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A Comprehensive Look At The Beatles Self-Titled Double Album Masterpiece

Artists Signed to Apple Records

Artists Signed to the Apple Records Label

Badfinger

Originally known as The Iveys. Signed to Apple after several demo tapes were brought in by Mal Evans, after getting approval from McCartney, Harrison and Lennon. They had several top 10 hits in the UK and USA, including the Paul McCartney song “Come And Get It”, and recorded five albums for Apple.

Black Dyke Mills Band

Originally known as John Foster & Sons Ltd. Black Dyke Mills Band. A north of England brass band whom Paul McCartney employed for the one-off “Thingumybob” / “Yellow Submarine” single. It was recorded by McCartney on location near Bradford, where the group were based.

Brute Force

A musical outfit fronted by Stephen Freidland. George Harrison attempted to have his pre-made track, “King of Fuh” released as an Apple single. EMI refused to handle it due to its references to “the Fuh king”, but Apple manufactured a small number of copies in-house which were made available to the public.

Elastic Oz Band

A one-off single, “God Save Us”, was written and produced by John Lennon and Yoko Ono to raise money for a legal battle involving Oz magazine. The A-side of the single was sung by Bill Elliott, later of George Harrison’s Dark Horse Records signing Splinter.

Elephant’s Memory

Recruited as backing band for John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and also released material separately.

Chris Hodge

Discovered by Ringo Starr; they shared an interest in UFOs. Hodge only released two singles on Apple, the second not issued in the UK.

Mary Hopkin

Discovered after appearing on a UK television talent show. Early recordings were produced by Paul McCartney, including the Lennon-McCartney original “Goodbye” and her hit recording of “Those Were the Days”. She also released a Eurovision Song Contest entry on Apple (“Knock Knock, Who’s There”) and two studio albums.

Hot Chocolate

Originally known as the Hot Chocolate Band. Released one single, “Give Peace A Chance” which they recorded and had played to John Lennon, who liked it. Their post-Apple releases as Hot Chocolate were more commercially successful.

Jackie Lomax

Liverpudlian singer known via his Brian Epstein connections, he recorded with Harrison, McCartney and Starr at various times. His first single “Sour Milk Sea” features all three and was written by Harrison.

Modern Jazz Quartet

Associated with Yoko Ono, and were famous prior to their involvement with Apple. They released two albums for the label.

Yoko Ono

Recorded extensively with John Lennon and released several singles and albums herself, with Lennon usually performing, and directing the band.

David Peel and the Lower East Side

Political folk singer brought to the label by John Lennon.

Billy Preston

Brought in to work with the Beatles in January 1969 on their “Get Back” / “Let It Be” sessions, and signed as a solo artist. George Harrison worked on some of Preston’s recordings which include the hit single “That’s The Way God Planned It”. Preston’s recording of Harrison’s “My Sweet Lord” was released on Apple before Harrison’s version. Preston issued two albums on Apple in 1969-70.

Radha Krishna Temple

Originally known as The London Hare Krishna Temple. George Harrison brought them to the label and produced a single and album for them.

Ravi Shankar

Signed along with Ali Akbar Khan. Ravi Shankar was a classical Indian musician. George Harrison brought him to the label.

Ronnie Spector

Married to Phil Spector, who separately worked with the Beatles and solo Beatles around 1970. George Harrison and John Lennon appear on her only Apple single “Try Some Buy Some”, which was made with her husband, as an attempt to revive her recording career.

The Sundown Playboys

A French-language cajun band from Louisiana. A pre-existing single was brought to the label by Ringo Starr.

John Tavener

A classical composer. His brother, a builder, worked on Ringo Starr’s house, and Starr took interest in Tavener.

James Taylor

Recorded with Paul McCartney, who appears on the Apple LP which launched his career.

Trash

Originally known as White Trash they were brought to Apple by Tony Meehan, formerly of the Shadows. Their second single was a cover of “Golden Slumbers” and charted on Apple in the UK.

Doris Troy

An American soul artist since the early 1960s, who worked with George Harrison and Billy Preston while the latter was signed to Apple. She recorded one Apple album, and released a few spin-off singles.

Lon and Derek Van Eaton

Brought in during the 1970s by George Harrison, who worked on their Apple album.