Welcome to the Beatles Cinematic Universe. Continuing the current wave of music biopics —which just saw its most recent box-office triumph with Bob Marley: One Love — director Sam Mendes (Skyfall) has signed on to helm not one, but four separate Beatles biopics, all due in 2027. The movies, set …
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The Beatles are going solo all over again. Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, George Harrison, and John Lennon will each be the subject of their own solo films directed by Sam Mendes, who is taking a microscopic approach to the usually overarching music biopic narrative. The films, according to a statement …
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Sixty years ago, on February 9, 1964: The Beatles make their legendary American debut on The Ed Sullivan Show. A record-shattering 73 million people tune in to see John, Paul, George, and Ringo for the first time. It’s the biggest audience any musicians have ever faced. But there’s no evidence …
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Before Peter Jackson’s epic film Get Back, only the most hardcore Beatles fans had any idea who Mal Evans was. But anyone who sees the movie has to come away in love with Mal. He’s the devoted Beatles roadie, one of the only trusted friends in their innermost circle. He’s …
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The Beatles have released their new single, the long-awaited “Now and Then.” It’s an emotionally powerful song written by John Lennon as a home demo in the 1970s. But it’s also a true Beatles collaboration, with Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr playing and singing together. Nothing like “Now …
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The run-up to Christmas and our Bristol production of The Happiest Days of Your Life seemed to drag on forever. I enjoyed doing the play, lightweight as it was. But my life was changing — Sheila, the RSC — and I wanted to get on with it. Fortunately, we had …
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Dolly Parton has shared a new cover of the Beatles‘ “Let It Be,” which features Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Mick Fleetwood, and Peter Frampton. The piano-led rendition is a showcase for Parton’s powerhouse vocals, with McCartney, who wrote the song, joining in on the chorus. “Let It Be” is the …
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Producer/engineer Glyn Johns recorded the whole of the Let It Be sessions for the Beatles in 1969, and mixed a raw version of the album that wouldn’t be released for another 52 years — so he’s far from a fan of the Phil Spector-embellished album that came out in 1970. …
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When Paul McCartney announced the Beatles were releasing one final song later this year, with vocals extracted from a John Lennon demo via a machine-learning tool, the press jumped on a narrative of an “AI Beatles song.” Confused fans feared they were about to hear an AI-generated Lennon. But the …
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In 1973, the world saw George Harrison as the Beatle who was winning the break-up. He became a solo superstar with All Things Must Pass, his big triple-vinyl extravaganza, then his noble and star-sudded Concert For Bangla Desh. He’d finally broken free of the Fabs and gotten everything he’d ever …
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