The Fab Four is a California tribute band paying homage to the Beatles. Founded in 1997 by Ronald Mendonça, a John Lennon impersonator, the group began performing Beatles music throughout southern California. They have played in many places worldwide, including Japan, Malaysia, France, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico and Brazil, covering nearly the entire Beatles songbook and material from Beatles members' solo projects. The band's beginnings included Tuesday night performances at a small venue called Music City in Fountain Valley, as well as regular performances at Disneyland's Tomorrowland Terrace in Anaheim, The Hop in Puente Hills and Scruffy O’Sheas in Marina del Rey. The core group consisted of Mendonça (John Lennon), along with Ardavan Sarraf (Paul McCartney), Michael Amador (George Harrison) and Rolo Sandoval (Ringo Starr). Sarraf, a natural right-hander, taught himself to play the bass guitar left-handed to emulate McCartney. From 2005 to 2008, the Fab Four brought in a second cast of musicians to help perform a full stage show six nights a week in Las Vegas, with various members alternating between cast. Performing as Fab Four Mania, the Vegas cast performed regularly at locations such as the Las Vegas Hilton, The Aladdin, The Sahara and The Riviera. In 2013, the PBS special "The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute," filmed at Pechanga Resort & Casino in 2012, received an Emmy Award. In 2018, Mendonça said "After 25 years, I want to be home a little more. But I'm still president of the company, and everybody who started this with me are still my business partners, even though only Ardavan still on stage. So it'll be carrying on, which is great." He anointed Liverpool-born Adam Hastings as his replacement. As of 2019, the most common lineup consisted of Ardavan Sarraf (McCartney), Adam Hastings (Lennon), Gavin Pring (Harrison) and Joe Bologna (Starr). From 2020 to 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fab Four live-streamed numerous concerts, with Mendonça, Sandoval and Erik Fidel coming back.

The cast

As of now, The Fab Four has a rotating cast that changes almost every show. Listed below are the cast members that are currently part of The Fab Four’s regular rotation.

John Lennon

Paul McCartney

George Harrison

Ringo Starr

Ed Sullivan

An actor portraying Ed Sullivan is the MC of Fab Four shows, in reference to The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show.

Side projects

Wingsband

Formed by Ardavan Sarraf, Wingsband is a Paul McCartney and Wings tribute act that covers many of McCartney's biggest post-Beatles hits. The band features Ronald Mendonça as Denny Laine, Michael Amador as Henry McCullough and Rolo Sandoval as Joe English, plus a horn section led by Wendell Kelly (The Temptations, Stevie Wonder, Lionel Richie, Whitney Houston) and singer/songwriter Christine Rosander as Linda McCartney. Both Laurence Juber, Wings guitarist from 1978 to 1981, and Denny Seiwell, the original Wings drummer from 1971 to 1973, have performed onstage with Wingsband at The Grove in Anaheim, CA.

George Harry’s Son

George Harrison impersonator and Liverpool native, Gavin Pring, created a tribute act called George Harry's Son to celebrate Harrison's solo material, as well as his hits from the Beatle years. Pring has brought this act to the top Beatles music festivals, including the annual Beatleweek in Liverpool at the Mathew Street Festival and Abbey Road on the River in the United States. Pring also performed on the same stage as Paul McCartney in 2002 for the tribute show held on Harrison's birthday.

Rutlemania

In 2007, The Fab Four was approached by Eric Idle from the British comedy group Monty Python to perform a set of shows celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Rutles, a Beatles parody group formed in 1975 by Idle and Neil Innes. The show featured Mendonça as Ron Nasty (originally played by Innes), Sarraf as Dirk McQuickly (Idle), Amador as Stig O’Hara (Ricky Fataar) and Sandoval as Barry Wom (John Halsey), and was performed multiple nights in both Los Angeles and New York.

Yellow Submarine movie remake

In 2010, The Fab Four was cast to do the motion-capture performance footage for director Robert Zemeckis' 3-D remake of The Beatles animated film classic, Yellow Submarine. The movie was set to be released sometime in 2012, but Disney canceled the project when Zemeckis' film Mars Needs Moms performed poorly in the box office and critics' reviews of Zemeckis' animations were mostly negative.

Notable appearances

Discography

All songs were arranged, performed, recorded and produced by The Fab Four.

A Fab Four Christmas

Release Date - October 16, 2002 Label - Delta Ent. (LaserLight)

Have Yourself a FAB-ulous Little Christmas

Release Date - October 16, 2002 Label - Delta Ent. (LaserLight)

HARK!

Release Date - 2008 Label - Robo Records

The Ultimate Beatles Tribute in Concert, Vol. 1

Release Date - 2002/2011 Label - Self-released

TV Special Soundtrack

Release Date - 2013 Label - Self-released

Personnel