Beatles super-fan recalls his cheeky Fab Four encounters in new book.
The Beatles hotly-anticipated "Get Back" film, delayed since last October due to Coronavirus, will now be premiered worldwide on August 27th. The movie is a "re-imagining" by Peter Jackson (director of "Lord of the Rings") of the "Let It Be" film, the group's final outing on celluloid originally released in May 1970, just one month after The Beatles had famously broken up.
But how did young London-born schoolboy fan David Stark, now a respected music industry veteran, come to be officially invited by The Beatles themselves to that prestigious premiere in May 1970? And how, two years earlier at the age of just 15, did he manage to gatecrash the group's "Yellow Submarine" film premiere in July 1968 at the same cinema (the London Pavilion), and end up sitting with a pal in seats directly behind John, Paul, George and Ringo?
Just a few months later he was also present at the legendary "Rolling Stones Rock & Roll Circus" film shoot, at which John Lennon was one of the star performers, playing his first-ever show without the Beatles. In the same month, Stark amazingly won tickets to The Beatles' planned live TV show at London's Roundhouse, a show which never took place as the group famously decided to play on the roof of their Apple building instead. This turned out to be The Beatles' final performance together, as will be seen once again in enhanced quality as the finale of the "Get Back" movie.
All these stories and many more are recalled in David Stark's recently-published memoir "It's All Too Much - Adventures of a Teenage Beatles Fan in the '60s and Beyond." As he explains, "I was a total Beatles nut from the time I first heard "Please Please Me" at the age of 10 in 1963, following which I soon started my many Beatles scrapbooks which I kept going right through the '60s and still have. I only saw the group playing live on one occasion - at Hammersmith Odeon in early 1965 - but was lucky enough to meet them all on various memorable occasions thanks to my perseverance, sheer cheek and "chutzpah" which got me into their film premieres and many other events."
Most of Stark's incredible stories have never been told before, with the book already getting many 5-star rave reviews on Amazon. A musician himself, Stark (now aged 68) has been in the music business for most of his life, having worked for Decca Records, MAM, Billboard and other magazines, while since 1993 he has published the highly-successful "SongLink International", a former magazine (now online-only) and resource for songwriters, composers and music publishers.
He still retains his connection with The Beatles thanks to his long-standing involvement with LIPA, the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, of which Paul McCartney is the Lead Patron. In 2006 Sir Paul inducted David Stark as a "Companion of LIPA" for his work with songwriting students, while the pair usually meet up for a chat on Graduation Day, apart from 2020 when the ceremony was cancelled. "It's always a great honour to mingle with Macca at the LIPA event and other occasions," comments Stark, "while the 10-year old me would have been totally flabbergasted to learn how my life would turn out, especially with The Beatles still being such an influence on me almost 60 years yers later!"
"IT'S ALL TOO MUCH" by David Stark
Paperback £14.99 / Includes 100+ photos
ISBN: 978-1-8380708-16
Published by This Day In Music Books
More info at: www.itsalltoomuch.net
For interviews or other enquiries please contact David Stark directly.
E-mail: david@songlink.com
Mobile: 07956 270592