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Logan Teenager Gets “Fab” Gift From Beatles Recording Engineer
By: Debra Tobin | Logan Daily News
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It was 50 years ago that a British rock band made its first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show and became an overnight sensation.
The introduction of the Beatles to America that night in 1964 kicked off a worldwide phenomenon that to this day has never really ended.
Beatlemania, as it was called in the day, soon had young teens crying and fainting at the sound of the band’s music.
Even after 50 years, young girls still swoon over the Beatles, including local teenager, Ariana Poe, who gets very emotional and excited at the sound of their music.
“I love them,” she said. “They are the best group ever.” Poe said she has always liked the sound of the group. She is so infatuated with them she has Beatles posters plastered on her walls.
“Almost everything in my room is Beatle,” she said.
Although only 13, Poe says she knows everything there is to know about the Beatles and the 1960s era.
“You ask me something about the Beatles, and I can answer it,” Poe said. “When I was homeschooling, I studied the Beatles,” she laughed, adding “I’m not even sure why I like them so much other than I heard a song and liked it and started listening to all of them.”
Poe said she likes how the group revolutionized music and that even after 50 years, she can feel their music is still notable.
“I like that they added different sounds and the feelings they put into their music,” Poe said. “I’m not sure the world was ready at that time for them, but they changed the music of the ‘60s for sure.”
While most of her friends enjoy pop and rap music, Poe is forever entwined in the 1960s. “My friends look at me like I’m an old lady when they find out how much I like the Beatles,” she said.
“They think it’s different that I listen to them, but they don’t judge me.”
Poe was recently surprised by a gift she received from Richard Langham, who worked with the Beatles in London in 1963. Langham was in the United States on a professional tour of several conventions, and made a detour to Logan to visit his longtime friend, James Martin, of the Columbus Washboard Company.
When he discovered there was a young lady in town that was a huge Beatles fan, he wanted to give her a treasure. His gift of an autographed photo of him and the Beatles caught the young Beatles fan completely off guard.
“I was so happy, but speechless,” Poe said. “That was really important to me, and I’m glad I got something like that.”
Langham was traveling throughout the country and Canada to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Beatles in February.
He was a recording engineer at Abbey Road Studios and worked with the Beatles from 1963 to 1964. He also worked for EMI Studios in Cologne, Germany, rejoined EMI in London in 1968, and worked with the Beatles again from 1968 to 1970.
“I never heard of them before and was asked to do three sessions a day,” Langham said.
“I didn’t know who they were or what their names were,” he chuckled. “But they were very pleasant and professional and sometimes late due to a concert the night before.”
Langham formed a close relationship with the group’s members, but said Paul and Ringo were the easiest to work with.
One of Langham’s duties at the studio was to make sure the Beatles were comfortable during sessions.
“I used to steal Ringo’s cigarettes,” Langham said. “We didn’t have much money and we’d go down to fix his microphone or whatever and steal his cigarettes that would be lying on his drum.”
Although it’s been years since Langham worked with the rock sensations, he occasionally speaks to Paul and Ringo.
“They are really nice guys and it was a lot of fun working with them,” Langham remarked.
Langham continued to follow the lives of the Beatles throughout the years.
“It was a tragedy when John and George died,” he said.
John Lennon was assassinated on Dec. 8, 1980. Mark David Chapman shot him four times in the back. George Harrison died Nov. 29, 2001, from metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.
Although Poe did not meet the Beatles, she has a souvenir of their past and something to hold onto forever.