The Beatles were last photographed together on Friday, August 22, 1969, at John and Yoko’s home, Tittenhurst Park. The Lennon’s lived there from the late summer of 1969 until August 1971. On September 18, 1973, Ringo Starr purchased the property and it became the home of Starr and his family until the late 1980s.
This historic photo session occurred two days after the Beatles’ last recording session together. On hand to shoot film were American photographer Ethan Russell, Monte Fresco from Daily Mail, and the Beatles’ assistant Mal Evans. Amateur film footage of the event was also shot on this day.
Three of the Ethan Russell photos formed the front and back covers of the Capitol compilation album Hey Jude (original title: The Beatles Again), issued in February 26, 1970. (Note: One of the three photos is a small picture superimposed over the door, in the top center of the Hey Jude album cover photo.)
Ringo Starr and actress Barbara Bach first met on the set of the film Caveman in February 1980. They married just over a year later on April 27, 1981, shortly after the film’s release.
Ringo and Barbara were dating and spending a holiday together in December 1980, when the news broke about the murder of John Lennon. The couple flew to New York to comfort John’s widow, Yoko, and the Lennon’s son Sean.
Over the years, Bach has appeared in some of Starr’s music videos, and has accompanied him on his tours. She also appears with Ringo in Paul McCartney’s 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street.
Just before her 18th birthday, Barbara was in attendance at the famous Beatles’ August 1965 concert at Shea Stadium in New York. Not really a Beatles fan, she was only there as a chaperone to her younger sister Marjorie, as Barbara preferred the music of Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Bob Dylan. Coincidentally, another future Beatle wife, Linda Eastman, was also at the Shea Stadium concert.
John Lennon was in the one-time English supergroup The Dirty Mac for The Rolling Stones’ TV special “The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus”, recorded on December 11, 1968. Since becoming a Beatle, this was the first time that John had performed in public in any group other than The Beatles. He came up with the name The Dirty Mac as a play on “Fleetwood Mac”. In addition to Lennon on vocals and rhythm guitar, the band consisted of Eric Clapton (from Cream) on lead guitar, Mitch Mitchell (from The Jimi Hendrix Experience) on drums, and Keith Richards (from The Rolling Stones) on bass. The band performed the Lennon-written “Yer Blues” from the then recently released Beatles’ ‘White Album’. They also backed up Yoko Ono and violinist Ivry Gitlis on a song titled “Whole Lotta Yoko”.
John and Yoko’s Plastic Ono Band, formed in 1969, also included Eric Clapton as an occasional member.
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus album and home video of the event wouldn’t be released until 1996. The DVD was issued in 2004.
John Lennon and Paul McCartney are the only Beatles performing on the single “The Ballad of John and Yoko”. On April 14, 1969, when the song was recorded, Ringo Starr was busy filming ‘The Magic Christian’ and George Harrison was on holiday. The recording session of just Lennon and McCartney came about because John was anxious to record the song, so he called on Paul and suggested they do it without waiting for the other two Beatles to return. They completed the record in a single day. Lennon handled lead vocals, lead guitars, acoustic guitar and percussion, while McCartney played the drums, bass guitar, piano, maracas, and provided backing vocals. Yoko Ono was present during the session though she most likely had no part in the recording.
“The Ballad of John and Yoko” chronicles the events surrounding Lennon’s marriage to Ono just a month before, and some of their activities together, including their first Bed-In, and their demonstration of bagism. In 1970, John remarked in Rolling Stone magazine: “It was very romantic. It’s all in the song, The Ballad Of John And Yoko, if you want to know how it happened, it’s in there. Gibraltar was like a little sunny dream. I couldn’t find a white suit – I had sort of off-white corduroy trousers and a white jacket. Yoko had all white on.”
The “mountain” on the cover of John Lennon’s 1973 Mind Games album is the face of his wife, Yoko Ono. Lennon had designed the cover himself. It is seen by many as symbolism for John walking away from Ono’s huge influence on him. The Lennon’s had split up in mid-1973, around the time the recording sessions for Mind Games was to begin. Their separation was to last 18-months before they reconciled.
