The Beatles star refused to affix George Harrison for charity occasion
In 1971 George Harrison was requested by his shut pal, Ravi Shankar, to assist increase consciousness and fund reduction for refugees in Bangladesh.
Harrison was keen to assist out however determined he could not give a meagre effort. He informed Shankar: “If you want me to be involved, I think I’d better be really involved.” So the previous member of The Beatles – who had break up up a yr earlier in 1970 – began recruiting well-known musicians to placed on an extremely lavish occasion referred to as The Concert for Bangladesh.
Throughout the organisation of The Concert for Bangladesh Harrison introduced on such large names as Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan and Badfinger to play the present in Madison Square Garden.
He additionally introduced on his fellow Fab Four friends Ringo Starr and John Lennon onto the venture, which means three of the 4 Beatles had been now enjoying on the monumental event (though, Lennon later bowed out after an argument together with his spouse, Yoko Ono, prompting him to depart New York earlier than the live performance happened).
But when he reached out to recruit Paul McCartney onto the venture, he would not do it. (Via Far Out)
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McCartney opened up about refusing to affix the venture in 1971, the place he defined that all of it got here right down to the involvement of The Beatles’ former supervisor, Allen Klein.
Klein grew to become the band’s supervisor after their father figures and founder Brian Epstein died in 1967. Almost immediately, McCartney butted heads with the newcomer after studying of alleged dangerous enterprise practices.
McCartney later confessed: “You know I was asked to play George’s concert in New York for Bangladesh and I didn’t? Well, listen. Klein called a press conference and told everyone I had refused to do it.”
The Hey Jude star confirmed: “That wasn’t so.”
McCartney continued: “I said to George the reason I couldn’t do it was because it would mean that all the world’s press would scream that The Beatles had got back together again and I know that would have made Klein very happy.”
He added: “It would have been a historical event and Klein would have taken the credit.”
The rockstar went on to say he additionally “didn’t really fancy playing” the live performance. Although, if Klein weren’t concerned, he may “have had second thoughts”.
Ultimately, nevertheless, Harrison did not actually need McCartney’s involvement.
Shankar initially hoped to lift one thing like $25,000 for Bangladesh. Harrison later confirmed the live performance and the next CD made greater than $45 million for the United Nations.
A yr later, an Apple Films documentary was proven in cinemas to element how your entire occasion got here collectively.