Saturday, February 12, 2011

Stuart Sutcliffe

Stuart Sutcliffe, born in Edinburgh, Scotland on June 23, 1940, was the original bass player for the Beatles. Bill Harry, who would would become editor of Mersey Beat, introduced Sutcliffe to John Lennon while the two young men studied at Liverpool Art College. Lennon and McCartney persuaded Sutcliffe to buy a Hofner bass guitar, and in May of 1960, Sutcliffe joined Harrison, McCartney, and Harrison, who were then known as the Silver Beatles.

From the beginning, Sutcliffe did not appear to be a talented bass guitarist, playing only a few basic chords, and many sources say that he would play with his back to the audience. He played with the Beatles in Germany, and remained with Lennon when Harrison was deported for being underage, while McCartney and Pete Best were sent home for attempted arson. (The band sometimes burned their landlady's furniture to keep warm.)

Sutcliffe met photographer Astrid Kircherr while playing with the Beatles in Hamburg at the Kaiserkeller club. The couple became engaged in November of 1960. In July of 1961, Sutcliffe left the group to pursue his career in abstract expressionist art. It was at this time that Paul McCartney took over on bass.

While living in Germany with Kircherr, Sutcliffe began to experience terrible headaches, some of which affected his sight to the point of temporary blindness. German doctors could not find the source of the headaches, but Sutcliffe declined to return to England to seek additional health screenings. He collapsed on April 22, 1962 and died of a brain aneurysm. There has always been speculation that the brain hemorrhage resuled from an earlier head injury when he and John Lennon got into a fight after a 1961 performance.

Sutcliffe's picture is featured on the cover of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band as well as Anthology One.

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Honey Pie

This McCartney song, issued on the White Album, was recorded at Trident Studios on October 1, 1968, with overdubs added on October 2 and 4. Harrison thought that Lennon's lead work was fantastic, although Lennon later said that he would rather forget the song altogether.

McCartney played the piano and sang lead vocal; Lennon played lead guitar; Harrison played bass; Starr played drums; and session musicians added a brass backing.

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Girl

Lennon felt "Girl" to be one of his best compositions. It was recorded on November 11, 1965 at Abbey Road Studios during the last session for Rubber Soul. Lennon claimed that the song was about a "dream girl."

One of the more interesting Beatles facts for this song is that the engineers amplified John's intake of breath in certain spots so that it becomes one of the more memorable sounds of the number, sounding almost (according to McCartney) like a percussion instrument.

Lennon sang lead vocal and played acoustic guitar; McCartney played bass and did a backing vocal; Harrison played sitar and provided a backing vocal; and Starr played drums. Some sources say that balalaikas were used instead of the sitar, which seems more believable when one listens to the closing bars of the song.

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Sexy Sadie

"Sexy Sadie," a Lennon composition issued on the White Album, was inspired by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Indeed, the working title of the song (and original lyric) was "Maharishi." Lennon wrote the song right before leaving India when he suspected that the Maharishi had been taking advantage of several young women, which didn't strike Lennon as very spiritual in nature.

The song was recorded on July 19, 1968 at Abbey Road Studios, but re-recorded on July 24 and August 13. Overdubs were added on August 21.

Lennon provides lead and backing vocals and plays acoustic guitar; McCartney plays bass, piano, and provides a backing vocal; Harrison plays lead guitar and provides a backing vocal; and Starr plays drums and tambourine.

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Monday, February 7, 2011

Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono, the second wife of Beatle John Lennon, was born on February 18, 1933. For most of her life, she has been an avant-garde musician, artist, and filmmaker. Her family moved to New York City in 1940 because Ono's father, a banker and pianist, was working there. When he was transferred to Hanoi in 1946, Ono and her family returned to Japan. After the war, they moved to Scarsdale, New York, and Ono enrolled at prestigious Sarah Lawrence College.

As Ono acquired more and more sympathy for a bohemian lifestyle, she began to experiment with avant-garde art, including performance art, such as setting paintings on fire.

She married music composer Toshi Ichiyanagi in 1956, but the couple divorced in 1962. She married American musician and film producer Tony Cox that same year. Their daughter Kyoko Cox, was born on August 3, 1963. The marriage encountered trouble very early on, and Yoko relegated most of the parenting duties for Kyoko to her husband while she pursued a full-time career in art. After Ono paired with John Lennon years later, Cox and Ono fought a bitter custody battle over Kyoko. Ono was awarded full-time custody, buy Cox kidnapped the child, who he renamed Rosemary. Cox joined an evangelical Christian church and raised Kyoko through adulthood.

Ono is best known for being the wife of John Lennon, who was assassinated on December 8, 1980. Lennon first met Ono when he attended a showing of her work at London's Indica Gallery in 1966. He was drawn to a piece called "Ceiling Painting." Lennon climbed a short ladder and, using a magnifying glass hanging from the ceiling, read the small word "yes." Lennon said that it gave him a positive vibe. Other exhibits included an apple and a sign inviting patrons to hammer a nail into a white board.

While Ono is frequently blamed for breaking up the Beatles, the truth is that all four Beatles were starting to move in different artistic and personal directions. Yoko Ono nevertheless played a very important part in Beatles history. When the group was experiencing considerable friction while recording the White Album, Yoko became John's constant companion, sitting in on Beatles recording sessions, which had previously been closed to all outsiders. The other Beatles were not enthusiastic about Ono's presence.

Lennon referred to Ono in songs such as "Julia" and "The Ballad of John and Yoko." He also produced a controversial solo album with Ono called Two Virgins. The album was purely experimental, consisting of random electronic noises, talk, and shrieks. The cover depicted John and Yoko nude, with full frontal nudity, causing distributors to sell the LP with brown paper over the bottom portion of the front cover. "Revolution #9," a track from the White Album, was also a mix of unusual sound effects and random noises and voices. The track represented what Ono and Lennon considered to be a new wave of music that anyone could record.

Lennon stayed closely aligned with Ono during much of his solo career. His first band in the post-Beatles era was The Plastic Ono Band. He was also collaborating with Ono on Double Fantasy when he was killed in front of the Dakota Building in New York City.

On their honeymoon, John and Yoko also staged bed-ins for peace in Amsterdam and Toronto. It was at a bed-in in Toronto that "Give Peace a Chance" was recorded (in impromptu style) in the couple's hotel room. The couple separated in 1973, with Yoko again pursuing her solo career while sending John to live in Los Angeles. During this period in Lennon's life, known as his Lost Weekend (because of rampant drinking and drug abuse) John lived with Ono's assistant May Pang, with Yoko actually condoning the arrangement so she could keep tabs on her husband. John and Yoko reconciled in 1975, with their son Sean born on October 9, 1975 (also Lennon's own birthday).

After Lennon's assassination, Yoko lived the quiet life of a recluse. On October 9, 1985, however, Ono dedicated the Strawberry Fields Memorial (see sidebar for picture) in New York City's Central Park. On any given day, visitors can be seen playing music or leaving flowers at the memorial, which is only a few blocks away from the Dakota Building, where Yoko Ono still lives.

Yoko Ono gave her permission to the surviving Beatles to use unreleased tapes of Lennon for The Beatles Anthology project, and later gave her blessing to the Beatles Love project/CD for Cirque du Soleil. She continues to be an activist for many causes, and has also continued to be active in the worlds of music and art. For more information on Yoko Ono, consult BEATLES CONNECTIONS in the sitemap below in order to visit her personal website.

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Sunday, February 6, 2011

Magical Mystery Tour: The Film

The chief Beatles fact for Magical Mystery Tour is that it was an hour long television program aired on the BBC in Great Britain on December 26, 1967. The film, starring all four Beatles, was deemed a disaster by the viewing public and media critics alike. The idea for the film and its plot is generally attributed to Paul McCartney.

Approximately ten to twelve hours of footage for the film was shot in less than a month's time in September, 1967. Much of the program was filmed at RAF West Malling, a decommissioned airstrip and its hangar. Other parts of the film were shot in Devon and Cornwall.

The plot was not heavily scripted, with the basic premise that a group of tourists was taking a "charabanc," or bus tour, to see the Blackpool lights. Beyond that, the plot, inasmuch as there is one, centers on Ringo and his Aunt Jessie, with Jessie falling in love with the bus conductor, named Buster Bloodvessel. The Beatles play passengers and, with roadie Mal Evans, magicians who cause strange things to happen during the tour. This is what causes the film to be more than a bit surrealistic and often depart from any meaningful central plot. The music punctuating the film's scenes is the soundtrack for the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour album.

Others in the cast were Derek Royle, who played the tour director Jolly Jimmy Johnson; Mandy Weet, who played the hostess Wendy Winters; Ivon Cutler, who played Buster Bloodvessel; and Victor Spinetti, who played an army recruiting officer.

The color film was aired in black and white the day after Christmas, which was also boxing day in Britain--not a great time slot even for a great film. The general consensus was that the Beatles had finally gone too far, with nothing substantive in the sometimes psychedelic montage of scenes. McCartney originally admitted it wasn't a decent effort, although in later years he stated that the film wasn't that bad, merely an avant-garde piece that was admired by many prestigious filmmakers such as Stephen Speilberg. The film was spoofed in the movie The Rutles.

The film was not seen in the United States until New Line Cinema showed it in select theaters in 1974. In the 1980s, ABC finally aired the film on American television. The film was later released in VHS and DVD formats.

Many, including McCartney, feel that the film is noteworthy since it shows the only performance of "I Am the Walrus," even though the Beatles do not play the song live but rather lip-sync the lyrics and pretend to play their instruments. The clip has become iconic among Beatles fans and is one of the more memorable scenes from the film.

Songs in the film not featured on the soundtrack Beatles album Magical Mystery Tour are "She Loves You," "All My Loving" (instrumental), "Jessie's Dream (instrumental), and "Death Cab for Cutie," performed by the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band.

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Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Free as a Bird

"Free as a Bird" was written as a demo in 1977 by John Lennon. While working on The Beatles Anthology, Paul McCartney asked Lennon's widow Yoko Ono if she had any of Lennon's unreleased tapes. McCartney's plan was to have the remaining Beatles clean up and augment the track with their own instruments while adding extra lyrics. "Free as a Bird" was one of two songs that Ono offered (the other was "Real Love"). The tape, circulating as a bootleg, was simply a poor-quality cassette that Lennon had made at the Dakota in New York City, where he and Ono resided.

The song was used at the end of the first two-hour special of The Beatles Anthology on ABC television in November, 1995. It also appeared on Anthology One, the first of three two-CD sets that accompanied the TV series. The song was produced by the remaining Beatles with the help of Jeff Lynne, formerly of the Electric Light Orchestra and The Traveling Wilburys. George Martin's production skills were not used because by then Martin had developed hearing problems and did not think he could give his best effort to the project.

The track that was given to McCartney was a tape of Lennon singing and accompanying himself on piano. The new arrangement, recorded in McCartney's home recording studio in Sussex, England in February and March of 1994 included breaks in the Lennon song so that McCartney and Harrison could insert and sing extra lines, which was the only time that the Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison all sang lead on the same song except for a Christmas song issued many years earlier for the Beatles Fan Club. Scenes of the recording sessions can be seen in The Beatles Anthology.

For the music video aired at the end of Part One of TV's The Beatles Anthology, the camera angle depicts scenes as if from a bird's point of view. During this "flight," scenes suggestive of many Beatles songs are seen, such as "Eleanor Rigby," "A Day in the Life," and "Paperback Writer." More than eighty such allusions to the life and music of the Beatles exist in the short clip.

The surviving Beatles themselves loved the final result of the overdubs, feeling as if the Beatles had really succeeded in finally reuniting. Fans and critics also gave the song high marks

Lennon plays piano and does a lead vocal; McCartney plays acoustic guitar, bass, and does lead and backing vocals; Harrison played acoustic and slide guitars, ukulele, and does lead and backing vocals; and Starr played drums and percussion.

The song was released as a single in December of 1995 in both the UK and United States on the Apple label. The B side was "Christmas Time (Is Here Again).

The song won a 1997 Grammay Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group.

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Northern Songs

Northern Songs, Ltd., was a music publishing company founded in 1963 by Brian Epstein and Dick James (in conjunction with the Beatles) in 1963 to publish the musical compositions of John Lennon and Paul McCartney. This was done at the prompting of record producer George Martin, who advised Beatles' manager Brian Epstein to put the growing number of hits into a reputable company since music publishing would yield significant subsidiary rights for Lennon-McCartney songs.

In the United States, these same songs were published by Maclen Music, named after McCartney and Lennon. George Harrison and Ringo Starr were originally signed for Northern Songs, although they both subsequently started their own companies, Harrisongs, Ltd. and Startling Music.

Northern Songs went public in 1965, with Lennon, McCartney, Epstein, Harrison, Starr, and Emmanuel Silver (chairman of Northern Songs) retaining minority percentages of the company, while the bulk of the company's stock traded on the London Stock Exchange. Harrison's "Only a Northern Song" is a reference to Northern Songs, an expression of his disapproval of the way the company was handling his own compositions.

In 1969 (and after the death of Brian Epstein in 1968), Lennon and McCartney lost ownership of their compositions, James and Silver sold their shares of Northern Songs to ATV, or Associated TeleVision in Great Britain. When Apple CEO Allen Klein tried to buy ATV out, the deal was squashed by McCartney's future brother-in-law, John Eastman, who claimed that Klien did not have full legal power to handle the deal on behalf of the Beatles.

Since Lennon and McCartney were under contract to keep writing songs for Northern Songs until 1973, the easiest way out for the two Beatles was to sell out to ATV. They therefore sold their stock in 1969.

In 1981, McCartney declined to purchase the songs from ATV since the pricetag of forty million dollars was deemed too expensive. The songs eventually were acquired by Michael Jackson.

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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Beatlemania

Beatlemania is a term used to describe the ardent, sometimes hysterical reactions of Beatles' fans in the 1960s to the Fab Four. The "mania" consisted of screaming during concerts and chasing the Beatles whenever and wherever possible as they got in and out of limousines or went in and out of hotels. Some fans, mostly females, would cry or faint during Beatles performances.

Scottish music promoter Andi Lothian claims he coined the term after a Beatles' tour of Scotland in October of 1963. The term, however, appears in an article about the Beatles in The Daily Mirror on October 15, 1963, and the connection between the above references is not fully known.

The term spread rapidly in America after the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in February, 1964 on their first American tour. Later, fan frenzy would resurface when the Beatles did a more extensive tour of the United States later that year after filming A Hard Day's Night. Police and riot control had to be provided for the group throughout 1964 to 1966 for the Beatles American and world tours.

Beatlemania grew so intense that the Beatles became more and more concerned about their personal safety on the road. Indeed, their inability to hear their own live performances, as well as the frenzy created by the crowds in general, was one of the main reasons that the group decided to stop touring and retreat to the studio, where they began to record "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The effect of Beatlemania can be seen in the group's consistent Number One chartings with their singles and albums over a six-year period.

The term is still used by biographers today, as well as the surviving Beatles themselves, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, when interviewed. The term is also heard liberally on documentaries of the Beatles, including The Beatles Anthology and The Compleat Beatles.

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Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar, a major influence on the Beatles' lives and music, was born on April 7, 1920. He is the Indian sitar player who influenced George Harrison's music after a friend told Harrison that he should check out Shankar's music. After the Beatle heard a Shankar album, he said the music "felt right" and he proceeded to buy what he called a cheap sitar at a shop called India Craft in Great Britain.

Harrison actually met Shankar in 1966 in London and subsequently visited India for six weeks to study the sitar with Shankar. Shankar's career, which has been noteworthy before and after his contact with the Beatles, was nevertheless boosted by his association with Harrison and the Beatles.

George Harrison used the sitar first on "Norwegian Wood." The instrument is then heard on many Beatles songs, most notably "Love You To," "Within You Without You," and "Tomorrow Never Knows."

Harrison's fascination with Indian music and culture would later result in all four Beatles traveling to Rishikesh, India to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. This was in 1968, when the Beatles were about to begin the White Album sessions. Lennon and McCartney said they wrote many songs while in Rishikesh.

Shankar performed at Woodstock, although he did not subsequently embrace the hippie movement of the sixties.

Shankar also collaborated and influenced world-renown violinist Yehudi Menuhin. He fathered singer Norah Jones, who was born to Sue Jones in 1979. More about Shankar can be found by consulting "Beatles Connections" in the Sitemap below.

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Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was a major influence on the Beatles. The first time the Beatles met Dylan was during an American tour in 1964. Dylan introduced the Beatles to marijuana, a meeting which Ringo Starr describes as one during which the group giggled more than they ever had before. All the Beatles said that this was the beginning of their "herbal" days, with cannabis replacing alcohol and pills.

Dylan had been smoking marijuana for a while by 1964, having been exposed to it through the folk scene in Greenwich Village. Many sources say that the Beatles were stones during most of the filming of Help!, which is corroborated in The Beatles Anthology. The influence of marijuana, and later stronger drugs, especially LSD, had a profound effect on the group, both personally and musically.

Bob Dylan also influenced the Beatles directly through his music. It is said by Harrison that through John Lennon, the Beatles became big fans of Bob Dylan, beginning with Dylan's album Freewheelin'. The musical influence is most obvious in Lennon songs such as "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" and "Yes It Is." Lennon's intentionally casual delivery mimics Dylan's vocals very closely.

Many have made the argument that Dylan and the folk scene in the United States made the Beatles more aware of social issues, such as civil rights and the anti-war movement of the 1960s.

Dylan would later become good friends with George Harrison, who spent time with Dylan in Woodstock, New York in 1968 during his brief hiatus from the Beatles. Dylan performed at the Concert for Bangladesh, and became a part of The Traveling Wilburys in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For more info on Dylan, consult the sitemap below under "Beatles Connections.

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Monday, January 31, 2011

Jane Asher

The actress Jane Asher was born on April 4, 1946 and is best known as one-time girlfriend of Beatle Paul McCartney. Her brother, Peter Asher, was a record producer and part of the pop duo of Peter and Gordon in the 1960s. The duo's biggest hit was a song written by Paul McCartney (attributed to Lennon-McCartney on the label) called "World Without Love."

Asher had a five-year relationship with McCartney, beginning in 1963. The couple was engaged in 1967. She accompanied the Beatles to India to study meditation with the Maharishi in March of 1968. Asher terminated the engagement with McCartney later in 1968 after returning from a trip to find McCartney in bed with another woman. The woman, Francie Schwartz, claimed that she and McCartney were no longer emotionally involved at the time of Asher's discovery, but by July of 1968, Jane told the press that the engagement was off. She is one of the few members of the Beatles' inner circle not to have publisher her own memoir about that period in her life.

McCartney stayed at the Asher home at 57 Wimpole Street from 1964 to 1966 and composed several songs at the residence, the most famous being "Yesterday."

Asher had great success in acting, appearing in such films and TV series as Alfie, Rumpole of the Bailey, Brideshead Revisited, Dr. Who, and many more. She is also the author of three bestselling novels. She currently runs a successful business making party cakes.

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Savile Row

3 Savile Row is the address of the building which was headquarters for the Beatles' Apple Corps, Ltd. venture, which was supposed to be a multimedia corporation offering access to artists in all mediums, artists frustrated with running the gauntlet to have their work reviewed by major media corporations.

While Apple Records was the main focus of the enterprise, the company also had other divisions: Apple Publishing, Apple Electronics, Apple Boutique, and Apple Retail. Between 1970 and 2007, former Beatle roadie Neil Aspinall acted as CEO. In 2010, Apple launched the hugely successful The Beatles: Rock Band video game.

The recording studio used by the Beatles at Savile Row after they gave up recording Let It Be at Twickenham Studios was located in the basement. Originally designed by Magic Alex Mardas, the equipment was scrapped because Mardas' electronics didn't work, with four-track recorders brought in to replace the unusable studio equipment.

3 Savile Row will also always be remembered as the location where the Beatles gave their famous Rooftop Concert as the ending to the film Let It Be. This performance, on January 30, 1969, was the last live performance given by the Beatles.

Savile Row was created as part of the Burlington Estate in 1695 and was established to house military officers and their families. The actual name for the street came from Lord Burlington's wife, Dorothy Savile. It will best be remembered in modern times, however, as home to the Beatles' Apple Corps, Ltd., as well as the Rooftop Concert.

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Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Paul McCartney

Paul McCartney, musician and former member of the Beatles, was born James Paul McCartney on June 18, 1942 in Liverpool, England. he is now Sir Paul McCartney. His mother was formerly Mary Mohan and his father was James McCartney. McCartney has one sibling, his brother James. McCartney's father was a cotton salesman and an amateur musician who played piano and trumpet. His mother Mary died of a pulmonary embolism after a mastectomy to remove breast cancer. This loss helped forge a relationship with John Lennon, who had lost his mother in a car accident when Lennon was seventeen.

Growing up, McCartney was influenced by his father's musical talent, and McCartney began playing guitar and piano. He was influenced most by American rock and roll, as well as rhythm and blues, as were the other Beatles. His favorite performer was Little Richard. Most sources agree that the first song McCartney sang in public was "Long Tall Sally."

At age fifteen, McCartney saw John Lennon perform with his group, the Quarrymen, at the church fete at Woolton. McCartney was quickly asked to join the group, and by 1958, George Harrison, a friend of Paul's from the Liverpool Institute for Boys, had also joined the Quarreymen at the suggestion of Paul. The group changed names frequently, going from the Quarreymen to Johnny and the Moondogs to the Silver Beatles. The group became the Beatles in mid-August of 1960 before they asked Pete Best to join the group before going to Hamburg. When Stu Sutcliffe showed no interest in (or talent for) playing electric bass guitar, McCartney taught himself the instrument and eventually played the iconic Hofner fiddle bass with the group, an instrument he still uses today.

As the Beatles became world-famous between 1963 and 1966, McCartney and Lennon became two of the most famous songwriting collaborators in musical history. Although each composer would generally write his own songs, the other would contribute, to a greater or lesser degree, lyrics or melody lines. Although McCartney is considered by many to be the Beatle who composed memorable ballads, with Lennon producing rock standards, nothing could be further from the truth. Both Lennon and McCartney wrote an eclectic body of material, with George Martin stating that the two men had a healthy songwriting competition during the group's golden years together. Lennon's "Strawberry Fields" was answered by McCartney's "Penny Lane." "Day Tripper was answered by "Paperback Writer."

During the Beatles' studio years, tension within the group grew as each band member began to develop individual interests and relationships. Most Beatles' histories and biographies, however, cite that Lennon and Harrison thought McCartney to be overbearing and bossy. They also believed, according to most sources, that McCartney was willing to work endlessly on his own material while not putting as much effort into the compositions of his band members.

McCartney married Linda Eastman in 1969 at the Marylebone Registry, and in 1970, before the official breakup of the Beatles, released his first solo album, McCartney. McCartney had previously had a five-year relationship with British actress Jane Asher, who is credited for inspiring (for good or ill) songs such as "Yesterday," "And I Love Her," and "I'm Looking Through You." A complete discography of McCartney's solo work may be found by consulting the SITEMAP at the end of this article.

In 1971, after the release of his second solo album, Ram, McCartney formed the band Wings with Denny Laine, Denny Seiwell, and Linda McCartney. Later, the band added Henry McCullough (and later still, Jimmy McCullough). The group toured America many times and issued many successful albums, including Band on the Run, Red Rose Speedway, Venus and Mars, Wings at the Speed of Sound, London Town, and Back to the Egg.

Like the other Beatles, Paul McCartney began using marijuana when Bob Dylan introduced the group to cannabis in 1964. Like the other Beatles, he also took LSD, although he was initially more reticent about trying the drug. Linda McCartney was very fond of marijuana as well, and the couple allegedly used the drug on a regular basis for many years. In January of 1980, McCartney was arrested in Japan for possession of cannabis while going through customs, and the ex-Beatle spent ten days in jail. He and wife Linda were arrested again in 1984 for possession of the drug.

McCartney has engaged in many creative endeavors, such as classical music, painting, and writing. He has written books of poetry as well as classical music. Collaborating with Carl Davis, he wrote Liverpool Oratorio. In this genre, he also wrote Standing Stone, Working Classical, and Ecce Cor Meum. McCartney also wrote and directed the 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street. While the film was considered a commercial flop and generally panned by critics, the soundtrack has always been hailed for its mix of new and traditional songs, some from the Beatles' and Wings' years.

Paul and Linda McCartney became animal rights activists (as well as vegetarians). McCartney is still active in these movements, and advocates against seal hunting. After marrying Heather Mills, he joined her fight against landmines, with an untold number of such mines still buried beneath the soil in many countries that are (or have been) torn apart by war.

One of McCartney's biggest regrets is allowing the Beatles catalog (published by Northern Songs, Ltd.) to be sold without actively trying to purchase it himself. Michael Jackson, joking with McCartney, said he would one day buy the catalog. McCartney and Ono had tried to purchase the catalog in 1981, but deemed the price of twenty million dollars too steep. When Nortehrn Songs rights to the music was due to expire, McCartney again did not bid, and the songs were bought by Jackson for $47.5 million dollars in 1985. Rumors that Jackson left the catalog to McCartney in his will proved to be false.

For the past eleven years, McCartney has recorded and toured with a tight band, with the former Beatle not afraid to play standards from his Wings' and Beatles' day, along with new compositions. Macca, as McCartney is known, plays with drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr., keyboardist Wix Wickens, and guitarists Rusty Anderson and Brian Ray. McCartney handles bass, electric and acosutic guitars, and keyboards.

For more information on Paul McCartney, visit his official website by consulting the sidebar or the SITEMAP below.

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Tuesday, January 25, 2011

George Harrison

George Harrison of the Beatles was born in Liverpool on February 25, 1943 and died in Los Angeles on November 29, 2001. His Roman Catholic family consisted of his mother, a shop clerk, and his father, who was a bus conductor. He had one sister, Louise, and two brothers, Harry and Peter. Although he was accepted by the Liverpool Institute for Boys, he was totally obsessed with guitars rather than his studies after hearing "Heartbreak Hotel." Harrison then bought an acoustic guitar and started a skiffle group called the Rebels.

While at the Liverpool Institute, Harrison met an older student, Paul McCartney, who had told his friend John Lennon that George could actually tune a guitar and play a tune called "Raunchy." Lennon accepted him into his band, the Quarrymen, in 1958 while George pursued an apprenticeship as an electrician. When Lennon's group began working in Hamburg in 1960, Harrison was deported to England for being underage. Harrison would make later trips to Hamburg, however, and stayed in the band when it was renamed the Beatles by John Lennon and became managed by Brian Epstein, who first saw the group play at Liverpool's Cavern Club. Through these early days with the Beatles, Harrison assumed the duties of lead guitarist and performed many vocals as well.

As the Beatles gained popularity, Harrison became known as the quiet Beatle. He contributed a song or two to each early album, but also sang cover versions of songs such as "Chains," "Roll Over Beethoven," "Devil in Her Heart," Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby," and others. His backing vocals are clearly heard on most Beatles albums, although his voice stands out more clearly on the early albums and in live performances. "Help" is a perfect example.

Harrison developed an interest in Indian culture, beginning with the music of Ravi Shankar. Harrison purchased a sitar, which was featured on "Norwegian Wood" while Harrison was still learning the instrument. He eventually became curious about meditation and all aspects of Hinduism, a development that would lead all four Beatles to travel to Rishikesh, India to study transcendental meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The other Beatles lost interest in meditation over time, but Harrison became a devotee of chanting and meditation and continued his Hindu religious practices until his death in 2001. While his work with the sitar was featured on many Beatles songs, his ability with the instrument came to fruition on "Within You Without You."

As is well known, tensions within the Beatles began to grow increasingly serious during the White Album sessions. Harrison left the group for twelve days but continued with the Beatles despite growing rifts within the group, as can be seen in the film Let It Be, where he is seen arguing with Paul over his guitar work on "Two of Us." The Beatles broke up in 1970 after recording Abbey Road. With this album, most fans and critics believe Harrison achieved his greatest songwriting credits with the Beatles in "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun." The other Beatles believed "Something" to be the best song on the album.

In the final days of the Beatles, friction existed between the Beatles in many different ways. At one point, Ringo also left the band during the White Album. In general, the biggest problem seemed to a belief by the Beatles that Paul McCartney was overbearing and attempting to impose his views and ideas on the other three. The presence of Yoko Ono further strained the Beatles' relationships. As for George Harrison and John Lennon, Lennon regarded himself as George's mentor and was hurt that Harrison barely mentioned him in the autobiography I Me Mine. The relationship between the two men remained strained until Lennon's death in 1980.

George Harrison's solo work was impressive after the breakup of the Beatles, and with the issue of All Things Must Pass, critics felt that George had risen to a new level of songwriting ability and performance. Harrison had built such a backlog of songs that All Things Must Pass was released as a triple album. He also began demonstrating at this time an affinity for playing slide guitar, with the slide being evident on most subsequent recordings. His complete discographgy can be accessed by consulting the SITEMAP below.

Harrison organized the Concert for Bangladesh in 1971 in order to alleviate famine and poverty in that country, although the IRS withheld money from the benefit for several years because concert organizers failed to file for tax-exempt status. The concert was issued as both a film and a box set album. Harrison enlisted the help of Eric Clapton, Badfinger, Leon Russell, Ringo Starr, and Bob Dylan for the event.

As for his personal life, Harrison married model Pattie Boyd in 1966, having met her on the set of A Hard Day's Night. The marriage encountered difficulties because (according to Boyd) George became introverted after he began to chant and meditate for hours at a time while also becoming reclusive in his recording studio at his estate, Friar Park. Eric Clapton was madly in love with Boyd (the subject of the song "Layla"), and she moved in with Clapton in 1974. Harrison later married Olivia Trinidad Arias in 1988, with whom he had a son, Dhani.

From 1988 to 1990, George formed The Traveling Wilburys, featuring Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, Tom Petty, and Jeff Lynne. The group had such hits as "Handle with Care" and "The End of the Line."

Harrison was also interested in films and started his production company, Handmade Films, in 1978. The two most well known movies handled by Harrison's company were Time Bandits and Monty Python's Life of Brian. Harrison also had an avid interest in race cars.

George Harrison, a heavy smoker like the other Beatles, was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997. The growth in his neck was treated with radiation. In 1999, he was attacked with a knife by an intruder at Friar Park, who was subdued by Olivia as George was fighting back. By 2001, Harrison's cancer returned and metastasized to his lung and brain. He was treated at the Mayo Clinic but died on November 29, 2001, with the official cause of death listed as lung cancer. His body was cremated and his ashes were scattered over the Ganges River. In 2002, The Concert for George was held at the Royal Albert Hall. Organized by Eric Clapton, the show featured Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Dhani Harrison, and many other musicians who had been friends and fans of Harrison through the years.

More information on George Harrison can be found at his Official Website. Consult the SITEMAP below of the link in the sidebar to access this site.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Magic Alex

Magic Alex, born Yanni Alex Mardas on May 5, 1942 in Athens, Greece, became a close friend of the Beatles. According to many, he made extravagant claims about his electronic inventions, although others who knew Mardas and the Beatles have asserted that he was nothing more than a glorified TV repairman who used his influence with powerful people for his own gains.

John Lennon was introduced to Mardas in 1965 by Rolling Stone Brian Jones. Mardas, who was exhibiting a work called Kinetic Light Sculptures at the Indica gallery at the time, showed Lennon his Nothing Box, a cube with randomly blinking lights. Lennon was fascinated with the simple device and supposedly stared at it during many of his acid trips.

Mardas allegedly claimed he could build several devices, such as force fields to protect the Beatles from their screaming fans, automobile paint that could change colors, and even a flying saucer (to name just a few), although he has in recent years he has challenged such allegations, verbally and in court. One claim that seems to be solid is that he said he could make a seventy-two track recording studio to improve upon what he regarded as the archaic facilities at Abbey Road Studios (a claim that annoyed producer George Martin considerably). While the Beatles were recording Let It Be at Twickenham, Mardas was therefore commissioned to build a new studio in the basement of Apple headquarters at 3 Savile Row in London. When the recording environment became unbearable at Twickenham, the Beatles moved the project to Savile Row, only to find that Mardas' equipment was a completely unusable sound system with barely any working parts. (Beatles manager Allan Klein would later close Apple Electronics, which Mardas had been chosen to run). Meanwhile, longtime engineering associate Geoff Emerick brought two portable four-track recorders into Savile Row studios, which satisfied the Beatles.

Mardas also played a part in the Beatles' personal lives as well. He accompanied the Beatles to Rishikesh, India, where he planted doubts in the minds of John Lennon and George Harrison about the sincerity of the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Mardas said that the Maharishi was taking advantage of a young girl (as well as Mia Farrow, who later denied this claim). He also claimed that the Maharishi was greedy for money and fame. Lennon and Harrison confronted their guru, and after failing to receive satisfactory answers, Mardas convinced them to leave, even arranging their transportation.

In 1968, during the White Album sessions, Lennon urged his wife Cynthia to take a vacation in Greece with Mardas, Pattie Boyd, and her sister Jenny. When Mardas and Cynthia returned home to the Lennon home at Kenwood, they found John and Yoko sitting cross-legged on the floor, with Lennon seemingly unapologetic. Cynthia was shocked, and after climbing into bed, Mardas (according to several sources, including Cynthia Lennon) nudged beside her and tried to kiss her. She quickly rebuffed him.

Shortly thereafter, when Lennon and McCartney went to New York City to promote the newly formed Apple Corps, Ltd., Cynthia went on holiday to Italy with her mother. Mardas showed up uninvited to tell Cynthia that John was divorcing her and was going to have Cynthia charged with adultery. Some sources allege that Mardas said he had volunteered to be named correspondent as Cynthia's lover. Regardless, Lennon was making a preemptive strike against his wife as he himself committed adultery with Yoko, using Mardas as a messenger at the very least.

Mardas has legally challenged many papers, such as the New York Times and the Independent for asserting that he could build force fields, paint that changed colors, flying saucers, and other devices listed in many Beatles' biographies. The Independent printed a retraction, while the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune are contesting a decision to allow Mardas to sue the papers for claiming that he was nothing more than "a charlatan." Readers here are encouraged to research articles and books on the Beatles, as well as The Beatles Anthology, in order to reach their own conclusions about a man who played a distinctive role in Beatles history.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

The Cavern

The Cavern Club, a rock and roll club in Liverpool, England is best known as the venue where the Beatles, in their early days, gained a steady following of young skiffle and rock and roll fans. It is also the club where Brian Epstein discovered them. It opened its doors on January 16, 1957 under the ownership of Alan Sytner, who modeled the club on those in the jazz district of Paris. The first act to perform in The Cavern was the Merseysippi Jazz Band, the name being a play on words joining the Mersey and Mississippi Rivers (the Mississippi River used because of New Orleans reputation for jazz).

Skiffle was the current craze in Liverpool in 1957, however, skiffle being a mix of folk, country, and rock performed with acoustic guitars, a washtub bass, and drums. Sytner booked the Quarrymen, a skiffle/rock group headed by a very young John Lennon, into The Cavern for a performance in 1957. (See the sitemap below for more information on the Quarrymen.)

Sytner frowned upon rock and roll--he wanted jazz and nothing else--but Lennon urged his fellow band members to play "Don't Be Cruel" on their opening date on August 7, 1957. Sytner protested, but the audience was receptive, however, and the band continued to play The Cavern. McCartney first played the club on January 24, 1961, with Harrison making his debut appearance on February 9, 1961.

Sytner sold the club to Ray McFall in 1959, after which blues bands and "beat groups," as they were known, began to play The Cavern regularly. Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, featuring Ringo Starr on drums, played The Cavern on May 25, 1960. In 1961, the club had become so popular that lunchtime performances were scheduled.

Under the name of the Beatles, Lennon's group (with McCartney, Harrison, and Best) played the club in February of 1961 after returning from a stint at the Kaiserkeller Club in Hamburg. As Beatlemania spread in 1962, the club could no longer safely accommodate the large audiences, and the Beatles, now signed to Parlophone and touring England, appeared less frequently until their spot was taken by the Hollies. Their last appearance at The Cavern (after approximately 290 performances) was on August 3, 1963. By then, the Beatles had recorded "She Loves You" and were on their way to new heights--and America.

The club was shut down in May of 1973 due to construction work on the Mersey subway system. In 1984, The Cavern was rebuilt on roughly the same site using as much of the original construction materials, such as bricks, that could be found. The club operated until 1989, when it closed due to financial difficulties, only to be reopened in 1991. The front room is open to the public and tourists (some of them arriving on the now-famous MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR BUS) and features a sound stage for various acts. The back room has a state-of-the-art sound system. The club features acoustic music, classic rock, and tribute bands.

Other groups to have performed at The Cavern in its heyday were Queen, Elton John, the Rolling Stones, the Who, the Kinks, and the Yardbirds.

Paul McCartney returned to The Cavern in December of 1999 to promote his back-to-basics rock and roll album, Run Devil Run.

For more information on The Cavern Club, consult the sitemap below under SITES RELATED TO BEATLES HISTORY

Derek Taylor

Derek Taylor, official press secretary for the Beatles, was born on May 7, 1932 and died on September 8, 1997. His career began as a journalist, and he wrote for the Liverpool Daily Post, the Sunday Dispatch, and the News Chronicle.

Taylor's path to becoming one of the Beatles inner circle is a classic study in coincidence. As a national journalist, Taylor was assigned to write a review of a Beatles concert, with editors expecting Taylor to produce an article that would satirize the alleged silly teenage infatuation with the Beatles and other rock groups gaining notoriety in Great Britain at the time. Taylor loved the Beatles' music, however, and he soon became a trusted friend within the group.

Taylor's editors decided to capitalize on his friendship with the Fab Four by running a column that would supposedly be written by one of the Beatles (with Taylor secretly designated as the ghostwriter). Harrison was chosen as the "Beatles columnist," but Harrison's interest in Taylor's columns led to a close collaboration between the journalist and the Beatle.

Brian Epstein was so impressed with Derek Taylor and his work that he hired the writer to handle all of the Beatles press releases in 1964 (and to serve as media liaison in general). He was kept busy during the Beatles first tour of America in 1964. For a brief time in 1964, he also became Brien Epstein's personal assistant. Additionally, he interviewed Epstein and worked as developmental editor for Epstein's autobiography, titled A Cellarful of Noise.

Taylor resigned these positions in the summer of 1964, choosing to move to California with a growing family, where he started a public relations company in 1965. He handled such notable groups as the Beach Boys, the Byrds, and Paul Revere and the Raiders.

In 1968, Taylor returned to England to work as press secretary for the Beatles' Apple Corps, Ltd. After leaving Apple, he worked for UK conglomerate WEA Records which, through the Kinney Corporation, marketed U.S. record labels such as Warner Brothers, Atlantic Records, and Elektra. During this phase of his career, Taylor worked with such luminaries as Carley Simon, Yes, America, and Neil Young. He also worked briefly in the late 1960s for A&M records in the United States.

His 1973 memoir is titled As Time Goes By. Working again as a developmental editor in 1980, he helped George Harrison on his autobiography I Me Mine.

In the 1980s, Taylor worked for Harrison's production company, called Handmade Films. He also worked on books with various Hollywood celebrities. He also penned a second memoir in 1983, titled Fifty Years Adrift (in an Open Necked Shirt).

Taylor's name is referred to in "The Ballad of John and Yoko" and in "Give Peace a Chance." Harrison also wrote a song about Taylor and his wife, called "Blue Jay Way." The fiends Harrison was waiting for one foggy night in Los Angeles were the Taylors, and Harrison quickly wrote the song while anticipating their arrival. Taylor was also one of the organizers of the 1967 Monterrey Pop Festival.

At the time of his death in 1997, he was once again working for Apple, where he served as marketing director while various Beatles projects were being planned, including the release of the Beatles catalog on CD, Live at the BBC, and The Beatles Anthology series and CD set.

He was survived by his wife and six children.

Saturday, January 22, 2011

George Martin

Sir George Martin was born on January 3, 1926. Sometimes known as the Fifth Beatle, he is an English record producer, arranger, musician, and composer. Before entering the music field, Martin was a surveyor for the British War Office and eventually became a combat pilot, although he never saw actual action in World War II.

In 1950, he left the classical music department at the BBC and joined EMI as a record producer for one of EMI's labels, Parlophone. He took over as head of Parlophone in 1955 and recorded classical and Baroque music for the label, including musical scores from plays and any music that caught his fancy. He also produced several comedy records and worked with Peter Sellers.

Even before the Beatles formerly auditioned for Martin, he signed a contract to have them record with Parlophone on the strength of a meeting with Beatles manager Brian Epstein on May 9, 1962, with the actual audition coming on June 6, 1962. Martin did not put his signature on the first contract lest he not like the future audition.

Martin was not impressed with Pete Best's drumming, nor did he think that the Beatles' songs were strong enough to become hits. Best was replaced by Ringo Starr, and the Beatles eventually would reverse Martin's opinion of their music with such songs as "Please Please Me," "From Me to You," "She Loves You," "Twist and Shout," and "I Want to Hold Your Hand."

In later years, Martin would arrange many parts for session musicians playing on Beatles songs, such as "Yesterday," "Eleanor Rigby," "Penny Lane," and many more. He was also instrumental in the Beatles' success by translating the group's verbal descriptions of what they were trying to achieve with any given song into the hits that the world now knows today. He also played keyboards on many Beatles tracks, such as "Not a Second Time," "The Word," and several others. Working closely with sound engineer Geoff Emerick, Martin was also able to achieve some of the Beatles' more memorable sound effects, such as those on "Strawberry Fields" and "Tomorrow Never Knows."

Over the years, Martin also worked with other artists, such as Gerry and the Pacemakers, Kenny Rogers, Jeff Beck, Cheap Trick, Cilla Black, and America. Martin oversaw the post-production of The Beatles Anthology series of three sets of double CDs featuring outtakes and alternate versions of the Beatles' music. In 2006, he and his son Giles remixed eighty minutes of Beatles music to produce the album Love, a soundtrack used by the Las Vegas stage performance of Cirque du Soleil.

Martin also produced the memorable theme songs for two James Bond movies, Goldfinger and Live and Let Die.

For more information on George Martin, consult BEATLES CONNECTIONS on the sitemap below.