New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ ISL PR) On
Thursday February 6, 1964 the
Beatles were preparing to leave London for their first US visit. The following day they were greeted by thousands of young American fans at JFK Airport. Within minutes of their arrival, using their self-effacing wit, they had totally charmed the cynical New York press corps. After that, the rest of the nation was a breeze. On the Sunday evening - they performed live to a record-breaking 73 million viewers on the Ed Sullivan Show. A whopping 40% of the population. (Equivalent to 125 million viewers in 2014). The world changed...
The
Beatles of course achieved their enduring success with a little help from their friends. On Thursday, February 6, the eve of the 50th anniversary of that momentous weekend, 92Y is proud to present an evening of intimate conversation with some of those friends -
Peter Asher, Donovan, Billy J. Kramer, Freda
Kelly and Vince Calandra, moderated by
Beatles scholar
Martin Lewis, who has curated this event. This event is in partnership with The Fest for
Beatles Fans, which has presented
Beatles fan conventions in the US since 1974. Their 120th convention will be held in NYC on the weekend of February 7th, 8th & 9th; for more information visit: www.TheFest.com.
PETER ASHER - One of the people closest to
Paul McCartney and the
Beatles in the 1960s. He was Paul McCartney's roommate 1963-1965 when Paul lived in the same London house as Asher and his sister Jane Asher (Paul's girlfriend 1963-1968). As one half of the singing duo
Peter & Gordon, he recorded ten worldwide Top Ten hits between 1964-1967, including several songs written specially for them by Paul McCartney. Their first hit, "A World Without Love," was a #1 in 30 nations. Asher was a key figure in the 1960s London counter-culture and founder of the
Indica book shop/art gallery where John and Yoko met. Between 1968-1970 he was head of A&R for the Beatles' Apple Records, where he discovered and produced
James Taylor. Since 1970 he has been one of the world's leading artist managers (James Taylor,
Linda Ronstadt, Joni Mitchell, Randy Newman, Carole King) and record producers (James Taylor,
Linda Ronstadt, Bonnie Raitt, Cher, Diana Ross, 10,000 Maniacs, Lyle Lovett, Graham Nash, Stevie Nicks, Boz Scaggs, Keith Richards,
Jackson Browne and Ringo Starr). He has produced twelve Grammy® Award-winning recordings, and received the "Producer of the Year" Grammy in 1977 and 1989. He continues to produce music including for movies such as Sherlock Holmes 2, Madagascar 3 and
Pirates of the Caribbean 4, working with Hans Zimmer. In recent years he has also been performing his critically-acclaimed one-man-show, "A Musical Memoir of the 60s and Beyond."
DONOVAN - After first meeting the
Beatles in 1965, Donovan rapidly became part of their inner circle and was regarded by them as a close friend and musical peer. Between 1965-1970 he scored 14 major worldwide chart hits and had multiple successful albums. He accompanied the
Beatles on the spiritual quest that took them to
India in 1968. During their Indian trip he taught Lennon, McCartney and Harrison some of his folk guitar skills - manifested in White Album songs such as "Dear Prudence," "Julia," "I Will," "Mother Nature's Son," and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." ("Donovan is all over the the White Album" -
George Harrison on the
Beatles Anthology.) Donovan remained close with Harrison (who wrote a verse for Donovan's song "Hurdy Gurdy Man") and McCartney (who commissioned songs from Donovan for an album he produced of singer Mary Hopkin). In April 2009, he reunited with
Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr for a concert benefitting the
David Lynch Transcendental Meditation Foundation at
Radio City
Music Hall in New York. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, Donovan continues to be a musical force - drawing on his 50-year history and 500-song repertoire while simultaneously creating fresh music - such as his new (yet rooted-in-roots) album
Shadows of Blue recorded in Nashville.
BILLY J. KRAMER - An aspiring musician in his native Liverpool, in 1962 Billy Kramer came to the attention of the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein who was keen to foster other talents alongside the Beatles. Paired with a Manchester group called the Dakotas, he was soon signed to a recording contract by
George Martin who also became his producer. He struck an easy rapport with the
Beatles (it was Lennon who added the middle initial "J" to his stage name) and after having a worldwide hit with his cover of Lennon's "Do You Want to Know a Secret?" he was the recipient of a slew of songs specially written for him by Lennon & McCartney. These recordings included global hits such as "Bad to Me," "I'll Keep You Satisfied" and "From A Window." (He tried - unsuccessfully - to persuade them to let him record the first version of "I Want to Hold Your Hand"!) Other hits followed ("Little Children," "Trains and Boats and Planes"). Kramer has lived in the USA since the 1980s and continues to perform live and make new recordings. His new album titled I Won the Fight includes "To Liverpool with Love" a paean to his hometown and his manager and friend Brian Epstein.
FREDA KELLY - In 1962, Freda
Kelly was a 17-year-old devoted
Beatles fan who faithfully attended their lunchtime performances in Liverpool's Cavern Club. She came to the attention of
Beatles manager Brian Epstein who recruited her to be his secretary. Within a short period of time she was deputed to run the group's burgeoning fan club. As the
Beatles became first a British, and then a worldwide phenomenon, her workload expanded to take care of hundreds of thousands of fans. In that pre-computer era,
Kelly chose to answer every single letter personally and was noted for her warmth to the fans. She also became a very trusted confidante to all four Beatles. On their first recording made as a Christmas greeting to fan-club members they all referred to her as "Good Ol' Freda!", an endearment that was used as the title of the recent documentary about her. Freda continued to run the fan club from her native Liverpool (her father forbade her to live in London when Epstein and the
Beatles made that move in 1964) and continued working even after the group disbanded. It was not till 1972 that she closed the fan club. Few people were closer to the individual
Beatles or more loyal than "Good Ol' Freda" - now a grandmother and still a dedicated
Beatles fan.
VINCE CALANDRA - In February 1964, Vince Calandra was a 29 year-old production executive working for the Ed Sullivan Show. As the youngest member of the production crew he was delegated to look after the
Beatles during their time at the Ed Sullivan Theatre and he spent extensive time with the group. On the day before their live US TV debut in front of a record-breaking 73 million Americans, the
Beatles were required for extensive camera rehearsals.
George Harrison was ill with a strep throat that day, and Sullivan chose Calandra to be Harrison's stand-in for the rehearsals, making him a Beatle-for-the-day! Sullivan even crowned Calandra with a
Beatles wig for his stint. In August 1965, Calandra was Associate Producer for the TV production of the Beatles' ground-breaking Shea Stadium concert that was filmed by Ed Sullivan's production company. Over the following four decades Calandra went on to have a very illustrious career in television as an artist relations executive for programs such as the Mike
Douglas Show and he was Talent
Director for all the celebrity-heavy TV specials produced by the AFI 1990-2004.
MARTIN LEWIS -
Beatles scholar
Martin Lewis - who has written about the
Beatles for Encyclopedia Britannica and Time magazine - started his career as a protege of former
Beatles publicist Derek Taylor. He subsequently became a noted producer: co-creating/producing the Secret Policeman's Ball benefit series for Amnesty International; marketing strategist: (Oscar campaigns for such films as The King's Speech and Crash) and performing humorist: ("incites and inspires with his witticisms" - Village Voice; "intelligently funny" - Paper Magazine). His very extensive work in the
Beatles universe since 1967 includes producing and marketing the DVD Edition of A Hard Day's Night, his campaigns as US marketing strategist for the
Beatles Anthology and The
Beatles Live at the BBC and working for
Paul McCartney on several projects. In 1998 he wrote the companion narrative for the reissue of Brian Epstein's 1964 autobiography, and with support from his friend
George Martin, he initiated and ran the (recently successful) worldwide campaign to have Epstein inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame. In 2008 - with the blessing of Paul and Yoko - he instigated NASA beaming the
Beatles recording "Across the Universe" into deep space - literally across the universe...
For further reading:
The Birth of Beatlemania - a new special report for Encyclopedia Britannica
https://www.britannica.com/blogs/2013/10/2013-birth-of-beatlemania/
How the
Beatles Broke in the US - a new treatise on the astonishing story
https://www.thefest.com/history/the-beatles/#.Us7ExqWhBFw
About The Fest for
Beatles Fans
The Fest for
Beatles Fans is the world's longest-running
Beatles fan celebration. It was launched in New York City in 1974 with the blessing of
John Lennon ("I'm all for it... I'm a
Beatles fan too!") as a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Beatles' first US visit. Instigated by a young New York-based
Beatles fan, Mark Lapidos, the event mushroomed and the Fest rapidly became an integral part of the
Beatles fan experience in
America with celebrations in multiple cities and regions - many of them recurring annually. Over the past 40 years, the Fest has presented appearances by a huge range of family members, friends, fellow musicians, artists and associates from the
Beatles world. On the exact 50th anniversary weekend of Feb 7, 8 & 9, the Fest will present its 120th US convention in NYC at the Grand Hyatt Hotel. Emceed by
Beatles scholar
Martin Lewis, guests will include
Peter Asher, Donovan, Billy J. Kramer (all of whom will perform live), Freda Kelly, Vince Calandra and many more. More information: www.TheFest.com
