People To Know
The Beatles had some really awesome friends. You should know about them. Why? Because they're better than you, that's why. They also associated themselves with some real a-holes. You should know about them, too. Why? Because they were fucking a-holes and you should know the losers The Beatles stupidly attached themselves to. So yeah, I felt these people deserved a mention somewhere on the site. Here's the mention. Woot.
Brian Epstein
If you don't already know who this is, then you really need to do more than look at pictures in your Beatle books. Brian was The Beatles' manager from 1962 until his death in 1967. He was the guy that made them stop wearing sexy, tight leather pants and start wearing sexy matching suits. If it weren't for his valiant attempts to clean up The Beatles' image, and his absolute belief in their talent, I doubt very much The Beatles would have graduated from crummy Liverpool dance halls. As for Brian's personal life, well...he was a gay English Jew. You can imagine how picture-perfect that must have been for him in early adulthood. It has long been said that Brian had a massive mancrush on John Lennon, but the whole Gay Orgie In Spain thing was basically just a rumor. Still, fun to imagine, isn't it?
George Martin
George Martin was The Beatles' record producer from 1962 until the band's breakup in 1970. His influence and input on their music was huge; if anyone ever deserved to be the so-called "Fifth Beatle," it was him. Whether it was writing orchestration, playing piano, or suggesting harmonies, George did it all for them without a blink. The best thing he did for them was allow them to bring their own ideas to the table, and didn't try to distort or destroy them. He did his best to help them realize their vision, to get the sound they had in mind when they wrote the song. Martin played a big part in creating some of the most memorable, beautiful music in history -- not too shabby.
Mal Evans
Mal started working alongside The Beatles after George recommended him for the job of bouncer at The Cavern. Later, when The Beatles began touring, Mal was hired on as a road manager. He drove the tour van to gigs, and did a bunch of menial tasks for the guys, like fetching mail, picking up food, and buying socks. He also acted as a personal bodyguard for them, as his rather large frame made it easy for him to block crazed fans. After The Beatles stopped touring, Mal continued to work for The Beatles, often helping out in the studio, providing random backing tracks and percussion whenever necessary. Mal became addicted to drugs, and ended up getting shot by police in 1976 when they thought the air gun he was holding was a rifle. Funny story: he was cremated, and when his ashes were sent back to England, they got LOST IN THE MAIL. Wow. That kind of sucks.
Neil Aspinall
Neil was a friend of both Paul and George during their childhood. He was hired as their original road manager when they started out, driving their tour van and helping with their equipment. When The Beatles hired Mal Evans, Neil was promoted to personal assistant, and later ran Apple Corps. Neil was the executive producer of
The Beatles Anthology, and deeply involved in court cases against Apple Computers. He left his position at Apple, and it was said he was asked to resign because Paul and Ringo weren't happy with the outcome of certain business transactions. Turns out, he left due to illness, and died in early 2008. I never had a problem with Neil, but what was with the beret in the
Anthology? We all know you're bald dude. There isn't a beret big enough to hide that.
Stuart Sutcliffe
Stuart was a friend of John's, who first met him in art school. They lived together for a brief period, and Stuart was soon asked to join The Beatles as their bass player. Stuart couldn't really play, but join he did, and went off with them to Hamburg. There he met his future fiancée, Astrid, and when the rest of The Beatles left, he stayed behind. He ended up leaving the band, at which time Paul took over as bassist. Stuart was an incredibly talented artist, and like so many talented people, his life ended too soon -- he died abruptly in 1962 of a brain haemorrhage. No one has ever been able to determine the reason Stuart had bad headaches before his death, or what caused the haemorrhage, but the most popular theory involves a fight he got into after one of their shows in 1961, in which he sustained a skull fracture.
Pete Best
Pete Best was the drummer for The Beatles between 1960 and 1962. He performed with them while they were in Hamburg, during the Tony Sheridan sessions, and at The Cavern. When they auditioned for George Martin, Martin informed manager Brian Epstein that he wasn't happy with Best's abilities, and would be providing a studio drummer for recording sessions. When The Beatles got wind of this, they, already somewhat unhappy with Pete's skill and attitude, had Brian fire him and hire Ringo. Pete Best continues to use the title of "Original Beatles Drummer" to this day for his own profit, and to this day, he's not that good a drummer. Hm.
Astrid Kirchherr
Astrid is a talented German photographer and, when she met The Beatles, she was an art student. She became romantically involved with Stuart Sutcliffe, and the two were actually engaged at the time of his death. Astrid is most famous for the photos she took of The Beatles while they were in Germany (they asked a photographer to copy her style for their second LP,
With The Beatles). She remained friends with them for a long time. She spent time with them on a set of
A Hard Day's Night, photographing them for a German magazine, and later arranged the cover of George's
Wonderwall Music album at his request.
Klaus Voormann
Klaus was dating Astrid when they met The Beatles, but their relationship became purely platonic when she began dating Stuart. He, like Astrid, was a talented artist. In the 1960s, he moved from Germany to London, staying with George and Ringo in their apartment. He stayed close friends with The Beatles for years. John asked Klaus to design the cover for their album
Revolver, which he did for 40 pounds. The Beatles loved his design, and he ended up winning a Grammy for Best Album Cover, Graphic Arts for his efforts. Klaus was also a bassist; he played with the band Manfred Mann from 1966 to 1969, and was a session musician for many artists, including John Lennon, George Harrison, Lou Reed, Carly Simon, and Harry Nilsson. He was also a founding member of John Lennon's Plastic Ono Band. In conclusion, Klaus was fucking. AWESOME.
Jürgen Vollmer
Jürgen was another friend of Astrid's that befriended The Beatles in Germany. He was attending Hamburg's Institute Of Fashion when he met The Beatles, and was an extremely talented photographer. Although Astrid is more generally known for her photos taken of The Beatles in Hamburg, Jürgen is also responsible for many of the iconic images taken of them both on and off stage. John Lennon especially was a fan of his work, choosing to use one of the photos Jürgen took of him during that era of his life for the cover of his 1975 album,
Rock'n'Roll.
Alistair Taylor
Alistair was Brian's personal assistant for a long time; he even accompanied Brian to The Cavern when he first saw The Beatles perform. He later briefly became General Manager of Apple Corps. After Allen Klein was made The Beatles manager, he was fired without explanation, along with sixteen other employees. Lame. After his retirement, he did the Beatles convention circuit for a long time. Alistair appeared in
The Beatles Anthology (you may remember him from his dull and droning voice). He died in his sleep in 2004 after a brief illness.
Allen Klein
After Brian's death, The Beatles were without a manager. John met Allen, knew about the money he made for The Rolling Stones, and convinced Ringo and George that he was the guy for the job. Paul didn't like it, so he never signed a contract with Klein, though the others did. He ended up renegotiating their contract with EMI, getting them the highest royalties ever paid to an artist at the time. At the same time, he alienated a lot of people who had been loyal to The Beatles for a long time, including Alistair Taylor. After The Beatles broke up, Klein screwed up his handling of George's Concert For Bangladesh, which ultimately resulted in a US tax investigation. He also, along with George, didn't want Yoko to perform at the Concert (at least, not without John), which pissed John off. John dissed Klein in his song "Steel And Glass," and after several suits and counter-suits, he made his final financial settlement with the Beatles in 1977. Yeah, he was kind of a douchebag. P.S. John Belushi's parody of him in
The Rutles (as Ron Decline) is effing hilarious.
