This Day in Beatle History

September 12

1977 (Sep 12) - Paul McCartney's Son James is Born

Paul McCartney’s son James is born.

2008 (Feb 20) - Beatles' Autographed Rolling Stones Album Auctioned

A 1976 Rolling Stones album bought for £2 at a car boot sale sold for £4,000 at an auction. The ‘Black and Blue’ LP was signed by John Lennon, Yoko Ono, Paul and Linda McCartney and George Harrison as well as members of the Rolling Stones. The seller obtained the album after haggling the cost down from £3.

September 13

1965 (Sep 13) - 'Yesterday' Released in the US

The Paul McCartney song ‘Yesterday’ was released as a Beatles single in the US. McCartney’s vocal and acoustic guitar together with a string quartet essentially made for the first solo performance of the band. The final recording was so different from other works by The Beatles that the band members vetoed the release of the song as a single in the United Kingdom. (However, it was issued as a single there in 1976.)

1965 (Sep 13) - Beatles Win First Grammys

The Beatles win their first Grammys, for Best New Artist and Best Album (for A Hard Day’s Night), at the awards ceremony in New York.

1965 (Sep 13) - Zak Starkey Born

Zak Starkey, drummer, (son of Ringo). Formed his own band The Face and has worked with The Who, Oasis, Johnny Marr and the Spencer Davis Group.

1966 (Feb 18) - Brian Wilson Finishes 'Good Vibrations'

Beach Boy Brian Wilson finished recording the future classic song ‘Good Vibrations’, which went on to become the band’s third US number-one hit. As a child, his mother told him that dogs could pick up “vibrations” from people, so that the dog would bark at “bad vibrations” Wilson turned this into the general idea for the song.

1967 (Sep 13) - Beatles Form Electronics Company

The Beatles formed an electronics company called Fiftyshapes, Ltd. appointing John Alexis Mardas (Magic Alex) to be the company’s director. Alex claimed he could build a 72-track tape machine, instead of the 4-track at Abbey Road (this never materialised). One of his more outrageous plans was to replace the acoustic baffles around Ringo Starr’s drums with an invisible sonic force field. George Harrison later said that employing Mardas was “the biggest disaster of all time.”