Classic Pop Icons » Paul McCartney

Star-studded line-up for Diamond Jubilee concert

admin — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:39:01 +0000

Some of the biggest pop stars from each decade of Queen Elizabeth’s 60-year reign will perform at a Diamond Jubilee concert at Buckingham Palace on June 4. Stars scheduled to appear include Sir Paul McCartney, Sir Tom Jones, Dame Shirley Bassey, Sir Cliff Richard, Sir Elton John, Madness, Annie Lennox, and modern acts such as JLS, Ed Sheeran and Jessie J.

Take That’s Gary Barlow, who is helping to organise the event, said:

“The Diamond Jubilee concert will celebrate the 60 years of the Queen’s reign with an amazing line-up of world class artists coming together to play at one of the biggest and most exciting live music shows in recent years.

“With Buckingham Palace as a backdrop, it’s going to be a fantastic event which transcends multiple decades of music. It’ll be a great, unique, experience for the thousands attending, watching on TV and listening on Radio. I can’t wait.”

Barlow also said that the Queen’s grandsons, Princes William and Harry, had requested that certain artists appear, but he did not disclose which artists they were.

The concert will take place on a circular stage built around the memorial to Queen Victoria that stands in front of the Buckingham Palace gates. The stars will appear in front of an audience of 10,000, which will include the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and other members of the Royal Family. Tickets will be free and chosen at random through an online and postal ballot. Applications for tickets can be made at www.bbc.co.uk/diamondjubilee until March 2. The concert will also be broadcast live on BBC One and Radio 2.

Queen Elizabeth II came to the throne on February 6, 1952 and her coronation took place on June 2, 1953. She is the second longest reigning monarch in British history after Queen Victoria, who reigned from 1837 to 1901.

McCartney to receive Hollywood Walk of Fame star

admin — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 09:25:48 +0000

Sir Paul McCartney will become the fourth former-Beatle to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame when the tribute is unveiled in a ceremony on February 9.

McCartney’s star will be in front of the Capitol Records building at 1759 N. Vine Street, alongside John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, who received their stars in 1988, 2009 and 2010, respectively.

This is the latest in a long line of awards and honours bestowed upon McCartney, including 14 Grammys, the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement and Trustees Awards, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Kennedy Center award, the 2008 Brit award for Outstanding Contribution to Music, the Gershwin Prize For Popular Song and, of course, the knighthood, which he received from the Queen in 1997.

The day after McCartney receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, he will be named the MusiCares Person of the Year in recognition of his creative achievements and many philanthropic activities.

McCartney talks about “Kisses On The Bottom” album

admin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:27:41 +0000

Sir Paul McCartney and producer Tommy LiPuma have spoken to journalist Robert Hilburn about McCartney’s new album “Kisses On The Bottom.”

“Kisses On The Bottom” sees McCartney tackle the standards that he grew up listening to, and also features two new McCartney compositions, “My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts.”

The album takes its name from a lyric in the Fats Waller jazz hit “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter,” which is one of 14 tracks on the album.

“Kisses On The Bottom” tracklist:

“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter”
“Home (When Shadows Fall)”
“It’s Only A Paper Moon”
“More I Cannot Wish You”
“The Glory Of Love”
“We Three (My Echo, My Shadow And Me)”
“Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive”
“My Valentine”
“Always”
“My Very Good Friend The Milkman”
“Bye Bye Blackbird”
“Get Yourself Another Fool”
“The Inch Worm”
“Only Our Hearts.”

There will also be a deluxe edition of “Kisses On The Bottom” which includes a bonus digital download of selections from McCartney’s performance at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA.

“Kisses On The Bottom” is out on February 7 in the US/Canada and February 6 in the UK. You can pre-order it now:

Title

Paul McCartney – Kisses On The Bottom (CD)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now

Paul McCartney – Kisses On The Bottom deluxe (CD)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now

Paul McCartney to perform at 54th Grammy Awards

admin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 19:16:19 +0000

Paul McCartney has confirmed that he will be performing at this year’s Grammy Awards ceremony which takes place on February 12 in Los Angeles.

McCartney is nominated in the Best Historical Album category for the “Band On The Run – Deluxe Edition.”

McCartney will also be honoured as the 2012 MusiCares Person of the Year at a benefit gala on February 10, which is part of Grammy week. Neil Portnow, President/CEO of the MusiCares Foundation® and The Recording Academy®, has said:

“Paul McCartney exemplifies the phrase ‘artist/philanthropist,’ and his extraordinary career is certainly a testament to the multifaceted power of his creative genius. The unique talent, dedication, and spontaneity he brings to his projects and live performances are unsurpassed, but are equaled by the impressive generosity and commitment he consistently devotes to a range of important charitable causes.”

The 2012 Grammy Awards will be hosted by LL Cool J. Others scheduled to perform include the Foo Fighters, Rihanna and Coldplay.

See also:

McCartney reveals “Kisses On The Bottom” tracklist

admin — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 06:43:27 +0000

Sir Paul McCartney has confirmed that the title of his forthcoming album of standards will be “Kisses On The Bottom.”

“Kisses On The Bottom” features McCartney’s versions of songs that he grew up listening to as a child, as well as two new McCartney composititions “My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts.”

The album takes its name from the following lyric in the Fats Waller jazz hit “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter”:

I’m gonna sit right down and write myself a letter and make believe it came from you/I’m gonna write words oh so sweet/They’re gonna knock me off of my feet/A lot of kisses on the bottom/I’ll be glad I got ‘em.

“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter” is one of 14 songs on “Kisses On The Bottom.” Here’s the complete tracklist:

“I’m Gonna Sit Right Down And Write Myself A Letter”
“Home (When Shadows Fall)”
“It’s Only A Paper Moon”
“More I Cannot Wish You”
“The Glory Of Love”
“We Three (My Echo, My Shadow And Me)”
“Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate The Positive”
“My Valentine”
“Always”
“My Very Good Friend The Milkman”
“Bye Bye Blackbird”
“Get Yourself Another Fool”
“The Inch Worm”
“Only Our Hearts.”

There will also be a deluxe edition of “Kisses On The Bottom” which includes bonus digital download of selections from McCartney’s performance at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA.

The photo of McCartney on the album cover was taken by his daughter Mary McCartney.

“Kisses On The Bottom” is out on February 7 in the US/Canada and February 6 in the UK. You can pre-order it now:

Title

Paul McCartney – Kisses On The Bottom (CD)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now

Paul McCartney – Kisses On The Bottom deluxe (CD)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now

Sir Paul McCartney’s album of standards out in February

admin — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 18:06:42 +0000

Sir Paul McCartney has announced further details about his as yet untitled album of standards, which will be released in February.

The album will feature collaborations with Diana Krall and her band, and also guest appearances from Eric Clapton and Stevie Wonder. The bulk of the album will comprise McCartney’s interpretations of the classic American standards that he grew up listening to, but there will also be two new compositions – “My Valentine” and “Only Our Hearts.”

Paul McCartney – “My Valentine”

McCartney has commented on his long held admiration for the standards:

“When I kind of got into songwriting, I realised how well structured these songs were and I think I took a lot of my lessons from them. I always thought artists like Fred Astaire were very cool. Writers like Harold Arlen, Cole Porter, all of those guys – I just thought the songs were magical. And then, as I got to be a songwriter I thought it’s beautiful, the way they made those songs.”

He has also described the recording process for the album:

“It was very spontaneous, kind of organic, which then reminded me of the way we’d work with The Beatles. We’d bring a song in, kick it around, when we found a way to do it we’d say ‘Okay, let’s do a take now’ and by the time everyone kind of had an idea of what they were doing, we’d learnt the song. So that’s what we did, we did the take live in the studio.”

The album was produced by the three time Grammy Award winner Tommy LiPuma, who has worked with the likes of Diana Krall, Barbra Streisand, Miles Davis, George Benson and many more.

McCartney’s new album will be released on Hear Music/Concord Records on February 7 2012.

Last chance to win McCartney and Manic Street Preacher tickets

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:00:25 +0000

Today is the last chance for UK readers to enter the prize draws to win tickets to see Paul McCartney and the Manic Street Preachers in concert.

Read on for details…

Paul McCartney tickets – draw closes 1 December 2011

Paul McCartney is back on the road in December for his European “On the Road” tour, which includes UK dates in London, Manchester and Liverpool. The prize draw offers you the chance to win two tickets to a UK venue of your choice, hotel accommodation and £100 spending money.

One runner up will receive Martin Scorsese’s critically acclaimed new documentary “George Harrison – Living in the Material World.”

Click here for your free entry to the Paul McCartney tickets prize draw

Manic Street Preachers tickets – draw closes 1 Dec 2011

The Manic Street Preachers are playing a special one-off Christmas gig at London’s O2 Arena on 17 December. Enter the prize draw for your chance to win two tickets to the show, one night’s stay at a luxury hotel and £100 spending money.

Click here for your free entry to the Manic Street Preachers tickets prize draw

Click here for details of all the current prize draws

Vintage Paul McCartney letter sells for £34,850

admin — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:21:05 +0000

A letter from Paul McCartney to an unknown drummer has sold at auction for £34,850 ($55,865).

The letter, dated 12 August, 1960, was written by McCartney in response to a notice placed by the drummer in the Liverpool Echo. McCartney was inviting the drummer to audition for the then unknown Beatles, noting that he must be available for a trip to Hamburg, expenses paid £18 per week (approx.), for 2 months.

The Beatles left for Hamburg with drummer Pete Best a few days after the letter was written, and this is the first evidence that they considered a drummer other than Best for the Hamburg gigs.

Image credit: Christies Auction House

Neil Roberts, of Christie’s, told the BBC:

“One of the best aspects of my work is the rare occasion when, out of the blue, you are made aware of the existence of something so extraordinary, it alters the knowledge of your specialist field. This letter has proved to be such a case.

The letter was one of 215 lots in Christie’s “Pop Culture: Rock and Pop Memorabilia” auction. The item that attracted the highest bid was a hand-written placard written by John Lennon to display at the Montreal Bed-In for Peace in 1969. The placard sold for £97,250 ($155,892).

Image credit: Christies Auction House

Other high selling items included the guitar Pete Townshend played at Live Aid in 1985 (£34,850/$55,865), 35mm black and white transparencies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono taken in Paris in March, 1969 (£30,000/$48,090), and a flamboyant cropped jacket worn by Marc Bolan on stage between 1975 and 1977 (£3,750/$6,011).

Unreleased Michael Jackson film expected to fetch £4 million

admin — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 09:04:21 +0000

A previously unseen Michael Jackson documentary is expected to sell for at least £4 million at an auction in London on November 26.

The film was shot during three concerts at the Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti, in Buenos Aires, Argentina during Jackson’s “Dangerous” tour in 1993.

Jackson was unhappy with the finished documentary and so decided not to release it, but he did give a VHS copy to his chauffeur as a bonus. It is this copy that is being sold and the lot does not come with distribution rights.

Fame Bureau’s CEO, Ted Owen, told The Independent:

“I’m very excited that this tape is finally going to be seen because of its quality, the amount of cameras used and the sheer closeness you are to the performance when watching it.”

Other highlights of the unusually named “Rock ‘n’ Roll & Holy Soles” auction include:

Elvis Presley’s Alden solid body copper/bronze finish guitar that he used while in the army. This comes complete with its original valve amplifier and lead
Roger McGuinn’s Regal 12-string acoustic guitar. This was the first 12-string that McGuinn ever owned
Frank Zappa’s customised 1952/53 Les Paul Goldtop Guitar, which he used during the early to mid 1960s on stage and in the studio
an original 1966 Hofner left-handed violin bass gitar used by Paul McCartney in 2002
the Rolling Stones Rock ‘n’ Roll Circus photo archive with copyright
a Fender Duo-Sonic guitar played by John Lennon in the 1970s.

Click here to view all the lots in the auction.

For those whose budget doesn’t stretch to £4 million there is a new Michael Jackson documentary out this month titled “Michael Jackson – The Life of an Icon.”

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Michael Jackson – The Life of an Icon (DVD)	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now	Buy Now

Michael Jackson – The Life of an Icon (Blu-ray)	Buy Now	Buy Now	* Buy Now	Buy Now

* – the UK edition is a Blu-ray/DVD combo

McCartney funds Motown piano restoration

admin — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 07:32:08 +0000

Sir Paul McCartney is funding the restoration of the piano that was played on many of the classic Motown recordings of the 1960s.

McCartney visited the Motown Historical Museum in Detroit earlier this year and was disappointed when told that the 1877 Steinway grand piano is no longer playable.

The piano will now be refurbished by Steinway & Sons at the same New York factory where it was originally built in 1877. The restored piano is expected to be unveiled next March at a fund-raising gala at Orchestra Hall, Detroit.

Motown piano restoration – Detroit Free Press