Beatles’ Paul McCartney to Appear on New Rolling Stones Album
UPDATE (Feb. 22, 2023): CNN has confirmed through representative for the Rolling Stones that Paul McCartney plays bass on "just one RS track." They've also denied Ringo Starr's rumored involvement.
Two of rock's most legendary set of names are rumored to be joining forces as surviving Beatles' members Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr may indeed appear on a new Rolling Stones studio album.
Variety claims to have heard from "multiple sources" that the 80-year-old McCartney has already recorded his bass tracks for the record, which if it comes to fruition, will be the first album of original material by the Stones since 2005's A Bigger Bang. The outlet also alleges that Starr, who is 82, is "slated to play" on the anticipated release.
Producer Andrew Watt, who most recently earned two Grammy awards for his work on Ozzy Osbourne's Patient Number 9 album (Best Metal Performance, Best Rock Album), is said to be at the helm of this recording, adding at an already decorated résumé with previous production credits with artists such as Justin Bieber, Post Malone, Cardi B, Lana Del Rey, Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Elton John and much more.
While this would be the first new original material from the Stones in almost 20 years, that's not the same for the Beatles' icons, who have remained rather active when it comes to studio output. McCartney last released his solo album McCartney III in 2020 while Starr's What's My Name came out in 2019.
Earlier this year, Stones guitarist Keith Richards confirmed "there's new music on the way" while expressing hope that the band will return to the stage at some point in 2023. As it stands now, there are no tour dates on the books yet and their last show was on Aug. 3 in Berlin, Germany where a 19-song set capped off their 60th anniversary run.