Latest Beatles News
A UK tabloid is reporting that Paul McCartney wants to compose tracks for the console market because he thinks it's easier to make money through gamers than it is by selling CDs. The Daily Express quotes an interview Macca gave to the German publication Die Zeit in which the Beatles legend said, "It's a fascinating market. A new computer game sells so much better than a new CD these days. Young people will hear my music for the first time in a game." McCartney also revealed that his love of "mischief" led him to title his new album Kisses on The Bottom. "I like mischief. It's good for the soul, it's always a good idea -- if only because people think it's a bad idea," he told London's Sunday Times on Jan. 29. Kisses on the Bottom, which is comprised of songs Sir Paul listened to as a child as well as two new songs, "My Valentine" and "Only Our Hearts," will drop on Feb. 6. In other McCartney news, the line-up for the Grammy week tribute concert to the rock legend has just been announced. Neil Young and Crazy Horse, James Taylor, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Katy Perry, Norah Jones, Diana Krall, Tony Bennett and Alicia Keys are among the performers who will celebrate the 69-year-old musician when he's honoured as MusiCares Person of the Year in Los Angeles in February. Paul is also expected to perform at the sold-out galas, which will be held on Feb. 12, two nights before the official Grammy ceremonies. McCartney will also be performing "My Valentine," the first single from his new album, during the Grammy Awards. The show will be telecast on CBS on Feb. 12 at 8:00 p.m. EST. - New Musical Express/QMI Agency...... 
In other Beatles news, a lost George Harrison solo for the Beatles' 1969 hit single "Here Comes the Sun" has been discovered at Abbey Road studios in London after 43 years. The solo, which failed to make the final cut on George's major contribution to the Beatles' 1969 11th and final studio album Abbey Road, was discovered by Harrison's son Dhani Harrison, Beatles producer George Martin and his son Giles Martin during a visit to the Abbey Road studios. While sitting at a mixing desk and playing the original master tapes of "Here Comes the Sun," the men stumbled upon the solo, which Dhani Harrison admits he had no idea existed. - NME...... In other Fab Four news, Ringo Starr told actor/comedian Russell Brand during a Sirius XM radio interview in Los Angeles on Jan. 30 that he "will never write an autobiography." "I've been asked to write an autobiography of myself, but they really only want those eight years... And I say, 'But there are 10 volumes before we get to that, and 20 afterwards,'" Ringo told Brand. Ringo also remarked on the 43rd anniversary of the Beatles' famous final live show in London, on the rooftop of their Apple studio. "The police came to stop us, and I was on the roof: 'Come on, drag me off!' It would be so dramatic, and the damn cop wouldn't drag me off!," he said. Ringo's 17th studio album, Ringo 2012, was released on Jan. 30. - Rolling Stone...... Yoko Ono, Jackson Browne and Willie Nelson are among dozens of artists who will contribute to Occupy This Album, a new CD that will benefit the Occupy Wall Street movement against economic inequality. Other artists involved in the album, which is being put together by the Occupy Wall Street solidarity group "Music for Occupy," include Third Eye Blind, Crosby and Nash, Tom Morello and Immortal Technique. The Occupy Wall Street movement began last September when protesters set up camp in New York's Zuccotti Park, which sparked similar demonstrations across the US and elsewhere in the world. - Reuters...... Paul McCartney told the London Daily Mirror on Jan. 19 that he was in talks about being involved at the 2012 Summer Olympic games in London this summer. "I am seeing the guy because there is something they want me to do. I might be doing something in the Olympics. I won't know until then," McCartney said, adding that he "could easily" also take on a role in the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations, which take place this year. Sir Paul, who performed at Buckingham Palace for the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002, added he thinks that Queen Elizabeth II "is great and does a great job." Macca will release his latest album, Kisses On The Bottom, on Feb. 6. - NME...... 
Ringo Starr will release his 17th studio effort, Ringo 2012, on Jan. 30. Starr's new album, the follow-up to his 2010 set Y Not, features nine tracks with collaborations from such artists as Joe Walsh (The Eagles), Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers), and Dave Stewart (The Eurythmics). - NME...... Many fans of John Lennon may not be aware the late Beatles legend was great admirer of cats, and now the website MentalFloss.com has just put up an exhaustive list of all of his feline friends, from his childhood through his final days at the Dakota apartment building in Manhattan. For example, Lennon's first cat as a young boy was named Elvis Presley, which he and his mother thought was a male but later discovered was actually a female when they discovered Elvis and a litter of kittens in their cupboard. The cat during the second half of the Beatles' career was named Jesus, which was likely a tongue-in-cheek response to the media controversy over his notorious comment that the Beatles were "bigger than Jesus" (Paul McCartney also owned a cat named Jesus so this joke apparently went over well with the Fab Four). Later on, Lennon owned a pair of cats, one black and white, named Salt and Pepper, and another pair of rescued strays named Major and Minor. - Rolling Stone...... In other Beatles news, there are reports that Paul McCartney wants to start his own "magical mystery tours" of his beloved hometown of Liverpool, England. The Canadian paper Winnipeg Free Press is reporting Macca wants to "give something back" to Liverpool by starting his own touring company. "I would really love to start a sightseeing business. I have my own magical mystery tours of the city, my own special route I go on and I think other people would love it, too. I want to give something back to the locals," McCartney told the paper. - NME...... Paul McCartney has revealed the full track list for his new album Kisses on the Bottom, the Beatles legend's first album since 2007 that's scheduled for release on Feb. 7 via Hear Music/Concord Records. The set's 16 tracks will include Macca's reinterpretations of such pop standards as Sam Cooke's "Home (When Shadows Fall)," Ella Fitzgerald's "It's Only a Paper Moon," and Danny Kaye's "The Inch Worm." The album title comes from the lyrics of Fats Waller's 1935 hit "I'm Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself a Letter," the opening track on the album. Kisses on the Bottom also features two new collaborations between McCartney and Eric Clapton ("My Valentine") and Stevie Wonder ("Only Our Hearts"). The album was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, New York and London in 2011 with producers Tommy LiPuma and Diana Krall. - Billboard...... 
The Nielsen SoundScan agency has announced that the Beatles' classic 1969 swansong set Abbey Road is the top-selling vinyl album for a third consecutive year. Abbey Road sold 41,000 copies in 2011, up from 35,000 in 2010 and 34,800 in 2009. The album was also the second-highest selling vinyl album in 2008, selling 16,500 copies. Though the vinyl format accounted for only 3.9 percent of total music sales in 2011, it has had a gradual increase over the past few years. Meanwhile, the Abbey Road studios in London where the Beatles recorded Abbey Road and their other iconic albums of the '60s has announced it will open the doors of its legendary Studio Two to the public on Mar. 10 as part of an 80th anniversary celebration. Two symposiums hosted by Brian Kehew and Kevin Ryan, the authors of Recording the Beatles, will feature an audio-visual presentation called 80 Years of Recording at Abbey Road Studios that uses archive photos, film and audio. Vintage recording equipment belonging to the studio will also be on display at Abbey Road, where in addition to the Beatles such iconic acts as Pink Floyd, The Hollies and The Zombies have also recorded. There will be two presentations on Mar. 10, one at 10:00 a.m. and another 3:00 p.m. - Rolling Stone/New Musical Express...... Two weeks after posting "My Valentine," the first single from his upcoming album online at Soundcloud.com, Paul McCartney has revealed through his reps that the album will have a cheeky title -- Kisses on the Bottom. McCartney previously announced that the new album will feature covers of some of his favourite songs, as well as the new composition "My Valentine" and another new song called "Only Our Hearts," and drop on Feb. 6, 2012. Meanwhile, Macca told the UK paper Sunday Express on Jan. 1 that he's disappointed to hear that many bands today play live using backing tapes and vowed to never rely on them during his own gigs. McCartney said his sound engineer, Paul Pablo, told him that many major artists -- including the likes of AC/DC and Eurythmics -- rely on tapes for much of their shows. But Paul says whenever his band makes mistakes, "we always now turn it and say, 'Tell you what -- this proves we are live'." McCartney played several UK and European dates before the end of the year, including a huge show at London's O2 Arena on Dec. 5. - New Musical Express...... 
In other Beatles-related news, several of John Lennon's biggest fans are outraged that singer Cee Lo Green changed the lyrics to Lennon's classic anthem for peace, "Imagine," during a New Year's Eve performance at Times Square in New York City. In Green's soulful version, the lyrics were changed from "nothing to kill or die for/and no religion too" to "nothing to kill or die for/and all religion's true." Some fans say Green changed the meaning of the song by switching out the line. "The whole point of that lyric is that religion causes harm," one fan posted on Twitter.com. "If 'all religion's true' it would be a pretty bleak place." Green responded to the criticism by tweeting "Yo I meant no disrespect by changing the lyric guys! I was trying to say a world were u could believe what u wanted that's all." He also responded directly to other angry Lennon fans on Twitter, but has since deleted all of the tweets. - Rolling Stone...... Paul McCartney reportedly took a tumble down the stairs as he was leaving the stage after finishing a holiday gig at Liverpool's Echo Arena on Dec. 20. Sir Paul wasn't hurt though and a source told the UK tabloid The Sun that "he's not accident-prone so it's unusual for him to be clumsy... He saw the funny side." Earlier that same day, McCartney posted the first single from his forthcoming and as-yet-untitled LP of covers of "songs that inspired the Beatles" online at Soundcloud.com. 
"My Valentine" is a collaboration between Macca and Eric Clapton and one of two new McCartney compositions on the new album (the other new song titled "Only Our Hearts" and recorded with Stevie Wonder), which is due on Feb. 7 in the US via Hear Music/Concord Records. McCartney hasn't revealed the tracklisting for the album but says the tracks chosen were "the songs which inspired the songs" he would later go on to write with John Lennon." "When I kind of got into songwriting, I realized how well structured these songs were and I think I took a lot of my lessons from them," he said. The new album, the follow-up to 2007's Memory Almost Full, was recorded at Capitol Studios in Los Angeles, New York and London throughout this year with co-producers Tommy LiPuma and pianist Diana Krall. Meanwhile, documents from McCartney's company show he is ending 2011 on a high by almost doubling his 2010 earnings. After his successful On The Run tour the Beatles legend has earned $46.4 million in 2011, compared with $26.2 million in 2010. However, he paid himself an income of just $1.6 million, compared with a previous $10.7 million salary and dividend payments in 2010. - New Musical Express/Billboard/WENN.com...... Yoko Ono paid tribute to her late husband John Lennon on Dec. 8, the 31st anniversary of his death, by saying the current wave of global activism as a testament to his legacy. "John was about making the world a better place. He sang Gimme Some Truth, so when I see all the activism out there today, I feel like we will turn the corner soon," Ono told USA Today. Ono also revealed she still finds it painful to listen to her slain husband's music, adding, "I play John's songs all the time, but mainly because (musicians) are asking if they can do this song or that. But I don't listen for pleasure. When I do, it chokes me up to remember when it was written." John Lennon was assassinated by a deranged gunman outside his New York City apartment building on Dec. 8, 1980, plunging the world into shock and mourning. - USA Today/WENN.com...... 
Playing his only London show of 2011 at the O2 Arena on Dec. 5, Paul McCartney was joined onstage by Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood. Near the end of the set, Sir Paul told the audience that he "had a surprise" for them, then ushered Wood onstage to jam with him on the Beatles' "Get Back," with the two hugging after completing the song. Macca's three-hour, career-spanning set of solo, Wings and Beatles tunes included several selections he had never played live in the U.K. before, including "The Night Before," "The Word" and "Come and Get It." The Beatles recorded a demo of Paul's composition "Come and Get It" for their Abbey Road album, but it wasn't officially released by the band until 1996 when it was included on their Anthology series. McCartney gave "Come and Get It" to the Apple band Badfinger in 1970, who took it to No. 7 on the U.S. hit parade. McCartney is set to play another UK gig, at Manchester's MEN Arena, on Dec. 19, then perform in his hometown of Liverpool at the city's Echo Arena on Dec. 20. - New Musical Express...... A Vox UL730 amp and cabinet used by late former Beatles guitarist George Harrison during the Fab Four's recording sessions for the Revolver and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band albums will be put up for auction in late December in London. The amp, which was only recently discovered to have belonged to Harrison, is expected to sell for somewhere between $80,000 and $110,000 at the Bonhams auction house. The discovery came after an engineer who had been asked to repair it noticed that the name "George Harrison" was scratched into the chassis, and a bit of research uncovered that it was indeed used by the guitarist on two of the band's most acclaimed albums. 
"Very few amps used by the Beatles have come to auction before, and to find one that was used on two such significant albums is truly rare and exciting," says Stephen Maycock, a consultant to Bonhams actioneers. In related news, Harrison's sister Louise Harrison has announced she has completed most of the work on a new book that she promises will tell the whole truth about the legendary band. "So much garbage has been written about George and the Beatles," the 80-year-old Harrison told a Sarasota, Fla., newspaper on Nov. 28. "Half of the stuff has been written by people who spent maybe an hour on a plane with the Beatles. Now I think itıs my duty to get the truth out," added Harrison. Harrison is currently compiling unpublished photographs and letters from her brother with the help of her ex-husband, Walt Kane, and also manages a Beatles tribute production called "Liverpool Legends" in her adapted hometown of Branson, Mo. Harrison's announcement coincides with the recent tenth anniversary of her brother's death from lung cancer in 2001 at age 58. - Rolling Stone...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, Paul McCartney recently told the UK paper The Times that he has definitely been a victim of phone hacking. "At the time of the divorce [from Heather Mills], I realised there was quite a possibility of many people hacking me for various reasons. So I used to talk on the phone and say 'If you're taking this down, get a life'. It is a pity not to be able to talk freely on a private call," Sir Paul said. Macca added that the hacking also affected his actions in the long term and he believes a law should be enforced. "I tend not to say much on the phone now. If I leave a message, it's benign," he added. Earlier in 2011, McCartney slammed phone hacking after the eruption of the scandal that forced the closure of the UK tabloid News of the World. "[Phone hacking] is a horrendous violation of privacy" he said at the time. - New Musical Express...... British singer and playwright Shelagh Delaney, who inspired the Beatles to record their own version of the theme song from a film adaptation of her play "A Taste of Honey," died on Nov. 21 in Manchester, UK, after a battle with cancer. She was 71. Delaney premiered "A Taste Of Honey" in 1958 when she was just 19 years old, and it opened to critical acclaim. But after her next work, 1960's "The Lion in Love," she didn't work in the theatre for nearly 20 years. Her later works include 1966's "The White Bus," the award-winning "Charlie Bubbles" in 1968 and 1970's "The Raging Moon." - NME...... A placard sign made by John Lennon during his famous Montreal "bed in for peace" with wife Yoko Ono in 1969 has sold for nearly $160,000 at an auction in London. The sign, which reads "Bed Peace," was sold by Christie's of London on Nov. 15 to an anonymous telephone bidder for $155,600. Also a letter written by his Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney on Aug. 12, 1960 inviting an unnamed drummer to audition for a place in the band has sold $55,000. 
According to legend drummer Pete Best joined the Beatles on Aug. 12 of 1960, but he was sacked from the band two years later and replaced by Ringo Starr. The letter is reportedly one of the earliest examples of the band being referred to as the Beatles, and is important because it suggested McCartney was seeking an alternative to Best until the last minute. Shortly after the letter was written, the newly formed Beatles travelled to Hamburg, Germany, to play a series of gigs as they set out on the road to superstardom. - Reuters...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, a Lennon tribute CD entitled The 30th Annual John Lennon Tribute Live From The Beacon Theatre NYC is now available for download. The album features 15 covers of Lennon and Beatles songs by such artists as Jackson Browne ("You've Got to Hide Your Love Away"), Patti Smith ("Oh Yoko"), Joan Osborne ("Hey Bulldog"), Aimee Mann ("Jealous Guy") and Martin Sexton ("Working Class Hero"). The songs were captured at last year's 30th Annual Lennon tribute at the Beacon in New York. The 31st Lennon tribute is set for Dec. 10 at New York's Le Poisson Rouge. - USA Today...... Universal Music Group announced on Nov. 11 that it has acquired EMI's recorded music division for 1.9 billion in a deal that will split the world's fourth-largest music company into two holdings owned by separate corporations. As part of the deal, Universal will take on the regulatory risk of the sale, while Citigroup, EMI's corporate parent, will take on pension fund liabilities. The sale means that Universal will acquire the major works of such veteran acts as the Beatles, the Beach Boys and Pink Floyd, as well as popular younger bands including Radiohead and Coldplay. - Rolling Stone...... The Country Music Association's CMA Week was launched in Nashville, Tenn., on the second week of November with a special "Let Us In" tribute concert to Paul McCartney's late wife Linda McCartney. 
The show was a benefit for The Women and Cancer Fund, a not-for-profit charity established in the memory of Linda and reportedly received a "whole-hearted blessing" from Sir Paul himself. A new CD entitled Let Us In Nashville - A Tribute To Linda McCartney is also being released in conjunction with the show featuring such top country acts as Ricky Skaggs, Steel Magnolia, Phil Vassar and the Eagles' Timothy B. Schmit covering such McCartney/Beatles classics as "Listen to What the Man Said," "Maybe I'm Amazed," "Lady Madonna" and "Every Night," respectively. - AP/Billboard...... In other Beatles-related news, a tooth belonging to John Lennon that the late rock legend gave to his housekeeper in the '60s to dispose sold for $31,000 at auction in England on Nov. 5. The tooth had been in the family of Lennon's housekeeper Dot Jarlett after John suggested she give it to her daughter, who was a big Beatles fan. The molar, which is too fragile for DNA testing but is considered authentic nevertheless, had been expected to fetch only $16,000. It was reportedly bought by an unidentified Canadian dentist. - Rolling Stone...... Meanwhile, Lennon's first son Julian Lennon is says his recent criticism of Paul McCartney was merely a "whimsical joke" and that his comments have been "taken a little to far." Julian had previously posted a message on his Facebook page accusing McCartney of snubbing him at several high-profile events, but now posts that people have failed to understand his sense of humor. "Seems many have taken my comment from the other week a little too far. It was truly written, hand on heart, with a whimsical heart. The situation was laughable, more than anything," he wrote, adding he "wasn't whining... just stating the facts." - New Musical Express...... Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, an adopted version of the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band record sleeve that features pictures of Capitol Records executives instead of the Beatles themselves has been declared as "The World's Most Valuable Album Cover" in a new survey by Record Collector magazine. The famous sleeve, which was designed by British artist Sir Peter Blake, was modified in 1967 when the album was released for a limited edition version of the LP. It is thought that only 100 versions of the album were created, and the whereabouts of only three copies are currently known. It is currently valued at approximately £70,000, followed in second place by the first 10 copies of the Beatles 1968 album The Beatles (also known as "The White Album), which is said to be worth £7,000. Other Beatles sleeves making the Most Valuable list include Introducing the Beatles (£3,000); The Beatles/Frank Ifield England's Greatest Recording Stars: The Beatles & Frank Ifield On Stage (£3,000), and Yesterday and Today (£2,000). - Uncut.co.uk...... Although Tony Sheridan's name gets smaller type than the Beatles on the cover of TimeLife's new release The Beatles with Tony Sheridan: First Recordings, it's his showy, Elvis-influenced singing that dominates these recordings made in 1961-62 B.R. (Before Ringo). No Lennon-McCartney compositions here; instead you'll find mostly covers of chestnuts such as "My Bonnie," "Ain't She Sweet," and "Sweet Georgia Brown." George Harrison provides some nice guitar fills throughout, but this disc only hints at the greatness to come. - Entertainment Weekly...... 
The original Fab Four are about to get a little love from a much newer quartet. Big Time Rush -- the boy band behind Nickelodeon's musical-comedy series of the same name -- are in production on their first TV movie, Big Time Movie, which premieres in spring 2012 and features covers of four Beatles classics: "A Hard Day's Night," "Revolution," "We Can Work It Out," and "Help!" Says creator/producer Scott Fellows, "How do you not get excited about that? We wanted to make sure we were respectful to the music and celebrate it and do smoething that, hopefully, Ringo [Starr] and Paul [McCartney] would appreciate." The movie finds the four Big Time Rush members landing in London to klick off their world tour jsut as they get caught up in a James Bond-style mission to save the world. Cue the screaming tweens. - Entertainment Weekly...... Paul McCartney is organizing the restoration of an 1877 Steinway grand piano that was played by several Motown legends during the 1960s and 1970s. Sir Paul tried to play the instrumnt during a trip to the legendary label's Motown Historical Museum in Michigan over the summer, but after being advised that it was no longer in working order, he offered to help get the piano restored to its former glory. McCartney then got in touch with restorers at Steinway & Sons in New York, who have promised to fix the instrument. A spokesperson for Steinway said the company "is honored to restore the historic Steinway piano that was used by such legends as Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder -- and to do so in the very same New York factory where it was originally built in 1877." - WENN.com...... In other Macca news, McCartney has reportedly quietly been telling close friends that he's been studying Judaism and has promised his new bride, Nancy Shevell, that he plans on converting to the religion. Paul's first wife, Linda Eastman, also came from a prominent Jewish family and has said he had talked about converting to Judaism after they married, but "just never got around to it." McCartney, who is a baptized Roman Catholic but admittedly never very devout, told the source he'll "complete his converstion studies next year."...... 
Elsewhere on the Fab Four front, John Lennon's first son Julian Lennon is accusing McCartney of snubbing him be not inviting him to his latest wedding or acknowledging him at the recent London film premiere of the George Harrison documentary Living In the Material World. Posting on his Facebook page on Oct. 23, Julian claimed Paul ignored him on the red carpet at the screening of the Harrison film, and also lashed out at McCartney for not inviting him to his wedding to Shevell on Oct. 2, the couple's second ceremony in New York on Oct. 22, and the anniversary of the Beatles musical "Love!" in Las Vegas. "What have I done to be ignored in such a way?," Julian posted adding "I thought we had a relationship -- Obviously not" and "I & my mother [John's first wife Cynthia Lennon] will not be eradicated from history -- How dare they." Julian released his sixth solo album and his first in 13 years, Everything Changes, in October. - New Musical Express...... Meanwhile, John's widow Yoko Ono introduced the Flaming Lips' tribute to Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs at MTV's O Music Awards on Oct. 31. "Like John Lennon, the man I love deeply, Steve Jobs was a dreamer who changed the world," said Ono, adding "They live on all around us, through our memories, their words, and their work. Their spirit grows in us forever to the end of the days." - Billboard..... In still more Beatles news, British record label exec Alan McGee could make up to £150,000 from selling his collection of rock memorabilia, which includes one of John Lennon's teeth and a suit worn by John during the filming of 1964's A Hard Day's Night, during an auction set for Manchester, UK on Nov. 5. McGee is the former boss of Creation Records, which is the popular alternative band Oasis's UK label, and is also selling a sizeable collection of memorabilia from that band. - NME...... John Lennon and Yoko Ono's son Sean Lennon performed an impromptu set for the Occupy Wall Street protesters in Manhattan's Zuccotti Park on Oct. 23. 
Lennon, along with singer Rufus Wainwright, joined the growing stream of celebrities which have lent their support to the demonstrators campaigning against social inequality and corporate greed in the U.S. The pair belted out a rendition of Madonna's "Material Girl," accompanied by a number of other guitarists and an accordion player. Other celebrities showing up to support the protestors include actors Alec Baldwin, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins and musicians Kayne West and Tom Morello. - NME...... Paul McCartney and his new bride Nancy Shevell staged a second wedding reception at the Bowery Hotel on the Lower East Side of Manhattan on the evening of Oct. 21. The gala was attended by some 100 guests, including John Lennon's widow Yoko Ono and her son Sean Lennon, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, Elvis Costello, Billy Joel and Jon Bon Jovi, among others. McCartney and Shevell were married at London's Marylebone Register Office on Oct. 9. - New Musical Express...... In other Beatles-related news, the Fab Four's former manager Allan Williams recently told the UK's Daily Record paper that he "still loses sleep 50 years later" over the fact that he handed what would become the world's most famous rock band over to their second manager Brian Epstein in 1962 before their career took off. "No-one could have guessed the Beatles would become so famous," said Williams, adding: "At that time there were 300 groups in Liverpool, who were as good or better than The Beatles. And I didn't even get my £9," referring to his 15% £9 commission that the band failed to pay back for their early gigs in Germany that caused him to have a falling out with them. Williams also said although he "turned to drink" after the Beatles rose to global stardom, he "no longer has regrets." "I am glad to have been there in the 60s at the start of it all," the 81-year-old told the paper. - The Daily Record/NME
