Search Results for: paul mccartney

Rock legend Neil Young has written and recorded a song about the passengers who fought back against their Sept. 11 hijackers – a song described by one record company executive “as so chilling you feel like you are on that plane.” The song, a salute to heroism called “Let’s Roll,” was shipped to radio stations this week but will not be sold in stores, Young’s recording company Reprise Records said Wednesday. It was inspired by the passengers on United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11 who apparently decided to fight back against their hijackers after hearing by telephone of the… Read more »

He was called the “Quiet Beatle,” but “Frustrated Beatle” may have been a better tag for George Harrison, who found himself overshadowed in the Fab Four by two of the most important songwriters in history. Still, the guitarist managed to create a memorable body of work with the Beatles, and he notably turned his bandmates onto Eastern mysticism. Harrison, who died in Los Angeles Thursday after a long battle with cancer, wrote and sang such Beatles nuggets as “Something,” “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” “Here Comes The Sun” and “Taxman.” After the Beatles broke up, he embarked on a patchy… Read more »

George Harrison, lead guitarist for the band that single handedly changed the face of rock forever, lost his battle with cancer Thursday in Los Angeles. He was 58. The Associated Press reports that Harrison passed away at 4:30 p.m. EST at a friend’s home. His wife, Olivia Harrison, and son Dhani were with him. The Beatles, unlike most bands of the early ’60s, both wrote and performed their songs, making them the first entirely self-contained music outfit. Even today, few superstar acts can take credit for penning all their hits, but from writing the lyrics and music to recording in… Read more »

The Concert For New York City benefit, which brought in over $12 million, is Amusement Business’ top-grossing concert event of 2001, capping a list that puts pop artists in seven of the year’s top 10 moneymaking positions. Held on October 20 at New York’s Madison Square Garden, the Concert for New York City was organized to raise funds for the families of policemen and firefighters killed in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Paul McCartney, Elton John, the Who, David Bowie, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, Backstreet Boys, Destiny’s Child, Jay-Z and many others performed at the concert,… Read more »

Columbia Records will release The Concert For New York City – a 2-CD collection documenting the historic all-star concert event held to benefit those in need affected by the World Trade Center tragedy. The Concert For New York City album will be released on Tuesday, November 27. DVD and VHS versions will be available thereafter. “The Concert For New York City” took place on October 20, 2001 at Madison Square Garden. Produced by VH1, Cablevision, Miramax and AOL, the concert was a celebration of the strength of New York and a thank you to the heroic firefighters, police officers and… Read more »

Sir Mick Jagger? The Rolling Stones frontman seems to think that should be the case, especially since some of his peers have been knighted, including Paul McCartney and Elton John. In the documentary Being Mick that airs on Thanksgiving Day on ABC, Jagger expresses a bit of irritation that he’s never received any sort of title from his homeland-in one segment he imitates Britain’s Prince Charles, adopting a haughty accent as he affects the prince saying, “Is it true you haven’t got anything at all? That is rather odd, isn’t it?” Being Mick is part of the promotional campaign for… Read more »

“I never want to say we’re done completely, but we may be,” says Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour. “With the length of time since we’ve done something together, it just doesn’t feel like something I’ve missed very much. I don’t want to be touring anymore. I’m fifty-five; it’s a young man’s game.” Gilmour’s revelation comes with the release of Echoes: The Best of Pink Floyd, a lavish and thoughtfully assembled double-CD retrospective tracing the band’s thirty-six-year career – from its apprenticeship in the mid-Sixties London club scene and its psychedelic explorations to its reincarnation as the high priests of Seventies… Read more »

Irish boy-band Westlife on Sunday scored their ninth UK number one hit with “Queen of my Heart,” the chart’s compiler said. The quintet’s rousing ballad ended hip-hopper Afroman’s three-week stay at the top with his homage to cannabis, “Because I Got High,” according to figures released by The Official UK Charts Company. All but one of Westlife’s ten singles have reached number one since their first release, “Sweat It Again” in April 1999. “We are grateful to all our fans for their continued support,” the band said in a statement on their website. “Queen of My Heart” is described by… Read more »

Eddie Vedder, Sarah McLachlan, the Black Crowes and 14 other artists will deliver their takes on Beatles classics for the soundtrack to the Sean Penn drama “I Am Sam.” The album, due January 8, also features Ben Folds, the Wallflowers, Paul Westerberg, Nick Cave and Ben Harper, among others, according to a V2 Records spokesperson. All of the covers were recorded for the soundtrack album and eight are featured in the movie, which stars Penn as Sam, a mentally handicapped father fighting to keep custody of his seven-year-old daughter, Lucy. “I Am Sam,” due in theaters December 28, has several… Read more »

Less than 24 hours after a marathon gig in New York, music stars including Michael Jackson, the Backstreet Boys, and Mariah Carey kicked off a concert in Washington to help lift the spirits of a nation’s capital rattled by the Sept. 11 attacks and anthrax. The Backstreet Boys, the chart-topping boy band, opened the eight-hour fund-raiser before a 46,000 capacity crowd at RFK stadium with their rendition of the national anthem followed by a string of their hit songs. One of the numbers was dedicated to a member of their tour crew who was aboard one of the hijacked airplanes… Read more »