Latest Beatles News

Patti Smith was among the artists headlining a Paul McCartney tribute concert at New York's legendary Carnegie Hall on Mar. 15 as part of Michael Dorf's charity series "Music Of," which brings musicians together to celebrate the life and music of some of the world's biggest stars. Also in attendance at the "The Music of Paul McCartney" tribute were Graham Nash, Lyle Lovett, Nancy Wilson, Bruce Hornsby, Macca's former Wings bandmate Denny Laine, and more. Smith appeared unannounced to cover "She's Coming Home," and her rendition of the Beatles' classic has been shared on Instagram. - New Musical Express...... A U.K. George Harrison fan named Andy Chistlehurst has dug through the archives to find a 1965 interview by Harrison with Record Mirror, where the guitarist discussed some of his influences at the time, and created a playlist from Harrison's jukebox from that time. Chistlehurst has now compiled the recommendations from the interview, including Bob Dylan, The Beach Boys, Little Richard, Otis Redding and more, into a Spotify playlist. Harrison would have turned 80 years old on Feb. 25. - New Musical Express...... BMG and Dark Horse Records have reached an agreement to bring George Harrison's solo recorded works to BMG. It marks the first time that Harrison's recorded and publishing works are under the same roof, and comes just in time for what would have been the late Beatle's 80th birthday on Feb. 25. BMG entered into a global deal last year with the George Harrison Estate to administer the 200-song plus Harrisongs catalog, which includes all of Harrison's work written with the Beatles, the Traveling Wilburys and his solo career. Harrison died in 2001. "This is a banner day for BMG, bringing together for the first time the song and recorded rights of one of the greatest musicians in popular music history under one roof," said BMG CEO Hartwig Masuch in a statement. "Only BMG can do this. We look forward to working with the George Harrison Estate and Dark Horse Records to promote George's peerless music to generations old and new." To commemorate his Feb. 25 birthday, Dark Horse and BMG have released Harrison's entire catalog in Dolby Atmos surround sound exclusively on Apple Music. The catalog partnership is the latest move in the relationship between BMG and Dark Horse, which began in 2020 to revive the label Harrison launched in 1974. George's son Dhani Harrison runs Dark Horse with David Zonshine. In 2022, Dark Horse signed a new licensing agreement with the Leon Russell estate for 16 albums by the late singer/songwriter and Harrison friend, as well as with Joe Strummer's estate to administer The Clash co-founder's music publishing. BMG has been working with Dhani since 2014. - Billboard...... It's been 60 years since the Beatles and Rolling Stones skyrocketed to international fame and reinvented the idea of rock and roll in their own unique styles. And while the two iconic bands have always remained cordial, there is one thing they've never done: collaborate in the studio. But that streak looks to end on the Rolling Stones' upcoming studio album. On Feb. 23, a rep for the Stones confirmed to Billboard in an email that Paul McCartney is "playing bass on a song" on the Mick Jagger-fronted group's upcoming album, after CNN first reported the story earlier. However, the rep threw cold water on a previous story in Variety from an anonymous source that Paul's fellow surviving Beatles mate Ringo Starr would be participating in the project. "Ringo isn't appearing," the rep said. The Stones have reportedly been wrapping work on the LP in Los Angeles with Grammy-winning producer Andrew Watt (Ozzy Osbourne, Justin Bieber); the as yet untitled collection will be the veteran English band's first new studio album of new songs since 2005's A Bigger Bang. In addition to McCartney, the album is likely to feature drumming from the group's late sticks man Charlie Watts, who died in 2021 at 80. Longtime group friend and touring drummer Steve Jordan told the L.A. Times that Watts had recorded his drum parts for a handful of songs before his passing. Neither the Stones or McCartney have commented as yet on the new collaboration. The debate about rock supremacy and friendly rivalry between the two legendary bands continues to this day, with McCartney telling Howard Stern in a 2020 interview that, "The Stones are a fantastic group, I go to see them every time they come out because they're a great, great band and Mick can really do it, the singing and the moves, and Keith [Richards] and now Ronnie [Wood] and Charlie. They're great.... but I'm with you: The Beatles are better." Jagger responded a week later in an interview with Apple Music's Zane Lowe that, "[Paul's] a sweetheart. There's obviously no competition. He's a sweetheart." Jagger noted that the Stones have continued to tour consistently into their sixth decade, while the Beatles quit the road in 1966. - Billboard...... As she reached her milestone 90th birthday on Feb. 18, Yoko Ono has launched a "wish tree" website -- WishTreeForYokoOno.com -- where people all over the world can post their wishes online and (in association with One Tree Planted) plant real trees in Yoko's honor. Yoko first came up with the idea of "Wish Trees" in 1996 and since its inception, Yoko has collected nearly two million wishes from more than 200 physical installations of the Wish Tree in over 35 countries. Meanwhile, a new documentary is set to revisit the one week in 1972 when Yoko and John Lennon co-hosted The Mike Douglas Show. Titled Daytime Revolution, the doc was authorized by Ono's son Sean Ono Lennon, and will include archival footage from each of the five episodes co-hosted by the famous couple in 1972. Directed by Erik Nelson, the film features interviews with surviving guests who were interviewed by John and Yoko on the show, as well as behind-the-scenes stories of the pair's week-long stint. Across their five-episode run on the show, Lennon and Ono discussed then-controversial topics like environmental conservation and police brutality, and interviewed activists like Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale, lecturer and attorney Ralph Nader, and pioneering rock & roller Chuck Berry. A release date for Daytime Revolution has not yet been announced. It will follow a string of Lennon-focussed documentaries to be released in recent years, including Lennon's Last Weekend in 2020 and the re-release of 24 Hours: The World Of John And Yoko in 2021. In still more Lennon-related news, the Beatles legend's former home inspired Judas Priest's 1980 classic "Living After Midnight," according to Priest guitarist Glenn Tipton. Speaking to Guitar Player magazine, Tipton recalled how the song came about while the band were working on their iconic LP British Steel at Tittenhurst Park, where the old residence of Lennon is situated in Berkshire, England. "We'd been out at the pub, and when we got back quite late, I started working on some ideas in the living room, but the noise woke Rob [Halford]. His bedroom was right above. He came down and said he couldn't get the riff out of his head, so I asked him to sing some lyrics right there on the spot and he came up with, 'Living after midnight, loving till the dawn.' That was how we used to live our life back in those days." He continued: "I should mention that it was very surreal sitting in the living room with John Lennon's white piano there -- the one he played 'Imagine' on in the video for that song." - NME/Music-News.com...... Oscar-winning filmmaker Morgan Neville announced on Feb. 4 that he's giving Paul McCartney's post-Beatles life the documentary treatment. The project is titled Man on the Run and comes from MPL Communications (the umbrella company for McCartney's business interests) and Polygram Entertainment (the film and TV division of UMG). The film will focus on the period of Paul's life after the breakup of the Beatles and feature never-before-seen archive material and new interviews. It will begin as the iconic rocker navigates the aftermath of the breakup, his life with beloved first wife Linda McCartney and the epic creative surge that followed. Neville says Man on the Run will serve as "the definitive document of Paul's emergence from the dissolution of the world's biggest band and his triumphant creation of a second decade of musical milestones -- a brilliant and prolific stretch." In other Fab Four-related news, the Beatles, David Bowie and Kate Bush are among the acts featured on the official U.K. Coronation playlist when King Charles III is crowned monarch in May alongside his wife Camilla, the Queen Consort. Opening the playlist is the Fab Four's 1969 classic "Come Together," with Bowie's 1983 hit "Let's Dance" making an appearance later. Bush's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" was also one of the chosen tracks. Additionally, there are various songs from the likes of Coldplay, Ed Sheeran, Queen, Madness, Spice Girls, Spandau Ballet, The Kinks and The Who. - The Hollywood Reporter/New Musical Express...... A lost song written by recently deceased guitar hero Jeff Beck and famous former Beatle Paul McCartney in 1994 has been discovered in McCartney's archive. Beck died on Jan. 10 at the age of 78 after suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis, which led Sir Paul to begin thinking about the studio time they had shared almost 30 years ago. This led Paul's team to rediscover the never-before-heard track, which has an environmentalist slant. A spoken pro-environmentalist message recorded by Beck opens with him asking: "Why are they cutting down the rainforest?" The message was later used in an American 13-part radio series presented and created by Paul called Oobu Joobu. The show featured rehearsals, demos, unreleased recordings, conversations and cameos from many of McCartney's friends, and highlighted campaigns o issues he felt were important, such as vegetarianism. Paul and Mary McCartney Elsewhere, Grammy-winning producer Rick Rubin recently heaped praise on McCartney for his skills as a bassist and songwriter. "I thought about how everything I've seen, Beatles-related, is either about the songwriting or Beatlemania," Rubin told MOJO magazine. "Paul McCartney the bass player, or Paul McCartney the musician, because he plays everything -- that's a little story told. You just think of him as Beatle Paul, yet in my opinion, he is the best of all bass players, he's number one." Rubin, who is credited with helping to popularize hip-hop with his work on records by the Beastie Boys, Geto Boys, Run-DMC, Public Enemy and LL Cool J -- teamed up with the Beatles legend on the 2021 miniseries McCartney 3,2,1. Meanwhile, a clip from Paul's daughter Mary McCartney's new Abbey Road documentary If These Walls Could Talk in which her famous dad almost gets hit by a car while recreating his famous trek across London's Abbey Road has been shared by the Abbey Road Studios on Twitter. Sharing the footage, Abbey Road Studios wrote: "Close call for Paul McCartney on the Abbey Road crossing! In this clip from Mary McCartney's new documentary, a car narrowly misses Paul as he recreates the 'Abbey Road' album cover." Speaking about the incident earlier in 2023, Mary said: "The bit where the car nearly ran him over on the zebra crossing, that was so funny. As we were leaving [the studio], I said, 'I'll film you [on the crossing],' and he went over and this car totally didn't stop for him." If These Walls Could Talk is currently streaming on Disney+ and charts the long history of the iconic London studio. The documentary features interviews with McCartney and fellow Beatle Ringo Starr, alongside Elton John, Nile Rodgers, Noel and Liam Gallagher, Roger Waters, Celeste, George Lucas and more. - NME/Music-News.com...... The National Portrait Gallery announced on Jan. 25 that a trove of previously unseen Beatles photos taken by Paul McCartney as the Fab Four shot to global stardom in 1963 and 1964 will go on display in London this year. Titled "Paul McCartney Photographs 1963-64: Eyes of The Storm," the exhibition will help mark the gallery's reopening on June 22 after a three-year refurbishment. Gallery director Nicholas Cullinan said Sir Paul approached the gallery in 2020 saying he had rediscovered a batch of photos from late 1963 and early 1964 that he had thought were lost. Cullinan added they were an extraordinary set of images of "such a famous and important cultural moment & taken by someone who was really, as the exhibition title alludes, in the eye of the storm." The exhibition is set to run through Oct. 1. McCartney's latest music release is Dec. 2022's The 73 Singles Box, which collected more than 50 years of singles in a wood crate that tells the story of Macca's post-Beatles career from 1970 to 2021. - Billboard...... On Jan. 12 Ringo Starr announced the dates for a spring 2023 tour by his All Starr Band. Confined to the Western US, the outing will kick off on May 19 at the Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif., and feature a three-show run at the Venetian Theatre in Las Vegas (5-24, 26, 27), as well as shows in San Diego (5/28), Seattle (6/4), Denver (6/6), San Francisco (6/11) and Los Angeles (6/15) before wrapping up on June 17 in San Jose, Calif. "I love playing with the All Starrs and can't wait to be back out on the road again with this band," Ringo said in a statement. "I send Peace and Love to you all and we hope to see you out there." The 2023 ASB incarnation will feature Starr joined by Men at Work singer Colin Hay, Toto guitarist/singer Steve Lukather, jazz/rock drummer Gregg Bissonette, keyboardist/singer Edgar Winter, Average White Band bassist Hamish Stuart and Kansas/Toto multi-instrumentalist Warren Ham. - Billboard...... Paul McCartney's photographer/director daughter Mary McCartney has revealed her famous dad was "nearly run over" outside London's Abbey Road Studios as she was filming for her new documentary about the world-famous studio, If These Walls Could Sing.As Mary was attempting to recreate the Beatles' iconic cover for their 1969 album Abbey Road for the new documentary, she says Sir Paul was "nearly ran over on the zebra crossing... that was so funny. "As we were leaving [the studio], I said, 'I'll film you [on the crossing],' and he went over and this car totally didn't stop for him," the filmmaker told S Magazine. Fans still regularly visit the famous crossing in St John's Wood to recreate the Fab Four's iconic album cover, often to the frustration of London taxis and bus drivers. If These Walls Could Sing, now streaming in the UK on the Disney+ channel, charts the long history of the iconic studio, and includes interviews with McCartney and Ringo Starr, alongside Elton John, Nile Rodgers, Noel and Liam Gallagher, Roger Waters, Celeste, George Lucas and more. Mary says her dad was important in contributing key information for the film, including "[how] the character of the place has really worked its way onto quite a lot of the music there." - New Musical Express...... The Beatles' 1968 "White Album" track "Glass Onion" has received a streaming bump after some of its lyrics were included in the new Netflix smash Glass Onion - the latest Knives Out mystery which premiered on the platform on Dec. 23. There are some subtle clues to the plot of Glass Onion in the lyrics to "Glass Onion," which plays over the end credits of the film. Maybe listeners wanted to revisit "Glass Onion" after hearing it during the movie's finale to parse its lyrics and try to further unlock the puzzle box of a plot, or maybe they were simply reminded of what a great track "Glass Onion" is. Regardless, the song experienced a huge uptick in streams during the film's first week of wide availability -- as have some other '60s and '70s tracks used in director Rian Johnson's crowd-pleasing mystery. "Glass Onion experienced a 167% increase in weekly U.S. on-demand streams during the week of Dec. 23-29, according to Luminate, jumping to over 160,000 streams after earning a little over 60,000 the previous week. Meanwhile other songs used in Glass Onion, including David Bowie's "Star" and The Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody," have also received streaming bumps of 60% and 37%, respectively. - Billboard...... The Beatles Paul McCartney is among those paying tribute to trailblazing female TV journalist Barbara Walters,who died on Dec. 30 at the age of 93. McCartney, whose wife Nancy Shevell is cousins with Walters, tweeted that the two of them "enjoyed a deep loving relationship over many years and I was proud to share some of those special moments." "Barbara was an amazing woman who more than held her own in the early days of male-dominated television and went on to become a worldwide celebrity known for her many perceptive interviews with stars from every walk of life. We will miss her but always remember her with great fondness," Sir Paul added. - Billboard...... Former Beatles Paul McCartney and the late John Lennon have notched their first Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 hit parade simultaneously for the first time since the 1980s. For the week ending Dec. 31, McCartney's "Wonderful Christmastime" re-entered the chart at No. 32 (after it hit No. 28 two years ago), while Lennon's "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (credited to John & Yoko/The Plastic Ono Band with the Harlem Community Choir) hit a new high at No. 38, which is its first time in the Top 40. McCartney and Lennon had, until now, not placed simultaneously in the US with songs outside the band since the Feb. 25, 1984, chart, when Lennon's "Nobody Told Me" surged 12-7, became his eighth and most recent top 10, and McCartney's "So Bad" ranked at No. 37. The Beatles last ranked in the Hot 100's top 40 with "Real Love" and, before that, "Free as a Bird," in 1995-96. - Billboard...... In a new interview with SiriusXM's The Beatles Channel, Paul McCartney said it was difficult for him to properly grieve and put into words what John Lennon meant to him after his former Beatles bandmate was killed in late 1980, and he helped process it by writing the song "Here Today" on his 1982 solo album Tug of War. "It was difficult for everyone in the world, 'cause he was such a loved character, and such a crazy guy. He was so special. It had hit me, so much so that I couldn't really talk about it," McCartney said, explaining that he felt unable to share in the mass outpourings of tributes and collective grieving that took place following Lennon's death. "I remember getting home from the studio on the day that we'd heard the news he died, and turning the TV on, and seeing people say, 'Well, John Lennon was this,' and, 'What he was was this,' and, 'I remember meeting him then.' It was like, 'I don't know, I can't be one of those people. I can't just go on TV and say what John meant to me.' It was just too deep. It [was] just too much. I couldn't put it into words." McCartney then went on to describe how, after some time, "once the emotions had sort of settled a little bit," he was partially able to process Lennon's death through writing "Here Today," which closes out the first side of Tug Of War. The song's lyrics imagine what Lennon's answers to hypothetical questions McCartney posted would be. "I was in a building that would become my recording studio, and there were just a couple of little empty rooms upstairs," McCartney said. "So, I found a room and just sat on the wooden floor in a corner with my guitar, and just started to play the opening chords to 'Here Today'." The entire interview can be heard on YouTube. - NME, 12/22/22...... In other Beatles-related news, Benny Andersson of ABBA recently spoke to Record Collector magazine about how his Swedish quartet was influenced by the Fab Four. "They were always with their style in a way, much more than we were, but what they did was, you heard a song with them, then the next single was nothing close to the previous one, or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth," Andersson told the publication. "At that time, you needed to have some diversity, no?" Andersson said having two vocalists on their records, by singers Agnetha Faltskog and Frida Lyngstad, also gave their sound a boost. "You have John [Lennon] and Paul [McCartney], or you have Fleetwood Mac, you have the Eagles: it's great to have two singers, because that makes a difference between the tracks as well." - Music-News.com, 12/23/22...... Paul McCartney has shared new reflections on the "magical" experience of headlining the Saturday night edition of the UK's Glastonbury 2022 festival on the BBC's website. Sir Paul reflected on the experience and shared new backstage photos from the night, alongside footage of his band rehearsing ahead of the set. He wrote: "Festivals are special, but Glastonbury is particularly so and it's a big event in lots of people's year. Because it had been cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to Covid, it became more important to pull it off. I'd asked Bruce Springsteen in 2020 if he'd be happy to come onboard and he said yes, and he kept his promise two years later. So that was very exciting, having him and Dave Grohl up on the stage." Of the Glastonbury atmosphere, he added: "It's a pretty impressive scene for people in the audience, but we get the whole view up on the stage with the flags and the hills going back forever, so it was quite a big deal that they said yes to joining me in that experience. Of course, up on stage I can't really see people's reactions but I love to hear them because I've found myself doing that at concerts. I went to see James Taylor once and started blubbing because it was just so lovely! I was thinking, 'Oh, I love this guy' -- I'm getting emotional even now! It's a magical thing, knowing music can do that to people." Macca continued, "We're the only animal on the planet that does that. Then you've got the spirituality of the place, knowing about the ley lines and everything else. When you have an event like Glastonbury and everyone comes together with good vibes and energy, I'm very happy to be part of that." Meanwhile, authors Allan Kozinn and Adrian Sinclair have discovered unpublished contracts in the archives of a university in the United States which appear to show that the producers of the 1973 James Bond film Live and Let Die wanted McCartney to sing the movie's theme song (which he also composed), despite McCartney and producer George Martin both telling the story that the film's producers wanted to replace Paul with a female singer on the track, assuming that the version presented to them was just a demo. "Martin wouldn't have been familiar with the terms of that contract, but Paul certainly would have," Kozinn says. "One of the things we discovered is that, if it's a good story, Paul will go with it. He didn't have any reason to assume that anybody would see that contract." - New Musical Express...... Appearing on comedian Kevin Nealon's podcast Hiking With Kevin, John Lennon's eldest son Julian Lennon said while he loved the Beatles-themed film Yesterday, he thought the "weird" scene which showed John as an old man ruined the film for him. In the film, Lennon is played by Robert Carlyle and meets Himesh Patel's Jack in the remote countryside after he's taken a road trip. "I actually loved that film Yesterday, until they put that weird bit of an impression of what Dad would look like in his seventies and eighties or whatever, up on a Scottish or Irish island," Julian told Nealon. "It kind of threw the whole film off for me," he continued. "I didn't get [it]. It wasn't necessary for me, I don't think. And it was just weird." The entire interview can be viewed on YouTube. - New Musical Express...... A new official video for The Beatles' "Here, There and Everywhere" has been shared on YouTube. The track is taken from the newly mixed and expanded special edition of the band's classic 1966 album Revolver, which was reissued in November. The animated video, which has been made by Trunk Animation and directed by Rok Predin, depicts the band as they travel the world. "Follow the band on tour, as they face an ever-changing backdrop of cities, hotels, roads and gigs, with only each other to rely on," said Trunk Animation's Richard Barnett in a statement about the video. "A magical dancer appears to each of them, representing inspiration and creative freedom." It follows previously released new videos for the "Revolver' tracks "Taxman" and "I'm Only Sleeping." The reissue of the album included new mixes of all 14 original tracks, overseen by Giles Martin, son of the original producer George. "It was... my dad's favourite song of Paul's and is one of Paul's favourite songs of his own," Giles said of the track. "Paul talks about an old song ['Anything Goes' by Cole Porter] as an influence for this one." The song was also covered in June 2022 by Elvis Costello, who played the song as a tribute on the occasion of Paul's 80th birthday. - New Musical Express...... In other Beatles-related news, a porcelain toilet that once belonged to John Lennon has gone on display at the Liverpool Beatles Museum. The toilet, which once sat at Lennon and Yoko Ono's home in Berkshire, has a blue and white floral design, and can be viewed on the museum's Twitter page. Museum owner Roag Best, who is the brother of the Beatles' original drummer Pete Best, told BBC News: "The man contacted us, told us it was just sitting in his house gathering dust, and asked would we like to put it on display in the museum? We thought, 'Well, it's a bit quirky, it's not what we'd normally display but who's to say what you should and shouldn't display, so, come on, we'll give it a go'." He continued: "I think visitors to the museum are going to think, 'Are these guys mad?' But we like to do things outside the box so it fits in perfectly. It's a very, very fancy loo and it's possibly the most expensive loo in the country." The toilet came from Tittenhurst Park where Lennon lived with Yoko Ono from 1969 to 1971, and where the late Beatle composed his classic track "Imagine." Two toilets were sold at auction from the 71-acre home which was sold to Ringo Starr after Lennon and Ono moved to New York. Best said the other toilet was sold more recently for £15,000. - New Musical Express...... December is the time of year when British artist Chris Barker creates his annual "Sgt. Pepper's" cover tribute to those celebrities we've lost in the past calendar year. For 2022, Barker has included the likes of late musicians Taylor Hawkins, Christine McVie, Olivia Newton-John, Meat Loaf, Aaron Carter, Leslie Jordan, Irene Cara, Loretta Lynn, Coolio, Jerry Lee Lewis as well as actors Sidney Poitier, Angela Lansbury, James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Julee Cruise, Anne Heche, William Hurt, Yvette Mimieux, Bob Saget and Leslie Jordan, as well as a mix of movie directors and sports and fashion figures. "I've been doing this since 2016. That was the year anyone who was nice or kind or creative or special decided it was time to leave before the bad stuff started," Barker says. "Or at least that's how it felt at the time. I've become a little bit desensitised to it over the years. I mean, I still try and keep the star's dignity and think of their loved ones and how it would make them feel to see it, but -- let's face it -- I make notes over the course of the year now rather than just waiting til November. It's a thing." Barker says that he noticed early on in 2022 that it was going to be an "exceptional year" of bold-faced losses, with his list so long that by mid-year he'd already surpassed the final total from year one. "It was almost enough to make me think maybe this isn't the right thing to do any more. But people really like it and they've grown to expect it," he says. Barker's 151-person collage and a corresponding numbered key can be checked out on Twitter. - Billboard...... Ringo Starr confirmed on Nov. 27 he'll be selling statues of his iconic "peace" hand gesture, to raise money for the Lotus Foundation. Starr will sell 250 stainless steel versions of the "peace & love" statue for £4,200, while 250 bronze pieces will also be available, costing £1,600. According to Julien's Auctions (who are selling the statues) "each life-sized artwork features Ringo Starr's hand forming his iconic peace symbol, mounted upon a square black base that reads 'Peace & Love.' Each hand artwork is housed in a Ringo Peace & Love box and accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity hand signed by Ringo Starr. The listing goes on to describe "Starr's iconic peace symbol" as his "signature greeting and enduring message to the world for the last five decades." The money raised will go towards lotus-foundation.org, which supports charitable projects aimed at helping people deal with substance abuse, domestic abuse, homelessness, cancer as well as animals in need. In November, Ringo was forced to cancel the last five dates of his current North American tour, after contracting Covid-19 for a second time in two weeks. - New Musical Express...... Geoff Wonfor, a Grammy-winning British filmmaker who directed the Beatles' acclaimed Anthology documentary series and worked on the 1980s music program "The Tube" as well as several projects with Paul McCartney, died on Nov. 22 in his home city of Newcastle. He was 73. Prominent in British entertainment since the 1980s, when he directed a handful of episodes of The Tube, Wonfor also made a documentary about Shanghai Surprise, a feature film produced by George Harrison and starring Madonna and Sean Penn. His work with Harrison would unexpectedly lead to the biggest undertaking of his career. Released in the mid-1990s, The Beatles Anthology was an authorized, multimedia project that included an eight-part documentary, three double albums and a coffee table book. Wonfor spent 4 1/2 years on the film, which combined archival footage with new interviews with the then-three surviving Beatles (McCartney, Harrison and Ringo Starr). Wonfor's challenges included weaving in commentary from John Lennon, who had been murdered in 1980. Wonfor also directed the McCartney videos "In the World Tonight" and "Young Boy" and a McCartney concert video from the Cavern Club, the Liverpool venue where the Beatles played many of their early shows. He was on hand, too, for a Beatles "reunion" from the 1990s -- a video of "Real Love," a song left unfinished by Lennon that the remaining Beatles completed and recorded. His other credits included Band Aid 20, a documentary about the anniversary re-recording of the British charity song "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and "Sunday for Sammy," a tribute to the late British actor Sammy Johnson. - Billboard...... The first trailer for Paul McCartney's daughter Mary McCartney's upcoming Abbey Road Studios documentary If These Walls Could Sing has been shared on YouTube. The film is packed with fond remembrances from rock all-stars, including her dad, Sir Paul McCartney, as his former bandmate, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Noel Gallagher, Nile Rodgers and Star Wars creator George Lucas, among others. In the preview, Mary McCartney says Abbey Road has been part of her life "for as long as I can remember," as attested to by snaps of a baby Mary -- now 53 -- laying on the studio floor on a blanket. There is also, of course, ample footage of Sir Paul attesting to the special alchemy of those rooms in St. John's Wood, including him popping up to play a beloved piano just over his shoulder as Mary ticks off the many genres of music that have been laid down in those four walls, from classical to pop, Afrobeat, blues and more. The Disney+ doc will drop on Dec. 16, in time to commemorate the studio's 90th anniversary. - Billboard...... Paul McCartney announced on Nov. 10 he will release The 73 Singles, a career-spanning box set that will feature 80 singles personally chosen by the singer from throughout his solo career, on Dec. 2. With a total of 163 tracks totaling more than 10 hours of music, the set -- which will also be released digitally -- is limited to 3,000 copies and will feature such beloved singles as "My Love," "Live and Let Die," "Band on the Run," "Silly Love Songs," "Coming Up," "Ebony and Ivory," "Say Say Say" and "No More Lonely Lights," among many others, and come in a wooden art crate. "I hope the songs in this box set bring back fun memories for you too. They do for me, and there will be more to come," Sir Paul said in a statement announcing the set. The box spans the time from 1971's "Another Day" to a 73 version of McCartney's 2022 Record Store Day song of the year, "Women and Wives" from 2020's McCartney III. The collection brings together 65 singles with their original B-sides -- using restored artwork from 11 different countries -- in addition to 15 singles never before released on 73 -- collected from previously released 123 , picture discs, CD singles and promos, digital downloads, music videos and two previously unheard demos and a previously unheard 73 single edit. In addition to the singles, the wooden box will also include a 148-page book with a personal foreword by McCartney, an essay from Rolling Stone music writer Rob Sheffield and chart information, liner notes and single artwork. Each box will also include a randomly selected, exclusive test pressing of one of the singles. Macca celebrated the announcement by sharing a rare 1971 mono recording from the set of "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey [Mono]" and "Too Many People [Mono]" on Spotify.com. - Billboard...... In other Beatles-related news, the reissue of the band's 1966 Revolver LP has soared to No. 1 on multiple Billboard charts following its Oct. 28 release. The set re-enters at No. 1 on Top Rock & Alternative Albums, Top Rock Albums and Catalog Albums (all dated Nov. 12) - its first week at No. 1 on all three lists. Revolver also re-enters Top Album Sales, Vinyl Albums and Tastemaker Albums at No. 2. For Revolver's Super Deluxe Edition reissue, the album was reintroduced and remixed in a variety of expanded formats and editions, including many with previously unreleased tracks. The range included a standard digital album priced at $9.99 in the iTunes Store up through a boxed set boasting four vinyl LPs and two seven-inch singles that sold for $200 or more, depending on the retailer. Of Revolver's 46,000 in album sales for the week, physical sales comprise 42,000 (18,000 on vinyl and 24,000 on CD) and digital album download sales comprise 4,000. The rerelease of Revolver is part of the ongoing series of expanded reissues of select studio albums by the Beatles. It follows reissues of Let It Be in 2021 (first released in 1970), Abbey Road in 2019 (first released in 1969), The Beatles in 2018 (often referred to as the White Album, first released in 1968) and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in 2017 (first released in 1967). - Billboard...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, comments made by John Lennon's assassin Mark David Chapman's latest parole hearing were released on Nov. 7 under a freedom of information request and reported by the Associated Press. Chapman told the parole board his decision to shoot and kill the legendary songwriter was "my big answer to everything... I wasn't going to be a nobody, anymore." He added: "I am not going to blame anything else or anybody else for bringing me there. I knew what I was doing, and I knew it was evil, I knew it was wrong, but I wanted the fame so much that I was willing to give everything and take a human life." Chapman, who was denied parole in August for the 12th time, is serving a 20-years-to-life sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility, north of New York City, according to state corrections records published online. He is expected to appear before the parole board again in Feb. 2024. - Billboard/AP...... The Beatles are challenging pop queen Taylor Swift's latest juggernaut Midnights for top of the pops in the UK as a special deluxe rerelease of the Fab Four's 1966 album has blasted to No. 2 on the midweek chart, behind Midnights. In late October Swift last week landed her ninth U.K. chart crown -- and snapped several records --- as Midnights surged to No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart with more than 200,000 chart sales, easily a career-best week for the American pop superstar. Whether the Beatles can surpass Swift will be revealed on Nov. 4 when the U.K. singles and albums charts are published. The Beatles lead in the all-time most No. 1 U.K. albums category, with 15. Meanwhile, a new official video for the Beatles' Revolver track "I'm Only Sleeping" has been shared on YouTube. The video was directed by Em Cooper and made using 1,300 oil paintings. Cooper says she wanted to explore the space between dreaming and wakefulness, working on an animation rostrum on sheets of celluloid. She painted every frame individually in oil-paint, over many months. - Billboard...... John Lennon's eldest son Julian Lennon premiered the video for his new single, "Lucky Ones," on YouTube on Oct. 19. Julian says the song is about depicting a love for music that brings humans from different cultures together as they take steps to nurse our environment back to health. In 2007, Lennon founded The White Feather Foundation to address environmental and humanitarian issues. It was created with the intent to work with partners worldwide to raise funds for the betterment of all life and to honor those who have made a difference. Over the years, he has dedicated his time to working on creative projects across mediums such as music, photography, documentaries, children's books and more, while donating the majority of his profits to the foundation. Lucky Ones" is the single currently at radio on Julian Lennon's most recent full-length, Jude. The album was released after the 59-year-old musician's 11-year hiatus from releasing new music. - Billboard, 10/24/22...... 'Revolver' - The Beatles An acoustic demo of John Lennon singing "Yellow Submarine" from The Beatles' Revolver has been shared on Spotify.com ahead of the Super Deluxe Edition reissue of the band's 1966 album. Lennon's melancholic demo has never been bootlegged nor even rumoured, making the Oct. 28 album reissue's all the more enticing to Beatles fans. The new release contains 31 outtakes and three home demos from the Fab Four's recording archive as well as a four-track EP with "Paperback Writer" and "Rain." Also shared on Spotify ahead of the reissue is an early, sprightly outtake of "Got To Get You Into My Life." In September, the first take of the Revolver track "Tomorrow Never Knows" was shared. All 14 tracks on the original album have been newly mixed by Giles Martin and engineer Sam Okell in stereo and Dolby Atmos, while the album's original mono mix has been sourced from its 1966 mono master tape. - New Musial Express...... On Oct. 13 Ringo Starr revealed that he has tested positive for Covid-19 once again and he's canceling the remainder of his 2022 All Starr Band tour. "I'm sure you'll be as surprised as I was I tested positive again for Covid the rest of the tour is off I send you peace and love Ringo," the 82-year-old former Beatles member wrote in an Instagram post alongside a selfie. The scrapped shows include dates in San Jose, Calif. (10/14); Paso Robles, Calif. (10/15); Los Angeles (10/16); and Mexico City, Mexico (10/19-20). Ringo initially tested positive earlier in October, and announced on Oct. 3 that he was canceling five shows in Canada. That announcement came after he had canceled a pair of concerts "due to illness." A week later, on Oct. 10, he shared on Instagram that had tested negative for the coronavirus and was ready to get back to work. "On the road again I will see you in Seattle on Tuesday the 11th Portland Wednesday I am negative peace and love everybody thanks for waiting," he wrote at the time. The second leg of the All Starr Band tour kicked off September in Bridgeport, Conn. The tour dates were initially planned for 2020, but when the global coronavirus pandemic hit, the former Beatle's tour -- like many musicians' around the world -- was postponed. - Billboard...... "Love Me Do," the Beatles' debut single, was released on Oct. 5, 1962, a week that "changed the world forever." Now, sixty years later, the song is being celebrated at the house where it was written, 20 Forthlin Road, Allerton, Liverpool. The childhood home of brothers Paul and Mike McCartney, is now cared for by National Trust. The charity is marking the anniversary by asking two up-and-coming Liverpool acts selected by Mike McCartney, Pete Paphides and National Trust representatives, to perform their cover versions of the song, sixty years after its first release. The acts, Ni Maxine and TRAITS, both say their music has been inspired by the music that came from "the birthplace of the Beatles." Ni Maxine is a neo-jazz singer-songwriter. In a lovely coincidence, she lives in the same area of Liverpool as Paul and Mike McCartney did as infants, which is also just across the park from where her mum was raised. TRAITS is an indie pop quintet from Liverpool. Their singer Kieran and lead guitarist Matty met at school in Woolton, near St Peter's Church, again showing how places are weaved into and inspire multiple stories and lives. Ni Maxine and TRAITS' performances premiered on the National Trust YouTube channel on Oct. 5. They will also be given the opportunity to record some of their original music at the house. - Music-News.com...... In other Beatles-related news, a letter that John Lennon signed on day of his murder in 1980 is is being auctions. The late Beatle's signature is displayed on a legal document that is up for auction through GottaHaveRockandRoll.com on Oct. 4. The typed letter lists three people to whom Lennon gave his proxy to vote at an annual meeting for the Beatles corporations that was happening nine days later in London. It was signed by Lennon on Dec. 8, 1980, hours before he was shot and killed by Mark Chapman outside his New York City apartment block. The document is expected to fetch between $30,000 (£26,366) and $50,000 (£43,943). Meanwhile, in related news, Ringo Starr has cancelled several shows he had planned in Canada for the second week of October, with the Beatles icon putting his tour on hold to recuperate after contracting Covid. After shows in New Buffalo, Michigan and Prior Lake, Minnesota were cancelled over the weekend "due to illness," an official statement from Starr's team confirmed the musician had tested positive for Covid. As a result, five shows that were scheduled for this week in Canada -- in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Lethbridge, Abbotsford and Penticton -- have been axed. Starr had announced the second leg of his All Starr Band tour in April. It kicked off Sept. 23 in Bridgeport, Conn., and is scheduled to end Oct. 20 in Mexico City. The dates had been initially planned for 2020, but as with many other tours, it was sidelined by the global coronavirus pandemic. - New Musical Express...... The first, unreleased take of the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" from their 1966 album Revolver is being featured on the new special deluxe edition of Revolver and has been shared on YouTube ahead of the deluxe edition's Oct. 28 release. "John [Lennon's] ethereal vocals (fed from his mic through a rotating Leslie speaker), and innovative tape loops -- including Paul [McCartney] saying "ah, ah, ah, ah', which when sped up produced a sound similar to a seagull's screech -- converge with Ringo [Starr's] thunderous drum pattern, George [Harrison's] tamboura drone, and a backwards guitar solo," a press release explains of the recording. Revolver is the latest Beatles album to be re-released as a remixed and expanded deluxe box set following Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' in 2017, "The White Album" (2018), Abbey Road (2019) and Let It Be (2021). - New Musical Express