Alistair Taylor
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Alistair Taylor
- Genres: Rock
Biography
Known within the Beatles' inner circle as "Mr. Fix-It," Alistair Taylor was Fab Four manager Brian Epstein's right-hand man and later the general manager of the group's Apple Corps organization. Born near Liverpool in Rumcom, Cheshire, on June 21, 1935, Taylor worked a series of odd jobs after leaving school; after relocating to London to work as a mover, he slipped a disc and spent eight months in a plaster cast. After recovering he moved back to the Liverpool area to work for a timber importer before answering an advertisement for the local record store NEMS; impressed by his knowledge of jazz, store owner Epstein hired Taylor to serve as his personal assistant at a rate of £10 a week. NEMS was noted for special-ordering records for customers, and according to legend, after regular Raymond Jones came in requesting Tony Sheridan & the Beatles' German chart hit "My Bonnie," Taylor set about acquiring copies direct from West Germany. Three decades later, however, Taylor claimed that no Raymond Jones ever existed -- he simply made up the name to convince Epstein to order copies of the record. But in writer Spencer Leigh's 2002 book The Best of Fellas, a biography of Bob Wooler, the Liverpool DJ credited with booking the Beatles during their legendary run at the Cavern Club, Leigh interviews a man claiming to be the "real" Raymond Jones, then living in a farmhouse in Spain. (The definitive truth is probably lost to time.)It is nevertheless officially documented that Epstein and Taylor were in attendance when the Beatles headlined a Cavern Club lunchtime gig on November 9, 1961. Suitably impressed, Epstein founded NEMS Enterprises and hired on as the band's manager, with Taylor in attendance as the necessary contracts were signed. Soon after Taylor relocated to London, with the Liverpool environment blamed for aggravating his wife's asthma; he went to work for Pye Records, watching from the sidelines as Beatlemania began to reach critical mass. When Epstein relocated NEMS Enterprises from Liverpool to London, he hired Taylor as the company's general manager, this time at a salary of £1,000 a year. As "Mr. Fix-It," he did much of the Beatles' dirty work, everything from day-to-day paperwork to masterminding their escapes from the throngs of fans outside their live performances to facilitating the purchase of their homes. He also claimed that he helped Paul McCartney write the lyrics for "Hello Goodbye": "Whenever he said a word, I was to say the opposite, and, from all this, [McCartney] would compose a melody," Taylor once wrote. "The words were things like black and white, and stop and start." And prior to release of the Beatles' 1967 opus Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Band, Taylor was in charge of guaranteeing legal clearance to use the photographs of the many famous faces adorning artist Peter Blake's cover art -- the end result is arguably the most famous and renowned jacket image in rock & roll history.
In addition to his work with the Beatles, Taylor also managed the Moody Blues and served as tour manager during Cream's first U.S. performances. When Epstein was found dead of a drug overdose on August 27, 1967, Taylor was the first individual summoned to his flat, and when the Beatles established their Apple label the following year, he was installed as general manager. But the band established few if any checks on corporate spending, financing virtually any and every project no matter how unsound its commercial prospects. When the Beatles' new manager, Allen Klein, was called in to right the ship, Taylor was dismissed; he quit the music business for good and with his wife opened a tearoom in Derbyshire. He later worked in a factory and in the hotel business, and later contributed to fellow NEMS alum Peter Brown's planned book on the Beatles. The end result, 1983's The Love You Make (aka "The Muck You Rake"), so horrified Taylor that in 1988 he published his own book, Yesterday: The Beatles Remembered. In his later years he was a regular presence at Beatle fan conventions and headlined his own stage show, From the Cavern to the Rooftop, the first Beatle-related event produced at the Paul McCartney Auditorium at the Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts. In 2001 he published a second Beatlemania memoir, A Secret History, and also penned liner notes for the Bear Family label's authoritative Tony Sheridan collection Beatles Bop: Hamburg Days. The subject of George Gunby's 2002 official biography Hello Goodbye: The Story of Mr. Fixit, Taylor died June 9, 2004. ~ Jason Ankeny, Rovi
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Alistair Taylor
For others of a similar name, see Alistair Taylor (disambiguation).
| Alistair Taylor | |
|---|---|
 Alistair Taylor on Visual Radio #81 |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | James Alistair Taylor |
| Also known as | Mr. Fixit |
| Born | 21 June 1935 Runcorn, England |
| Died | 9 June 2004 (aged 68) Chesterfield, England |
| Occupations | Personal Assistant and General Manager |
| Years active | 1961–1969 |
| Labels | Apple |
James Alistair Taylor (21 June 1935 in Runcorn – 9 June 2004 in Chesterfield) was the English personal assistant of Brian Epstein who accompanied him to the Cavern Club when he first saw The Beatles play on 9 November 1961. Taylor later became General Manager of Apple Corps for a short period.
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Biography
Born in Runcorn, Taylor did his National Service in the Royal Air Force and worked in a series of jobs as a mover, timber importer and docker in the Liverpool Docks, before being successfully interviewed by Brian Epstein for a salesman job at North End Music Stores (NEMS). Brian liked him so much that he decided to offer him a job as his personal assistant in the shop.
Alleged role in Epstein's discovery of the Beatles
Taylor said he invented the name of Raymond Jones to order Tony Sheridan’s album, which featured backing music by the Beatles, because he thought NEMS was losing sales by not stocking the disc:
| “ | The truth is that we were being asked for My Bonnie but no one actually ordered it. Brian would order any record once we had a firm order for it. I thought that we were losing sales and I wrote an order in the book under the name Raymond Jones and, from that moment the legend grew. | ” |
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—A. Taylor, The Beatles Book,1997 |
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Taylor's claim is in some doubt, as NEMS and Epstein communicated with a real Raymond Jones to acknowledge their debt once the Beatles became famous.[1]
The Cavern
Taylor accompanied Epstein to the Cavern Club when he first saw The Beatles play on 9 November 1961. During the show Taylor met The Beatles, and his opinion was "..these four horrible young men on stage, dressed in black leather trousers, black jackets, smoking, drinking and making noise. .", but also said "...they were charismatic and exciting" and "I thought they were sensational"[2]
As Brian Epstein’s personal assistant, Taylor witnessed crucial moments in the Beatles' career and was present at the signing of the first contract with Brian (which Taylor signed as "In the presence of:").
In 1962, Taylor worked for Pye Records for 15 months, and moved to London (before the Beatles) due to his wife's asthma.
Mr. Fixit
In 1963 Taylor returned to NEMS to work as general manager for £1,550 per annum.
The Beatles named him Mr. Fixit for his ability to find solutions to all the boys' needs. For example:
- Buying cigarettes
- Hiring limousines
- Devising escapes from Beatles' fans after their performances
- Organizing holiday trips
- Acting as consultant to John for the purchase of Dorinish Island (Ireland) for £1,550.
- Being the middle-man in the purchase of High Park, the Scottish farm, for Paul, Jane, and Martha
- Renting the Magical Mystery Tour bus
- Resolving the copyright issues around the photographs of famous faces on Peter Blake's cover for Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
- Arranging the money exchange in the unsuccessful purchase of the Greek island of Leslo (July 1967).[3]
Inside Apple
In December 1967, shortly after the death of Brian Epstein on 27 August 1967, Lennon asked Taylor to work as General Manager for Apple.
It was during this period that Taylor appeared in the famous advertisement to promote Apple asking for new artists. Designed by Paul, it showed Taylor disguised as a one-man band, and claimed : "This man has talent...". The disguise was rented in Soho and Taylor was singing "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" when the shot was made. The publication in the New Musical Express and Rolling Stone brought an avalanche of applicants.
Taylor can be heard on "Revolution 9" apologising to George Martin and beseeching forgiveness for not bringing him a bottle of claret.[4]
During the rooftop Get Back concert, on 30 January 1969, Alistair was among the people in the street.
After Allen Klein arrived at Apple on 3 February, Alistair was sacked along with 16 staff members during one of the first purges by Klein at Apple (8 May).[3] The Beatles did not tell him why.
After the Beatles
Taylor was recruited by Dick James after leaving Apple to work with Elton John, then an emerging artist. Taylor promoted the singer's first two albums. He moved into record producing for a short time but, along with his wife, Lesley, whom he had married in 1959, he felt it was time for a change. In 1973 the couple moved to Darley Dale in Derbyshire and bought a two hundred year old cottage. It was to be their home for the next 30 plus years.
The couple ran a tea-room in nearby Lea and Alistair later worked in a factory and in a hotel before his retirement. He enjoyed participating in Beatles' fan conventions around the world and he regularly appeared on radio both in the UK and the US.
In the mid 1990s, Taylor created Mellor Beach Leisure Ltd. Taylor served as the "business development director", promoting a new musical act called SMOKE which featured Matt McKenzie (drums & backing vocals), Jo Wadeson (bass guitar & lead vocals) and Sam Genders (guitar & backing vocals). The company folded after the band broke up.
In 1998 he appeared in a documentary that was part of the British TV series Arena, in the episode : The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow : Part 1
Tapes from a 1996 interview were used in a BBC documentary "I Was There When The Beatles Played The Cavern" in 2011.
Taylor died in his sleep in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on 9 June 2004, after a short bronchial illness. His wife, Lesley, died in October 2004 following the onset of cancer.
Artistic work
Books
He was the author of :
- Yesterday: The Beatles Remembered with Martin Robers, Pan Macmillan (7 April 1988), ISBN 0-283-99621-8
- Yesterday: My Life With the Beatles (a reedition of the last) Movie Publisher Services (July, 1991) ISBN 1-55698-292-5
- A Secret History, an Inside Account of The Beatles' Rise and Fall, published in 2003. Blake (December 2001) ISBN 1-903402-24-7
- With the Beatles (a reedition of the last) John Blake Publishing, Limited (1 September 2003) ISBN 1-904034-73-X
Taylor collaborated in his official biography :
- Hello Goodbye: The Story of Mr. Fixit by George Gunby, Yesterday Once More (2001) ISBN 0-9542120-0-2
Theatre
- "From Cavern to Rooftop" in which he spoke about his memories with interludes of Beatles music.
Tapes
He made a series of six audio tapes with the titles of: "From Cavern to Rooftop" ; "From Strawberry Fields to Magical Mystery Tour" ; "Remembering Brian" ;"Inside Apple" ; "John" and "Paul". These are available as CDs from Yesterday Once More. Alistair also narrated "A Beatles Liverpool Guide - Walk and Drive".
References
- ^ http://www.beatlesbible.com/features/raymond-jones-interview/
- ^ Interview by Juan Agüeras, in The Beatles Garden, fanzine of the Spanish Sergeant Beatles Fan Club, Nº 18, 1997
- ^ a b The Beatles: A diary, Barry Miles, Omnibus Press, 1998, ISBN 978-0-7119-6315-3
- ^ The complete Beatles Chronicle, Mark Lewisohn, Chancellor Press, 1992, ISBN 1-85152-975-6
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