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Curated playlist

Apple Records artists

  • The BeatlesIn 1964, an estimated 73 million Americans watched the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.
  • John LennonJohn Lennon was ordered to leave the United States in 1973. His anti-war activities had alarmed President Nixon.
  • Little RichardLittle Richard walked away from rock and roll to study theology. A fireball over Sydney in 1957 shook him.
  • Paul McCartneyPaul McCartney traded a trumpet for a guitar and wrote his first song on it. His father had given him the trumpet.
  • Yoko OnoYoko Ono hung a magnifying glass atop a white ladder in a London gallery. Climbers read one tiny word: YES.
  • George HarrisonGeorge Harrison mortgaged his home to save Monty Python's Life of Brian. EMI Films had pulled its funding in 1978.
  • Paul McCartney and WingsPaul McCartney named Wings after a frightening hospital night in 1971. Both Linda and baby Stella nearly died.
  • Ringo StarrRingo Starr's first drum was a cotton bobbin used to tap the cabinets by his hospital bed.
  • Plastic Ono BandThe Plastic Ono Band began as an art idea, not a band. Yoko Ono conceived it in 1967 for a Berlin exhibition.
  • George MartinGeorge Martin called the Beatles' audition recording a "lousy tape" before he signed them.
  • James TaylorJames Taylor, the American singer-songwriter and guitarist, was the last act on the bill at the Newport Folk Festival on the 20th of July 1969. Thousands of fans had stayed through the rain just to hear him. He got through only 15 minutes.…
  • Ravi ShankarRavi Shankar was horrified when Jimi Hendrix set his guitar on fire. The sitar master saw instruments as part of God.
  • Billy PrestonBilly Preston got his name on a Beatles single. The 1969 "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston."

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