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KLAUS VOORMAN : ANOTHER 5Th Beatle

4/29/2015

KLAUS VOORMAN: ANOTHER 5TH BEATLE

By Alan L. Chrisman

There are several people who could be called the 5th Beatle: George Martin, Brian Epstein, Neil Aspinall, Pete Best, etc. and I’ve written about some of these. But Klaus Voorman was also there at their beginnings and throughout their whole Beatles period and later played bass on several of their solo albums and as well as designed some of their iconic album covers.

It was Klaus who first discovered the band in a tough Hamburg bar and told his roommate, Astrid Kirchherr, about them and she would create their whole look, which would soon conquer the world. It was Klaus who drew the distinctive Revolver cover. It was Klaus Voorman who was part of John Lennon’s Plastic Ono Band when they played Live Peace in Toronto in 1969. It was Klaus who played on and designed the cover for Ringo’s solo album of the same name. He played on “Instant Karma”, and Lennon’s Imagine and Walls and Bridges, and Rock ‘n’ Roll albums, and was on George’s All Things, Material World, Bangladesh, and Dark Horse albums.

He was in Manfred Mann from’66-‘69 and played bass and flute on their hit,”The Mighty Quinn.” He was also a session musician for James Taylor, Carly Simon, Lou Reed, and Harry Nilsson and others. In 1979, he produced the German band, Trio, who had a hit with “Da Da Da.” And full-circle, he was asked by the remaining Beatles to design the covers for the 3 Beatles’ Anthologies covers in the mid-90’s.

In 2009, Voorman released his own solo album, A Sideman’s Journey with guests, Paul, Ringo, Cat Stevens, Joe Walsh, Dr. John, Van Dyke Parks, The Manfreds, etc. In 2010, a documentary on him was made, All You Need Is Klaus.

This very talented, but unassuming musician and graphic artist too, was always a loyal Beatles’ sideman and lifelong friend. As George said at The Bangladesh Concert, “ There’s somebody on bass who many people have probably heard about, but they’ve never actually seen him- Klaus Voorman.” A true 5th, but unspoken Beatle.

Below Klaus Voorman recording with Paul & Ringo, 2008:

https://youtu.be/YhZZiMOy334

Below "The Making of Klaus Voormann & Friends”: Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Yusuf aka Cat Stevens, Dr. John, The Manfreds (members of Manfred Mann), Bonnie Bramlett, Jim Keltner, Max Buskohl, Van Dyke Parks, Albert Lee, Joe Walsh, Don Nix and many others, 2009:

https://youtu.be/ELwfVR7yKCg

Klaus Voorman designed these iconic Beatles' albums covers above

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RINGO RECOGNIZED: STILL THE DOWN-TO-EARTH STARR

4/14/2015

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RINGO RECOGNIZED: The Still Down-To-Earth STARR
By Alan L. Chrisman

Ringo is being inducted into The Rock ’n’ Roll Hall of Fame by Paul McCartney on April 18, 2015. He will be the fourth Beatle to be recognized there as his own solo artist, besides the Beatles as a group.

Ringo always was portrayed as the “everyman” in the group, often overshadowed by the giant song writing talents of John and Paul and later, George Harrison. Lennon-McCartney tailored certain songs just for Ringo to sing on Beatles’ albums like “Help from My Friends” and “Yellow Submarine.” Otherwise, he mainly sang covers of his favorite country heroes like “Act Naturally.”

But Ringo was the consistent drummer on all their albums. Ringo had replaced Pete Best just after they had gotten their record deal in 1962. Producer George Martin, as was common in those days, hired a session drummer to fill in for Ringo on the Beatles’ first single, “Love Me Do.” Ringo had actually been in a more popular Liverpool group than The Beatles at the time, Rory Storm & the Hurricanes, but he had sometimes played together with the Beatles when they were both in Hamburg. But Ringo was always much more than just a drummer while in The Beatles, for he was an integral part of that mysterious chemistry that made the Beatles, uniquely, The Beatles. And he had that same kind of off-the-wall humor. Someone said once they were like a four-way marriage with all their personalities and talents plugged into each other. And Ringo always seemed to be the “grounder.” He not only kept the beat grounded, but sometimes the members’ egos too.

When the Beatles split in 1970, many wondered about his solo future. He had only written a couple Beatles’ songs, “Don’t Pass Me By” and “Octopus’ Garden.” So it was to everyone’s surprise when he was to have one of the most successful ex-Beatles’ solo’s albums with his Ringo album in 1973, with several big hits including the George Harrison co-written song ,“Photograph.” He would go on to have seven Top Ten hits like, “It Don’t Come Easy”, “Back Off Boogaloo “, “ You’re Sixteen”, “Only You’, etc. Even when the other ex- Beatles sometimes were still not talking with each other much , they would still continue to appear on his albums and he theirs.

Then in the 80’s & 90’s, he put together his own of several All-Starr Bands with well-known musicians who hit the road playing their hits and his. Ringo has continued to release albums over the years. And he has actually turned into a pretty good co-writer and songwriter himself. Particularly with albums like his 2008, album, Liverpool 8, it was noticeable his growing skill in that area too. Also with that album and song, he has been writing songs looking back at his Liverpool beginnings. Ringo has continued this on his new recently released album, Postcards from Paradise, with a song called “Rory & the Hurricanes.” It is Ringo’s 18th album.

He also has appeared in several films as well: Magic Christian Music, Candy, Caveman (where on set, he met his current wife, Barbara Bach, in 1981). I think his best role is in That’ll Be the Day, where he plays a working-class carny at a holiday camp (similar to the ones Ringo’s band, Rory Storm, would have actually played). It perfectly captures early 60’s England just before The Beatles hit. He is also an accomplished photographer and shot the covers for his friend, Marc Bolan’s T-Rex albums and directed a film on him. So quite a career and life for a sickly, poor, relatively-uneducated lad who only picked up drumming banging on biscuit tins with sticks in the beginning. Ringo himself, has never claimed to be a trained drummer.

Like has also been leveled at Pete Best (Cynthia Lennon told me, shy Pete didn’t have the ego to compete with John and Paul’s), over the years, some have even accused Ringo of not being the best drummer. But several other respected drummers have disagreed, crediting him with developing a whole “Ringo” sound, which many have copied. At one point during the making of The White Album, Ringo felt left-out and walked away from the sessions, but came back when the other Beatles sent him a postcard which said “You Are the Greatest Drummer in the World- Really.” Others have said he was just lucky to have been there at the right time. Paul McCartney has said they wouldn’t have stayed with Ringo, if they didn’t believe he was a good drummer. It’s hard, indeed, to imagine those Beatles’ songs without his distinctive back-beat rhythms.

John Lennon said: “Ringo was a star in his own right in Liverpool before we even met. Ringo was a professional drummer who sang and performed and was in one of the top groups in Britain, but especially in Liverpool. So Ringo's talent would have come out one way or the other ... whatever that spark is, in Ringo, we all know it but can't put our finger on it. Whether it's acting, drumming, or singing, I don't know. There's something in him that is projectable and he would have surfaced as an individual ... Ringo is a damn good drummer.”

The Beatles were more than just the sum of their parts. Ringo was and is much more than just a drummer, who happened to play in the best band in the world. He has his own personality and persona and talents and loyal following. Ringo still seems to be that same down-to-earth star that’s such a rarity these days, especially, with whom we can all still relate.

When McCartney and rock royalty induct Ringo into the Hall of Fame, it will be time and well-deserved. Paul and he are now receiving all kinds of accolades and still carrying on their great legacy and still performing.

Ringo has announced another tour starting in October with his All-Starr band line-up of the last 12 years to support his new album, Postcards from Paradise. I met his 1995 All-Starr band including Billy Preston, Randy Bachman (The Guess Who and BTO), and Felix Cavaliere (The Rascals). I’m very happy I was able to get tickets for his new show in October in Montreal, where I also saw Paul in ‘89 and George in ’74. I also saw Paul in Ottawa in 2013. We should still see these living legends while we still can, as they continue to put on great shows. Some things which are good, never change. And Ringo, as I said, is like that, or as he would say, like “Peace & Love” too.

Below Ringo doing his rocker, “Rory & the Hurricanes” about his beginnings, from his new album, Postcards from Paradise:

https://youtu.be/HPjQcqRsqBQ

& Below Ringo on his new album and tour:

https://youtu.be/uGdhtLV8c50

Above, RINGO'S classic 1973 solo album, with ex-Beatles' Guests and several hits, "Photograph". Below, Ringo's Drumset, R & R Hall Of Fame & postcard Beatles sent to Ringo to get him back, when he left during White Album sessions:

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FREDA KELLY: THE BEATLES' SECRETARY & FAN CLUB FOUNDER

4/5/2015

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FREDA KELLY: THE BEATLES’ SECRETARY & FAN CLUB FOUNDER
By Alan L. Chrisman

I just saw a documentary on Freda Kelly, The Beatles’ secretary and who was in charge of their official fan club. The film is named “Good Ol’ Freda” after a shout-out The Beatles’ make about her in their 1962 Xmas’ message.

I thought it would be interesting, as she was one of the few who were there at their very beginnings. And it is, as she relates many everyday stories about them. She worked with them for 11 years, from 1961 on. She had been working in a typing pool and was a regular at The Cavern. Beatles’ manager, Brian Epstein, approached the seventeen-year-old to come help him deal with the growing workload at his NEMS Liverpool record store and help with his new band, The Beatles.

Besides her regular office work for Brian, a lot of her duties consisted of answering the, at first, a few letters a day to later thousands in big mailbags, from their increasing numbers of fans. Out of that grew her starting their first official Beatles’ Fan Club and newsletter and Beatles’ Monthly Magazine. She saw The Beatles’ often as they would drop in to Epstein’s office and got to know each well. They would have cups of tea and autograph the rising pile of fan letters requesting signed photos, snippets of hair and clothing. Freda also often had to go around and visit the Beatles’ homes after her already long hours at work to get them to sign more photos or papers, and she got to know all their families well. Ringo’s mom, she became especially close to, as her own mother had died when she was only 18 months old and was raised by a father, who saw no future in her working for a pop group.

All these stories and descriptions of The Beatles and the people around them are fascinating enough, but what really makes the film is Freda herself. She’s a very interesting person. While many others around the Beatles have exploited their connections to them, she never did. She calls herself a very private person and always wanted to respect their privacy too. She had even told little of her Beatles’ involvement to her own family and friends. She had given away most of the leftover Fan Club photos, magazines, etc. to fans with whom she identified and felt committed to, as she had been originally just a fan herself.   At one point in the film, she goes into her attic and rummages through the last few boxes of Beatles’ material she has kept. She still feels a fierce loyalty to them and their story. After The Beatles broke up in 1970, she got another job as a private secretary and she is still working and living in Liverpool. She only agreed to tell her story (for the one and only time, she says) when her daughter finally persuaded her and for her grandchild, when approached by the filmmaker nephew of another Liverpool friend and band at the time, The Merseybeats. That’s the kind of person, Freda Kelly is, still not anxious to tell secrets on her old friends and bosses.

I, as I’ve said, have been fortunate to meet several people who knew The Beatles. I’ve written about several of these and my experiences of such, as well as a series of recent tributes to Neil Aspinall, Tony Sheridan, and Cynthia Lennon (who passed away, Apr. 1st). Some have written books, appeared at Beatles’ Conventions, and been in documentaries. The Beatles are, of course, Rock Royalty now, but some behind -the scenes people, like Freda Kelly, haven’t gotten much recognition. Few around them became became rich or famous. Some have even preferred to remain mainly private: Astrid Kirchherr (who created their “look”), Bob Wooler (Cavern DJ), Tony Sheridan). I have found very interesting stories about The Beatles through theirs and others’ eyes and stories like Pete Shotten’s (Quarrymen and Lennon’s childhood friend), Derek Taylor and Tony Barrow Beatles’ publicists), etc.   But as Freda Kelly breaks down near the end of the film and says, not many of them are still here anymore. What struck me about most, if not all, the people whom I met who knew The Beatles’ at their beginnings, is their reverence for The Beatles and what they experienced. That and their remarkable down–to-earthness, which must reflect their often Liverpool humble roots. Freda Kelly comes across like you could just drop in for a cup of tea, as she often had with The Beatles.

BELOW:Trailor for film, “Good Ol’ Freda”:

https://youtu.be/LqO3DIaKTXM

Complete film Dvd available at:

http://www.magpictures.com/goodolfreda/

Above: The Beatles' Official Fan Club membership and Beatles ' Monthly Magazine run by Freda Kelly

FREDA KELLY AND GEORGE HARRISON

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A Tribute to Cynthia Lennon & Meeting Her

4/2/2015

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A TRIBUTE TO CYNTHIA LENNON & MEETING HER

By Alan L. Chrisman

Cynthia Lennon, John’s 1st. wife, passed away April 1, 2015 at the age of 75 after a battle with cancer. I’d always wanted to meet her and in 1994, I got my wish. Someone had told me of a Beatles’ Convention in Stamford , Connecticut and she was one of the main guests.

I had never been to a Beatles’ Convention before, but my fellow student and friend, Al Whyte, and I had just completed a course about putting on events and our two’s school project (only a fantasy) had been to do a Beatles’ Convention. So we had a chance to actually go to one and also meet, as I say, John Lennon’s wife. I had read her book, Twist of Lennon, and could picture what it must have been like before they were very well-known in those early Beatles’ days in Liverpool.

Al and I met her briefly and she was even nicer and lovely than I had hoped. She signed my copy of her book and I nervously asked her some questions. I’d always wanted to see if I could try and see what John had been like past the pop star and media images. We also ran into her later coming down in the elevator of the hotel where the Convention was being held. She had long blonde hair and wore wire-rimmed glasses like John.

I had read the romantic story in her book about how John had met her at their Liverpool art school in 1958. But they were complete opposites. John was the angry, chip-on his shoulder rebel, especially because his mother had been killed by a drunken driver when John was still a teenager. Cynthia Powell was the more middle-class “nice girl”. But what they had in common was both of them being near-sighted and their love of art. But she was able to detect underneath the Lennon sneer, a softer side too. They would sneak over to John’s aspiring-painter friend, Stu Sutcliffe’s room to make love.

Cynthia was very supportive of John and his early budding Beatles’ band. And when Paul, George, Pete Best, and Stu Sutcliffe were sent to Hamburg, John would write back regular funny postcards and letters to her (even though they were playing in some of most decadent bars and temptations in Europe). When they returned from Germany and first played the Cavern, she was there too. But Cynthia didn’t have it easy. She was renting a room from John’s sometimes stern Aunt Mimi, while working at Woolworths and the two women didn’t get along. She then moved to a small bedsitter room.

When Cynthia became pregnant with their son, Julian, they got married in 1962. (John said later, “it had been the thing to do”). Even as The Beatles were becoming more and more popular, Cynthia was still stuck alone while The Beatles were on tour, having to put up with her husband being away a lot of the time, and with all the girls throwing themselves at the young men. And Lennon would sometimes take his frustrations out on her, violently even. There’s a scene in The film, Backbeat about the Hamburg days, where Astrid Kirchherr, the German art student who basically created the whole Beatles’ “look” says to Cynthia’s character, ”but John wants the world.”

At their height, as The Beatles were experimenting with drugs, Cynthia never really felt comfortable with their excesses. Beatle wives were rarely allowed to be in the studio when their husbands were at work. When their manager, Brian Epstein died, they all went to India to see the Maharishi, but John was secretly writing to this new artist, Yoko Ono. On the plane home, he admitted to his wife the many affairs he’d had. John advised her to go to Greece for a vacation, the day she returned, she discovered Yoko had spent the night with him at her home. Lennon and Cynthia soon divorced in 1968.

John had remarried Yoko but Julian had been pretty well ignored by his father ( much as John himself has been deserted by his father). It wasn’t until Yoko and John had separated for several months in 1973 and John was with May Pang in L.A. that May encouraged John to re-connect with Julian. Interestingly, I also met May Pang at that same Conn. Convention. I was surprised she was there; she wasn’t a scheduled guest. But I soon learned she was good friends with Cynthia and had come in to see her. I was able to meet May Pang too and get her to sign my copy of Lennon’s Walls and Bridges album and get photos of her too. Cyn. Lennon, May Pang with Al Chrisman & Al Whyte, 1994.

Al and I were so inspired by meeting Cynthia and May Pang and others at that Conn. Convention that we decided to actually put on our own Beatles’ Conventions. Also, soon after I got back home, Stu Sutcliffe’s sister, Pauline called me from England (I think Cynthia must have given Pauline my number). We had presented Cynthia with our “fantasy”. She seemed interested in our more ‘artistic’ convention than they usually were. Cynthia was an artist in her own right and she would later have exhibitions of some of her art.

We even thought of having her son, Julian, whom had had a successful album, Valotte, as a guest too (which she liked). Unfortunately, she couldn’t make it, but we did end up doing our Ottawa Conventions in ‘95 and ’96, with Pete Best and Louise Harrison as main guests, respectively. Cynthia Lennon would later write a second book simply called John in 2005. She was a lot more critical of John in that book than her first and even said she wished in some ways, she had never met him. Cynthia would, for years, have trouble getting much money and ran a couple failed restaurants and two of her marriages had ended in divorce before her final third husband died in 2013. When Yoko inherited John’s estate when John was killed in 1980, it still took years until Julian finally got a settlement which he shared with his mother. Julian has been bitter the way he felt he had been treated, but over time, all the Beatles’ wives and children finally did appear together at certain functions such as the premiere of Cirque de Soleil’s Beatles’ Love show.

Cynthia, despite having been married to one of the most famous people in the world, as I said, didn’t have it easy. But I was honored to meet her. I have no doubt that if Al and I hadn’t met Cynthia, we would never have actually done our own Beatles’ Conventions and gone on to meet several who knew The Beatles. That’s how much this lovely lady, Cynthia Lennon, had inspired me.

Tribute to Cynthia Lennon with son, Julian’s, song:

https://youtu.be/fsyYqJxf9Qk