Blues rock pioneer Bobby Parker dies at 76

Blues rock guitarist Bobby Parker, best known for his 1961 track Watch Your Step and credited as “the only musician the Beatles admitted to stealing from” has died at the age of 76, it’s been reported.

Bassist Anthony B Rucker, who often collaborated often with the pioneering artist, confirmed the news, saying: “It is with a heavy heart I thank you, Bobby, for all that you have done for me. I’m so glad I had one last chance to play with you a couple of weeks ago. See ya on the other side.”

Born in Louisiana and raised in Los Angeles, Robert Lee Parker’s first professional gig was with Otis Williams and the Charms in the 1950s, followed by stints with Bo Diddley, Sam Cooke, Chuck Berry and Little Richard.

Watch Your Step inspired the Beatles’ song I Feel Fine, with John Lennon once saying they’d used the riff “in various forms” throughout their career. Led Zeppelin made use of it in Moby Dick. The track was also covered by the Spencer Davis Group, Dr Feelgood and Carlos Santana, who once said: “Bobby inspired me to play guitar – he’s one of the few remaining guitarists who can pierce your heart and soothe your soul.”

In 2008 Parker reflected: “Watch Your Step was a culmination of blues rock guitar that nobody else had ever thought of. Mine was First. The United States was engulfed by Motown, but the whole world knew when I recorded Watch Your Step that I broke the brick wall of the sameness of Motown.

“I sent music in another direction worldwide, especially for guitarists like Jimmy Page, Santana, Eric Clapton and millions of others. Everybody who was anybody knew Bobby Parker alone penned the lick that created what’s known as the British revolution.

“I heard 600 or more blatant copycat recordings – everybody was playing my lick and trying to claim it, the Beatles included. Even now I hear copycat riffs in TV commercials.” He laughed: “I wish they’d come up with a different riff and leave mine alone…”

The track’s success led to international touring and an offer of a record deal from Jimmy Page, which didn’t work out. Parker spent the 1970s and 1980s based in Washington DC and out of international acclaim, but returned to the spotlight with his first solo album Bent Out Of Shape in 1993, followed by Shine Me Up in 1995. He remained active until his death, having played a series of blues festivals during the summer. Recently he said: “I keep doing it for the music and the people – I love the people.”

Parker has songwriting credits for a total of 55 tracks including his two other singles, Blues Get Off My Shoulder from 1958 and It’s Hard To be Fair from 1968.

source: classicrockmagazine.com

52 Years Ago: Chas Newby Plays with The Beatles in Liverpool

Throughout the Beatles‘ history, many fans and critics have noted the existence of a ‘Fifth Beatle’ — folks like keyboardist Billy Preston (who helped perk up the ‘Let it Be’ sessions) or producer George Martin, who contributed the occasional keyboard overdub, wrote orchestral arrangements and helped the band achieve their most groundbreaking sonic tricks in the recording studio. But not all of these arguable ‘Fifth Beatles’ were destined for rock greatness. Most fans are aware of drummer Pete Best and bassist Stuart Sutcliffe, both of whom helped flesh out the line-up during the band’s formative stage in the early 1960s. But few give historical credit to bassist Chas Newby, who, on Dec. 17, 1960, began his two-week run in the Slightly-Less-Than-Fab Five.


In late 1960, The Beatles returned to Liverpool after a legendary stint in decadent West Germany, but they were one man down. Sutcliffe, who was known more for his mod haircut than his bass skills, had chosen to stay in Hamburg to focus on his art career. Then-drummer Pete Best recommended 19-year-old Chas Newby, an on-holiday college student who’d formerly played with Best in The Blackjacks. This quintet (which, of course, also featured the guitar/vocal trio of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison) went on to play four gigs in December of 1960, the first of which happened on the 17th at Liverpool’s Casbah Club. As legend has it, Lennon invited Newby to continue with the band on their second voyage to West Germany; Newby, unimpressed with the measly wages, declined the offer, choosing to pursue his academic career instead.

Unlike his former bandmates, Newby has largely lived life out of the rock spotlight. After studying chemistry at the college level and eventually obtaining a Masters Degree in Chemical Engineering, he settled down into a simple, fulfilling life. He started a family with his late wife, Margaret, and eventually accepted a job as a math teacher at Drotwich High School in Worcestershire.

“Music was never going to be a living for me,” Newby told ‘Sunday Mercury’ this year. “I wanted to do chemistry. John, Paul and George, they just wanted to be musicians.” Though Newby never kept up with his old lads over the years, he fondly recalls his brief stint in The Beatles, particularly his friendship with Harrison. “George was the one I got on the best with,” Newby says. “He knew Pete already. He was always telling funny stories about getting deported from Germany whenever we sat around chatting.”

Newby, who spends his free time golfing and singing in the Alcester Male Voice Choir, has managed to reunite with his old pal Pete Best for the occasional live gig. Overall, though, he’s been perfectly satisfied with his career choices, and he’s never regretted turning down Lennon’s offer, nearly 52 years ago. “People sometimes don’t believe me when I say I’ve no regrets,” Newby says. “But I really haven’t. I have enjoyed my life immensely.” For more on the Beatles recordings, both before and after Newby’s brief stint, check out Beatlesource.com.

source: ultimateclassicrock.com

App offers iWitness reports

An iPhone and iPad app offers first-hand accounts of some of rock’n'roll’s formative moments by the people who took part.

The release, entitled iWitness, is compiled by renowned music writer Johnny Black, and includes material covering the Clash to Eric Clapton and the Beatles to Nirvana.


Entries include Elvis Presley recording his first record, Pink Floyd’s Venice concert, Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours sessions, Kate Bush’s early career and the formation of Crosby, Stills and Nash.

Kurt Cobain talks about putting Nirvana together, The Clash recall their first US tour, Eric Clapton discusses Cream, Deep Purple reflect on recording Smoke on the Water and Sir George Martin reveals details of recording the Beatles.

iWitness also includes features on Led Zeppelin, the Eagles, Band Aid and much more. Each event is located on Google Maps and every report links to iTunes so readers can further explore artists’ histories.

The app is on sale now via the Apple App Store, costing $2.99 / £1.99.

source: classicrockmagazine.com

Beatles fans come together to set anniversary record

LONDON – Fifty years after John Lennon’s harmonica heralded the first entry of the Beatles into the charts, fans came together in the Fab Four’s home town of Liverpool in northern England on Friday to deliver a record-breaking rendition of their debut single.

Aficionados poured in from as far afield as Peru and Tokyo for a weekend of live music and Beatlemania, which kicked off with 1,631 people singing “Love Me Do” outside the city’s central Liver Building.

Local choirs, school groups and lunching office workers joined in, breaking the previous record for singing “in the round” – where two groups sing exactly the same melody, beginning at different times – to break the previous record of 897, according to Guinness World Records.

“The demographics here today are interesting – it goes from people in their 70s to school kids,” said Dave Jones, who runs Liverpool’s famous Cavern Club where the Beatles were the house band between 1961 and 1963 and which is staging a weekend-long extravaganza of their music.

“We’re trying to recreate the atmosphere of those glory days in the 60s,” Jones told Reuters. “It’s generation after generation enjoying the music.”

The 50th birthday of Love Me Do is also the anniversary of a lucky break for the band.

Beatles producer George Martin told the BBC the song was the “best of a bad bunch”. The broadcaster plans to air a documentary this weekend containing claims that the band’s manager bought thousands of copies to help the record get to number 17 in the UK charts.

Auction house Sotheby’s is marking the anniversary by selling the original collage used for the insert of the 1967 Beatles album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Sotheby’s expects it to sell for 50,000-80,000 pounds ($81,000-$129,500).

source: interaksyon.com

Beatles’ first single ‘Love Me Do’ turns 50

LONDON – The Beatles’ debut tune that helped launch Britain into the Swinging Sixties and ignite a worldwide obsession for the four-man band from Liverpool celebrates its 50th birthday on Friday.

Even though it only peaked at number 17 on the British charts, “Love Me Do” was not only the group’s first record but also their first hit.

“It’s obviously the first single, but more importantly, it established their policy of only releasing songs that were written by the Beatles themselves,” said Hamish MacBain, assistant editor at British music magazine NME.

“The fashion at that time was not for big groups to write their own material, so the Beatles were being quite radical in that sense by issuing a single that they had written themselves,” MacBain told AFP.

“Love Me Do” was recorded in September 1962, though the so-called “fifth Beatle”, producer George Martin, pushed for the release of another song, penned by British singer Adam Faith but performed by the Fab Four.

But the Beatles got their way, and “Love Me Do”, written like so many of their succeeding hits by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, went on sale on October 5, 1962.

The group’s insistence that their singles at least should be all their own work “established a trend that lasted obviously their entire career and became the norm for big groups that became rock bands”, MacBain said.

“You were not considered a serious rock band by the mid-60s unless you were writing your own material.”

The catchy lyrics and recognisable harmonies of “Love Me Do” were recorded at London’s Abbey Road studios, later made famous by the group as the title of one of their LPs.

Although it kick-started their career and became a British hit, “Love Me Do” did not spark Beatlemania, said Simon Zagorski-Thomas, a reader in music at University of West London’s college of music.

“‘Love Me Do’ was an interesting song, but it wasn’t the thing that really launched their career,” he told AFP.

Instead, it was the group’s 1964 appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in the United States that made the Beatles a phenomenon distinct from all previous British bands and launched them globally.

“Love Me Do” is not considered by most observers to be among the Beatles’ masterpieces, MacBain said.

“In terms of songwriting it’s pretty basic, and it’s certainly not as good as the stuff they were coming out with a few months later.”

“P.S. I Love You” was recorded on the B-side of the track, and both songs were featured on the group’s first album “Please Please Me”, named after their second hit single, which was released in March 1963 and included songs they had not written.

BBC Four TV will air a documentary on Sunday about “Love Me Do,” with an eyewitness account claiming that the group’s manager Brian Epstein bought 10,000 copies of the single to boost sales.

While the rumour has never been proved, Epstein’s friend and business associate, Joe Flannery, claims in the documentary that the copies were purchased.

Remastered versions of The Beatles’ studio albums will be released on vinyl on November 13 in North America.

source: interaksyon.com

John Lennon's killer up for parole for seventh time

NEW YORK -- Mark David Chapman, the disturbed man who shot dead Beatles frontman John Lennon, is up for parole for the seventh time, with a decision expected later this week, prison officials said Sunday.

The hearing is set to begin on Tuesday and will last two to three days, New York State prison service spokeswoman Linda Foglia told AFP, adding that she expects a decision "by the end of the week."

Chapman, 57, was sentenced in 1981 to between 20 years and life in prison for Lennon's murder on December 8, 1980, as the legendary singer-songwriter was walking with his wife Yoko Ono to their home by New York's Central Park.

Chapman, who was mentally unstable and just 25 at the time, had staked out the musician's apartment building.

Earlier in the day the musician had even autographed a copy of his latest album "Double Fantasy" for the man who would kill him.

Chapman eventually pleaded guilty to the murder, and is currently being held at the Wende maximum security prison in Alden, New York.

source: interaksyon.com

John Lennon's killer seeks freedom again

New York (CNN) -- Mark David Chapman, John Lennon's convicted killer, is up for parole for the seventh time and may be questioned as early as Tuesday, authorities said Friday.

His latest quest for freedom comes ahead of the 32nd anniversary of the death of the former Beatle, a British singer-songwriter who was gunned down outside his Manhattan apartment on December 8, 1980.

Chapman is scheduled to be interviewed by two or three members of the parole board, according to Carole Claren-Weaver, a spokeswoman for the New York Department of Corrections.

He was last up for parole in 2010, but was denied because his "discretionary release remains inappropriate at this time and incompatible with the welfare of the community," according to the New York State Division of Parole.

He was also denied parole in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008.

Chapman, 57, is serving a sentence of 20 years to life in prison, and is being held at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York.

He is in protective custody in a single-person cell, Claren-Weaver said, and is allowed out three hours per day.

Since his transfer from Attica earlier this year, Chapman has reapplied to participate in a state program called "family reunion," which allows inmates to spend more time with family members.

Chapman has not had an infraction since 1994. It is not clear if he currently has legal representation.

Yoko Ono, Lennon's widow, in previous years has submitted a letter requesting that parole be denied. She could not be immediately reached for comment.

source: CNN

Beatles Member Paul McCartney married to fiance Nancy Shevell

Beatles member, Musician Paul McCartney got married to fiance, American Heiress Nancy Shevell in London on Sunday-October 9. In fact, it's the third wedding for the 69-year-old.

Paul McCartney wore a dark suit with a white shirt and pale blue tie while Nancy wore a beautiful classy knee-length ivory dress designed by Paul McCartney's daughter and fashion designer-Stella McCartney.

51-year-old Nancy Shevell is a businesswoman and daughter of a New Jersey shipping magnate.



The ceremony was held at Old Marylebone Town Hall in London attended by close family and friends, including Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Barbara Walters.