Liverpool Echo: Beatles signed Cavern Club membership card before fame goes on sale for £24,950
A remarkable piece of Beatles history has emerged after more than 60 years: a Cavern Club membership card signed 21 times by John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Pete Best before the band became global superstars. The tiny 1961 booklet, which measures just 10cm by 6cm, offers a fascinating glimpse into the early days of the Fab Four, when they were still performing in Liverpool's famous Mathew Street cellar and were yet to find worldwide fame.
Signed more than a year before Ringo Starr joined the group, the card features repeated autographs from the original Beatles line-up, including an extraordinary 16 signatures from drummer Pete Best.
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Variety: Paul McCartney Becomes a Billionaire, Making Him the World’s Third-Richest Musician
According to Forbes, the bulk of McCartney’s fortune comes from MLP Communications, his publishing company that he launched in 1969 and manages his own catalog as well as other artists’ copyrights. The publication notes that McCartney’s acquisition of catalogs from artists like Buddy Holly, plus Broadway musical scores and Christmas standards, contributes significantly to his wealth, accounting for nearly a quarter of a billion dollars.
Elsewhere, as one-fourth of the Beatles, McCartney gets 25 percent of earnings from the Beatles’ Apple Corps holding company, which generates $50 million annually from streaming, vinyl sales and merch.
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Tampa Bay Times: St. Pete’s Beatles museum has Paul McCartney’s hair, John Lennon’s glasses
Dr. Robert Entel has spent decades collecting at least 1,700 bits of Beatles memorabilia, from George Harrison’s sitar and harmonium to John Lennon’s travel razor and sunglasses.
He purchased guitars and an amplifier from the Cavern Club in Liverpool, where the Beatles played hundreds of shows — including some before they were even called the Beatles. He sourced colorful shirts that the Fab Four wore while meditating in India, plus a brick from Strawberry Field and an original Penny Lane road sign.
About 1,000 items from his collection are on permanent display at the Penny Lane Beatles Museum, which moved from Dunedin to downtown St. Petersburg last month and plans to expand again within a few years.
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