The Fab Four (tribute)


The Fab Four is a California tribute band, later starring in a theatrical production, paying homage to the Beatles. They are based in Orange County, California. Founded in November 1997 by Westminster-born John Lennon impersonator Ron McNeil, Alhambra-born Paul McCartney impersonator Ardavan Sarraf, along with Los Angeles-born George Harrison impersonator Michael Amador and Ontario-born Ringo Starr impersonator Rudolpho Sandoval, the group began performing Beatles music throughout Southern California and later the U.S. West Coast starting in 1998. They have performed worldwide in Japan, Malaysia, France, Hong Kong, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Mexico, and Brazil, covering nearly the entire Beatles discography and material from some of the Beatles' members' solo projects.
The show is a faithfully detailed chronological history of the Beatles from their The Beatles on The [Ed Sullivan Show|first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show] in 1964 to their breakup in 1970. The show has brief on-stage banter and interactions with the audience directly, but otherwise very little dialogue, mainly reenacting songs that the Beatles performed live along with songs from the members' solo works after the breakup. The band never uses pre-recorded tracks or a backstage fifth member, instead relying on the members to use keyboards to produce background instruments in songs like "Strawberry Fields Forever".
Since then, the Fab Four became globally famous and received critical acclaim from critics, audiences, and fans for its faithful recreation of the Beatles' live performances, including performing multiple residencies in Disneyland and Las Vegas, performing at various Beatles-themed and musical festivals, performing for numerous celebrities including those who are in the Beatles' innercircle, and winning an Emmy award for their 2012 PBS TV special. The band has since toured across the U.S. and Canada, and occasionally performed outside North America.
The band is considered by several news outlets and critics to be one of the best Beatles tribute bands of all time. According to McNeil, he mentioned that "It's no big secret that our rivals are a group called Rain", being the band's main competitor Rain: A Tribute to The Beatles.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the band was nicknamed "The Best Beatles Show in The World." According to Sarraf, Paul McCartney's touring band has copies of the Fab Four's CDs on their tour bus.
WWW Official Site

History

1997-2005: Formation and early touring years

In the years leading up to 1997, Ron McNeil and his friend Rolo Sandoval had the idea of the Fab Four after noticing Ardavan Sarraf, then a teenager, and his band Glass Onion performing "Coming Up" impersonating as Paul McCartney during a sound alike competition called "The Battle of the Beatles Bands" at The Fest for Beatles Fans in Los Angeles. “He sounded so much like Paul my hair stood up on the back of my neck,” McNeil said. “I couldn’t believe it.” Sarraf, a natural right-hander, taught himself to play the bass guitar left-handed to emulate McCartney, though he was playing right handed and not impersonating as McCartney at the time McNeil and Sandoval first met him.
Both McNeil and Sandoval went up to Sarraf after the performance and told Sarraf about their plan to create a top tier Beatles tribute and asked Sarraf if he was interested in a full time gig. McNeil said when he asked Sarraf about joining his band, at first he declined. However, after many phone calls conversations, he eventually agreed. According to McNeil in an email interview, the original members of the band were in separate bands before forming the Fab Four. McNeil was originally in a band called Imagine: A Tribute to The Beatles in 1992, Sarraf was a part of a cover group he and his high school friends formed called Glass Onion, and Sandoval was a part of a band called Revolver.
McNeil, Sandoval, and Sarraf then recruited musician David Brighton to portray George Harrison and formed the Fab Four, which McNeil nicknamed "The Ultimate Beatles Tribute Band." The band's beginnings included Tuesday night performances at a small 50s-60s venue called Music City in Fountain Valley, a weekend residency at Disneyland's Tomorrowland Terrace in Anaheim from 1998 to 2005, The Hop in Puente Hills, and Scruffy O’Sheas in Marina del Rey, the latter in which they performed with many celebrities, including Micky Dolenz of the Monkees.
In 1998, Brighton left the band to become a David Bowie impersonator. Michael Amador took his place before leaving to work backstage as technical director and later as their manager in 2008, leaving Liverpool-born Gavin Pring, then 31, to take his place. In 2011, Sandoval retired from the band, but still works backstage as a sound engineer and tour manager and sometimes fills in as Starr; he was replaced by Sacramento-born Erik Fidel, then 21. Fidel does not have Starr's nose shape but it takes 90 minutes to put on a prosthetic.

2005-2008: Las Vegas residency and rotating cast

Shortly after their residency at Disneyland ended and the band started to get some more traction, McNeil signed a contract with various resorts and casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada for four years. Because of this, he brought in a second cast of musicians to help perform a full stage residency six nights a week in the city strip, with various members alternating between the casts. Performing as Fab Four Mania, the Las Vegas cast performed regularly at locations such as the Las Vegas Hilton, the Aladdin, the Sahara and the Riviera. Notable members of the cast included Detroit-born Joseph Bologna, who formerly performed with Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles on Broadway and 1964 the Tribute, as Starr; Pittsburgh-born Steve Landes, formerly a cast member of Beatlemania, as Lennon; and Westminster-born Frankee Mendonça, McNeil's younger brother, as McCartney. Shortly after 2008, the original cast began touring nationwide and occasionally internationally.

2008-2020: PBS special and later touring years

In July 12th, 2013, the PBS special The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute, filmed at Pechanga Resort Casino on January 6, 2012, received an Emmy Awards|regional] Emmy Award for special events coverage. Travis Fox, founder of the special's producer, MindFox Productions, received the Emmy on behalf of the production. McNeil currently owns the statuette in his home in St Louis.
In 2018, McNeil decided to semi retire from the Fab Four. He 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 Ardy's still on stage. So it'll be carrying on, which is great." He endorsed Newcastle-born Adam Hastings as his replacement, though McNeil comes back to perform whenever Hastings is unavailable. From January 2018 to March 2020, the regular lineup consisted of Sarraf, Hastings, Pring, and Bologna.

2020-present: Pandemic and recent years

From 2020 to 2022, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fab Four live-streamed numerous concerts at their headquarters in Westminster, with McNeil, Sandoval, and Fidel returning to perform. From late 2020-2022, the lineup consisted of McNeil, Sarraf, Pring, and Sandoval.
Starting in late 2020, as the lockdown was slowing down, the band started to tour nationwide and occasionally performed out of country, with most of the members rotating and performing whether the core actor is out sick or is on vacation starting in 2021. As of 2026, the regular lineup consisted of McNeil, Sarraf, Pring, and Fidel.

Lineup

From 1998 to 2010, the Fab Four originally had four members all from Southern California. They were:

"[John Lennon]"

"[Paul McCartney]"

"[George Harrison]"

"[Ringo Starr]"

  • Rolo Sandoval, co-founder of the band. From Ontario, California. Also a part of Wingsband. Formerly played with Hard Day's Night band.
Since 2010, the Fab Four has had a rotating cast. The current members in the Fab Four's regular rotation are:

"John Lennon"

"Paul McCartney"

"George Harrison"

"Ringo Starr"

"[Ed Sullivan]"

"John Lennon"

"Paul McCartney"

"George Harrison"

  • Michael Amador. From Los Angeles, California. Currently works as the band's technical director and manager.
  • Chris Colon. Currently a member of Beatlemania Now and also a part of 1964 the Tribute and Strawberry Fields.
  • David Brighton. Currently a David Bowie impersonator.
  • Jim Owen. Also played with Classical Mystery Tour.
  • John Auker. Currently a member of Hard Day's Night.
  • Danny Leavitt. Also played with American English.
  • Robert Bielma. Founder of Britain's Finest.
  • Jimmy Pou, founder of Four Lads from Liverpool. Previously a part of 1964 the Tribute and Rain.

"Ringo Starr"

  • Rolo Sandoval. From Ontario, California. Currently works as the band's lead sound engineer and tour manager. Also played with Hard Day’s Night band.
  • Brendan Peleo-Lazar. Currently works as one of the band's sound engineers and drummer of Britain's Finest.
  • Jeremy O’Dell. Also played with Because.
  • Luis Renteria. Currently works as one of the band's sound engineers. Also a part of Britain's Finest.
  • Brad Brunsdon. Currently a member of UK Beatlemania.
  • Tony Felicetta. Was a member of Fab Four Mania.
  • Tom Gable. Previously a part of American English.
  • Richard Lewis. From Las Vegas, Nevada. Currently a member of Liverpool Legends.
  • Joe Bologna. From Detroit, Michigan. Previously a part of Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles and Liverpool Legends and currently a part of 1964 the Tribute.

"Ed Sullivan"

George Trullinger and Jeff DeHart portray Ed Sullivan as the MC of Fab Four shows, in reference to the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. The first actor to portray Sullivan was Jerome Patrick Hoban, who was best known for playing a Ed Sullivan impersonator in the 1994 film Pulp Fiction. Hoban died in May 2015 from a heart attack; the Fab Four dedicated the song "In My Life" to him from 2015 until 2022. In September 2023, the Fab Four's first manager, Mike Dixon, died. "In My Life" was dedicated to him and Beatles manager Brian Epstein in subsequent concerts during the group's 2023 Rubber Soul tour.

Side projects

''The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute''

The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute is a PBS musical TV special that was aired on various PBS stations nationwide in June 3rd, 2012 that lasted an hour and one minute long. The cast featured McNeil as Lennon, Sarraf as McCartney, Pring as Harrison, and Fidel as Starr. The special was filmed at Pechanga Resort & Casino on January 6th, 2012. The special received critical acclaim from critics and audiences for capturing it's "note-to-note, uncanny renditions of the Beatles' classics live on stage", receiving a rating of 7.8/10 on IMDb. The special was a major factor in the Fab Four's global success, eventually receiving an Emmy award in July 12th, 2013 for "Special Events Coverage", with Travis Fox, founder of the special's producer, MindFox Productions, receiving the award on behalf of the production. The band later displayed their Emmy award on their social media pages.

''Fab Four Mania''

Fab Four Mania was a theatrical residency that lasted from 2005 to 2008, performing various shows at several resorts in the Las Vegas strip. As the Fab Four was becoming popular throughout the US West Coast, they signed a four-year contract with Las Vegas to perform a full show six nights a week at various theaters, bringing the Fab Four to bring in several musicians to perform several shows a night, with some rotating each gig. The cast performed regularly at locations such as the Las Vegas Hilton, The Aladdin, The Sahara and The Riviera. The band's residency was successful and received positive reviews from critics, and was a major factor for the Fab Four's global success. Members included the Fab Four’s founders who would interchange with other members such as; Steve Craig, Frankee Mendonça, Joe Bologna, Tony Felicetta, and Gavin Pring, the latter became a full time member of the Fab Four. Despite the production ending in 2008, the regular and soon rotating cast of the Fab Four sometimes returns to Vegas to perform.

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 Ron McNeil as Denny Laine, Michael Amador as Henry McCullough, and Rolo Sandoval as Joe English, plus a horn section led by Wendell Kelly 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, had performed with Wingsband at The Grove of Anaheim in Anaheim, CA. Juber also performed with Wingsband for an encore in 2014. Seiwell also performed with The Fab Four at the Hollywood Bowl in 2001. The band also performed at the Orange County Fair at the Pacific Amphitheatre in 2015 and at the Hangar in 2016.

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.

The Monkee Men

In Summer of 2020, McNeil decided to form a Monkees tribute band as he was a fan of the band growing up. Calling it The Monkee Men, the band covers most of The Monkees' original songs and the show is interactive. The Monkee Men originally performed as an opening act for the Fab Four in 2023 before they independently started touring nationwide starting in 2025. The band's original and current touring cast consists of McNeil's younger brother Frankee Mendonça as Davy Jones, Jonathan Fickes as Peter Tork, Doug Couture as Michael Nesmith, and Joshua Jones as Micky Dolenz, with McNeil and Matthew Hickman providing backup support as the "5th and 6th Monkees", respectively. The band has been approved by Dolenz with his "full blessing" according to McNeil in an interview in August 2023.

''50 Summers of Love''

In Summer of 2017, The Fab Four were approached by Micky Dolenz of The Monkees and Mark Lindsay of Paul Revere & the Raiders to perform a set of professional Off-Broadway performances celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Summer of Love for a nationwide tour called 50 Summers of Love from 2017 to 2018. Performing as the backup band, the performance first started with The Fab Four in their Sgt. Pepper's era before donning Raiders costumes, with Dolenz and Lindsay appearing to play both Monkees and Raiders hits, respectively. The lineup included McNeil as Lennon, Candelora as McCartney, Couture as Harrison/Nesmith, and Bologna as Starr. The premiere was on July 14th, 2017 in San Diego, California, with Dolenz and Lindsay both reuniting onstage. Among the attendees was basketball legend Bill Walton.

''Rutlemania''

In 2007, The Fab Four were approached by Eric Idle from the British comedy group Monty Python to perform a set of professional Off-Broadway shows celebrating the 30th anniversary of The Rutles, a Beatles parody group formed in 1975 by Idle and Neil Innes. The show, Rutlemania, featured the band McNeil as Ron Nasty, Sarraf as Dirk McQuickly, Amador as Stig O’Hara and Sandoval as Barry Wom, and was performed multiple nights in both Los Angeles and New York. Idle, Innes, Fataar, and Halsey attended the premiere at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre in Los Angeles on Saint Patrick's Day, 2008. The Rutles wrote positivity of it, and stayed for a after-party Q&A, along with posing with pictures of the band.

''Yellow Submarine'' movie remake

In 2010, The Fab Four were cast to do the motion-capture performance footage for director Robert Zemeckis' 3D remake of The Beatles animated film classic, Yellow Submarine. There, during production, they met the cast and crew of the movie. The movie was set to be released sometime in the summer of 2012 in time for the 2012 London Summer Olympics, 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

  • Ron McNeil – vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica
  • Ardavan Sarraf – vocals, bass guitar, keyboards, guitar
  • Michael Amador – vocals, lead guitar, keyboards, sitar
  • Rolo Sandoval – vocals, drums, percussion
All songs were arranged, performed, recorded and produced by The Fab Four.

''A Fab Four Christmas''

Release Date - October 16, 2002

Label - Delta Ent.

''Have Yourself a FAB-ulous Little Christmas''

Release Date - October 16, 2002

Label - Delta Ent.

''HARK!''

Release Date - 2008

Label - Robo Records
  • In 2008, all songs from both albums were digitally remastered and released on a single album entitled HARK!, available on Amazon, iTunes and The Fab Four's official website. The compilation includes the bonus tracks "Sleigh Ride" and "The First Noel", in the style of "Lady Madonna" and "Let It Be", respectively.

''The Ultimate Beatles Tribute in Concert, Vol. 1''

Release Date - 2002/2011

Label - Self-released

''TV Special Soundtrack''

Release Date - 2013

Label - Self-released
  • The soundtrack to the PBS special The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute, recorded live at Pechanga Resort & Casino in January 6th, 2012. Available exclusively on CD at the Fab Four's official website.

Personnel

  • Ron McNeil – Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards, Harmonica
  • Ardavan Sarraf – Vocals, Bass, Keyboards, Guitar
  • Gavin Pring – Vocals, Lead Guitar, Keyboards, Sitar
  • Erik Fidel – Vocals, Drums, Percussion