You are here:
- Home
- Music/Performing Arts
- Classic Rock
- Beatles, The
- Beatles Gold Discs
Beatles, The/Beatles Gold Discs
Advertisement
Question
Can you please tell me what happened to the original Beatles gold discs. I heard that Micheal Jackson bought and owns them (but mortgaged them to sony) APART from Strawberry Fields which is in private ownership. Is this another myth?
Hi Ron!
Great question! Well, they're in all sorts of places, actually. Some are in the possession of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison. Some are owned by private collectors. There's one person I know of who has a massive collection of them. Some are owned by dealers, and also places like the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland as well as Hard Rock Cafe's around the world. I'm also proud to report that Julian Lennon has a copy of almost every gold Beatle record and solo of his fathers. In fact, he gave his copy of the "Yesterday" gold record to Paul, who didn't own it himself. Beatle awards also are auctioned off quite frequently.
When a record is certified gold, platinum or (now) diamond, many copies of the award are made. Normally, each band member, the band as a whole, the record company execs, the producers, and sometimes the engineers get them as well. There are gold records in the possession of Capitol Records, Apple Corps, EMI/Parlophone...the list is endless. The Beatles remain the top selling musical act of all time, having sold 170 MILLION units to date. That's a LOT of gold!
I hope this helped answer your question. Have a wonderful holiday!!
Peace,
Pattie
8^)
- View Follow-Ups
- Add to this Answer
- Ask a Question
| Rating(1-10) | Knowledgeability = 10 | Clarity of Response = 10 | Politeness = 10 |
| Comment | Hi Pattie Many thanks for your promt and knowledgeable reply. We were in Bali recently and a New Zealand ex pat had built and opened a copy of the Cavern Club. Complete with stage and wax work models of the Beatles playing. He also had a lot of memorabilia on the walls including personal messages from John and Yoko. But he also had the Strawberry Fields gold disc with a note attached to say it was the only Beatles gold disc in private hands and Michael Jackson had bought all the others (albeit he had mortgaged them to Sony). If that had been the case obviously it would have been worth many thousands of pounds. I guess now it was a copy of which I see you can buy on the net for around £80. | ||
Related Articles
- Today in Oldies Music History: February 7
- The Beatles - Rock and Roll Music - History and Information on the Beatles' Rock and Roll Music
- 2010 Christmas Music Gift Guide - Holiday Gifts for Oldies Music lovers - Oldies
- Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome & SSI Disability: Filing for SSI Disability with Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
- Joni Mitchell - Biography and Profile of Joni Mitchell
Answers by Expert:
Pattie
Experience
Along with my partner, I've taught classes on the Beatles to both adults and teens in libraries and schools. I'm also the "resident expert" for the Beatles and John Lennon on Songfacts.com. I moderate 2 Beatle groups on MySpace, one a general Beatles site and the other geared toward Beatle collectors. I'm also a co-administrator for one of the largest, most popular Beatle forums on the web, thebeatlesforum.net
Organizations
I'm half of an acoustic, female Beatles tribute duo called "Luv Me Deux" as a guitarist and vocalist. Check us out at www.luvmedeux.com
Publications
www.fixingahole.org
Education/Credentials
While I have no degree in "Beatleology", I probably could write a course on it!
©2012 About.com, a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.