Ringo Starr sends ‘peace and love’ after Beatles’ Grammy win

Sir Ringo Starr has sent a message of “peace and love” after The Beatles’ Grammy win.

The band won the award for best rock performance for the song Now And Then, which was finished by Sir Paul McCartney and Sir Ringo decades after it was recorded.

In a post to X, formerly Twitter, 84-year-old Sir Ringo said: “Wow, another Grammy. Well done everybody. I send you peace and love. That’s right the beat goes on. Thanks, peace and love Ringo.”

John Lennon’s son Sean picked up the gong on behalf of the group and said: “The world can’t afford to forget about people like The Beatles, we need this music in the world, we need peace and love and we need the magic of the 60s to stay alive.”

The remastered track was sourced from a Lennon demo recorded in the late 1970s at his home in New York’s Dakota Building.

After his death in 1980 aged 40, Lennon’s wife Yoko Ono gave the recording to the remaining Beatles in 1994 along with Free As A Bird and Real Love, which were released by the band in the same decade.

During this period, George Harrison, Sir Paul and Sir Ringo recorded new parts and completed a rough mix for Now And Then with producer and musician Jeff Lynne.

However, the band did not release the song and cited issues to do with extracting Lennon’s vocals and piano due to limited technology at the time.

Harrison later died in November 2001 aged 58.

This led to a new mix of the Revolver album, sourced directly from the four-track master tapes, in 2022, and Jackson and his sound team, led by Emile de la Rey, also used this technology for Now And Then to separate the vocals from the piano on the original recording.

More than 60 years ago the foursome, who formed in Liverpool in 1960, won the Grammy for best new artist of 1964 as well as best performance by a vocal group for A Hard Day’s Night.

The band, who joined the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, have won a total of eight Grammys.

Sunday’s award ceremony also saw British rockers the Rolling Stones win best rock album for 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, their first album of original music in 18 years.

Another British winner was Charli XCX, who picked up best dance pop recording for Von Dutch and best dance/electronic album and best recording package for her culture-shaping sixth record Brat.