Posted by Administrator on Apr. 1st, 2016
The first of two David Bowie tribute concerts took place at New York's Carnegie Hall on Mar. 31, with Debbie Harry of Blondie, Ann Wilson of Heart, Michael Stipe of R.E.M., and the Flaming Lips performing live in memory of the late rock legend. Also taking part were Bowie collaborator Tony Visconti, '80s star Cyndi Lauper, and Laurie Anderson, the ex-wife of late Bowie collaborator Lou Reed, Rickie Lee Jones, and Bob Dylan's son Jakob Dylan. The concert, initially announced prior to Bowie's death, was originally intended to be a retrospective on his career. - New Musical Express, 4/1/16...... 
A rep for AC/DC has responded to recent reports that former Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose will fill in for Brian Johnson for the rest of AC/DC's 2016 tour after Johnson was advised by doctors to "stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss." "Nothing official to announce. Will update you if that changes," the rep told New Musical Express, in response to a report from Atlanta DJ Jason Bailey, who claimed that a "very very good source" informed him that Rose will join the band for the rest of their tour dates after being "flown in" to the US city to audition with the group. Bailey also said that Rose has met with AC/DC, and "it's all but a done deal that Axl will front AC/DC for the ten remaining shows. All ten, including Atlanta." A Guns N' Roses fansite has also reported that Rose was spotted in Atlanta, further speculating that he might have been auditioning to link up live with AC/DC. Rose is a longtime AC/DC fan who has been known to cover such classics as "Whole Lotta Rosie" at Guns N' Roses concerts in the past. Meanwhile, Rose has also been confirmed to be joining his former bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan this summer for a series of live GNR dates, including a headline slot at the Coachella festival in April and warm up gigs in Las Vegas. - New Musical Express, 3/24/16...... 
In other Rolling Stones-related news, frontman Mick Jagger has told the U.K.'s Daily Mirror paper that he regrets not staying in touch with David Bowie prior to his death on Jan. 10. Jagger, who collaborated with Bowie during the '70s and '80s, mostly notably working together for 1985 single "Dancing In The Street," said it had been a "long time" since he had seen his pal before he died, and that he was "very upset" at not being able to see him one last time. Jagger also revealed that he was in New York, the city where Bowie lived and died, when he passed away. "I was listening to his album [
To mark the 60th anniversary of the release of Elvis Presley's 1956 self-titled debut album for RCA Records, the label has released 
The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson will perform the band's landmark 1966 album Pet Sounds in its entirety on tour around the world this summer to mark the 50th anniversary of the hugely influential LP. The 2016 tour, 70 to 80 dates in total, will be the first time Pet Sounds will be played in its entirety on stage in 17 years. When the album was released in 1966, "We didn't play it on stage," Wilson says, describing the record as, "an album that started out with 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' and just went from there." Wilson is touring as much as he has in the past 20 years, averaging over 50 dates and year and topping 70 this year. "No, I never thought I would [tour so much]," he muses, "but I do anyway. I'll be touring a little bit every year." And even though Pet Sounds as an album is noteworthy for its studio wizardry, Wilson says it adapts well to the concert stage. "I did it [live] 17 years ago," he says, "and we've gotten better over the years." Wilson says his favorite songs to perform live include "Callifornia Girls" and "Good Vibrations," the latter a masterpiece released as a standalone single the same year as Pet Sounds (it later appeared on 1967's Smiley Smile). Wilson's 2016 Pet Sounds tour begins Mar. 26 at the Auckland (New Zealand) Civic Center, and is expected to wrap in early November. - Billboard, 3/17/16...... Billy Joel has announced he will play his 36th show in his landmark "franchise" run at New York's Madison Square Garden on Dec. 17. The shows, which are being described as the most successful arena engagement of all time, include 35 sold-out performances before some 700,000 fans. This summer Joel will also play nine stadium dates, including seven Major League Baseball stadiums in North America, and a sold-out Wembley Stadium in London (with 60,000 tickets sold), and CommerceBank Arena stadium in Frankfurt, Germany. As part of this 2016 run, Joel has already sold out Wrigley Field in Chicago, Fenway Park in Boston and Philadelphia's Citizens Bank Park, each for the third year in a row. - Billboard, 3/17/16...... Seymour Stein, the cofounder and chairman of Sire Records, will be honored with the Howie Richmond Hitmaker Award at this June's Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremony. Stein, a music industry legend, signed a who's who of artists to the Sire label over the years, including Talking Heads, the Ramones, the Pretenders, Richard Hell, the Replacements and many more. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005. The SHOF's 47th Annual Induction and Awards Dinner will take place June 9 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in New York City. - Billboard, 3/17/16...... 
Veteran songwriter Carole Bayer Sager, who penned many hit songs including "Nobody Does It Better," "A Groovy Kind of Love," "Don't Cry Out Loud" and "The Best That You Can Do," will release her memoir, 
In a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Kiss singer/bassist Gene Simmons said that he is "looking forward to the death of rap." "I'm looking forward to music coming back to lyrics and melody, instead of just talking. A song, as far as I'm concerned, is by definition lyric and melody, or just melody," Simmons mused. He added that songs like The Troggs' "Wild Thing" and Napoleon XIV's "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" are fine but are "predominantly novelty songs." "Music is about melody and lyric, whether it's rap or doo-wop, or yeah, even rock," he said. Asked why he never connected with rap music, Simmons replied: "I don't have the cultural background to appreciate being a gangster. Of course that's not what it's all about, but that's where it comes from. That's the heart and soul of it. It came from the streets." Simmons then predicted the death of rap music: "Rap will die. Next year, 10 years from now, at some point, and then something else will come along. And all that is good and healthy." - Rolling Stone, 3/17/16...... In a new interview, Rod Stewart revealed his five-year-old son Aiden, the youngest of his eight children, loves to dress up like a lady. "The little one, I don't know yet," the 71-year-old Stewart told The Interview People agency. "He likes dressing up as a lady. So we don't know which way he's thinking. He's always dressing up like Mary Poppins. Hopefully he'll grow out of it." Rod added that if Aiden comes out as gay when he is older, he would not be bothered, saying, "If he turns out to be homosexual, that's okay with me. As long as he's happy." Aiden is Rod's son with model Penny Lancaster, who he married in 2007. They have a 10-year-old son Alastair, and Rod is hoping he will follow his dad's passion and become a soccer star, but he says Penny wants him to be a swimmer. - WENN.com, 3/22/16.
Robert Plant performed at the South By Southwest festival in Austin, Tex., on Mar. 16, fronting a house band led by Charlie Sexton and featuring Jimmie Vaughan through renditions of classics by such artists as the Coasters ("Youngblood") and Clyde McPhatter ("Let the Boogie Woogie Roll"). Plant also paid tribute to late Austin DJ Paul Ray, whose radio program he called "my anchor, quite often, at least sonically" during his time there and said he was performing "to say thanks to (Ray's) contribution to me." A day earlier, Iggy Pop played a generous hour and 50-minute set at the SXSW fest with an all-star team that included Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Pop will release a new solo album, 
The culture minister of Pompeii, Italy, announced on Mar. 16 that Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour will be returning to the city's ancient Roman Amphitheatre of Pompeii this summer on July 7 and 8, almost 45 years after Pink Floyd filmed their acclaimed concert Live at Pompeii at the same venue. Gilmour's two-night stand at the theatre will be part of his upcoming summer tour to support his 2015 solo album, Rattle That Lock, which gets underway Mar. 24 at the Hollywood Bowl in L.A. and runs through September, when he performs four shows at London's Royal Albert Hall. - Billboard, 3/16/16...... The Rolling Stones played Mexico for the first time in a decade on Mar. 14, delighting a crowd of about 60,000 fans who packed a sports stadium in the country's capital. Frontman Mick Jagger celebrated the concert by poking fun at actor Sean Penn, whose secret interview with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman while the convicted drug lord was a fugitive from justice has provoked controversy in Mexico. "Sean Penn came to interview me at the hotel, but I escaped," Jagger joked to cheers and roars of laughter. Jagger also quipped that the band enjoyed drinking tequila but now they prefer mezcal, another agave-based spirit which is known for its smoky flavor. After a second show in Mexico on Mar. 17, the Stones will perform a historic free concert in Havana, Cuba, on Mar. 25, three days after U.S. Pres. Barack Obama wraps up his own landmark visit to communist-run Cuba. - AP, 3/15/16...... The death of Emerson, Lake & Palmer keyboardist Keith Emerson on Mar. 9 was officially ruled a suicide by the Los Angeles coroner's office on Mar. 15. Authorities had suspected Emerson shot himself but the determination did not become official until after the autopsy. In a recent interview with the U.K. publication The Daily Mail, Emerson's girlfriend Mari Kawaguchi, who found his body at their shared California residence, revealed that Emerson's "right hand and arm had given him problems for years... He had an operation a few years ago to take out a bad muscle but the pain and nerve issues in his right hand were getting worse." Kawaguchi added that he had concerts coming up in Japan and -- even though a back-up keyboard player was hired to support him -- he was worried about his playing ability, and was sensitive to online criticism about some of his performances in 2015. "He was tormented with worry that he wouldn't be good enough," Kawaguchi said. "He was planning to retire after Japan. He didn't want to let down his fans. He was a perfectionist and the thought he wouldn't play perfectly made him depressed, nervous and anxious." Meanwhile, on Mar. 10 Emerson's former bandmate Greg Lake paid tribute to Emerson on his official website. "To all ELP friends and fans all over the world, I would like to express my deep sadness upon hearing this tragic news," Lake posted. "As sad and tragic as Keith's death is, I would not want this to be the lasting memory people take away with them. What I will always remember about Keith Emerson was his remarkable talent as a musician and composer and his gift and passion to entertain. Music was his life and despite some of the difficulties he encountered I am sure that the music he created will live on forever," he added. - AP/Billboard/NME, 3/15/16...... 
Former J. Geils Band singer Peter Wolf will release his first new solo album in six years, 
Former Genesis member Phil Collins played his first public solo show in six years on Mar. 11 at a charity show in Miami, where he resides. The show featured five Collins originals, including "Another Day in Paradise," "Against All Odds," "In the Air Tonight," "Easy Lover" and "Take Me Home," as well as covers of the Temptations' "My Girl" and Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." In Oct. 2015, Collins announced that he was "no longer officially retired" and is working on a new album as well as making plans to perform live, partly in order to show his kids what their dad does. - NME, 3/12/16...... Singer Gogi Grant, who once knocked Elvis Presley off the top of the U.S. hit parade with her 1956 hit "The Wayward Wind," died on Mar. 10 at the age of 91. Ms. Grant also dubbed for actress Ann Blyth in the 1957 biopic of torch singer Helen Morgan, and portrayed a recording artist in the rock & roll movie The Big Beat, (1958), a movie that also featured Fats Dominon, The Del-Vikings, The Diamond and The Mills Brothers. "The Wayward Wind," which replaced Presley's "Heartbreak Hotel" at No. 1 on the Billboard charts in 1956, was performed by many other acts over the years, including Tex Ritter, Patsy Cline, Sylvia and the Beatles. Ms. Grant took a two-decade hiatus from show business to raise a family but returned to singing in 1987 and performed into her late 80s. - Billboard, 3/13/16...... Singer Frank Sinatra Jr., the only son of iconic entertainer Frank Sinatra, died of cardiac arrest on Mar. 16 before a scheduled concert performance in Daytona Beach, Fla. He was 72. Sinatra Jr. had been scheduled to perform at the 2,500-seat Peabody Auditorium, but local NBC affiliate WPTZ reported he became ill in the afternoon and was taken to Halifax Health Medical Center. He was scheduled to perform next on Thursday at the 2,000-seat Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, Florida., and then on May 19 at the 2,400-seat Adler Theater in Davenport, Iowa. He began performing in his teens and carried on a career of entertaining across mediums for the past 50 years. More recently, he had a guest spot playing himself on The Sopranos and appeared on two episodes of Family Guy. Survivors also include his mother, Nancy Sinatra Sr., the first of Frank Sinatra's four wives, and his son, Michael. His father died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles on May 14, 1998, at age 82 after suffering a heart attack. - Billboard, 3/16/16...... British composer Peter Maxwell Davies, who served as Queen Elizabeth II's official master of music, died on Mar. 14 of leukemia at his home in Scotland's Orkney islands. He was 81. One of Britain's best-known modern composers, Mr. Davies created some 300 works including symphonies, the operas "Taverner" and "The Lighthouse," and "Eight Songs for a Mad King," about the current queen's troubled ancestor, George III. His most recent work was an opera for children, "The Hogboon." - AP, 3/14/16...... Actor Robert Horton, who starred on the TV series Wagon Train and, later, A Man Called Shenandoah, died of natural causes on Mar. 9 at a rehab facility in Los Angeles. He was 91. - WesternClippings.com, 3/13/16.
Legendary prog rock keyboardist Keith Emerson of the British supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer was found dead at his home in Santa Monica, Calif., on Mar. 10 of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He was 71. "We regret to announce that Keith Emerson died last night at his home in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, aged 71," a post on ELP's official Facebook page stated. "We ask that the family's privacy and grief be respected." A native of Yorkshire, UK, Emerson enjoyed a musical career spanning 50 years and was widely acknowledged as one of the finest keyboardists of the early '70s prog rock era. Emerson, along with guitarist/singer Greg Lake drummer Carl Palmer formed ELP in London in 1970, and the trio released its 
In 1992, Carl Palmer rejoined the band and the original trio released two additional albums, Black Moon and The Return of the Manticore. Prior to his success with ELP, Keith Emerson played with British band The Nice, melding rock music with classical and jazz influences, and his keyboard contributions can also be heard on Rod Stewart's 1970 album, 
Graham Nash, who is set to release his first new solo album in 14 years, 
Meanwhile, in an interview with Sharon Osbourne on her daytime show The Talk on Feb. 27, Elton John lamented the fate of Tower and his favorite L.A. bookstore, Book Soup on Sunset Boulevard. "I love record stores... and book stores," John told Osbourne. "If Book Soup, over the road, went as well, then I'd probably throw myself off a cliff." Later, the Book Soup store then acknowledged Sir Elton's endorsement with a message on a chalkboard in front of the store. "He comes in every other month and stocks up," says Book Soup's Rob Bieselin, who lettered the chalkboard and constructed a "shrine" to the rock star in one of the store's windows in gratitude for his business and support of West Hollywood charities. Bieselin added that Book Soup's celebrity-savvy customers usually leave John alone when he visits and peruses limited editions and the store's collection of vinyl LPs. "He just does his thing," Bieselin said. John also revealed on The Talk that Sharon Osbourne once stole his boyfriend, before she hooked up with Ozzy. "Years ago -- and I'm talking about years ago -- I would stay at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel (in New York) with my boyfriend at the time, and he disappeared," Elton recalled. "He didn't come back to the room and I found out years and years later (he had been with Sharon)." Sharon quickly apologized and said, "It's not my fault! He was interested in my stamp collection!" Osbourne then said it was actually Elton she wanted, which prompted the openly-gay Rocket Man to respond, "Well, you got as much chance of that as Donald Trump winning the Democratic (presidential nomination)!" Meanwhile, Elton is also known as an avid collector of photography, and a collection of photographs from his private collection is set to be displayed at the Tate Modern art galleries in London as part of a new exhibition. The modernist photography show, titled "The Radical Eye," will feature more than 150 pieces from more than 60 artists, including Man Ray, Andre Kertesz and Berenice Abbott. In a statement, John described it as an "honor" for him and husband David Furnish to loan the images to the gallery. "It is a great honour for David and I to lend part of our collection to Tate Modern for this ground-breaking exhibition. The modernist era in photography is one of the key moments within the medium and collecting work from this period has brought me great joy over the last 25 years," he said. The Radical Eye: Modernist Photography from the Sir Elton John Collection opens on Nov. 10, 2016. - The Hollywood Reporter/NME, 3/10/16...... It has been revealed that David Bowie's teenage daughter Alexandria, 15, will inherit a $25 million windfall from her late dad when she reaches her 25th birthday. Alexandria is the child of Bowie and his former supermodel wife Inman, his wife of 24 years. She will also inherit his trendy apartment in Manhattan's trendy Soho district. Duncan Jones, Bowie's 44-year-old son with his first wife, actress Angela Barrett, will inherit his share of his dad's estate in the coming weeks. Bowie, who succumbed to a battle with cancer on Jan. 10 at age 69, also didn't forget about his loyal household staff members and assistants either, setting aside a few million dollars to make sure they were taken care of. - WENN.com, 3/9/16...... 
Former Rolling Stones member Bill Wyman has been diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to reps for the legendary bassist. "Bill has been diagnosed with prostate cancer," reads the statement. "He is undergoing treatment and is expected to make a full recovery as it was caught in the early stages. The Wyman family has asked for their privacy during this time." After leaving the Rolling Stones, Wyman has fronted his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He was present at the recent wedding of media mogul Rupert Murdoch and model/actress Jerry Hall, the former girlfriend of Stones frontman Mick Jagger. Meanwhile, Mick Jagger was recently spotted in downtown Bogot, Columbia, strolling down the city streets, surrounded by security detail and with throngs of fans snapping pictures alongside. At one point along the way, Jagger stopped at an oblea stand, and using a series of hand signals, manages to purchase one and starts munching away. For the uninitiated, obleas are a Colombian delicacy, consisting of dulce de leche spread between two large, thin wafers. The Stones performed at Bogota's Campin Stadium on Mar. 10 as part of their "Amrica Latina Ol" tour. - Billboard, 3/10/16...... Elvis & Nixon, a comedy about the famous 1970 meeting between the King of Rock and Roll and US Pres. Richard Nixon at the White House in Washington, D.C., will debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, which runs from Apr. 13-24. Directed by Liza Johnson, Elvis & Nixon is produced by Amazon Studios and stars Michael Shannon as Presley and Kevin Spacey as Richard Nixon. - AP, 3/9/16...... In a new interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Rush guitarist Alex Lifeson suggested the Canadian power trio's 2015 R40 Tour would be their final tour. "We had such a great time on the tour. And It was really nice to go through all the material reverse chronology, and I think our fans really enjoyed it. I think that no matter how long it would have been it would have been too short," Lifeson said, but added hope for the future. "Maybe next fall or something like that, we'll plan something," he said. "We took a year off before the last tour and we didn't discuss anything about the band or work, and everybody had a great time, and we came back from that." - Billboard, 3/9/16...... Patrisha McLean, the wife of folk rock singer/songwriter Don McLean, has filed for divorce in Maine, only weeks after Don McLean was arrested on domestic violence charges. A lawyer for Patrisha stated in the legal papers filed oN Mar. 10 cited "adultery, cruel and abusive treatment, and irreconcilable differences." McLean, a resident of Camden, Me., was arrested in January on charges including domestic violence assault. He has pleaded not guilty, and has been prohibited from having contact with his wife. The McLeans have been married for 30 years. - AP, 3/10/16...... 
AC/DC has rescheduled 10 tour dates on their Rock or Bust World Tour after doctors advised lead singer Brian Johnson to stop touring immediately or risk total hearing loss. The Aussie rockers announced they were postponing a Mar. 8 concert in Atlanta, as well as stops in Washington, D.C., Detroit and Philadelphia leading up to April 4's planned show at New York City's Madison Square Garden. The band is expected to make up these canceled gigs later in the year, likely with a guest vocalist. Current ticket holders may hold onto their tickets for the rescheduled concerts, or receive a refund. The band had also been set to perform UK gigs in Manchester and London during June, although it is not currently known whether these shows will continue to go ahead with or without Johnson, who joined the band in 1980 after the death of singer Bon Scott. Original AC/DC vocalist Dave Evans has offered to fill in for Johnson during his absence. Evans, who briefly sang in the band during 1974, recently told The Sydney Morning Herald paper: "It would be nice to do one guest performance [with AC/DC]. [Former members] were all part of the band no matters what era they were from." - Billboard/NME, 3/7/16...... Despite recent revelations that former Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes won't be performing with the band during its upcoming induction of Deep Purple into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Hughes says he still hopes to perform when the band is inducted during the ceremony on Apr. 8 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. "All I know is I'm getting the award," said Hughes, who played with the band for three studio albums between 1973-76. "There's a lot of gossip and innuendo about who's saying what. I'd love to play. I'd love to sing. And so would David," referring to David Coverdale, who was part of Deep Purple's "Mk. 3" (third iteration) and "Mk. 4" (fourth iteration) lineups with Hughes. Meanwhile, Hughes is gearing up for a solo tour that will kick off Aug. 9 in Annapolis, Md., a start that was delayed to allow him to recover from double knee replacement surgery during January. "The knees are doing incredible," he said. Hughes says he's also planning to record a solo album during June that he hopes to have out by fall. - Billboard, 3/7/16...... 
Carole King will play her first UK gig in 27 years this July when she will be among the headliners at the British Summer Time festival at London's Hyde Park. King, 74, will headline the July 8 show, with support coming from the Eagles' Don Henley and her daughter Louise Goffin. King will be performing her classic 1971 album Tapestry in its entirety, the first time she has ever done so at a concert. "I can't wait to perform Tapestry from beginning to end for the first time... in the heart of one of my favorite cities," King said. - NME, 3/8/16...... Robert Plant will be among the headliners at the UK's Meltdown Festival, which takes place at Southbank Centre in London from June 10-19. The former Led Zeppelin frontman will play the final day of the festival, which will raise funds to aid Britain's refugee crisis. - NME, 3/8/16...... Foreigner have confirmed they'll embark on a massive summer 2016 tour of Europe beginning with a concert at the London Palladium on June 7. Foreigner will then play dates Belgium's Graspop, Cologne's Tanzbrunnen, and Tel Aviv's Caesarea Amphitheatre, among several others. Opening for the band will be John Parr, known for his hits "St. Elmo's Fire," "Restless Heart" and "Naughty Naughty." - Noble PR, 3/10/16...... Actor/comedian Steve Martin will curate an exhibition at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts devoted to Canadian modernist Lawren Harris. Martin was on hand at the museum for a preview on Mar. 11, and discussed Harris' work the following day during the public opening of the show. "The Idea of North: The Paintings of Lawren Harris" runs through June 12. - AP, 3/11/16...... Jon English, an Australian singer and actor known for his work in music, television and on the stage, died suddenly on Mar. 9 following complications from surgery. He was 66. English's roles include Judas Iscariot in Jesus Christ Superstar in the 1970s and later as the Pirate King in The Pirates of Penzance. In February, English was hospitalized due to what was described as "unexpected ill health," and his unexpected death surprised many. - Billboard, 3/9/16.
Sir George Martin, the famed Beatles producer who signed the group to a label contract when no one else would and produced virtually all of their songs and introduced many of their arrangements, passed away at the age of 90 on Mar. 9. Known as the "Fifth Beatle," Sir George was the head of EMI's Parlophone Records in the UK which, in its early years, concentrated on jazz and comedy. Sir George was on the lookout for a rock act when he met Beatles manager Brian Epstein in Feb. 1962. At the time, the Beatles were comprised of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and drummer Pete Best, and every other British label had passed on signing the band. After hearing the band's demo made for Decca Records a month earlier, Sir George thought it was "rather unpromising," but detected something special in the harmonies of Lennon and McCartney, and scheduled the group for a recording session at EMI's Abbey Road studios in June. Liking what he heard, he signed them up, but suggested they replace Pete Best in the studio with another drummer, and Ringo Starr came on board. He allowed them to record their own material, including "Love Me Do," which became their first single and peaked at No. 17 on the British charts. For the band's first U.S. single, "Please Please Me," released in Nov. 1962, he convinced the boys to speed up the tempo. It proved to be a smash hit. "Gentlemen, you have just made your first No. 1 record," he memorably told them from the control room. Sir George also served as the Beatles' arranger, and suggested strings be added to "Yesterday," which would become one of the most covered songs of all time, and conducted the string section for "Eleanor Rigby." He played piano on "In My Life" and composed its harpsichord section; was responsible for the breathtaking orchestral windup in "A Day in the Life"; and used backward tapes to help shape the psychedelic elements of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, piecing together shreds of tape at random after throwing them in the air for the the swirly organ on "Being For The Benefit of Mr Kite." In his 1979 autobiography All You Need Is Ears, Sir George recalled how his recording sessions with the Beatles was a "team effort." "Without my instruments and scoring, very many of the records would not have sounded as they do. Whether they would have been any better, I cannot say. They might have been. That is not modesty on my part; it is an attempt to give a factual picture of the relationship." 
Sir George received an Academy Award nomination for best music, scoring of music, adaptation or treatment for the Beatles' 1964 classic film