Ron McNeil (born Ronald Mendonça) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is best known for being the co-founder of The Fab Four, a California tribute band dedicated to the Beatles, and The Monkee Men, a tribute band dedicated to The Monkees. He impersonates John Lennon. McNeil has received acclaim from critics and audiences for his portrayal of Lennon, along with ensuring his tribute bands' attention to detail and musical accuracy, leading to both bands' successes.

Early life and childhood Ron McNeil was born and grew up in Westminster, California in 1965. However, he spent most of his childhood in the Inland Empire. In his early childhood, McNeil would often spend time in his house watching episodes of The Monkees, and would sometimes go around the house singing their theme song. He often listened and "borrowed" some of his older sisters' records of the Beatles, he once recalled the first song he listened to was "I Saw Her Standing There".

1978-1992: Beatlemania performance and inspiration When he was thirteen, his father took him to a performance of Beatlemania in Los Angeles, and he mentioned in an interview that he was inspired by that to form a Beatles tribute band. He also mentioned in another interview that after seeing Beatlemania he went to see Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles, in which he was interested. Shortly after, his father brought him a guitar (which was imported from Mexico) and keyboard, and McNeil learned to play them all by ear. Realizing this, his parents later brought him an organ. McNeil later brought his first John Lennon guitar at age 27 in 1992.

Career

Imagine: A Tribute to The Beatles

In early 1992, McNeil and his friends Stu Forman (George) and Neil Burg (Ringo), started a Beatles tribute band for the first time called "Imagine: A Tribute to The Beatles". They recorded a demo cassette tape playing Love Me Do, Please Please Me, and I Feel Fine with McNeil doing the John and Paul parts. They would later recruit Robert "Mac" Ruffing (who is now in 1964 the Tribute) as Paul. Their first gig was at Cheers Entertainment, Simi Valley on September 6, 1992.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8TiMV0XPCHs The band was presumed to break up in pre-1997.

The Fab Four

In the late 1980s to early 1990s and after Imagine's breakup, McNeil had the idea of forming The Fab Four after he and fellow musician Rolo Sandoval noticed Paul McCartney impersonator Ardavan Sarraf singing McCartney's Coming Up and winning the prize money at a sound-alike competition at The Fest for Beatles Fans (formerly Beatlesfest) in Los Angeles. The year prior, McNeil performed Lennon's song Imagine at the competition. McNeil said that "He sounded so much like Paul my hair stood up on the back of my neck". McNeil later got Sarraf's number and phoned him about his idea, in which Sarraf at first declined. However, after many conversations, Sarraf eventually agreed, leaving to McNeil co-founding the Fab Four with Sarraf, Sandoval, and Michael Amador in 1997. Before then, most of the original members, including McNeil, were in separate Beatles tribute bands. In an interview in 2013, despite the growing fame of the band, McNeil mentioned "It's no big secret our rivals are a group called Rain," being the band's main competitor Rain: A Tribute to the Beatles.

In March 2018, McNeil announced his retirement from the Fab Four. He stated "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 (originally from the Bootleg Beatles) as his replacement at the City National Grove of Anaheim in November 23rd, though McNeil comes back to perform whenever Hastings is unavailable.

The Monkee Men According to various interviews during the pandemic, McNeil stated he wanted to form a tribute band that was interactive to the audience and that he was a fan of The Monkees. He then created The Monkee Men in 2022, a tribute band dedicated to The Monkees. McNeil then contacted his friends Jon Fickes, Doug Couture, Joshua Jones, and his brother Frankee Mendonça from The Fab Four and asked them if they could join his band, which they eventually agreed to. He also contacted original Monkees member Micky Dolenz about the idea, in which Dolenz gave him "his full blessing" according to McNeil in an interview in August 2023. The band first performed at the Starlight Bowl in Burbank, California on July 22, 2023, opening for The Fab Four, with McNeil seen performing as "the Fifth Monkee", as most of The Monkees' songs require more than four musicians.

Credits

Stage Fab Four Mania (2005–2008) - John Lennon Rutlemania (2007) – Ron Nasty, also musical director 50 Summers of Love (2017) – John Lennon, also musical director

Video games The Beatles: Rock Band (2009) – Motion capture for John Lennon

Television The Fab Four: The Ultimate Tribute (2012) – John Lennon, also writer The World's Greatest Tribute Bands (2012 and 2017) – John Lennon, Denny Laine (2014)

Film Yellow Submarine (2012; cancelled) – Motion capture for John Lennon

External links

Ron McNeil on the Monkee Men

References