by: Tonya Francisco Posted: WGN9, Feb 27, 2020  CHICAGO — It was the sound heard around the world — a little mom and pop record label out of Chicago called Vee Jay Records. It got its start in Gary, Indiana, by a woman with a vision named Vivian Bracken. She had a radio show called, “Livin’…

By Bruce Spizer Another first class project from Apple and Universal First things first, this is not what I would have done for a vinyl collection of the Beatles British singles. I would have presented the U.K. singles as they appeared back in the sixties, with British Parlophone labels for the first 17 singles and…

The super deluxe anniversary edition of Abbey Road is a solid “A” and another necessary purchase for Beatles fans and music scholars. The first question Beatles fans will probably ask about the 50th anniversary remix of Abbey Road is whether it is worth buying if you have the 09-09-09 remaster. After all, that was only…

August 15, 1969 While the Beatles were putting finishing touches on their Abbey Road album, an ambitious music festival was scheduled to take place on a dairy farm in Bethel, NY, the weekend of August 15-17, 1969. The Woodstock Music & Art Fair was billed as “An Aquarian Exposition—3 Days of Peace and Music.” It…

Beatles fans recreate iconic Abbey Road album cover 50 years on Half a century since their final album, the public’s love of The Beatles is undimmed. Aug. 8, 2019, 9:01 AM CDT By Patrick Smith and Yuka Tachibana   [Bruce appears at :30 in the video (click on link to go to NBC News to watch)]…

New Orleans, LA (May 27, 2019) 498 Productions, LLC is pleased to announce that Bruce Spizer’s latest book, THE BEATLES GET BACK TO ABBEY ROAD, is nearing completion. According to Spizer, layouts are finished and the text is being proofed. The book’s publication date is set for September 26, 2019, the 50th anniversary of the…

by Bruce Spizer A listening session for the upcoming of 50th anniversary release of The White Album was held on September 26 at the Power Station recording studio in New York City. The event was hosted by Apple Corps and Universal Music Group. After playing a brief promo video on the super deluxe edition, Apple…

COMING NOVEMBER 2018! If you liked Bruce’s Sgt. Pepper book you will love his next book in his album series. With contributions by Bruce, Bill King, Al Sussman, Frank Daniels, Piers Hemmingsen and others. The 9″ x 9″ hardcover book will have tons of images, all in glorious color or original black and white. The…

By Bruce Spizer In coordination with the 50th anniversary of the release of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” Apple, Capitol and Universal Music Group are giving fans multiple options to experience the Beatles landmark album. Prior to jumping into this review, I must disclose that I served as a consultant on the project, contributing…

This story by Keith Spera in the New Orleans Advocate. May 18, 2017 photo by Rusty Costanza Nearly 50 years ago today, Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play. The Beatles aren’t letting the June 1 milestone anniversary of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” pass without fanfare. And neither is local tax attorney and…

New York City – April 28, 2017 Special report by Bruce Spizer & Tom Frangione   On May 19, 1967, a dozen or so journalists and disc jockeys were invited to hear the premiere of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” at Brian Epstein’s four-story Georgian home in London. Nearly 50 years later, a hundred…

Bruce will be a featured speaker at Abbey Road on the River, which has moved across the river from Louisville, Kentucky to Jeffersonville, Indiana. He will be there Friday, May 26 through Sunday, May 28, 2017, giving presentations and appearing on panels on Sgt. Pepper, as well as selling and signing copies of his new…

COMING MAY 2017! Bruce Spizer’s latest book on the Beatles will cover the Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band album from the fans’ perspective with contributions by Bruce, Bill King, Al Sussman, Frank Daniels, Piers Hemmingsen and others. UPDATE 3/21/17: The book is coming along nicely. He has received dozens of wonderful stories from fans…

[An excellent Washington Post article quoting Bruce…]   On Feb. 11, 1964, Beatlemania blasted Washington — all shrieks and Arthur haircuts and songs people couldn’t quite make out. Two nights after their hysteria-inducing welcome-to-America appearance on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” the Beatles played their first U.S. concert at the Washington Coliseum. With “I Want to…

The infamous Beatles Butcher cover (shown above) made its limited appearance in June 1966. After Capitol Records sent out copies of the album to distributors, disc jockeys and reviewers, the company was besieged with angry protests over the grisly photo. It marked the first time that the Beatles judgment was severely and universally criticized. Faced…

Saturday morning, June 4, 2016. I read the news today, oh boy, on the front face of my iPhone. There were push notifications from The New York Times and CBS News. Muhammad Ali was dead at 74. He had died the night before. It was not a surprise to me as the media had warned…

The 1965 Christmas season was a very special time for Beatles fans. On December 3, 1965, Parlophone simultaneously released the double A-side single “We Can Work It Out” c/w “Day Tripper” and the album “Rubber Soul.” In America, Capitol issued the same single and its version of the “Rubber Soul” album three days later on…

I will never forget the magic I felt when I removed my copy of Hey Jude from its black “The Beatles on Apple” sleeve for the first time.

Happy Holidays and Gold Records!

On July 24, 2014, the Recording Industry Association of America (the “RIAA”) added four singles and one album to its list of Beatles records that have been certified gold. Beatlefan contacted Beatles author/historian Bruce Spizer in hopes of learning the story behind these new certifications.