Beatles and Stones manager Alan Klein has died...
Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 12:41 pm
Alan Klein, who is sighted as one of the main reasons for the break up of The Beatles, has died. He was 77 and from New York. His predatory desire for British acts in the 1960's knew no bounds, he would do anything to get his hands of the top bands over here.
He bought out Andrew Oldham's management stake in The Rolling Stones, and got hold of The Beatles when Brian Epstein died. It was always said he got The Stones an amazing record deal but all the money was held in his bank accounts in the USA. The Stones, in the late-1960's, after having sold millions of records and concert tickets, were totally broke and even had the telephone line cut off in their small London office because they couldn't pay the phone bill.
John Lennon was very in favour of Klein becoming The Beatles' manager, but Paul McCartney hated him and deeply mistrusted him. This put a big wedge between Lennon and McCartney and helped push them apart. Klein was apparently keen to do this as he saw Lennon as the natural leader of the band, a role McCartney saw, by then, himself being best suited to do. Some years later Lennon described Alan Klein as "smelling like an alley cat" and he realised McCartney had been right.
Apparently Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were happy for Klein to manage The Rolling Stones and fellow Stone Bill Wyman said in his autobiography that he, Charlie, and Brian were never consulted. Bill Wyman always said he deeply mistrusted Alan Klein and saw him as someone who was very much out for himself. The Stones cut ties with him in the early-1970's and the deal they got when they broke away from him was very substandard. Klein still owned most of their 1960's back catalogue, right up until yesterday when he died, and they had to pay him a fortune every time they toured and played any of their old songs - right up to and including their last tour.
The violin intro on 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' by The Verve is a sample of a Rolling Stones song and Alan Klein demanded all the royalties to that song 12 years ago when it came out. The Verve didn't make a penny even though the majority of the song they had written themselves. Alan Klein is still loathed by all of the people, those that are still alive, that he ever had dealings with. Long pieces about him appear in literally hundreds of books written about The Beatles and The Stones, and every account is disfavourable.
Alan Klein spent years in prison in the 1970's for tax fraud. He is one of the most significant people in the history of modern music, and one of the most written about - significant largely in an infamous way not a positive way. I wonder what the likes of Paul McCartney, Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and others, will be thinking today. They will all have heard the news and are bound to be discussing it with partners and friends. Paul McCartney has probably already uncorked the champayne as I type this...
He bought out Andrew Oldham's management stake in The Rolling Stones, and got hold of The Beatles when Brian Epstein died. It was always said he got The Stones an amazing record deal but all the money was held in his bank accounts in the USA. The Stones, in the late-1960's, after having sold millions of records and concert tickets, were totally broke and even had the telephone line cut off in their small London office because they couldn't pay the phone bill.
John Lennon was very in favour of Klein becoming The Beatles' manager, but Paul McCartney hated him and deeply mistrusted him. This put a big wedge between Lennon and McCartney and helped push them apart. Klein was apparently keen to do this as he saw Lennon as the natural leader of the band, a role McCartney saw, by then, himself being best suited to do. Some years later Lennon described Alan Klein as "smelling like an alley cat" and he realised McCartney had been right.
Apparently Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were happy for Klein to manage The Rolling Stones and fellow Stone Bill Wyman said in his autobiography that he, Charlie, and Brian were never consulted. Bill Wyman always said he deeply mistrusted Alan Klein and saw him as someone who was very much out for himself. The Stones cut ties with him in the early-1970's and the deal they got when they broke away from him was very substandard. Klein still owned most of their 1960's back catalogue, right up until yesterday when he died, and they had to pay him a fortune every time they toured and played any of their old songs - right up to and including their last tour.
The violin intro on 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' by The Verve is a sample of a Rolling Stones song and Alan Klein demanded all the royalties to that song 12 years ago when it came out. The Verve didn't make a penny even though the majority of the song they had written themselves. Alan Klein is still loathed by all of the people, those that are still alive, that he ever had dealings with. Long pieces about him appear in literally hundreds of books written about The Beatles and The Stones, and every account is disfavourable.
Alan Klein spent years in prison in the 1970's for tax fraud. He is one of the most significant people in the history of modern music, and one of the most written about - significant largely in an infamous way not a positive way. I wonder what the likes of Paul McCartney, Bill Wyman, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and others, will be thinking today. They will all have heard the news and are bound to be discussing it with partners and friends. Paul McCartney has probably already uncorked the champayne as I type this...