The Beatles won their eighth Grammy five decades after they broke up
By Alli Rosenbloom, CNN
(CNN) — The Beatles’ music is still “here, there and everywhere.”
The Beatles’ song “Now and Then,” which was finished and released last year by the band’s living members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, won a best rock performance Grammy on Sunday, marking the first time the Fab Four were recognized by the Recording Academy since 1997.
The win comes 55 years after The Beatles broke up in 1970.
Referred to by McCartney as “the last Beatles song,” “Now and Then” was written by the late John Lennon, who died in 1980, and features original vocals that Lennon recorded in 1970 that were preserved using artificial intelligence.
Sean Ono Lennon, the son of Lennon and Yoko Ono, accepted the award at the Grammys Premiere Ceremony, a pre-show event where awards were handed out prior to the main telecast.
“The Beatles have done such incredible work and they’re still in the culture and people still listen to the music. As far as I’m concerned, it’s the greatest band of all time,” Lennon said. “I feel like the world can’t afford to forget about people like The Beatles. We need this music in this world. We need peace and love and we need the music of the ‘60s to stay alive.”
Even though both Lennon and George Harrison died years prior to the song’s release, it was still a group effort. In addition to Lennon’s resurrected vocals, “Now and Then” also features new instrumentation from both McCartney and Ringo Starr, plus guitar recordings by the late Harrison from the ‘90s.
The Beatles won their first and second Grammys in 1965 at the 7th Grammy Awards, where they earned best new artist and best performance by a vocal group for their timeless hit “A Hard Day’s Night.”
Before their split in 1970, the Beatles won two more Grammys for best contemporary album and album of the year for their classic and groundbreaking album “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.” In 1997, they earned three more trophies, including a best long form music video for their music film “The Beatles Anthology” and two for “Free As a Bird,” a song featured in it.
“Now and Then” was also nominated for record of the year, which was handed out during the televised Grammy ceremony on Sunday. Kendrick Lamar won the award for his song “Not Like Us.”
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