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Close to 65 years since he rose to fame as the drummer for English rock icons The Beatles, Pete Best has announced his retirement.
83-year-old Best’s retirement was announced on X (formerly Twitter), with his brother Roag confirming that the drummer will no longer be performing as part of the eponymous Pete Best Band going forward.
“Well what an absolutely wonderful ride we’ve had. However, everything comes to pass,” Roag noted. “My brother Pete Best has announced today he is retiring from personal appearances and performing with the group. His daughter has informed me it’s due to personal circumstances.”
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Pete himself acknowledged his retirement, reposting the original announcement and adding, “I had a blast. Thank you.”
Best’s association with The Beatles began in the late ’50s when the Quarrymen – which comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ken Brown – approached his mother Mona to perform at her Liverpool venue, the Casbah Coffee Club. The Quarrymen evolved into The Beatles in 1960, and following brief stints with Tommy Moore and Norman Chapman, the group recruited Best as their drummer ahead of launching a residency in Hamburg, Germany in August of that year.
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After two years with The Beatles, Best was ousted by manager Brian Epstein in favor of Ringo Starr. Various stories have circulated as to the reason for Best’s dismissal, though his alleged lack of ability, his chemistry within the band, and his purported attractiveness have since been raised as possible explanations behind his firing.
Following his time with the band, Best performed with other bands including Lee Curtis and the All-Stars and The Pete Best Combo, which notably attempted to capitalize on Best’s prior work by releasing an album titled Best of the Beatles.
Best reflected on his time in the band as part of the 2002 book The Beatles: The True Beginnings. “I’ve never thought that it was a bad thing that I was in the Beatles. I’ve always looked back on that, regardless of what happened, as being two very exciting years. We conquered frontiers. We grew in musicianship. It was a privilege to be part of the band.”
Best later enjoyed a successful career in civil service, raised a family, qualified for early retirement, and made millions from the Beatles’ Anthology One album, which featured 12 tracks on which he drummed.
The Pete Best Band is currently scheduled to perform at the Liverpool Beatles Museum on Aug. 23, though it’s currently unknown if Best’s retirement from the band will impact the planned appearance.
When one door closes, another one opens in the world of romance. Mark Hoppus learned that after going on an unsuccessful date with Melissa Joan Hart. The Blink-182 rocker opened up about the dinner with the Sabrina the Teenage Witch star in his upcoming memoir, Fahrenheit-182, according to People. In the book, he says the […]
Both Kevin Bacon and Jennifer Nettles are creatives in every sense of the word. They are deeply passionate about their music and acting careers — with Grammy-winning Nettles balancing her solo and Sugarland music success with leading roles on Broadway’s Chicago and Waitress, as well as starring in films including Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors. Meanwhile, Golden Globe and SAG Award-winner Bacon has starred in classic films including Footloose, Taking Chance and many more, all while releasing 12 albums via his band, The Bacon Brothers, alongside his sibling Michael.
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That’s why, when the opportunity came for the duo to blend their talents, they were immediately on board. Bacon and Nettles star in the Grainger David-helmed Prime Video series, The Bondsman, which follows the story of murdered bounty hunter Hub Halloran (Bacon), who is resurrected by the devil to send back demons who escaped from the prison of Hell. Nettles stars as Hub’s musician ex-wife.
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Together, the two teamed up for The Bondsman: Hell And Back, a collection of eight songs written fromthe point of view of their characters, with several of the tracks appearing on the show. “Long before I ever did something like this, I’ve made playlists for my roles. I’ll say to the writer or the director, ‘Do you have songs that you think my character would like?’” Bacon recalls. “But this situation is something that I don’t do really that much. Yes, I love to write songs and, yes, I’m an actor, but I’ve always had a certain purity about both of them. I didn’t want to somehow shoehorn some music into a movie, you know, on the off-chance that I would get to play in it.”
However, The Bondsman felt different, given that Bacon loved the story and Halloran was also a musician in his life. As a seasoned actor and musician, the challenge of writing the songs from the bounty hunter’s perspective, instead of his own, allowed him to create a deeper bond with his role. “It’s really interesting form of songwriting, because I tend to write from my point of view,” Bacon says. “Even if I’m writing off of a hook, it’s probably going to be related to my experience and my feelings around things. Whereas, in this case, I’m writing as the character. And now, you’re going, OK, who was Hub Halloran when he first met this woman that he’s in love with? Or when they were breaking up? What was his point of view, not only about the world or about love or about her, but also musically? What was the kind of country music that he liked and didn’t like?”
Nettles agrees, adding that the “storytelling” aspect of making the music alongside filming the TV show was something she particularly enjoyed. “Whenever I’m writing a song, it’s both story building and character building. You take on a persona in those times,” she explains. “In that way, it wasn’t anything new or different [to my usual songwriting style]. What was new and different, is getting to do it specifically for this world and for television. This specific character, and this specific world where demons are concerned and all the supernatural and horror — that made it really, really fun.”
Nettles also revealed that the show’s “authentic” portrayal of the South drew her to the role, and her immediate bond with Bacon allowed the music to “flow easily.” And, of course, working with superstar actor in general was a plus. “Working with someone with that level of talent, that icon status, was super thrilling,” she says.
“I just love the performing arts so much, and I love music so much and I love getting to tell stories, and to be able to do this in this show is so fun and campy,” she concludes. “It checks so many boxes.”
The Bondsman is available to watch on Prime Video here, and the corresponding Hell and Back album can be enjoyed on Amazon Music here.
Nashville’s Ascend Amphitheater is getting a new operator.
Metro Nashville has notified Ryman Hospitality Properties (RHP) that it intends to have RHP’s Opry Entertainment Group (OEG) operate Ascend Amphitheater for the next decade. The deal is subject to successful negotiation between the two parties. Axios first reported the news.
Colin Reed, executive chairman of RHP’s board of directors, tells Billboard he expects the negotiations to conclude within the next three months and that the 10-year contract will take effect Jan. 1, 2026. It’s a realization of a dream for RHP that began even before the 6,800-capacity outdoor venue opened in 2015. “We applied for this a decade ago when the city was deciding they were going to build [Ascend],” he says. “We and Live Nation bid 10 years ago. We loved the space then and we really love the space now.”
RHP has aready committed capital to “beautify the project,” Reed says. “Upgrade it and make it more of an experience for the consumer.”
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RHP was selected over Live Nation and AEG. “We really put our front foot forward here, so we always thought we had a shot, but beating two companies that, quite candidly, we have a high degree of regard for — AEG, that handles all of our ticketing in all of our venues, as well as Live Nation, who we have a healthy relationship with — we were very pleased,” Reed adds.
Ascend has averaged 20 to 30 concerts a year, primarily during the summer season, but Reed says he expects to substantially expand activity at the venue.
A cap on 35 shows per year was put in place when the amphitheater opened because it is in a residential area, Reed says, but “the issue for us is this is one of the great pieces of real estate in the city of Nashville and how do we activate it for the other 330 days a year because it should not be kept fallow for that period of time. We can do daytime programming. We can do Opry Under the Stars. We’ve spent quite a bit of time talking with the symphony. There are multiple ways in which we can activate this space.” He is also eager to bring holiday offerings to the Ascend from Thanksgiving to the end of December.
Ascend will be an open room, meaning other promoters, including AEG and Live Nation, can promote shows there. “We want to maintain a good relationship with those businesses,” he says. “We’ll talk to anyone that wants to play this great city.”
Ryman Hospitality’s OEG also runs Nashville venues the Ryman Auditorium and the Grand Ole Opry House, in addition to having partnerships with Luke Combs‘ Category 10 venue and Blake Shelton‘s Ole Red.
Live Nation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
JT is tired of the stans. Over the weekend, the Miami rapper went on a rant directed at stan accounts on social media in now-deleted tweets after a Normani fan account called it “embarrassing” for JT to be celebrating her “Ran Out” music video “finally” hitting 1 million views. “Help me find the embarrassing part,” […]
Kelsea Ballerini got to be the bearer of excellent news at her recent concert in Tulsa, Okla, with the singer-songwriter helping an expecting fan announce her pregnancy to her friends and family by filming an adorable video mid-show.
In a clip posted after Ballerini’s Saturday (April 5) performance at BOK Center Arena, the country star holds up the fan’s phone in selfie-mode while on stage and says into her microphone, “Hello, my name is Kelsea Ballerini, and I’m here to tell you that Maddy’s pregnant!”
Ballerini then pans the camera over to Maddy standing in the audience as the mom-to-be waves excitedly. “And she’s due in November? She’s due in November!” the “Peter Pan” musician continues as the crowd at the arena erupts in applause.
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Maddy also shared a video of how the sweet moment came to be. Between songs, Ballerini had been interacting with fans in the crowd when Maddy’s sign — which read “Can you help me announce my pregnancy?” — caught her eye. “Yes. Yes,” Ballerini said immediately, her eyes widening with excitement.
The Tulsa show marked one of the final performances on Ballerini’s first-ever arena tour. She now has just a few shows left, including stops in South Carolina, New York, Pennsylvania and Toronoto.
And though you wouldn’t be able to guess from how comfortably she chatted with fans in the pregnancy-reveal video, the vocalist recently opened up about how challenging she used to find speaking to be during shows. “My biggest fear was talking on stage, to the point where I would literally get on my laptop and have the set list up, and I would type out word-for-word exactly what I was going to say and when I was going to say it every night,” she said in her April 1 People cover story.
“This tour, I’ve done none of that, and it’s just been so freeing,” she continued. “If I feel like talking, I’ll talk for 10 minutes and read signs and get people’s stories and stuff like that. And I don’t have a certain way that I set up certain songs. I follow the night and I follow what’s impacting me in the moment. It’s kept me really present for each show, and it also helps me remember each show.”
Watch Ballerini help announce a fan’s pregnancy at her Tulsa concert below.
Preme, one of Drake‘s oldest friends and collaborators, has weighed in on the recent success of the Toronto rapper’s song “Nokia.” He recently tweeted a screenshot of Apple’s Top 100: Global chart showing that “Nokia” has taken over the No. 1 spot, beating out Kendrick and SZA‘s “Luther,” and proclaimed that Drake is here to […]
Corey Taylor is part of the “Pink Pony Club.” The Slipknot frontman took the stage at horror and pop culture convention SPOOKALA, where he performed a 14-song set on Saturday (April 5), according to Kerrang!. He included a series of covers during his performance, ranging from Foo Fighters and Violent Femmes tracks to the SpongeBob […]
50 Cent is welcoming Eminem into life as a grandpa. The G-Unit boss congratulated Em on becoming a grandpa on social media over the weekend after the Detroit legend’s daughter, Hailie Jade, revealed she gave birth to her son in March. “Congratulations This is the best WOW,” 50 wrote to X on April 5 alongside […]
