Live Aid

July 13, 1985
 

Arriving at Heathrow

 July 11, 1985

Mock Turtle Ringo

 

World Turtle Day just ended, so I thought I should post these photos from May 1985 of Ringo playing the part of the Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland.   

Clean Shaven Ringo

 April 25, 1985 

Mary in NYC

 

April 14, 1985

Clean Shaven Ringo

 

March 27, 1985

Ringo was soon to begin filming his part as the Mock Turtle in Alice in Wonderland and because of the extensive make up he had to wear for the part, he had to shave all of his facial hair.  He looks like a completely different person! 

Interviewed by the organ

 March 12, 1985

What's in the basket Paul?

 January 26, 1985 

Interview with Billy Preston

 

The Get Back film has brought Billy Preston back into the spotlight again.  Billy was an amazing musician and person.   He always seems like a happy man with a wonderful smile, great fashion, and someone that tried to spread peace, love, and kindness to everyone.    And obviously, he had a big amount of talent -- his keyboard playing is great beyond words.  I spotted this interview with him from 1985 with Beatles Unlimited and thought it was interesting.   

Interview with Billy Preston

By Mees Van Ditzhuyzen

Beatles Unlimited

August 1985

Billy Preston is always a welcome guest on the European continent.  He manages to hop over quite regularly to do some concerts or promote a new record.  IN May Preston visited the Netherlands to sing his new single “Here There and Everywhere” on a few TV programs and do some live shows in discotheques.  A good opportunity for us to have a talk with probably the only man to work closely with both Beatles and Stones.  The interview took play on 14 May 1985 at “De Bios” in Amsterdam.  Special thanks go to Indisc Records for their kind cooperation and to Arthur Mathezing for his editorial assistance.

 

Q:  First a few questions about your cooperation with The Beatles.  Was the first time you met them in Hamburg?

B:  I met them a little bit earlier than that, in Liverpool, probably a week before Hamburg.  They were on a show with Little Richard and Sam Cooke and that’s who I was touring with.  We became friends because they would always come up to me and ask me about Little Richard and Sam and America and everything.

Q:  Did you lose sight of them for all those years until 1968 or 1969?

B:  No, I ran into them again in L.A. when they first came there, on their first trip to America, and I saw them in San Francisco, and we hung out and I went to the Cow Palace concert with them.  Then I didn’t see them anymore until 1969 when I was in London with Ray Charles.  He was doing a concert at the Festival Hall and George Harrison was in the audience.  He didn’t know I was in the show and kept wondering if it was me.  He sent a message backstage for me to call Apple the next day.  I did and he invited me over.  When I went down to the studio they were recording and asked me to sit in.

 

Q:  Up until then you had made some records with organ instrumentals for Capitol, so you had to change labels.

B:  Yes.  That happened overnight.  They asked me if I wanted to be on Apple and I said that I did but that I was on Capitol.  The next day they said, “You are now on Apple.”

Q:  What that, your music changed as well.

B:  That was the first time I had a chance to sing and to do my own songs that I had written.  It was a great outlet for me.

Q:  There is a story that George Harrison wrote “What is Life”, especially for you but that in the end, he recorded it himself.

B:  You mean “My Sweet Lord?”

Q:  No, it’s on the same album.

B:  He never told me that.  We did kind of help him with “My Sweet Lord.”  It originated in a dressing room.  We were on a tour with Delaney and Bonnie and they asked me how to write a gospel song.  So I started playing some gospel changes and that’s how the song became a song.

Q:  No influence from “He’s so Fine?”

B:  No.

Q:  You’ve played with the Stones for six or seven years, and with several Beatles on a couple of albums.  Yet there’s a lot of influence from the Beatles:  covers, a tribute on your latest album.  But I don’t see any influence from the Stones.

B:  That may be on the next album.  I’ll get around to all of them, they’ve all been an influence to me.  The tribute was to thank them for giving me the opportunity.

Q:  What was touring with the Stones like?

B:  Oh, it was fun.  Wild times, all the time.

Q:  People were surprised you played with the Stones.  After all their lifestyle was very different from yours.

B:  Yes, very much so.  But it was exciting for both of us.  The first time they ever played in the key of E Flat was when they played my song “Outa Space” They were thrilled because of that.  When I did that song in the show and started dancing, Mick Jagger would come out and chase me around the stage and he had a thing he used to swing over the audience.

Q:  Are you still in contact with the Stones?

B: I haven’t seen them lately, because I’ve been busy working on my own stuff.  I had to kind of shy away from being with them sometimes because they took up a lot of time, and I had my own career.

Q:  You played with the Beatles on a few McCartney songs and after that, you played with John, George, and Ringo on their solo albums.  But you never played with Paul.

B:  Paul was always in Europe, and I didn’t have a chance to catch up with him.  The last time I saw him was at a Stones concert, but we said we’d get together, but in practice, it’s very hard.

Q:  Still he did invite a lot of superstars for “Broadstreet.”

B:  A lot of times they just don’t know where I am.  Ringo thought I lived in New York.

Q:  Speaking of superstars:  you weren’t involved in the USA for Africa project.

B:  I was over in Europe when they recorded that, so I missed out on that.  But I just did something similar with all the stars who were born in Texas, Charlie Pride, and a lot of football players.  It’s also a tribute for Africa, but it hasn’t been released yet.

Q:  You worked with Syreeta a lot, but you’re not on their latest album.

B:  My sweetheart, she’s great.  Unfortunately, she couldn’t make it this trip because she’s recording right now.  Her latest album is a solo album.  We’d like to do something together again, but at the moment we are both trying to get our careers going.  Sometimes when you do too much together people think that you are a permanent due.

Q:  Stairsteps, an old George Harrison group, have a lot of musicians on your albums.

B:  The group was great.  I saw them years ago when I first went to New York to the Apollo Theater.  They were little kids then.  I ran into them a little while later and they’d broken up and quit the business.  I got them together again, introduced them to George and he encouraged them to do an album, which I co-produced for them.  A couple of them are still playing today, making disco records.

Q:  And then of course there’s Ray Charles, the man who started it all.

B:  Ys, that’s my idol, man.  We have plans to do something together, but again the schedules are so hard to work out.  But as soon as possible we’ll get together.

Q:  On your more recent albums there were no superstars  There was a trend for a while to invite a whole lot of guests on albums.  For instance, you have worked with Stevie Wonder, Joe Walsh, the Crusaders…

B:  I will do something like that eventually, but on my latest album I concentrated on doing most of it myself.  With the synthesizer and everything, you don’t really need a whole lot of musicians.

Q:  Do you have any idea how many records you’ve made?

B:  I’ve been recording since I was 16, and I’m 38 now.  So maybe an album a year.

Q:  You were with A & M Records for a long time, then things were a bit messy:  Motown Records, Mirror Records, two gospel LPs.  Why was all that?

B:  I had been with A & M for 7 years which is a long time.  It ended because it seemed they had done as much as they could do and that we couldn’t get any further.  Sometimes it’s good to change because I work with a lot of different audiences, and that gives me a variety of things to play, and sometimes it’s hard to be pinned down.  Some people don’t work together unless they’re on the same label, and you have to look for the right combination of people, and someone who will back your records, things like that.

Q:  Did Motown give you an entrance to all the Motown stars?

B:  They worked pretty much together as a team, but it was hard for me to be an individual in that type of situation because I never worked that way.  I did try, but it didn’t work.  I had to move on.

Q:  Will your new album have only your own songs or will there be covers?

B:  Most of them I’m writing together with other writers, mostly lyricists.  I write all the music, and sometimes I have an idea, a verse, a chorus, or something like that and I have them finish it with me.  There’s about three songwriters I work with pretty regularly  One is Ralph Benatar, and there’s a lady, Sylvia Smith, who’s another good lyricist to work with, and there’s Bruce Fisher.

Q:  Do you have any plans for more film music?  You were involved in “Fast Break.”

B:  Yes, we did a film called “Blame it on the Night,” but I don’t know when it’s going to be released.  It’s a kind of rock n roll film.  Mick Jagger had some time to do with it, writing the screenplay or something.  And I make a cameo appearance in it.

Q:  Do you think you attract different audiences, doing gospel music on one end and disco on the other?

B:  I don’t know.  I like music.  Period.  Different people like different kinds of music, but I’ve been blessed to play all kinds, and I like playing classical music as much as playing reggae or anything else.

Q:  Classical music?  Any favorite composer?

B:  Rachmaninov.  My first classical piece was by him.  I have a song called “Minuet For Me” on one of the albums for A & M.

Q:  Does your involvement in gospel music mean that you’re religious, and how do religion and play with the Stones go together, with their rather rough reputation?

B:  They’re very sweet people, underneath the image. I asked them why everyone thinks they’re devils, and they said “We just let it happen.  That’s our publicity, that’s what made us famous.”  They are really nice guys, but I always preach to them.  I believe in God.   I believe that everything that happened for me has been a blessing from God because I never auditioned or sought fame or anything like that.

Q:  Did you have discussions with George Harrison about religion?

B:  Yes, he shared Krishna with me.  In fact, in his studio, he has a picture of Jesus, one of Krishna, of Buddha, everybody.  He’s sharing his beliefs with me.  Not that I’m going to cut my hair and shout “Hare Krishna” all day long.

Q:  Is there another life next to music?

B:  No.  Music is my life.  I’ve been playing since I was three years old.  I never worked at any other job, I don’t know anything else but music.

 

George visits backstage

 December 13, 1985

That time Ringo played elephant polo

Photo by Omar Shafey

 

Nepal on December 12, 1985

Paul having fun on the BBC2

 

Sometimes in 1985

The Masked Ball

 

Ringo, Barb and Pattie Boyd are all in attendance at the Masked Ball on October 11, 1985

The first Beatle to become a Grandfather

 

On September 5, 1985, Ringo's oldest son, Zak, and his wife at the time, Sarah brought a beautiful little girl into the world.  They chose to name her Tatia Jayne Starkey.   

Ringo becoming  a Grandfather was really big news at the time.  I guess because when we think of  The Beatles, we do not think of them being a Grandfather.    We think of a little old man that is very clean, but not our rock n roll drumming Ringo. 

Newspapers and magazines were sent out to Tittenhurst in September of 1985 (a few weeks after the birth) to get photos and a story.   

Paul aruges with striking teachers (1985)

 

This news article was from the July 1985 issue of With a Little Help From my Friends.   They wrote it from newspaper stories from the Daily Express (6/6/85) and The Sunday Mirror (6/9/85)

Paul's gotten himself into "trouble" with the press for losing his temper on seeing the teachers at James' school on strike this past June.  When he drove James to school that day he was handed a leaflet by Brian Moses, an English teacher there which explained their case for the strike.  "Take a good look, they're striking teachers,"  he told James, and to Mr. Moses, he said, "Did teachers go on strike when you were at school?"  After the confrontation, he drove James back home.  Mr. Moses said that he was rather taken aback by the whole thing, especially as Paul had been a hero of his.  "It was the first time I had met Mr. McCartney and I felt very sad that he should react the way did.  The leaflet I handed to him and to other parents was just stating our case and explaining how far our salaries have dropped in the last few years.  I did explain to Mr. McCartney and the other parents -- and the leaflet stated it -- the teachers were sad and reluctant to have to take such action.  I wish Mr. McCartney had discussed it with me.  He has a point of view, and a right to his own opinion, which I would now dispute for one moment.  But he didn't give me a chance to talk to him."

Paul, it seems, was so upset because it so happened at that time the kids were about to take a big exam, and he felt that the strike was hurting the kids most of all.  Linda said about a week later, "Paul was just expressing his opinion.  We are just normal people and he is entitled to have an opinion like anyone else.  Paul and I don't believe strikes should affect ordinary people like children preparing for exams.  It's a similar situation to when miners go on strike in the winter and the cold affects old people.  It's the innocent who suffer.  We both simply believe industrial disputes like this school should be sorted out by the people at the top sitting calmly and talking about it. 

Live Aid turns 35 today

There has been a lot of talk today about the 35th anniversary of Live Aid on July 13, 1985.   If you were around 35 years ago, you will know that Live Aid was a pretty big deal.     Just about anyone who was anyone in music at the time (except for Michael Jackson) was involved in this charity concert.   It was broadcast live around the world and I think why people remember it so much is because it was on MTV with SO many major superstars.   (That is just my opinion)

It was also a big day for Beatle fans.  The 1980s had been a pretty quiet time for fans.   After John's murder, things were just sad.   But Paul McCartney came out and performed for Live Aid.  It was the first time Paul had performed live since 1979.   For the first time in so long, Paul's fans had something to be excited about. 

And then the unthinkable happens.   Paul is at the piano and his microphone is not working.  For two full minutes, Paul is on live television and those watching at home cannot hear him.    It is obvious he is singing "Let it Be" because the concert-goers are singing it.   Paul looks good with a little gray hair starting to show.  Finally, at two minutes into the performance, Paul's microphone suddenly starts to work and he can be heard singing the chorus of "Let it Be."   He sounds good, maybe a little nervous, but he sounds good.   Linda was there too --- taking photographs on the stage.

Paul is seen soon after for the finale of  "Do They Know It's Christmas."    Paul can be spotted jumping up and down and dancing around during the verses with Linda next to him.   Eventually, he gets up closer and shares a microphone with Bono. 

Paul didn't want the historical moment of him singing "Let it Be" to be shown again with the microphone issues.  Being Paul the perfectionist that he is,  he went into a studio on July 14 and re-recorded his vocals to be overdubbed for the future.   And that is what has been released to this day --  the first two minutes of Paul's re-recording of "Let it Be."

jamming with Carl

October 21, 1985

Biggest Party on Earth!

Leaving the office