a band that had a massive impact on the pop culture in the 60s, but also on the political views of the world, in particular - it has emerged - racial segregation.

The Beatles refused to play a segregated concert in Florida

There's no denying the effect the Beatles had on the music industry in the 60s, and indeed the impact they had on the cultural enjoyment of music. With that popularity came responsibility, and they used that put across their libertarian views as often as possible. The Beatles left a mark on the world with their social and political opinions, and even lent a hand to the breaking down of racial segregation in the American south.

Continue reading: The Beatles Helped Break Down Racial Segregation By Refusing To Perform

It's been more than 50 years since The Beatles took the world by storm, and the phenomenon that was their day-to-day lives is to be explored in yet another exhaustive documentary called 'The Beatles: Eight Days a Week - The Touring Years', featuring fascinating archival footage and some new interviews.

Re-discover The Beatles in 'Eight Days A Week'

The surviving two members of this influential pop band, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, invited director Ron Howard into their past to talk about the insanity that was Beatlemania, their democracy as a group and just how they managed to create sounds that no-one ever heard before.

Continue reading: Ever Wondered How The Beatles Created The Strange Sound Of 'Tomorrow Never Knows'?

With Ron Howard’s documentary movie Eight Days a Week: The Touring Years hitting cinemas in a couple of months’ time, it has been announced that a specially restored film The Beatles’ iconic concert performance at Shea Stadium in 1965 will receive a limited theatrical run at the same time.

On Thursday (July 28th), it was revealed that a fully-restored 4K version of the show that the Fab Four played at New York’s Shea Stadium on August 15th 1965 will be released in certain cinemas to support the roll-out of Howard’s documentary, which will premiere on September 16th.

Continue reading: 4K Restoration Of The Beatles' Shea Stadium Gig To Be Released In Cinemas

An extremely rare Beatles record that was found gathering dust in a loft is to be auctioned next month, and is expected fetch at least $10,000.

The 10-inch record of ‘Till There Was You’ and ‘Hello Little Girl’ is described as a “Holy Grail item” by Beatles collectors, and bears the handwriting of the Fab Four’s manager Brian Epstein. It was cut before the band broke through to the national charts in late 1962, and the predicted price is only a conservative estimate since the record is so rare.

It was discovered in the home of Les Maguire, who used to be the keyboardist in The Beatles’ early Liverpool rivals Gerry & The Pacemakers, where it was left in the attic for decades.

Continue reading: Extremely Rare Beatles Record Expected To Fetch Over $10,000 Next Month

A guitar stolen from John Lennon in 1963 has sold for $2.4m at an auction in Beverley Hills. The Gibson acoustic was used on the recordings of ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘PS I Love You’ and auctioned alongside other items of Beatles memorabilia, including a drum head which went for $2.1m.

A guitar stolen from John Lennon has sold for $2.4m at auction.

The guitar and the drum head fetched two of the highest prices ever paid for items of rock and roll memorabilia. Lennon’s guitar had been in the possession of novice musician John McCaw for decades, who bought it in the late 1960s without knowing it had been stolen from the Beatle.

Continue reading: John Lennon's Stolen Guitar Fetches $2.4m At Auction

The original contract signed by The Beatles and their manager Brian Epstein sold at auction for £365,000 on Tuesday (September 29th).

The document, dated October 1st 1962, was signed at Epstein’s office in Whitechapel a matter of days before the group released their first single ‘Love Me Do’. It confirmed Epstein, often referred to as the ‘Fifth Beatle’, as the group’s permanent manager and also brought in Richard Starkey (known obviously as Ringo Starr) in place of their former drummer Pete Best.

The Beatles' management contract went under the hammer this week

Continue reading: The Beatles' Management Contract With Brian Epstein Fetches £365,000 At Auction

A critical piece of rock ‘n’ roll memorabilia is to go on sale next month, with the news that the first ever recording contract signed by The Beatles is to go under the hammer in New York.

The Associated Press reports that the contract, believed to have been signed when The Fab Four were in Hamburg, Germany in 1961 serving as backing band for Tony Sheridan on the song ‘My Bonnie’, will be up for auction alongside about 300 other pop music artefacts sold by the estate of Uwe Blaschke, a German record producer and graphic designer who died in 2010.

A fresh-faced Fab Four at the start of their career

Continue reading: The Beatles' First Ever Recording Contract Going Up For Auction In New York

A tribute to the late John Lennon was unveiled in New York on Wednesday, with a tapestry unveiled in a ceremony attended by a number of stars including Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono and U2 stars Bono and The Edge.

The cheeky artwork, which depicts Manhattan as a yellow submarine in a sea of blue, is on display at the Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. Lennon himself appears on the tapestry as the captain of the submarine and giving the peace sign. The piece was commissioned by an organisation called Art For Amnesty to thank Ono for diverting more than $5 million in royalties from the singer’s post-Beatles music to Amnesty International since 2004.

Yoko Ono unveiled the tapestry honouring her late husband John Lennon

Continue reading: Ono And Bono Unveil Tapestry In New York Honouring John Lennon

British singer Sam Smith has secured his place in chart history, after achieving a record-breaking milestone previously managed only by the Beatles. The singer has become the only artist since the fab five to spend nearly a year in the top five with a debut album thanks to his massively successful, In The Lonely Hour.

Sam Smith has made chart history with In The Lonely Hour.

The singer’s debut album has so far spent 50 weeks in the top five of the UK album chart, according to the Official Charts Company. That’s only one week short of The Beatles’ record, as they managed 51 weeks on the chart with Please Please Me in 1963.

Continue reading: Sam Smith Joins The Beatles In Making Chart History With 'In The Lonely Hour'

It may have been 50 years since The Beatles released ‘Yesterday’, but on Saturday night in front of a packed crowd at London’s 02 arena, 72 year Paul McCartney proved he’s certainly still got it.

Paul McCartney performing at the 02 Arena in London.

The former Beatle played a career spanning three hour set for the enthusiastic crowd, opening with 1964’s ‘Eight Days A Week’. Macca then took the audience through his storied career playing classics from his Beatles’ days such as ‘Paperback Writer’, The Long and Winding Road, ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Lady Madonna’.

Continue reading: Paul McCartney Plays Hit Packed Three Hour Set At London's O2 Arena