Ringo Starr sets the record straight.
The Beatles drummer has clarified that “the latest Beatles record” – due out later this year – does not use the artificially created vocals of the late John Lennon, who died in 1980. The band would “never” use the AI to simulate Lennon’s voice, Starr said on an upcoming episode of the Rolling Stone Music Now podcast.
He added that Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison’s vocals, recorded before his death in 2001, will also appear on the farewell record. “It’s the last track you’ll hear with all four guys. And that’s a fact,” Starr said.
Last month, Paul McCartney said AI had been used to extract Lennon’s vocals from an old demo to create the next Beatles song.
McCartney, 81, told the BBC that technology was used to separate the Beatles’ vocals from background sounds during the making of director Peter Jackson’s 2021 documentary series ‘The Beatles: Get Back’.
Jackson was “able to extract John’s voice from a small piece of tape and a piano,” McCartney told BBC Radio. “He could separate them with the AI, he would say to the machine ‘It’s a voice, it’s a guitar, lose the guitar.’ “
“So when we came to do what will be the last Beatles album, it was a demo that John had that we worked on,” he added. “We were able to take John’s voice and make it pure with this AI so that we could mix the record like you would. It gives you a kind of leeway.”
McCartney described the AI technology as “a bit scary but exciting”, adding: “We’ll just have to see where it leads”.
Contributor: Sylvia Hui and Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ringo Starr says the Beatles would ‘never’ simulate Lennon’s voice with AI