It’s no secret that John Lennon was a huge fan of Elvis Presley when he was a teenager. Lennon formed his first band, The Quarrymen, which would later become The Beatles, as a result of his love for Elvis Presley and rock and roll.
“Without Elvis, there would be no Beatles,” John Lennon stated matter-of-factly in a 1980 interview.
But Lennon’s teenage love for Elvis didn’t stop when he became an adult. In fact, throughout his life, even though he criticized Presley in his later years, Lennon never stopped being a fan. Just like any other passionate music fan, Lennon had a lifelong obsession for The King of Rock and Roll.
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Most people think that The Beatles and Elvis Presley were rivals in the music business. However, it was quite the opposite. The Beatles, of course, looked up to Elvis as their biggest musical idol. But as soon as Beatlemania hit the States in 1964, it was rumored that Elvis Presley, The King of Rock and Roll, felt threatened by The Beatles and their success.
In February 1967, The Beatles were asked to contribute a drawing to the upcoming Monterey International Pop Festival that was being organized by John Phillips from The Mamas and The Papas, promoter Lou Adler and The Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor. Paul McCartney was on the Board of Governors for the Festival and he insisted that the relatively unknown Jimi Hendrix appear at the show.
Fans lined up around the huge block at the Capitol Records building on Thursday morning, February 9, 2012, to see Paul McCartney finally get his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. McCartney had been eligible to receive the star since 1993, but had never scheduled the time to appear at a ceremony until this day.