A rep for The Rolling Stones has confirmed that Paul McCartney plays bass on one track on the band's upcoming album – and has denied a report claiming that Ringo Starr is part of the project.
CNN was first to report the news on Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Variety cited “multiple sources” as saying McCartney and Starr contributed to a forthcoming Rolling Stones release produced by Andrew Watt.
“Recording sessions took place in Los Angeles in recent weeks and, while it’s unclear which tracks will make the final cut — or whether McCartney and Starr would end up on the same song — the album’s production is nearing the mixing phase,” reported Variety.
The Stones have not released a collection of new original songs since 2005’s A Bigger Bang but, last month, Keith Richards teased that there is “some new music on its way.”
If true, this is not the first time the two iconic British bands have collaborated. McCartney and John Lennon provided the backing vocals on the Stones’ 1967 song “We Love You.” The Stones’ Brian Jones played sax on the Beatles track “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number).”
(In 1963, the Stones recorded a version of “I Wanna Be Your Man,” which was written by Lennon and McCartney.)
In 2021, McCartney described the Stones as “a blues cover band” and said the Beatles’ “net was cast a bit wider than theirs.” A year earlier, he told Howard Stern: “The Beatles were better” than the Stones.
This article has been updated.