Ron McNeil’s love of The Beatles grew out of his older sister’s record album collection.
“I borrowed her records and never gave them back. I had to deal with her ‘I love Pauls’ written on the jackets,” said McNeil who started The Fab Four-The Ultimate Tribute about 30 years ago with Ardy Sarraf.
The Fab Four-The Ultimate Tribute returns to the Columbia County Performing Arts Center on Nov. 8 with a show celebrating The Beatles’ second film, ”HELP!,” with performances from the movie soundtrack, as well as the Beatles’ greatest hits of every era. Get tickets here.
His interest in their music progressed from just listening to it to learning how to play their songs Then, something shifted when his dad took him to see “Beatlemania” in Los Angeles.
“From there, I went to thinking I might could have a job being one of the Beatles,” he said.
McNeil and Sarraf met at a Beatles conference.
“I saw Ardy at the sound-alike contest. He was there with his band,” he said. “He sounded just like Paul McCartney and was giving the audience chills.”
The year before McNeil had won the same contest except for his version of Lennon.
While McNeil never had the opportunity to meet John Lennon who died when McNeil was still a teenager, Sarraf did meet McCartney at a book signing once.
“He was too shy to what he did for a living,” he said, adding that “I play you” for a living might’ve been a little awkward.
The band fully brings The Beatles’ magic to the stage.
McNeil said the four musicians on stage play everything without any backing tracks or additional performers. It’s not a play, but it’s a concert with some dialogue added from different recordings of concerts or appearances.
“If you hear any croaking from my throat, John Lennon isn’t the easiest to sing,” he said.
“We try to give that live energy every performance.”
The group appeared in Evans in December 2023 and played The Beatles “Rubber Soul” album and returned in November 2024 for “USA Meets The Beatles,” which celebrated the band’s first visit to the United States with performances from “The Ed Sullivan Show” and the “Meet The Beatles” album.
McNeil said they try to come up with something new each year to give audiences a new experience.
The Emmy Award Winning Fab Four will bring renditions of Beatles’ classics such as “Help!,” “Yesterday,” “A Day In The Life,” “Twist And Shout,” “Here Comes The Sun” and “Hey Jude.”.
The tribute band has performed round the globe in countries around the world in countries such as Japan, Australia, France, Hong Kong, The United Kingdom, Germany, Mexico and Brazil.
The Fab Four provided motion capture performances for the Cirque du Soleil Beatles LOVE Show’s 10th anniversary revamp in 2017 and for ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ music game, released in 2009. The group recorded the soundtrack for the CBS-TV movie, ‘The Linda McCartney Story,’” according to a news release
Charmain Z. Brackett, the publisher of Augusta Good News and Inspiring: Women of Augusta, has covered Augusta’s news for more than 35 years. She’s won multiple Georgia Press Association awards, is the recipient of the 2018 Greater Augusta Arts Council’s media award and was named Augusta Magazine’s best local writer in 2024 and 2025. Reach her at charmain@augustagoodnews.com. Sign up for the newsletter here..
