BEATLES FAN BUYS "IT´S FOR YOU" LONG-LOST DEMO FOR £18,000

A demo of a song The Beatles wrote for Cilla Black has sold for £18,000 at an auction. The demo was recorded on June 3, 1964 and was given to Cilla, who recorded her version a week later and re-recorded it on June 29th. The re-recorded version hit #7 on the UK charts that summer. 

There was interest from buyers across the globe in the seven-inch Dick James demo disc, which feature a two-minute rendition of It’s For You.

The song was written and recorded on the tape by Paul and John- but it was written for Cilla Black, who had a top 10 hit with the track in 1964.

 

The lucky buyer was willing to shell out thousands of pounds for a recording that had not been released - which Beatles experts say is extremely rare.

The demo, clocking in at just under two minutes, was sold at the Beatles Memorabilia Auction today at the Unity Theatre.

Around 300 rare items are up for sale throughout the day at the 25th annual event, organised by the Beatles Shop on Mathew Street.

The Beatles Shop confirmed it had sold for £18,000, after predicting it would fetch between £15-20,000.

But the identity of the demo’s new owner is still a mystery at this stage.

The recording was originally posted by the Beatles to Cilla Black when she was performing at the London Palladium in 1964.

But it was widely assumed to have disappeared or been destroyed, as it was never found.

But Simon White, Cilla Black’s nephew, stumbled on it at home after the star’s death earlier this year.

He came across an envelope with the words ‘It’s For You’ hand-written across the front, with Cilla Black’s name underneath.

His family assumed it was a cover version of her hit record, and took it to be valued with other items at the Beatles Shop in Mathew Street .

But Stephen Bailey, shop manager, said he was speechless when he realised that the voice was that of  Paul.

 

He said: “I was shaking with excitement and speechless. I realised that this was the long-lost Beatles demo disc from 1964 and I was probably one of the few people to have seen and heard it in over 50 years.

“What I had in my hand was probably the only copy in existence.”

Simon White donated the record with a letter, explaining how his father - an avid collector - had looked after it for years after Black gave it to him.

He wrote: “When we found out that Sir Paul had not retained his own copy of the recording, as a courtesy and gesture of respect we agreed it would be only right that, of all people, he be allowed to make a copy of the recording for himself for the sole use of adding it to his personal archive.

“Other than the single copy of the recording that he now has, we know of no other.”