Latest news with #GeorgeMartin
Daily Mail
03-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Sons of 'Fifth Beatle' George Martin square off in bitter row over father's will after producer's kids with first wife were snubbed: ALISON BOSHOFF
There was shock when legendary music producer George Martin – known as the 'Fifth Beatle' – died in 2016 and left just £1million in his will. His eldest daughter Alexis Stratfold said at the time that it was a 'joke' for her to get £68,000 in a bequest (alongside his chauffeur and secretary) when her father's wealth had been estimated at between £250-400 million. But she was lucky. Her brother Greg – Martin's eldest son – was cut out altogether. And it can be revealed that Greg is consulting lawyers because he believes his half-brother Giles may have benefited from a house and a £3.5million legacy. These, Greg claims, were separate from the will and were 'always meant to be his'. Alexis and Greg are George Martin's children by his first wife, Sheena Chisholm. But their father left her for Judy Lockhart-Smith, a secretary at the Beatles label Parlophone, in 1962, and they had two children: Giles and Lucie. The older children were largely excluded from Martin's successful later life. Alexis was bitterly hurt when invitations to their father's memorial did not include their names. Greg did not even attend. The actor, writer and producer told me: 'The only thing I inherited from my father was his coat of arms. I was not even mentioned in the will, and Alexis was left a small amount of money on the same terms as some of his staff. 'It was painful. It is painful. I believe that my father would not have done that if it was not for Judy. 'He used to try and slip me money sometimes, like $100, and say: 'Don't tell Judy!' He added: 'I believe there must be a huge amount of money hidden away'.' The current potential legal action was prompted by contact from a family friend around a month ago. Greg said: 'She said there was a letter written by my father, which said that he wanted me to have a house and some money, but that Judy intercepted the letter.' (Martin's widow died in 2023.) He went on: 'I believe that it is possible that Giles has been living in that house on and off for the last nine years. If that is true, I want to sue. 'I think there is about £3.5million in a bank in America, and I believe there may be interest on that money also. I have engaged lawyers, but we have not filed a case yet.' He added: 'It would have been entirely in character for him to have secretly left a house in my name in a trust and money in a foreign bank account. 'I took no legal action at the time, because I was devastated and exhausted. Now I have had enough. 'My father would be rolling over in his grave. I adored him and know how deeply he loved me.' A spokesman for Giles Martin did not return requests for comment. Water fiasco! Did Ellen's pool ruin Clarkson's big day? The disastrous opening of Jeremy Clarkson's Cotswolds pub is the car-crash climax of season four of the global hit series Clarkson's Farm. Now, locals are whispering that one of the contributing factors might have been... a swimming pool belonging to his neighbour, US TV star Ellen DeGeneres. As viewers of the show may recall, mains water failed on the second day of opening at The Farmer's Dog last August. The pub toilets and kitchen had to close and customers were turned away. In an exchange seen on screen, Clarkson's plumber blamed villagers in the nearby hamlet of Asthall for draining the mains system, leaving the pub – a mile away up a hill – high and dry. Clarkson said on episode eight of the show: 'I was hoping the problem was something trivial. But the plumber quickly realised it was being caused by the village down the hill.' His plumber explained: 'As far as I know the water pipe comes all the way up the hill from Asthall village. When everyone in the village is turning their water supply on – showers, filling up pots and pans and kettles – it doesn't then have the oomph to push it up the hill [to the pub].' A local from Asthall who did not wish to be named reveals: 'It was around the August Bank Holiday weekend that the swimming pool at Ellen's farmhouse was being refilled. 'Pools of that size [a 56-footer reckoned to hold 100,000-plus litres], filled with normal mains water, can take a week to nine days to fill. Sometimes even longer, depending on the local mains water pressure. 'If you can imagine having all the taps on to fill the pool, that has to take a lot of water out of the system and Asthall really is just a very small hamlet with a handful of houses. Perhaps it is no surprise that Clarkson, with all the water a business like that uses, ran out.' A lawyer for DeGeneres has not answered requests for comment. She bought a £15 million farmhouse in Asthall last year in an apparent protest at Donald Trump's second US election win. But after land around the home flooded, DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi moved to a modern house near Chipping Norton. Alicia: You may mock but MY Ibsen will be funny Alicia Vikander is promising audiences 'some laughs' in her next stage outing — even though it's in a play by Norwegian gloomster Henrik Ibsen. Ibsen has never been described as a barrel of laughs, but Swedish actress Vikander insists that the contemporary adaptation of The Lady From The Sea, in which she will star this autumn, will not be all hemlock and ashes. 'Simon Stone [the director and writer] has promised there will be some laughs — yes, in Ibsen!' Vikander exclaimed. The actress, who is married to Michael Fassbender, is in London for rehearsals with her leading man, Andrew Lincoln. The show will start previews at the Bridge Theatre in London on September 10. 'Ibsen is actually my first memory of being at the theatre, which is seeing Peer Gynt,' Vikander said. 'I was quite young for seeing that play. My mother was an actress and she took me there. It was an extremely profound experience.' Could J Lo's singing Spider Woman bag her an Oscar? Write off J Lo's ambitions at your peril. Film bible Variety, no less, thinks she could be in the running for a best supporting actress Oscar nomination for her performance in Kiss Of The Spider Woman. The film premiered at Sundance this year to mixed reviews – but most critics admired her performance as Aurora (pictured): a singing, dancing, screen icon she might have been 'born to play'. Lopez has made plenty of not-awards-adjacent movies for streamers in recent years and has never been nominated for an Oscar, although she did pick up a hatful of nods for the 2019 film Hustlers. But now, 27 years after she melted the screen with George Clooney in Out Of Sight, she's back. Shooting on the picture coincided pretty much exactly with the breakdown of her marriage to Ben Affleck (who has an executive producing credit through his company Artists Equity). They filmed from March to June in New York, and she cited April as the date of their separation. I don't want to talk about it... Rod TV ratings beaten by old pal Elton More fuel for rock frenemies Rod Stewart and Elton John. Ratings show Rod got 3.4 million viewers for his Sunday teatime slot at Glastonbury. Not too shabby. But still less than half of the TV audience attracted by Elton in 2023. The pair have been close friends/sparring partners for years, but seemed to fall out in earnest in 2018 when Rod called Elton's lengthy 'farewell' tour 'dishonest', suggesting it was 'not rock and roll' – just an excuse to sell tickets. Elton hit back, saying Rod — busy promoting his own tour at the time — 'had a f***ing nerve'. However they've clearly made up since, as Sir Elton wished his old pal a warm happy 80th birthday in January. He told Rod: 'So many great memories over the years! Hope you have a brilliant day celebrating!' The BBC is thought to pay £35million a year for the broadcast rights to Glastonbury in a deal which runs out in 2027. Most in the industry think the Beeb will lose the rights then, with a streamer such as YouTube or Prime Video snapping them up for double the price. Meanwhile, former BBC DJ Liz Kershaw has pointed the finger at three BBC execs who are all 'paid six-figure sums' and who should, she said, have put Bob Vylan's controversial Glastonbury performance on delay, not broadcast it live on iPlayer. The band's lead singer led chants of 'death to the IDF' (Israel Defence Forces). The execs are Jonathan Rothery, head of popular music, TV; Lorna Clarke, director of music; and Alison Howe, executive producer of the event. Howe, incidentally, picked up a Bafta in May for best live event... for Glastonbury 2024. Kate Winslet has ditched plans to star as a surgeon in a prestige TV drama — dropping out of The Spot due to 'creative differences'. The show, from super-indie A24, was to tell the story of a successful medic whose husband thinks she might have killed a child in a hit and run accident. The plan is to recast. Peace has broken out in the BBC Radio 2 cold war between Sunday DJs Elaine Paige and Paddy McGuinness. He had complained that the (very grand) Dame ignored him on handover every single week. But after 13 months, a thaw... 'Next up, Dame Elaine Paige!' McGuinness cried last week at 1pm. And Paige countered with: 'Thank you Paddy, great show as always.' As Oasis reunite on stage tonight, here's Noel Gallagher's take on brother Liam's vocal style: 'Like Adele shouting into a bucket.'
Miami Herald
18-06-2025
- Automotive
- Miami Herald
Volvo's Abbey Road Mode Turns the EX90 Into a Personal Music Venue
Music is an essential part of driving, whether through your car's radio, on physical media, or a streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music. Some of us have that special mixtape, burnt CD, or mixtape full of the essential tracks meant to lift the spirits on the morning commute, the drive home, or a long drive somewhere far away. One of the bands I grew an unhealthy, obsessive fixation over when I was a kid was The Beatles, and ironically, one of those songs on one of my driving playlists is Drive My Car. Though we know the words and notes of our favorite songs by heart, the most discerning ears know that there are wildly different and noticeable differences when we listen to them in our cars, our headphones, and through various types of speakers. Nothing can compare to the experience of attending a live performance or being in the room with artists as they record. However, if you're a Beatles fan like I am, you might need a time machine to experience that era. But while time machines and flux capacitors remain the work of fiction, Volvo's latest software update has a cool new feature that may be the next best thing: a way to bring you closer to one of the most iconic studios in the world. After teasing this feature last year, Volvo has officially introduced what they call the "Abbey Road Studios Mode" in an over-the-air (OTA) update for its all-electric EX90 models equipped with the optional Bowers & Wilkins High Fidelity Audio system. This innovative digital audio experience has been crafted in collaboration with audio engineers from the actual Abbey Road Studios in London and high-end audio experts at Bowers & Wilkins. In essence, Abbey Road Studios Mode was made to replicate the distinct sound and acoustic character of the Abbey Road recording rooms inside the Volvo EX90. In its quest to explore the limits of the in-car music listening experience, Bowers & Wilkins worked closely with the same audio engineers who obsessed over the minute, fine details for a wide range of music artists to create a series of digital soundscapes that could bring the studio alive in the big Volvo EV's ultra-quiet cabin. Though other expensive brand-name high-end stereo systems in other cars allow you to tweak, tune, and mess with various equalizer (EQ) settings like the balance, bass, treble, and even focus the sound on passengers or drivers, Volvo says that the Abbey Road Studios Mode is different. The mode comes with some special presets that "provide a selection of sounds, optimised for different listening styles," as well as a special "Producer Mode," which "allows you to engineer your own sound" by adjusting between retro-style warmth or modern, crisp depth, and even shifting the simulated acoustic environment in the same way George Martin would've done. "The Abbey Road Studios Mode brings the unique sound of our spaces and equipment to the Bowers & Wilkins system in the Volvo EX90 for the first time," Abbey Road Studios GM Jeremy Huffelmann said in a statement. "We are hugely proud of this collaboration, and excited for Volvo customers to experience this landmark technology." The Abbey Road Studios Mode is a nice addition to the EX90, which already features a Dolby Atmos-capable, 1,610-watt Bowers & Wilkins system with 25 speakers placed throughout one of Volvo's quietest interiors. As a music fan, words underestimate the kind of songs that were recorded at Abbey Road. We're talking 190 of The Beatles' 210 song catalog, Lennon's Imagine, the entirety of Pink Floyd's The Dark Side of The Moon, modern hits like Lady Gaga's Born This Way, Frank Ocean's Pink + White, and even the scores of Oscar-winning movies like Gravity and The Shape of Water. Although it may seem like a bit too much of a niche "if you know, you know"-type of deal, I feel that given the studio's rich history in modern music, the 'Abbey Road mode' is the ultimate form of an audiophile's stamp of approval, which can sway at least some music-loving buyers towards the Volvo. At least for me, it could make "Drive My Car" sound true to the original recording. Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The Independent
12-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Brian Wilson says music ‘comes from the heart' in resurfaced clip
Brian Wilson, co-founder of The Beach Boys, has died at the age of 82. News of his death was shared on X by his children on Wednesday (11 June). Resurfaced footage from 2006 shows Wilson describing his songwriting process as "coming from the heart". In the footage, Wilson tells record producer George Martin that songwriting is an unconscious process that "comes from a higher place". Wilson was the writer of hits such as 'Surfin' USA', 'Good Vibrations', and 'God Only Knows'. Watch the full video above.
The Independent
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- The Independent
Resurfaced footage shows Brian Wilson describing songwriting process as ‘coming from the heart'
Brian Wilson describes his songwriting process as 'coming from the heart' in resurfaced footage following his death. The Beach Boys co-founder has passed away at the age of 82, with the news shared on X by his children on Wednesday (11 June). Footage recorded in 2006 for the 40th Anniversary edition of Pet Sounds shows the singer, who wrote hits such as Surfin' USA, Good Vibrations, and God Only Knows, expressing his belief that good songs 'come from deep inside the soul'. Speaking to record producer George Martin, he said: 'I believe that songwriting is an unconscious thing. I don't believe anyone can concentrate on music and write music, it comes from a higher place, I'm almost sure of that.'
Times
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Times
Professor Peter Bassano obituary: Trombonist on Hey Jude
Peter Bassano spent almost three decades as a trombonist with the London Philharmonia Orchestra and served almost as long as a professor at the Royal College of Music. Yet the best-paid gig of his career came in August 1968 when he was still a student and got a call to turn up with his trombone one evening for a three-hour recording session at Trident studios in London's Soho. 'We weren't told what it was but then George Martin arrived and I realised it was a Beatles session,' he recalled. Martin told Bassano and the other 35 members of the ad hoc orchestra that they were required to play four notes in the coda of Hey Jude. According to Norman Sheffield, the studio's owner, several
