| Name | Brian Epstein |
|---|
| Background | non_performing_personnel |
|---|
| Birth name | Brian Samuel Epstein |
|---|
| Born | September 19, 1934Liverpool, England, UK |
|---|
| Died | London, England |
|---|
| Occupation | Businessman, personal manager, impresario |
|---|
| Years active | 1961–1967 |
|---|
| Associated acts | The Beatles, Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer with The Dakotas,The Fourmost, Cilla Black |
|---|
| Url | Official site |
|---|
Brian Samuel Epstein () (19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur, and the manager of The Beatles. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle. His management company was named NEMS Enterprises, after his family's music stores, called NEMS (North End Music Stores).
Epstein paid for The Beatles to record a demo in Decca's studios, which Epstein later persuaded George Martin to listen to, as Decca was not interested in signing the band. Epstein was then offered a contract by Martin on behalf of EMI's small Parlophone label, even though they had previously been rejected by almost every other British record company. Martin later explained that Epstein's enthusiasm and his confidence that The Beatles would one day become internationally famous convinced him to sign them.
Epstein died of an accidental drug overdose at his home in London in August 1967. The Beatles' early success has been attributed to Epstein's management and sense of style. Paul McCartney said of Epstein: "If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian."
Epstein was born on 19 September 1934, in Rodney Street, Liverpool, England. On a £5 per week wage, selling furniture was not what Epstein wanted, but he was congratulated by his family on the first day of work after selling a £12 dining room table to a woman who had originally wanted to buy a mirror. In September 1956, he took a trip to London to meet a friend, but after being there for only one day, he was robbed of his passport, birth certificate, chequebook, wristwatch, and all the money he had on him. As he did not want his parents to find out, he worked as a department store clerk until he had earned enough money to buy a train ticket back to Liverpool.
Epstein attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. His RADA classmates included actors Susannah York, Albert Finney and Peter O'Toole, but Epstein dropped out after the third term. Back in Liverpool, Harry Epstein put his son in charge of the record department of the newly-opened NEMS music store on Great Charlotte Street.
The Beatles
(photo by David Steen)]]
The Beatles' name was supposedly first noticed by Epstein in issues of
Mersey Beat, and on numerous posters around Liverpool, before he asked
Bill Harry who they were, as Harry had previously convinced Epstein to sell the magazine at NEMS. Epstein then formed the management company NEMS Enterprises, telling his mother and father that managing The Beatles was only a part-time occupation, and would never interfere with the family business. When Epstein discovered the band, they wore blue jeans and leather jackets, performing at rowdy
rock 'n' roll shows where they would stop and start songs when they felt like it, or when an audience member requested a certain song. Epstein encouraged them to wear suits and ties; insisted that they stop swearing, smoking, drinking or eating onstage; and also suggested the famous synchronised bow at the end of their performances.
Record contract
newspaper in Liverpool to announce that he had secured The Beatles their first recording contract]]
Epstein made numerous trips to London to visit record companies with the hope of securing a record contract, but was rejected by many, including
Columbia,
Pye,
Philips,
Oriole, and most famously, Decca [see
The Decca audition]. and immediately sent a telegram to The Beatles in Hamburg confirming that they had been accepted. The Beatles were signed by EMI's small Parlophone label after the group had been rejected by almost every other British record company, and without Martin ever having seen them play live.
The Beatles' recording contract that EMI offered Epstein gave them one penny for each record sold, which was split among the four members, meaning one
farthing per group member. The royalty rate was further reduced for singles sold outside the UK, on which the group received half of one penny (again split between the whole band) per single. When the news came that Martin wanted to replace Best on their recordings with a session drummer, Lennon, McCartney and Harrison asked Epstein to fire Best from the band. Epstein agonised about the decision, and asked the Cavern's DJ, Bob Wooler, if it was a good idea, to which Wooler replied that Best was very popular with the fans and they wouldn't like it at all.
Epstein renegotiated EMI's royalty rate, and on 27 January 1966, The Beatles signed a new nine-year contract with EMI, but with a clause stating that 25% would be paid to NEMS for the full nine years, even if The Beatles decided not to renew their management contract with Epstein, which was up for renewal the following year.
Merchandising
Before The Beatles achieved nationwide success in Britain, Epstein had permitted a company (run by his cousins that catered initially to fan club members)
Personal life
Throughout Epstein's life he was known to be kind and caring to his family, friends of his family, and business colleagues. When Lennon married
Cynthia Powell, on 23 August 1962, Epstein attended the wedding as the best man and paid for their celebration lunch afterwards. While Epstein was in the
Army, he had a tailor make an officer's uniform for him that he wore when
cruising the bars of London, but was arrested one night (for impersonating an officer) at the
Army and Navy Club on
Piccadilly by the Military Police. Epstein managed to avoid a court martial by agreeing to see an army psychiatrist, who uncovered Epstein's sexuality.
Although Lennon often made sarcastic comments about Epstein's homosexuality to friends and to Epstein personally, nobody outside their closed circle was allowed to comment on it. Ian Sharp, one of Lennon's art school friends, once made a sarcastic remark about Epstein, saying, "Which one of you [The Beatles] does he fancy?" Sharp was sent a letter by Epstein's office within 48 hours that demanded a complete apology. Sharp apologised but was then completely ostracised, and was told by McCartney in a letter to have no contact at all with any of them in the future.
In his biography, Best claims that Epstein drove them both to Blackpool one evening, and Epstein declared to Best his "very fond admiration" for him. Epstein is then supposed to have said, "Would you find it embarrassing if I ask you to stay in a hotel overnight?" Best replied that he was not interested, and the two never mentioned it again. There were rumours of a brief sexual encounter between Lennon and Epstein when they both went on a four-day holiday together to Barcelona in April 1963. Lennon always denied the claims, telling Playboy in 1980: "It was never consummated, but we had a pretty intense relationship." Lennon's first wife Cynthia also maintains that Lennon's relationship with Epstein was platonic. (Lennon reportedly once quipped that the memoir should have been titled A Cellarful of Boys.) He once saw Epstein put a Dunhill lighter on the table that was worth £100 (worth approximately £1,300, or $2,500 as of 2009) and then lose it during a game of cards. At the statutory inquest, his death was officially ruled accidental, probably caused by a gradual buildup of Carbitral in his system, mixed with alcohol. It was revealed that he had taken six Carbitral pills in order to sleep, which was probably usual for Epstein, but meant that his tolerance was very close to becoming lethal. A few weeks later, on 17 October, all four attended a memorial service for Epstein at the New London Synagogue in St. John's Wood (near the Abbey Road studios) which was officiated by Rabbi Louis Jacobs, who said that Epstein was "a symbol of the malaise of our generation." Epstein was buried in section A grave H12, in the Long Lane Jewish Cemetery, Aintree, Liverpool. Lewis also organised the 1998 re-publication (in the US) of Epstein's 1964 autobiography, A Cellarful of Noise.
McCartney summarised the importance of Epstein when he was interviewed, in 1997, for a BBC documentary about Epstein by stating: "If anyone was the Fifth Beatle, it was Brian." The first contract between The Beatles and Epstein was auctioned in London in 2008, and was sold for £240,000.
Notes
References
External links
The Official Brian Epstein Website
Epstein biography and sound clips
Epstein's Gravesite
"The Fifth Beatle" Website (A website about a proposed movie about Epstein)
Fyne Times - Brian Epstein
BBC Archive interview with Epstein
Local pub near Epstein's house in Warbleton
Lasting Legacy: Beatle Number Five article
Category:1934 births
Category:1967 deaths
Category:Accidental deaths in England
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:Ashkenazi Jews
Category:Businesspeople from Liverpool
Category:Drug-related deaths in England
Category:English businesspeople
Category:English Jews
Category:English music managers
Category:English people of Lithuanian descent
Category:English people of Russian descent
Category:Gay writers
Category:LGBT businesspeople
Category:LGBT Jews
Category:LGBT people from England
Category:Old Wrekinians
Category:People associated with The Beatles
