The Beatles

Bert Fields, one of the most powerful lawyers in the United States who, among many other things, who waged legal war on behalf of Michael Jackson and Tom Cruise, has died.

Sources close to Fields, including one of his famous clients, tell TMZ ... the attorney has indeed passed.

Fields' client list included James Cameron, Warren Beatty, Dustin Hoffman, Mike Nichols, Jeffrey Katzenberg, David Geffen, Jerry Bruckheimer, The Beatles and Madonna ... among many others.

Among his notable cases ... in 1993, Bert was involved in defending Michael Jackson against molestation allegations, and famously held a news conference acknowledging MJ was so profoundly addicted to pain meds, he could barely function on an intellectual level.

He also filed a $50 million lawsuit against a magazine publisher on behalf of Tom Cruise after the mag claimed Cruise was gay. He sued another outlet for claiming Cruise had abandoned Suri after his divorce from Katie Holmes.

Fields taught entertainment law at both Stanford and Harvard law schools. He was an accomplished author and wrote several novels and even lectured on Shakespeare.

An important piece of Beatles history is up for grabs -- John Lennon's nasty response to a Paul McCartney interview, and it provides tons of insight into the writing duo's complicated relationship.

John fired off a letter to Paul days after an interview critical of him and The Beatles appeared in a November 1971 issue of British music magazine Melody Maker, and John's reply is mostly scathing ... but also thoughtful and pleading.

From the jump, John's frustration with Paul is clear ... telling Paul he's ungrateful for all the money he's getting from The Beatles. As the 3-page letter rambles on, John takes issue with Paul dismissing his song "Imagine" and berates Paul for being indecisive over the band's breakup.

The Beatles had been broken up for more than a year at that point, and were haggling over money. In the letter, John pleads with Paul to meet him without any lawyers ... then turns around and accuses Paul of buying up shares of another record company behind his back.

George Harrison and Ringo Starr also get roped in, as John rips Paul for telling the magazine George and Ringo would break him -- and also accuses Paul of threatening Ringo and his wife, Maureen.

The typed letter, which includes some of John's handwritten additions and signature, is being auctioned off by Gotta Have Rock and Roll ... and it's expected to fetch at least $30,000.

John also sent the letter to Melody Maker magazine editor Richard Williams, scribbling a plea for him to publish it ... and it appeared in the magazine a few weeks after Paul's interview ran.

There's also a fascinating postscript. John says he's puzzled Paul's interview mentioned leaving their wives, Linda and Yoko Ono, out of the dispute ... to which John replies, "I thought you'd have understood BY NOW, that I'm JOHNANDYOKO."

John Lennon allegedly had an affair with an assistant who was 10 years his junior and it was all Yoko Ono's idea ... according to a new documentary.

According to "The Lost Weekend: A Love Story," a doc that just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival ... John had an affair in the 1970s with his assistant, May Pang.

The film, narrated by May and from her point of view, claims May initially met John and his wife Yoko when she was 19 years old and starting a job at The Beatles' music company in New York, Apple Records.

The story goes ... John and Yoko liked May so much they asked her to become their personal assistant, working for them for a few years until one morning in 1973 when Yoko allegedly insisted May go out with John.

The doc claims Yoko told May she was not getting along with her husband and feared John would start seeing other people ... with Yoko suggesting May get involved.

May was 22 and John was 32 when the alleged affair began ... and she claims John had previously told Yoko he found her sexually attractive, though she didn't have romantic feelings toward him when he first pursued her.

The alleged affair lasted 18 months, beginning with John kissing May in an elevator ... and saw John and May move across the country to Los Angeles, where Lennon started making music again with Paul McCartney.

Things even got to the point where John and May were sending joint Christmas cards ... according to the doc ... though they are said to have kept their alleged affair secret from everyone outside their tight friend circle.

Johnny Depp now has something in common with The Beatles -- they have both played the famed Royal Albert Hall in England.

Johnny hit the stage Monday for the second night in a row with Jeff Beck ... this, as he awaits a verdict in his defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard.

Beck and Johnny have a years-long connection. In introducing his bud, Beck said, "He came knocking on my dressing room door about five years ago and we haven't stopped laughing since."

They repeated the songs they sang together the night before in Sheffield ... John Lennon's "Isolation," Jimi Hendrix's "Little Wing," Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," and The Beatles' "A Day In The Life."

As for whether the crowd loved it ... well, there were several standing O's.

Bill Maher had one of his best guests EVER on "Real Time" Friday night ... Rod Stewart, and the timing of the sit-down is crazy.

Rod kicked off his world tour Friday night, performing at Caesars Palace in Vegas, but there he was on Bill's L.A. set just hours before his performance.

Rod is one of the coolest cats in the music biz, and that was on full display with BM. He talked about not ever wanting to be late for his concerts ... unusual for rock stars.

He also said he and the Queen have something in common, and gotta say, he's not wrong.

A couple of surprising things ... did you know Rod wrote "Maggie May," "Tonight's The Night," "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" "Hot Legs," and "You Wear It Well."

Also, his Vegas concert runs for 1 and a half hours, and Rod normally goes over 2 hours but that's Caesar's rule. And, Bill mentioned something that was shocking ... when The Beatles performed, it lasted only 25 minutes.

Paul McCartney and John Lennon's relationship is often seen as bitter, but this week ... Macca seems to have made it clear ... him and John can still come together, even now.

The Beatles frontman was performing this week in Spokane, WA ... and toward the end of the show, during an encore performance, PMC started strumming to his band's song "I've Got a Feeling" -- which appears on The Beatles' last album, "Let It Be."

The song is also featured in their new 'Get Back' documentary ... featured as one of the songs Paul and co. performed on the rooftop of Apple Corps HQ in London.

Of course, he was also side by side with his then-bandmates -- including the late Lennon -- which is what this moment all the more cool ... Paul beamed in JL's video performance of the song live and worked it into the set.

As soon as John's face appeared on the screen behind Paul, the audience went crazy ... and it seems his vocals were coming through quite nicely through the sound system in the building.

Paul weaved in and out of John's singing seamlessly with his own, and at one point ... they were in a full-blown duet together, just like old times. Before John faded out, it appears Paul even turned to face the screen to give a thank you wave.

It was seriously awesome, and kinda puts to bed the idea that there's any bad blood between the pair -- despite the fact Paul recently cast blame on John for breaking up the band.

The Beatles' childhood homes helped shape the artists that would take over the world ... and they're now in perfect condition for vacationers who want to visit or even stay.

George Harrison's Liverpool home has been recently renovated ... it's now an Airbnb thanks to superfan Ken Lambert. He snagged the property at auction back in November with a $250k bid.

The house doubles as a museum for weekly tours. The band rehearsed there in the late '50s -- back when they called themselves The Quarrymen.

Other band members' childhood homes have been preserved for tours as well ... including Paul McCartney's place in Allerton, a suburb of Liverpool. The house is owned by the National Trust and takes guests back in time to the way it looked when the bandmates were kids.

Paul and John Lennon birthed some classics at that house ... "I Saw Her Standing There" was written in the front room.

John's place on Menlove Ave. was the inspiration for "Please Please Me."

There's a quizzical piece of Beatles memorabilia hitting the market ... and these handwritten lyrics from Paul McCartney are worth way more than silver.

The working lyric sheet for the Beatles' 1969 hit, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer," is going up for sale ... and the folks at Moments in Time are putting the price tag at a whopping $450,000.

Paul wrote the first page of lyrics on a sheet of paper with letterhead for Apple Corps Limited, the multimedia corporation Beatles members founded way back in 1968 in London.

There are three pages total, and the other two were written by Mal Evans ... the band's former road manager and personal assistant.

The "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" lyrics are a hell of a treasure ... they were last put on the open market back in 2006, selling for $192,000. Now, a private collector is looking to unload them for more than double the price.

The track is Paul's first song on the Beatles' famous "Abbey Road" album ... Paul wrote the lyrics after the band's trip to India in 1968, and he initially wanted to record it for the 'White Album.'

Universal Studios has pissed off some moviegoers whose jam is clearly Ana de Armas ... and they're outraged she was advertised as a star of the film, "Yesterday," but ended up on the cutting room floor.

Two consumers say they plunked down $3.99 to watch the movie about the dude who hits his head and wakes up to discover he's the only person in the world who knows the entire Beatles catalog.

Ana was originally cast to co-star in the film. According to the suit, although Ana appeared in the trailer and various advertisements, she was not in the flick. It's unclear why she ended up on the cutting room floor.

The 2 named plaintiffs are particularly pissed off ... in the trailer, the main character sings the song, "Something" to Ana, but it's nowhere to be seen on screen.

Well, now there's a class-action lawsuit for those who rented the movie in California or Maryland. The class is defined as everyone who purchased the movie, but fact is ... there are probably a lot of people who don't care one way or the other if Ana is in the flick.

What's more ... we're assuming each consumer would get a maximum of $3.99 -- the cost to rent the movie. The lawsuit is for $5 million, so the ones who will make out like a bandit -- the lawyers!

BTW ... the movie was a hit, grossing $150 million.

Paul McCartney is filtering out bad vibes in 2022, and ushering in wacky fun ... and he's doing it with the help of a new group he's discovered that may rival his old ensemble.

This Beatle is ringing in the new year by introducing the masses to a band he says he stumbled upon at his NYE bash ... which goes by the name of Linstrom. They're a heavy metal folk music act, consisting of 4 artists with very different faces ... and a boozy manager.

As you can probably tell -- they're all PMC, who seems to have discovered Instagram's many facial filters ... and is going to town with them.

Check it out ... Paul trots out his made-up band members, including Olga (apparently the frontwoman), an angelic anonymous keyboardist, Trinket the bass player, Mac the boorish boar-ish drummer and one final guy who says he handles the business end of things.

He's obviously having a grand old time with the goofy in-app feature ... almost like he's a freakin' kid again.

In real music news, Paul had himself quite a year ... and was eager to recap it on Friday. He put out an album, a couple books and was featured in a couple big documentaries -- plus other stuff, too.

Quincy Jones once claimed the Beatles were sucky musicians -- but that must've been aimed at everyone besides Ringo Starr ... because the dude was clearly ahead of his time.

Check out this viral TikTok video from @grahamethedrummer, who breaks down what the band's drummer could've done on famous tunes of theirs ... and what he actually did on the final product. It's pretty obvious -- RS was going above and beyond for their songs.

Graham argues it would've been easy for Ringo to phone it in on the drums if he wanted to -- showing he could've played along to their melodies with simple drum beats that kept pace, but instead ... opted for ingenious patterns that elevated the arrangements.

He showcases what one might see a basic drummer do for tracks like "I Feel Fine," "Ticket to Ride," "Getting Better All the Time" and "Come Together" ... and then contrasts that with what Ringo actually did in real-life ... unique drumming that made the songs stand out.

The TikToker likens this level of drum playing to a "superpower" ... and each time he notes, "What Ringo did was way cooler." The internet seems to agree, BTW -- singing RS's praises ... with some saying he's grossly underrated in the pantheon of drummer greats.

Paul McCartney is doubling down on what happened to the Beatles -- insisting John Lennon broke up the band ... something history has long roped Paul into over the years.

The iconic rocker felt compelled to set the record straight again -- his version of it, anyway -- in an upcoming episode of BBC Radio4's 'This Cultural Life,' as reported by the Guardian, and he puts the blame squarely in John's corner ... claiming the guy walked in one day and announced he was parting ways with the group, adding JL wanted to break loose.

PMC was emphatic about who was at fault, saying ... "Stop right there. I am not the person who instigated the split. Oh no, no, no. John walked into a room one day and said I am leaving the Beatles. Is that instigating the split, or not?" He adds, "This was my band, this was my job, this was my life, so I wanted it to continue."

He goes on to say the other 3 bandmates -- Ringo Starr, George Harrison and himself -- were left to pick up the pieces ... and were even told to keep quiet about it as legal and business matters played out behind the scenes.

Eventually, McCartney made a public announcement in 1970 that he was leaving the band -- the first member to publicly do so -- and since then, he's been accused of being the the driving force to the dissolution.

Of course, Paul's told this story before -- saying John was responsible, that is -- but never quite like this. More often than not, PMC tends to characterize it as a sad chapter, albeit one of growth -- seeing how John met Yoko. Now, however, he's firmly pointing the finger.

The timing here is also interesting ... Saturday marked what would've been John's 81st birthday, and Paul actually threw something up on IG to honor him. He posted a black and white photo of the two of them on their guitars, writing ... "Happy Birthday thoughts for John - Paul."

Some 24 hours later, word of him kinda bad-mouthing his old pal leaks -- a man who isn't here to defend himself. As you know, John was killed in 1980 by Mark David Chapman.

Ringo Starr is celebrating 81 trips around the sun, and since we caught the legend on his born day ... we couldn't pass up the chance to find out which version of his legendary band he loves the most.

The iconic Beatles drummer was passing through Beverly Hills Park Wednesday, where he was getting all kinds of shout-outs and selfie requests to help ring(o) in his 81st birthday. Like the knighted gent he is ... Sir Ringo obliged each and every one along his path.

Anyway, check out the clip ... we were curious what era of The Beatles is best in his eyes and ears. We were within shouting distance of him, and figured why don't we just do it -- the run-in, that is -- in the road??? Alright, it was a sidewalk, but close enough.

Turns out, Mr. Starr is a fan of the days when they'd wrapped 'Sgt. Pepper's' ... but slightly before "Abbey Road," and all the rest that followed.

Take a wild guess -- there's really only one right answer here.

As for why he chose that particular era -- it has to do with chemistry and togetherness.

Apparently, that's around the time Ringo felt the 4 were at their most fab ... truly playing together as a band again. Great insight into Beatles history.

Oh, and we didn't forget to singo Ringo "Happy Birthday" -- and neither did the rest of the fans who were around.

Taylor Swift has a message for the most popular group in music history ... roll over, Beatles!!!

Taylor has topped the Fab Four by making chart history with the re-release of "Fearless." Here's the chart history part ... the album hit #1 Friday in the UK, and with that Taylor has racked up 3, number-1 albums in 259 days. The albums ... "Fearless," "Folklore" and "Evermore." The Beatles hit #1 with 3 albums in a row, but it took them 364 days.

Mind you ... this was not a fleeting record. The Beatles were top of the heap with this record for 54 years! Many have tried, but none of them succeeded, until T.S.

Taylor thanked her fans on Twitter for the honor, which, BTW, is awesome.

Taylor's "Fearless" was first released in 2008 and became a huge success thanks to "Love Story" and "You Belong With Me."

The "Double Fantasy" album John Lennon signed for Mark David Chapman hours before Chapman assassinated him is hitting the auction block ... and is expected to haul in up to 2 million bucks.

The macabre piece of rock 'n' roll history features Lennon's signature in blue ink on the album cover art ... a photo of Lennon and Yoko Ono. He signed his name on Yoko's neck along with his "1980" inscription.

"Double Fantasy" was the fifth album released by John and Yoko, and was released the month before he was shot and killed on December 8, 1980, as he was walking into his home at The Dakota in NYC.

Chapman had waited outside the building with a copy of the album to score Lennon's autograph around 5:50 PM as he and Yoko were on their way to a studio. Chapman was still waiting at 10:50 PM when the couple returned ... and shot Lennon four times in the back.

As you can see ... there are other markings on the front and back of the album. Those were made by law enforcement, as it was a key piece of police evidence from the scene of the crime. Chapman had put the album in one of the planters outside The Dakota after Lennon signed it.

When cops arrived, Chapman was found casually reading a copy of "The Catcher in the Rye," and told police he killed Lennon because he was so famous. The murderer was recently denied parole for the 11th time.

Yoko Ono's returning to battle with a former aide of her late husband John Lennon, claiming the guy's again trying to profit off them, even though he was ordered nearly 20 years ago to knock it off.

According to a new suit -- obtained by TMZ -- Yoko believes Frederic Seaman blatantly violated a court order when he sat down for a 23-minute interview "flanked by Lennon memorabilia" and discussing topics she says are legally prohibited ... like his old book about John.

Yoko and Frederic have been going at it in court for decades. She says Frederic pled guilty to stealing Lennon's journals back in 1983 but she had to drag him to court again in the late '90s.

Eventually, Yoko scored a legal victory in 2002 when a court ordered Seaman to stop using their family photos and such to profit off Lennon's legacy, and she even got an apology from him in open court ... so it seemed like it was resolved.

Ono now says he's back at it and claims Seaman's recent interview on September 10 proves it. Yoko claims he defied the order by again talking about his employment with John and Yoko, John's murder, and even worse ... his 1991 book, 'The Last Days of John Lennon.'

Ono says Seaman discussed his intention to revise and reissue an expanded version of his book, which she claims would "willfully and intentionally violate" the injunction laid down against him in 2002.