Paul McCartney was named “songwriter of the year” at 29th annual awards put on by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.
The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) awarded Paul McCartney the songwriter of the year honor at a gala dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in London on Wednesday 14 October 2009. McCarntey was given this prestigious award in recognition for the songs “All You Need Is Love”, “Hello Goodbye” and “Come Together” (Hey, I though John wrote Come Together!).
The Awards recognized the most performed works for last year by writer and publisher members of the U.K collecting society ‘Performing Rights Society’.
Other winners included Coldplay for Song of the Year with Viva La Vida and AC/DC’s Brian Johnson for “Back in Black” and “You Shook Me All Night Long”. Also awarded were Def Leppard and Mutt Lange (”Pour Some Sugar On Me”), Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters (”Money”), The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger & Keith Richards (”Start Me Up”)
Champagne for the nights winners, tissues for the losers.
In today’s Beatles News…
NEW YORK, Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ — Julian Lennon was in NYC recently recording with James Scott Cook, a new artist partner of Julian Lennon’s new company ‘theRevolution’.
Initially, Julian was scheduled to sing a few background vocals on one of James’ songs titled ‘LUCY’, but during the recording, and with the news of Lucy Vodden’s passing fresh on everyone’s minds, Julian suggested that the track be released as a digital charity single, in honor of the memory of Lucy, with proceeds being donated to charities that support research for a cure for Lupus, in Lucy Vodden’s name. (Lucy Vodden, is a childhood friend of Julian who Read more »
Want to earn a degree in a Beatles College Degree in Beatles-ology? Liverpool Hope University is now offering a Masters of Arts study in Beatles Study and Popular music in society. Hope University’s website says it’s a unique opportunity to study in the home of Beatles and with access to Beatles specialists. They claim it is the only Master of Arts program of it’s kind in the world.
Who would take such a course? The university says it’s good for people working in the fields of popular music studies, cultural studies, social anthropology, politics and musicology. Personally, I think it’s Read more »
John Lennon and Yoko Ono kept their fame from their young son Sean Lenon. For many years Sean didn’t even know his father was once in the Beatles. Sean Lenon had to learn of his father’s worldwide fame and musical accomplishments on his own.
Yoko said, “I was prepared that Sean might become an archaeologist or something. John didn’t even want to tell him that he was a Beatle.” According to Yoko, the famous musical couple were also so desperate to keep their son from being a musician that they didn’t talk about music at home.
Yoko adds, “Sean found out from someone else. One day, he asked John, ‘Were you a Beatle’?” “When Sean was in his 20s, I found out that Read more »
Olivia Harrison
Despite objections from neighbors around George Harrison’s 38 acre Oxfordshire estate, widow Olivia Harrison plans to replace a razor-wire fence. Permission was granted by South Oxfordshire District Council to replace the eight foot high fence to maintain security.
The fence had been installed in 1999 after a 33 year old schizophrenic man broke into the home and stabbed George seven times. Olivia hit the attacker in the head with a fire poker and table lamp. George died of cancer just two years later. Olivia Harrison put in an application to the town asking to replace the 10 year old rotting fence. The town was worried the fence was un-neighborly and detrimental to the town’s character. Letters to the town authorities said the fence made it look like Read more »
The Beatles Her Majesty was foreshadowed by Paul McCartney when he was just ten years old. Apparently, Paul thought Her Majesty was a pretty nice girl even when he was a young boy. In 1953, the young McCartney wrote an essay about the Queen’s Coronation. He entered it into a Liverpool City Council essay competition.
Paul McCartney was a winner even at an early age. His essay placed first in the under age 11 category and won him a gift certificate for books. McCartney wrote favorably about the Queen in his essay saying that the “present day royalty rules with affection rather than force”. All you need is love indeed. He also refers to her as “our lovely young queen”. Eventually, the Queen would return the favor by knighting Sir Paul McCartney. (When you graduate, you get a graduation cap. When you’re knighted do they give you a knight cap?)
The essay was discovered by author Kevin Roach in the Read more »
Variety reports that there is going to be a film made about Brian Epstein’s life. It’s going to be called “A Life in A Day”. Hmm, that title sounds familiar-ish but backwards. Producer David Permut is currently attempting to secure the rights to the Beatles music for the film. The film is said to concentrate on the early years of the Beatles forming. The film hasn’t begun shooting yet.
- Beatles Geek Pete
Director Robert Zemeckis and Disney are in negotiations to remake Yellow Submarine, the 1968 psychedelic animated film based on the music of The Beatles. The potential deal would combine cutting-edge 3-D feature technology with the latest reinterest in The Beatles.
A report in Variety states that Disney is working on a complicated rights deal that would clear sixteen Beatles tunes for use in the film. The report doesn’t say how close Zemeckis would Read more »
What are being called previously unheard interviews with an angry John Lennon have surfaced, offering insight into what may have caused the Beatles to split. But, I remember there being a whole book put out of the Lennon Rolling Stone interview tapes. So, while they may be “unheard” by the general public, many Beatles fans, like me, have probably read the transcripts from the interview tapes.
The ex-Beatle sat down with Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner shortly after the Fab Four broke up and revealed a few home truths about the real reasons behind the split – something the four former Beatles have rarely spoken about. Wenner released the tapes for celebrated rock journalist Mikal Gilmore’s study on what tore the band apart, which appears in the upcoming issue of the publication. Read more »
Despite the false rumor that Michael Jackson was giving Paul McCartney back his Beatles songs in Jackson’s will, Paul McCartney may regain control of his songs after all.
Billboard Magazine reports that Paul McCartney may get back some of his Beatles songs in the next decade. A U.S. Copyright Act lets songwriters regain copyrights after 56 years. So, Paul McCartney could begin regaining control over songs he wrote in 1962 in the year 2018. Then, over the next 8 years, additional McCartney-penned songs may go back under his control. Nice retirement money!
The copyright act has different rules if the songwriter dies. Some of John Lennon’s song rights were up for grabs as early as 1990. It’s been reported that Lennon’s heir, Yoko Ono, struck a deal with publisher Sony/ATV so they would retain Lennon’s portion of the song publishing. That would have been Read more »
