Yesterday the world received the sad news that Glenn Frey, lead singer/songwriter/guitarist of The Eagles and a co-founder of the band, passed away at age 67 at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City. Many times over the course of his high-profile career Glenn Frey credited The Beatles with inspiring him to pursue a career as a rock musician.

A teenage Frey was in the audience at Detroit’s Olympia Hall where, on September 6, 1964, he saw two performances by The Beatles, both lasting about 30 minutes each. The 1995 book The Story of The Eagles: The Long Run by Marc Shapiro quotes Frey as saying, “My aunt got tickets to see The Beatles and it was just an amazing experience,’ he recalled not too long ago. ‘You barely heard the beginnings of each song and then it was just these waves of people screaming. The girl in the chair in front of me fell into my arms. She was screaming ‘Paul!, Paul!. I thought ‘Wow! Man! This is really cool!”

Shapiro’s book continues with a passage on how the concert forced the 14 year-old Detroit kid who had been taking piano lessons since age five to switch to guitar:

“In later life he would remember the impact those shows had on his career choice. ‘I had this dream of holding the spotlight as a rock star. That’s when I decided to take up the guitar.’”

Immediately after the experience of two Beatles concerts in one day, he sought out guitar lessons and practiced incessantly.

Needless to say, Frey must have been eternally grateful to his aunt for scoring those tickets to the two Beatles concerts in the same day.

In the 1998 book To the Limit: The Untold Story of the Eagles, author Marc Eliot describes how the appearance of The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show impacted future members of the band.

Eliot also wrote a tribute to Glenn Frey on the occasion of his passing entitled “Why Glenn Frey’s Death Shakes Us” that appeared on the CNN website a day after his death. In the article, Eliot mentions three times the influence of The Beatles. The first paragraph reads, “…… for many of us it also signals something more personal: the passing of a time when the Eagles’ Hotel California was the anthem for the youth of America in the ‘70s – the way Beatles music was for the children of the ‘60’s.”

Eliot’s article continues with an observation about the first year of The Eagles playing together, “A few years later in Los Angeles, where the Eagles first played together, they were mostly a derivative band, using material from Jackson Browne, J.D. Souther, Jack Tempchin, and Tom Waits to help them find their way. (Like the Beatles, Henley and Frey relied on the music of others to learn how to make their own.)”

Another passage in Eliot’s article on Frey’s death states, “But it was Hotel California, released in 1976, that made them a worldwide sensation. The album’s opening track of the same name, co-written by Frey, was the clarion call for the Eagles the way Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band had been for the Beatles: it described both the band’s self-destruction by excesses, its awareness of that self-destruction and its inability to stop it (‘You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave….’)”.

Randy Meisner, bassist and founding member of The Eagles, told this blogmaster a few years ago that The Eagles met Paul McCartney in 1974 in London at a party at Ron Wood’s house while the band was recording their third album, On the Border, in England. Meisner related that the band was in awe of meeting McCartney and found him to be pleasant and totally unassuming. The band was uplifted when McCartney was familiar with their first two albums and gave them praise. At the time, Ronnie Wood was a member of Faces and the following year would become a member of The Rolling Stones following the break-up of Faces.

As is well known, The Eagles broke up in the autumn of 1980. They did not reunite until 1994 with a major world concert tour and live album, Hell Freezes Over, which included four new songs. However, a Beatle may have played a role in reuniting The Eagles. In the summer of 1992, Ringo Starr went on the road with a new configuration of his All-Star Band, which included ex-Eagles Joe Walsh and Timothy B. Schmit. Schmit had joined The Eagles for The Long Run, the band’s sixth studio album, after original bassist Randy Meisner had left the band in 1977 after the world tour for the multi-platinum Hotel California album. Guitarist Joe Walsh had joined The Eagles in 1976 immediately before the recording of Hotel California after original lead guitarist Bernie Leadon left the band before the international leg of their tour for the One of These Nights album.

Having two ex-Eagles onstage together for a concert tour certainly was a positive step in getting The Eagles back together less than two years later.

The inclusion of Timothy B. Schmit into the 1992 tour of Ringo’s All-Starr Band reflects a most unusual irony. Eagles’ co-founder Randy Meisner was the bass player for Poco; when he left Poco in 1970, he was replaced by Timothy B. Schmit. When Mesiner left The Eagles in 1977, coincidentally his replacement was none other than Timothy B. Schmit. What the music world does not know is that Randy Meisner was actually a member of Buffalo Springfield, too. He was hired as the bass player, but a month or so later the band broke up. The original Eagles bassist practiced with Buffalo Springfield during that time, but the band broke up in 1968 before Randy Meisner could appear on an album or in concert. Believe it or not, a very young Timothy B. Schmit also auditioned for the position with Buffalo Springfield that ultimately went to Meisner right before the famed group disbanded.

Randy Meisner was not in any way connected to the 1992 Ringo Starr tour, but a most ironic situation should be mentioned. Former Chicago lead singer/bassist Peter Cetera signed on to the 1992 Ringo tour but had to cancel out right before the tour started. Joe Walsh, who had previously toured with Ringo in 1989, recommended his former bandmate Schmit to take the spot left vacant by Peter Cetera. Though a phenomenally successful band of the 1970’s and 1980’s, it took Chicago seven years of Billboard chart entries before they scored their first number one hit in 1976, “If You Leave Me Now”, which featured Peter Cetera on lead vocals. Ironically, after leaving Chicago in 1986, that year saw Cetera immediately top the charts with his first two solo singles, the ballads “Glory of Love” and “The Next Time I Fall”.

Peter Cetera’s brother, Tim Cetera, was also an accomplished bass player. In 1971, Randy Mesiner was the bass player for Rick Nelson and The Stone Canyon Band and left to pursue other interests. Meisner ended up as part of the four man touring band backing Linda Ronstadt’s 1971 tour, along with drummer Don Henley, guitarist Glenn Frey, and lead guitarist Bernie Leadon; early into this tour, the four made the decision that they would stay together after the tour and form their own band, which they eventually called The Eagles.

When Randy Meisner left Rick Nelson and The Stone Canyon Band on great terms with his friend Nelson, he was replaced by Tim Cetera. Tim Cetera, who also would do extensive studio work as well as touring with his brother’s band Chicago, was Nelson’s bass player at the famous Madison Square Garden oldies concert that would inspire Rick Nelson’s 1972 hit “Garden Party”, which reached # 6 on the charts and represented Nelson’s only entry into the Top 40 that the former teen idol penned himself. Nelson’s 1972 hit has a place in Beatles lore in that while during Beatlemania there were many songs about The Fab Four, “Garden Party” is the only hit song that mentions an ex-Beatle with the lyrics “Yoko brought her walrus/There was magic in the air”, as John Lennon and Yoko Ono were in attendance at the now infamous concert. The fact that the Cetera brothers played into the Randy Mesiner/Timothy B. Schmit equation is interesting to say the least.

Rick Nelson would become a part of Eagles history when he allowed the newly formed and struggling band to practice in the garage of his Malibu home in 1971. Randy Meisner absolutely was in awe of Rick Nelson’s house. When the Eagles scored their first successes, coincidentally Nelson’s house was up for sale and the Eagles’ bass player wasted no time in purchasing it.

Of course, Randy Meisner’s signature song with the Eagles is “Take It to The Limit”, which he wrote and on which he performed lead vocals. This Eagles classic off of One of These Nights reached the number four position on The Billboard Hot 100 in early 1976. Randy had written the song and held onto it for a year. Glenn Frey and Don Henley added the finishing touches and the trio ended up sharing the writing credits. Unfortunately, several great songs that Randy composed himself for The Eagles and on which he sang lead vocals do not receive the airplay they deserve on FM Classic Rock stations, such as “Certain Kind of Fool”, “Is It True” and “Try and Love Again”.

As is well-known, after two tours of duty with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Eagles’ lead guitarist Joe Walsh became part of the Beatles family when he married Ringo’s sister-in-law Marjorie Bach in 2008. Marjorie Bach is the younger sister of Ringo’s wife, American actress Barbara Bach, the “Bond girl”who is famous for her role as Soviet spy Anya Amasova in the 1977 James Bond film The Spy Who Loved Me. When you happen to see Walsh performing with Paul McCartney at awards shows, you need not think twice about his connection to the ex-Beatle.

Glenn Frey was the leader of The Eagles, and was the catalyst for the music that was and is a soundtrack to a generation. He had the most success on the Billboard charts than any of the other solo Eagles. It is amazing that despite The Eagles scoring five number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 between 1975 and 1979, no member of the band ever scored a number one hit as a solo artist. However, Glenn Frey hit the # 2 position twice in 1985. The five number one hits by The Eagles are “Best of My Love” (1975), “One of These Nights” (1975)”, “New Kid in Town” (1977), “Hotel California” (1977) and “Heartache Tonight” (1979). Frey co-wrote every one of these five number one hits.

In 1985, Frey hit number two on the charts with “The Heat Is On”, the theme song to the Eddie Murphy movie Beverly Hills Cop. Later in the year, Frey co-wrote “You Belong To the City” for the Miami Vice soundtrack, which as the top-selling album of 1985 topped the Billboard album charts. “You Belong to the City” stayed in the number two position for two weeks and looked like it was going to make the jump to the top slot, but was beat out by Starship’s “We Built This City”, which topped the charts for two weeks beginning on November 16, 1985. “We Built This City”, co-written by longtime Elton John writing partner and famed lyricist Bernie Taupin, was named by Rolling Stone magazine in 2011 as “the absolute worst song of the 1980’s”.

With the exception of “The Heat Is On”, every Glenn Frey solo hit was co-written with singer/songwriter Jack Tempchin. This list includes many Top 40 entries, including the hits “The One You Love”, “Sexy Girl”, “Smuggler’s Blues”, and “True Love”. Jack Tempchin wrote the worldwide staple Eagles hit song “Peaceful Easy Feeling” on the 1972 debut album The Eagles as well as co-wrote the FM classic “Already Gone” from On the Border. In addition, Jack Tempchin co-wrote with Frey the Easy Listening hit “The Girl From Yesterday”, one of four original songs from the 1994 Hell Freezes Over live album. In addition, he helped The Eagles with their 2007 two disc CD Long Road Out of Eden, their first studio album in 28 years since 1979’s The Long Run, by co-writing “It’s Your World Now” with Glenn and co-writing “Somebody” with John Brannen. Apart from his 44 year association with The Eagles and Glenn Frey, Jack Tempchin has written many other songs for other artists, most notably the beautiful “Swayin’ To The Music (Slow Dancing)”, which Johnny Rivers took to # 10 on The Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1977.

Strangely enough, the closest a solo Eagle ever came to a number one hit was when Joe Walsh played lead guitar on Andy Gibb’s “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water”, which ruled the top position on the charts for two weeks in March 1978.

For the Eagles’ last number one hit, “Heartache Tonight” in November 1979, Detroit native Frey conspired with two other Detroit natives, J.D. Souther and Bob Seger, to pen the song. This unique Detroit trio wrote the number one hit with Texan Don Henley.

While countless Eagles songs featuring Frey are in regular rotation on radio stations of various formats, two brilliant Eagles songs surprisingly are not in regular rotation on Classic Rock stations. “Outlaw Man”, a song written by David Blue that appears on the band’s second album Desperado, and “Ol’ 55”, a Tom Waits composition from the third album On The Border, amazingly do not get the same airplay as other Eagles classics featuring Glenn Frey. These overlooked gems as are good as the well-known standards.

The worldwide music industry has lost a giant with the sad passing of Glenn Frey. To say that The Eagles provided the soundtrack to a generation is an understatement. The tributes to the departed Eagle given on websites and social media by his fellow Eagles and friends in the entertainment world reflect a person from humble Detroit origins who at age 19 not only moved to L.A., but moved L.A. and the music industry in a compelling direction. Numerous well-known music people are indebted to Frey, but what is more compelling is that countless music fans feel a sense of great loss with the departure of someone who was a major part of their lives.

Despite being from Detroit where the Detroit Red Wings were a force in the NHL during Glenn’s youth, he regularly wore hockey jerseys of the Chicago Blackhawks, both home and away versions, in concerts in the 1970’s. There is little doubt that Glenn has already donned a Chicago Blackhawks jersey to entertain people in his new world. It is with profound sadness that he has passed on to another world, but we feel fortunate to have been the recipients of his immense talents. The world will be a bit of an empty place without him, but it will not affect his songs constantly being played on the radio, which will underscore that Glenn Frey will never leave us.

Thank God his aunt took him to the two Beatles concerts on that same day in September 1964, the day in which he made the irrevocable decision to pursue a career as a rock performer.

“Watching The Wheels” was John Lennon’s answer to the critics of his taking more than five years off from being a rock star. The song has also been invoked by some famous people who have been asked about a transitional or rest period in their careers. Former heavyweight champion boxing contender Gerry Cooney is the most famous example of a celebrity who has publicly identified with the song.

In the spring of 1981, most people were sure that the song “Watching The Wheels” would be John Lennon’s last entry into the Top 40 section of The Billboard Hot 100. It was the la st single released from the Double Fantasy album. However, three years later the song “Nobody Told Me” spent eleven weeks in the Top 40 in early 1984. “Nobody Told Me” appeared on the 1984 album Milk and Honey, which was made up of songs not used for Double Fantasy and songs immediately recorded after the songs for the 1980 album were recorded. The posthumous hit “Nobody Told Me” trumped 1981’s “Watching The Wheels” for the distinction of being the last John Lennon song on the U.S. charts.

“Watching The Wheels” was released on April 11, 1981, reaching number ten in the U.S. and staying in the Top 40 for ten weeks. It only reached number 30 on the UK charts. It was the third and final single released off of the 1980 album Double Fantasty; the first single from the album was “(Just Like) Starting Over” and the second was “Woman”. The album was released on November 1, 1980, exactly five weeks before Lennon’s murder on December 8. On December 27, “(Just Like) Starting Over” topped the charts and stayed in the number one position for five consecutive weeks. It was only the second number one hit for the ex-Beatle. Believe it or not, John Lennon only had one number one hit in his lifetime with “Whatever Gets You Thru The Night”, which hit number one for one week on November 16, 1974. The famous Lennon song “Imagine” only hit number three on The Billboard Hot 100 despite being by far the biggest selling single of Lennon’s solo career.

“Watching The Wheels” addressed the criticism from critics and questions from friends and people in the music industry about Lennon taking a break of over five years from the music business to help raise his son Sean. Before 1980’s Double Fantasy, Lennon’s last album was the Walls and Bridges LP released in 1974. Lennon’s self-proclaimed “househusband” years were from 1975-1980 during which for all intents and purposes he retired from the music industry. The song successfully conveyed that Lennon did not care what other people thought and he was totally happy outside of the music world in the domestic life.

The song “Watching The Wheels” has been invoked by countless people in the last 35 years as a means to explain their periods of personal or professional rest. John Lennon wrote the song to diss critics and people who had questioned the fact that a period of six years had elapsed between the releases of his albums. The opening lines of “People think I’m crazy/Doing what I’m doing/Well they give me all kinds of warning to save me from ruin/When I say that I’m okay, they look at me kinda strange/Surely you’re not happy now you no longer play the game” speak for themselves.

One celebrity who routinely invoked the song “Watching The Wheels” in interviews with major newspapers and magazines was boxer Gerry Cooney. In 1981, Cooney defeated former world heavyweight champion Ken Norton by knockout 54 seconds into the first round. In 1982, Cooney fought heavyweight champion Larry Holmes and lost in 13 rounds. Prior to the fight for the title against Holmes, Gerry Cooney was seen by many as an underdog in the mold of “Rocky Balboa” from Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky movies. Unfortunately, too many people recklessly added a racial component to the Holmes vs. Cooney fight, and Cooney was not at all pleased to be unfairly labeled “The Great White Hope”.

Four months after the title fight against Holmes, a November 1, 1982 article in the New York Times entitled “The Sting Eased, The Ring Pulls Cooney Back” invoked how the boxer was identifying with the song from the previous year by the late John Lennon. Published a week after Cooney resumed training after a four month layoff, the article quotes Conney’s manager Dennis Rappaport as saying, “There were periods of time when I didn’t know what he would eventually do. I told him he had to do what he felt was best for him. He told me about the John Lennon song ‘Watching The Wheels Go Round’. He said that was what he was doing, watching the wheels.”

The September 24, 1982 New York Times article “Cooney Is Planning to Train Again” has Cooney himself invoking his favorite John Lennon song.

Five months later, “Starting Up the Long Road Back” by William Nack, an article in the March 28, 1983 issue of Sports Illustrated, also detailed how Gerry Cooney was identifying with the song. After naming some movies that the boxer was watching over and over while identifying with characters, it stated:

“And he was John Lennon singing. Ever since WBC heavyweight champion Larry Holmes in the 13th round of their title fight in Las Vegas last June 11, Cooney had listened endlessly to Watching the Wheels, Lennon’s song about his dropout from the entertainment world. It sustained Cooney through his dropout from boxing. “Listen to this,” he said one day, springing to his feet. “This was just like me the last nine months right down to the end.” He sang along:

“I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round I really love to watch them roll No longer riding on the merry-go-round I just had to let it go”

Another New York Times article, “Sports of the Times; Wheels Go Round”, was published on August 14, 1985. The article clearly states where Cooney was at that stage in his life and career, and how “Watching The Wheels” continued to be a part of the equation. The aforementioned articles are only a sampling of the articles on Gerry Cooney from that time period in which the 1981 Top Ten Lennon hit was invoked.

While “Watching The Wheels” is obviously not as famous or as big a hit other John Lennon songs, it has resonated with so many people over the years. When the song was in the top ten of the Top 40 in the spring of 1981, John Lennon unfortunately was not around to explain the song in interviews. A year and a half later, though, heavyweight boxing contender Gerry Cooney did a great job of explaining to people through media interviews what the song was all about. Cooney did an excellent job expounding on John Lennon’s sentiments that sometimes people have to step back and do what they want for a bit ……. and not pay any attention to the comments or criticisms of other people.

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“Let ‘Em In” is a song that has taken its share of abuse over the years on both sides of the Atlantic. The second single released off of Wings at the Speed of Sound, it reached # 2 in the UK and # 3 in the U.S. in 1976.

The song puts forth a litany of people. “Sister Suzy” is a reference to Linda McCartney, who played Suzy in “Suzy and the Red Stripes”. “Martin Luther” believe it or not is neither Martin Luther nor Martin Luther King, but rather an old nickname for John Lennon, as the other three Beatles used to jokingly refer to him as “John Martin Luther Lennon”; “Brother John” is Linda’s brother, attorney John Eastman, who also looked after Paul’s business interests; “Phil and Don” was an obvious reference to the Everly Brothers. “Auntie Gin” was Paul’s beloved Auntie Gin, who was responsible for hooking up his parents. “Brother Michael” is obviously Mike McCartney, Paul’s younger brother and former lead singer of The Scaffold.

However, in a later verse, Paul eliminates “Brother Michael” and instead says “Uncle Ernie”. Uncle Ernie is a reference to Paul’s good friend, Who drummer Keith Moon. Moon played the character Uncle Ernie in the 1975 film version of the rock opera Tommy.

A well known anecdote is that after Moon listened to the 1973 Wings album Band on the Run, he immediately rang up his friend Paul to inquire as to who was the great drummer on the tracks. Moon was astonished when Paul told him that Paul himself had to handle the drumming chores because original Wings drummer Denny Seiwell quit at the last minute.

Ironically, Keith Moon and his girlfriend dined with Paul and Linda McCartney on the night that Moon died, September 6, 1978. After dinner, the two couples attended a London preview of the film The Buddy Holly Story. Afterwards, Moon returned to his flat he was renting at 12 Curzon Place in London and took way too many Heminevrin pills, which he had been taking to prevent him from drinking alcohol. He compounded the situation by eating food immediately afterwards. This combination caused him to die of an overdose.

Moon died in the same flat and the same room in which Cass Elliot of The Mamas and the Papas had died in 1974. The owner of the flat was Harry Nilsson. Nilsson would lend the flat to friends when he was out of England. Naturally, when these two famous artists died in his flat, many eerie urban legends abounded about “Harry Nilsson’s Death Flat”. Contrary to some of these bogus legends, Nilsson did not die in this flat when he perished from a heart attack in 1994 in California.

Tony Sheridan is someone famous in Beatles lore, as some might argue that he indirectly gave the struggling band their start and brought them crucial attention. The Beatles met this British singer/songwriter on their first trip to Hamburg in 1960. They backed him up on stage a few times. On a subsequent stint in Hamburg, they backed him during a recording session. For various reasons, the name “Beatles” was not used and the album was released under the name “Tony Sheridan and the Beat Boys”. The album, My Bonnie, had a track of the same title that was a minor hit in Germany and reached England.. What is interesting is that they also recorded “Cry for a Shadow”, an instrumental song penned by George Harrison and John Lennon, which would mark the first and only songwriting collaboration ever between those two Beatles.

In 1962, Brian Epstein was managing the record department of the flagship store of his family’s furniture store chain. Several people came in looking for an import copy of the German release single of “My Bonnie” by which featured the Liverpool band called The Beatles. The requests for the single sparked Epstein’s curiosity so he made it a point to catch one of their performances at the Cavern Club and the rest is history.

Tony Sheridan passed away in 2013 at the age of 72. This is his obituary in the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/18/arts/music/tony-sheridan-singer-backup-up-by-the-beatles-dies-at-72.html

If you want a listen………..

Sid Bernstein, the famous promoter who was responsible for bringing the Beatles to the U.S. for the first time, always credited the New York Times for being instrumental in helping to bring the Fab Four to the U.S. and starting the British Invasion. Bernstein spoke about this subject with this blogmaster in a 2010 interview.

During his service as an intelligence agent in England during World War II, the Bronx native of Yiddish- speaking parents developed a fascination with reading British newspapers. It was from British newspapers he would buy at New York newsstands that he first read about the Beatles and knew that he had to bring them to the U.S.

What lead up to the band’s arrival on the famous day of February 7, 1964 were the fruits of Sid Bernstein’s hobby of reading British newspapers. After reading several fascinating articles on the new group from Liverpool that was tearing up the British pop charts, the music promoter knew he could make them a smash across the pond as well. “It stirred my curiosity. They started something in their own town and it started to spread across England. I got the number of their manager, Brian Epstein, and called him.’ For the rest of his life, Bernstein could not forget Epstein’s phone number. ‘It was his home phone and the number was Liverpool 6518…it was the magic number of my life. I sometimes forgot my own kids’ number, but not that one.”

Brian Epstein was still living at home with his family at the time. Bernstein’s first call to the Epstein family was most memorable and made him an instant hit with Mrs. Queenie Epstein. She answered the phone in what seemed to be a “high-class British accent” and when Bernstein identified himself as calling from America, Mrs. Epstein asked if the New York Times still published a weekly Book Review and said that she hadn’t seen one in a long time. The American caller promised to send Mrs. Epstein the Times Book Review each week and a strong friendship was cemented with the Epstein family prior to Bernstein even speaking to Brian about the Beatles.

The New York Times was the conduit that not only created an instant friendship between Bernstein and Mrs. Epstein, but also made Mrs. Epstein champion Sid Bernstein’s offers to bring the Beatles to the U.S. He never missed an opportunity to give the famed newspaper proper credit in facilitating worldwide Beatlemania.

The Beatles’ colorful manager appreciated Bernstein’s interest but was concerned in that he did not want the band falling flat upon arriving on American shores. Epstein expressed his concerns to Bernstein without mincing words, “We are not getting any airplay in the U.S., why do you want us to come? I don’t want the boys playing to empty seats over there.”

Bernstein assured Epstein that the Beatles would have success in the States saying that the language is the same and the kids in America are the same as the Beatles fans in Britain. On the topic of the Beatles achieving success in the U.S., “I told him that they would. I loved the idea that they were British and from Liverpool. I sold him on the idea.”

Epstein’s response was, “I will make a deal with you. I need time, but I will bring them there.”

Bernstein waited ten months from his initial phone call with Epstein until the Beatles finally received airplay on American radio when a station out on the West Coast started playing the Beatles. Bernstein recalled that he was told that an English stewardess gave a Beatles record to a DJ who was a passenger on a plane, telling him to play it and that people in America would love it.

The summer before the Beatles’ February 1964 arrival in the U.S., Epstein came to New York trying to spark interest in getting Beatles records played in the U.S. He met with Bernstein, who showed Carnegie Hall to the Liverpudlian. Epstein knew of the famous venue. Bernstein convinced his business associate and newfound friend that he would have no problem selling out Carnegie Hall for the Beatles. The rest, as we know, is history. One of the famed promoter’s favorite anecdotes is that on the day after of the show, the manager of Carnegie Hall told him, “Sid, you could have booked them not for this one day, but for a month.”

The exorbitant cost of the tickets for the Carnegie Hall show were $3.50 for the balcony, $4.50 for the golden circle, and $5.50 for the orchestra.

After the massive success of bringing the Beatles to the U.S., Sid Bernstein brought over all of the top British acts as well. He brought the Rolling Stones for their first four U.S. tours, in addition to The Dave Clark 5, The Moody Blues, Herman’s Hermits and the Kinks. Having been chiefly responsible for the British Invasion, he earned the title “The Father of the British Invasion”. Throughout his long career he also has managed or promoted such acts as Barbra Streisand, ABBA, Sam Cooke, Jimmy Cliff, Lenny Kravitz, Frank Sinatra, Laura Brannigan, and many others.

Of course, the Bronx native is also famous for single-handedly orchestrating the Beatles’ 1965 concerts at Shea Stadium, which were the first popular music concerts of any kind at a stadium and paved the way for a worldwide trend.

On December 8, 2010, news camera crews came to Bernstein’s Manhattan apartment to interview him on the sad occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of his friend John Lennon. While he had a business relationship with Lennon when he arranged the Beatles’ first trip to the U.S, that relationship transcended into a strong personal friendship in the post-Beatle years. Both Bernstein and Lennon lived very close to Manhattan’s Central Park and their families would intersect in the park. Of course, John and Yoko had their young son Sean, while Bernstein had a couple of kids who still fell into the younger range. Many times they would sit and talk on a park bench while their children played. “John’s sense of humor was 24/7. The first couple of times that I ran into John and Yoko by chance he would ask her, ‘Did I ever introduce you to my friend Sid Bernstein?’. One time Yoko finally answered, ‘Yes, about a hundred times’. Any time we met after that John always made a point of asking Yoko if he had ever introduced her to me just as a joke.”

The two veterans of the Beatles world would talk not only about the music industry, but more so what it was like to be raising young kids in New York at that time. Many times Lennon would call his friend Sid to get tickets to a big concert he was promoting. Sid would relish this opportunity because he would arrange for John and Yoko to sit next to him, and they would have the opportunity to talk, and sometimes go out to eat after the shows. “I lost both a friend and a soul mate on December 8, 1980,” Bernstein said when interviewed at his apartment by this blogmaster.

In his fascinating 2002 memoir “It’s Sid Bernstein Calling…. ”, the famed promoter discusses how the New York Times played a pivotal role in bringing the Beatles to America, though not as animated as when he would discuss the topic in conversation. Bernstein’s memoir is a “Who’s Who” of the entertainment world.

For years Sid Bernstein put the Times‘ Book Review in the mail to Mrs. Epstein, even after the Beatles finally came to the U.S. in 1964. During his life Bernstein was not shy of saying that the New York Times was instrumental in convincing Brian Epstein to bring to America. He once joked to this blogmaster, “I don’t know how things would have turned out had it not been for the New York Times”.

When Sid Bernstein died at age 95 on August 21, 2013, the entertainment world lost a giant to say the least. Until the end he remained great friends with countless stars. He never failed to give the New York Times proper credit for being the catalyst in bringing the Beatles to the U.S.

The whole issue of the 1970’s Canadian rock band Klaatu cannot be fully addressed in a single blog post. People have written lengthy articles on the subject over the years. Information in this post has been taken from the article “Twisted Tales: Seventies Band Klaatu Rumored to Be Reunited Beatles” by James Sullivan in January 2008.

To make a long story short, in 1976 and 1977 there was a major rumor that this mysterious Canadian band was actually the Beatles sneaking out a new album under a pseudonym six years after their break-up.

Klaatu was definitely most successful in trying to achieve the sound of The Beatles. Their self-titled debut album not only sounded like The Fab Four, but also the album did not list any band members, producers or credits. It did not sport any photos, either.

The so-called “clues” to this coup by the four ex-Beatles were compelling. The album was released on Capitol Records, the Beatles’ American label. Sullivan also cites John Lennon’s brief move to suburban Toronto, as another validation by the conspiracy theorists. Also, the name “Klaatu” was taken from the sci-fi classic The Day the Earth Stood Still, which Ringo Starr used as cover art for his 1974 album Goodnight Vienna.

A rock critic for the Providence Journal stated in an article that Klaatu was definitely the Beatles, and the whole rumor took off all throughout North America and the world. Another theory was that it was not an album of new material by the four lads from Liverpool, but rather an album that was rumored to have been shelved in 1966 immediately after Revolver.

A Google search of the words “Klaatu Beatles” will no doubt give you an infinite number of articles and postings about legitimate coincidences as well as the conspiracy theories that have been floating around for almost 40 years now.

Please keep in mind that it is amazing to realize that this rumor circulated everywhere some twenty years before the introduction of the internet into everyday life.

Thanks to Mr. James Sullivan for his concise and informative article on this subject matter.

Robert Stigwood is an Australian-born and British-based entertainment mogul who managed rock acts in Britain. The British entertainment establishment was shocked on January 13, 1967 when Brian Epstein merged his entertainment management company, NEMS Enterprises, with Robert Stigwood’s company. People are still uncertain as to why Epstein made this move. He obviously wanted to reduce his involvement in NEMS Enterprises, but this merger was considered a bold move.

Stigwood agreed to transfer all of his company’s assets into NEMS. As a result, he received major shareholding in NEMS, in addition to a handsome salary and many other perks as could only be expected.

The four Beatles were absolutely livid. They definitely had no fondness for Stigwood. In 2000, Paul told interviewer Greil Marcus:

“We said, ‘In fact, if you do, if you somehow manage to pull this off, we can promise you one thing. We will record ‘God Save the Queen’ for every single record we make from now on and we’ll sing out of tune. That’s a promise. So if this guy buys us, that’s what he’s buying.”

Brian Epstein read the writing on the wall and stayed on solely as the manager of The Beatles and turned over all of his other acts to Stigwood. Obviously, after Epstein’s death later that year, The Beatles waved goodbye to Stigwood and NEMS, en route to forming their own company, Apple Corps.

Stigwood would go on to have absolutely phenomenal success in music, movies and television. He represented such acts as The Bee Gees, Cream, Rod Stewart, David Bowie, Blind Faith, and many more.

After seeing John Travolta in the 1976 movie Carrie and seeing that he could also sing because of his 1976 Top Ten hit “Let Her In”, Stigwood immediately signed the actor from the hit show “Welcome Back Kotter” to a three film deal. The first two Stigwood films with Travolta, Saturday Night Fever and Grease, were both international smash successes that catapulted Travolta into superstardom. However, the third film, Moment by Moment in 1978, starred Travolta and Lily Tomlin; it was an absolute and laughable bomb and many feel that it did irreparable damage to Travolta’s career.

Stigwood decided to make Saturday Night Fever after reading an article in the June 7, 1976 issue of New York magazine by British rock journalist Nik Cohn entitled “Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night.” Cohn had recently arrived in America and was fascinated by the new disco culture. He wrote a compelling article about an Italian-American kid who worked in a hardware store by day, but on the weekends had a whole new life as a star on the dance floor at discos. The article touched upon how this person and his group of blue-collar friends from the same Brooklyn neighborhood were the pioneers of a new dance craze and subculture that would soon sweep the nation.

Robert Stigwood was enthralled by the article and paid Cohn the hefty sum of $90,000 for the film rights. Stigwood hired veteran screenwriter Norman Wexler to write the screenplay for Saturday Night Fever. Cohn talked about this 1976 magazine article in 1997 for the making of the twentieth anniversary DVD of the famous 1977 film. About a year later, Cohn went public and said that he totally fabricated everything in the article and that the likable Italian-American young adult disco star and his friends had never even existed. Don’t you think Cohn was laughing all the way to the bank in 1976 when he cashed that $90,000 check?

On July 7, 2015 Ringo Starr became the first Beatle to reach the milestone of having a 75th birthday. He will not be the last as Paul McCartney will hit 75 on June 18, 2017. Sadly, John Lennon would have reached 75 this coming October 9, 2015.

If he were alive, George Harrison, who was born at home, would be able to celebrate two 75th birthdays – he was reportedly born in his family home on February 24, 1943 at 11:50 PM, but his birth was registered with the City of Liverpool as February 25, 1943, which is his official birthday. In later years George began to embrace February 24th as his birthday.

Being the first Beatle to hit 75 is just one of the many firsts for Ringo. His song “Photograph”, which reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for the week of November 24, 1973, represents the first time that two ex-Beatles collaborated to release a song. “Photograph” was co-written by Ringo and George Harrison on a luxury yacht in the South of France in 1971. It was an international hit, also reaching number one on the charts in Canada and Australia. With all the countless worldwide number one hits credited to Lennon/McCartney, it was refreshing to Beatles fans at the time that a Starr/Harrison composition topped the charts.

On Ringo’s two previous hit singles, “It Don’t Come Easy” and “Back Off Boogaloo”, it was reported that these were also Starr/Harrison collaborations though Harrison went uncredited; Harrison also produced these two singles. George provided Ringo with help on the melodies of these two songs.

The original recording was done during the recording of George’s Living in the Material World album, but the official recording was done in Los Angeles as part of the wildly successful 1973 album Ringo, which also yielded the number one single “You’re Sixteen” and the top ten hit “Oh My My”.

Recorded in March 1973 at Sunset Sound Recorders in Los Angeles, it was produced by Richard Perry who incorporated a Phil Spectator-type “Wall of Sound” with multiple drums and acoustic guitars. Famed pianist Nicky Hopkins handled piano chores, Klaus Voormann played bass, Bobby Keys played saxophone, Jim Keltner was the main drummer, Lon Van Eaton and brother Derreck Van Eaton on percussion, Vini Poncia on acoustic guitar, and George Harrison on acoustic guitar and providing harmony vocals.

On January 26, 2014 at the 56th annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the Beatles received the Recording Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and surviving Beatles Ringo and Paul represented the band. Ringo sang “Photograph” at the event.

We are all familiar with younger brothers who seemingly try to cash in on their brothers’ fame. Names like Frank Stallone, Joey Travolta and Simon Townshend come to mind. However, Paul McCartney never had that problem…………….

Mike McCartney – Paul’s younger brother Mike decided to use the professional name of “Mike McGear” to avoid being accused of trying to cash in on Paul’s fame. As lead singer/songwriter of The Scaffold, the band had number one hits in England in addition to other top ten hits, but they never made it across the pond to the U.S. The Scaffold also had a highly rated variety show on the BBC for several years and their work on the show as a musical comedy troupe inspired the members of Monty Python to follow suit. The Scaffold broke up in 1971, and since then Mike McCartney has achieved success as the author of children’s books and books of photography, in addition to being a loyal brother. Mike was the best man at all three of Paul’s weddings.

Here are some other brothers of rock stars throughout history……….

Chris Jagger – Mick’s little brother tried in earnest to be a rock star. He released a self-titled debut album in 1973, followed by his second album, Adventures of Valentine Vox the Ventriloquist, in 1974. After his second album, he became disillusioned and left the music business for over twenty years. The conventional wisdom is that although he had talent, Chris bore too much of an uncanny resemblance to his brother and sounded too much like him. After leaving music, he would jokingly enter Mick Jagger look-a-like contests across Europe under a false name and always win. In the 1980’s, he tried his hand at journalism, being published in Rolling Stone and The Guardian. Also, the 1980’s saw him work as a lyricist with writing partner Frank Langdoff, contributing songs to the Stones’ albums Dirty Work and Steel Wheels. In 1993 he returned to music both as a solo artist and later with his group Atcha, with whom he has released three albums.

Greg Buckingham – The youngest of three boys who were all encouraged to swim competitively, Fleetwood Mac guitarist and vocalist Lindsey Buckingham shocked his family when he quit the college swim team to concentrate on music. However, his older brother Greg Buckingham persevered with swimming, earning a silver medal at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City in the 200 meter individual medley; he was also ranked as the world’s top swimmer for a couple of years and was regularly featured on ABC’s “Wide World of Sports”.

Stanley Love – Mike Love, one of the lead singers of The Beach Boys, lived in the shadow of the three Wilson brothers, his first cousins who formed the band. But, Love had a famous brother of his own. His younger brother, Stanley Love, was a first-round pick of the Baltimore Bullets in the 1971 NBA draft and would play for the Los Angeles Lakers for a couple of seasons before fading away. His once promising career in the National Basketball Association did not consist of many good vibrations.

Geoffrey Fieger – Doug Fieger is the late singer/guitarist of The Knack who wrote a song about a 16 year-old girl he knew named Sharona. “My Sharona” topped the U.S. charts for six weeks in August/September 1979, while the band’s follow-up hit “Good Girls Don’t” cracked the top ten. Sharona Alperin is now one of the top real estate agents in Los Angeles. Doug’s brother, Geoffrey Fieger, is a famous attorney in the U.S. who has had a list of high-profile and controversial clients such as Dr. Jack Kevorkian. He is regularly interviewed on news programs concerning controversial legal cases, and for many years was a legal commentator for both NBC News and MSNBC. He was the unsuccessful 1998 Democratic nominee for governor in his home state of Michigan.

John Pankow – Actor John Pankow is best known for his role as Ira Buchman for seven years on the NBC sitcom Mad About You. However, he has had roles in major films, including a chilling performance as Secret Service agent John Vukovich in the 1984 movie To Live and Die in L.A. John Pankow is eleven years younger than his brother James Pankow. James Pankow is a founding member and trombonist for Chicago, and is still with the band. He wrote many of Chicago’s biggest hits, including “Colour My World”, “(I’ve Been) Searchin’ So Long”, “Make Me Smile”, “Just You N’ Me”, “Old Days”, “Alive Again”, in addition to co-writing “Feelin’ Stronger Every Day” with Peter Cetera.

Here is “Thank U Very Much”, by The Scaffold, which hit # 3 on the British charts in 1967. This great song was written by Mike McGear (a.k.a. Mike McCartney) who also provided lead vocals on the track.

In the business section of yesterday’s New York Times, there was an article entitled “The Fifth Man: Brian Epstein and the Beatles” which covered the business contributions manager Brian Epstein made to the success of the Beatles. As can only be expected, Beschloss made reference to the fact that Epstein was labeled by some as “The Fifth Beatle”.

We have all heard the litany of people who have been dubbed “The Fifth Beatle”. The obvious names that come to mind are Brian Epstein, Billy Preston, George Martin, Pete Best, Neil Aspinall, Tony Sheridan and Derek Taylor. Even Manchester United soccer star George Best carried the moniker “The Fifth Beatle”. There are more on the list.

However, today’s post will contrast the term “The Fifth Beatle” to the term “The Sixth Stone”. While many people have been dubbed as the fifth member of the Fab Four, only one person has ever carried the distinction of being labeled the sixth member of The Rolling Stones.

Ian Stewart (1938-1985) was the piano player and founding member of The Rolling Stones. Keith Richards has said that “Stu” was more responsible than anyone for forming the band in the beginning. Richards once said, “He basically hand-picked all of us.”

Upon Stewart’s death from a heart attack at age 47 in December 1985, Mick Jagger stated correctly, “Stu was the guy that we strived to please.”

Stewart’s obituary in the New York Times was titled, “Ian Stewart, 47, Dies; Helped Found ‘Stones“.

Not only was Stewart the founding member and piano player, but he also was personally responsible for getting the band their first booking. Many consider Stewart’s hard work in the early days for being responsible for their getting the Stones on the radar screen.

Unfortunately, the Stones’ first manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, was responsible for demoting Ian Stewart out of the band. Oldham felt that Stewart was too ugly and that he spoiled the look of the band. The manager agreed to allow Stewart to appear on records and radio, but not on television or in photos. Oldham also felt that having six members would put the Stones at a disadvantage because no other band had six members. The Beatles only had four.

In his 2011 biography Jagger: Rebel, Rock Star, Rambler, Rogue, author Marc Spitz writes of Stewart’s expulsion from the band, “Oldham successfully lobbied to have Stewart removed from the Stones-proper lineup. Stu’s Jay Leno jaw and lack of androgyny was deemed a marketing liability, so he was relegated to erstwhile pianist and roadie. ‘Look, from the first time I saw you, I felt I can only see …… five Rolling Stones,’ Oldham informed them. ‘People worked nine-to-five and they couldn’t be expected to remember more than four faces. This is entertainment, not a memory test.”

Christopher Anderson’s 2012 biography Mick: The Wild Life and Mad Genius of Jagger contains a passage on the sacking of beloved “Stu” that reads, “The Stones’ pianist Ian Stewart was another matter. The brawny, lantern-jawed, crew-cut Stu ‘didn’t have the right look; he just didn’t fit,’ Oldham said. Stewart was out – but not entirely. He agreed to become road manager, and he would still be allowed to take part in recording sessions.”

Stewart easily could have walked away bitter from the Stones, but instead he stayed on as their road manager, while continuing to play piano for the group on both record albums and in concert. In fact, he was working with the band on their album Dirty Work when he died of a heart attack in 1985. Stewart contributed to every Rolling Stones album between 1964 and 1986, with the exception of Their Satanic Majesties Request and Beggars Banquet. He played in every Stones concert until his death.

In spite of helping the band on albums and in concerts as a pianist and organist, he was legally not a full member of The Rolling Stones, but rather a salaried employee.

Apart from the group that he founded, Stewart played on two Led Zeppelin albums, as well as albums by artists such as B.B. King and Eric Clapton.

The Scottish born-and-raised Stewart was a golf fanatic so as the band’s road manager he always tried to arrange for the band to stay at hotel that had a golf course.

On February 23, 1986, the Rolling Stones took the stage together for the first time in four years on the occasion of a tribute concert to Ian Stewart at the famous 100 Club in London. The band had declined the invitation to play at Live Aid the previous summer, giving the reason that “they were no longer a band.” Even in his death, Stu kept the band together once again by their appearance at this tribute, which included the Stones being joined by rock greats such as Eric Clapton and Pete Townshend.

However, when The Rolling Stones were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, Ian Stewart was finally recognized for his contributions and his legacy as he was inducted as a full member of the Stones just like his former band mates were. Jagger gave glowing praise to Stewart’s contributions to the band in his acceptance speech.

To Stones insiders, “The Sixth Stone” was the heart and soul of the group and kept the band together during difficult times. After all, he was responsible for starting the band and picking the members. Furthermore, he was a great pianist.

Have a listen to Ian Stewart’s piano work on “Brown Sugar”, one of the many Stones’ hits on which he played piano or organ:

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