The Late Great Brian Epstein
Mastermind behind The Beatles, Cilla Black and many other Liverpool acts!
Born 19th, September, 1934 , in Liverpool, England; died 27th. August,
1967, in Belgravia, London. British pop group manager.
His parents were Harry and Malka Epstein. He had a brother Clive born 22
months later. His mother was called 'Queenie' by his father because Malka
is the Hebrew word for queen.
Brian Epstein began to work in the family furniture store in 1950 at the
age of 16.
In 1952 he was conscripted into National Service but discharged ten
months later because he was emotionally and mentally unfit to serve.
In 1954 he began to manage Clarendon Furnishing in Hoylake, another
family business.
He briefly joined the Royal Academy for Dramatic Arts to train as an
actor, but soon dropped out after he found that it did not suit him.
When the family acquired North End Road Music Stores (NEMS) Brian
Epstein was put in charge of the ground floor where he expanded from pianos
and wireless sets to gramophone records. This was very successful and
he opened another branch, a short distance from The Cavern club.
He began writing a column on records in the music publication Mersey
Beat on 3rd. August, 1961.
In 1961 Brian Epstein found that he had been selling a number of records
by The Beatles, and he went to see them at The Cavern club. Afterwards he
went to speak to them and offered to manage them.
On 10th. December 1961 it was decided that Brian Epstein should be the
manager of The Beatles, and a contract was signed on 24th. January, 1962.
He secured a record contract for them with EMI, and, on the request of John Lennon,
Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, he sacked the drummer Pete Best so that he
could be replaced by Ringo Starr.
Brian Epstein remained the manager on The Beatles until his death. Brian Epstein
also managed Gerry & The Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas,
The Fourmost, and Cilla Black. He also managed other artists who did not
become successful.
Brian Epstein appeared on television a number of times, and hosted a regular slot
on the US television show Hullabaloo.
The book cover for the only book on Brian you need! This book details the great mind
behind The Beatles Epstein WAS the Fifth Beatle!
He had bouts of depression and took pills to enable him to sleep as well as to wake
him up. He also experimented with recreational drugs.
His death was caused by an overdose of drugs. Whether this was an accident or
deliberate has been open to speculation. Brian Epstein was portrayed by David
Cady in the British film about another of my personal influences, Joe Orton,
(see below). The movie was called 'Prick Up Your Ears'.
Films
•Ferry Cross the Mersey, 1965, as executive producer. Hullabaloo, vol. 8, 1996,
as performer and producer. The Brian Epstein Story, 1998, directed by Anthony Wall.
Writing
•A Cellarful of Noise: The Autobiography of the Man Who Made the Beatles
with Derek Taylor, 1964.
•New edition with an introduction by Martin Lewis, 1998,
Simon & Schuster Trade, 213 pages, ISBN
0671011960 (paperback).
Synopsis: "From his first encounter with the sturggling group in 1961,
through their meteoric rise, to his tragic, untimely death in 1967, Brian Epstein was
in many ways the heart and soul of the Beatles. Much more than simply their manager,
confidant, and group guru, Epstein helped create a once-in-a-lifetime phenomenon."
"'A Cellarful of Noise', Epstein's long out-of-print autobiography, gives readers the
inside story of his discovery and management of the world's most famous rock 'n' roll band.
From their initial struggles to their wild rocket ride to the pinnacle of success, this true
story includes : How a request for a record led to the discovery of the Beatles;
Why Ringo Starr replaced the original Beatle drummer; How Paul McCartney was
nearly blinded by a fan; and hundreds of other fascinating little-known facts of
Epstein's life with the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and other top stars."
"This new edition of 'A Cellarful of Noise' features an introduction by world-renowned
Beatles expert Martin Lewis, which, along with Epstein's own words, creates a compelling
insightful exploration of the life and times of a gifted man who had an ear for genius."
Bibliography
•Debbie Geller, (edited by Anthony Wall), (1999),
•"The Brian Epstein Story", Faber and Faber, 300 pages, ISBN 057120130X
(hardcover). Synopsis: "A biography of the Jewish, homosexual manager of
The Beatles, who drank, gambled compulsively and took drugs to excess,
but had the capacity to charm. The book portrays a man tormented by
arrest, beatings and blackmail, from his teenage years to his suicide."
•When Brian met The Beatles The Independent: The Tuesday Review, 16th.
November, 1999.
Quotations taken from the book.
Paul McCartney : "We were just Liverpool guys so the word was 'queer' not 'gay'.
We didn't really have a problem with it. It was just something you made fun of. That's
just the way it was. We actually didn't know anyone gay. Well, we probably did, but we
didn't even talk about it. So it was, 'Oh, he's queer,' just like, 'Oh, she's a prostitute,'
It was just sort of a strange term you used then. The word was out that Brian
was gay. It didn't really affect us in any way. I think we suspected that he might hit
on one of us. I think in the early days we wondered whether that was his interest in us.
But that wasn't his interest."
Lionel Bart: "Right from the very early days, when Brian was trying to promote The Beatles
in London, he said, 'Well, they're going to be bigger than Elvis.' And of course everybody
laughed. I did too. I said, 'Come on, Brian, give us a break.' But he was totally dedicated
and this dedication, together with the suit and the gentlemanly appearance, which he had,
and his demeanour, may well have been the key to allowing him into the American great
razzmatazz and the great pressure of the business."
The misfit manager by Robert Potts in The Independent on Sunday, 2nd.
January, 2000," A homosexual who died a few months before homosexuality was
legalised, he lived in constant fear of beatings and blackmail, though some friends insist
he was not unhappy to be gay.
A lonely boy who had been unpopular and unsuccessful at school, he could never tell
as an adult if people liked him for himself or his wealth, fame and connections; a
depressive with mood swings and tyrranical tantrams, he was nonetheless (quite
clearly) loved by those who knew him.
A conservative and control-freak in his work, he loved risk taking, and had a passion
for bullfighting, high-stake gambling and roughtrade. As to his death, no one seems to
believe he committed suicide, although his overdose followed at least one previous
attempt, and a series of depressions in the wake of various perceived rejections and the
death of his father." Johnny Rogan, (1988), "Starmakers & Svengalis".
Press cuttings
Man who launched the Beatles found dead in The Times, 28th. August, 1967,
reproduced in TheTimes, 28th. August, 2000, "Mr Brian Epstein, aged 32, the man who
launched the Beatles and, as their manager took them to worldwide fame, was found
dead in bed yesterday afternoon at his home in Chapel Street, Belgravia, S. W. The cause
of his death was not immediately known." "The Beatles, who were in Bangor, North Wales,
for a meeting of the International Meditation Society returned to London by road after
hearing of the tragedy." "Mr. Epstein was to have travelled to Bangor today to be initiated
as a member of the society. His death was discovered at about 3.45 p.m. by his
housekeeper who was alarmed when she could not get an answer on knocking
on his bedroom door. Some friends of Mr. Epstein had called and they broke into the
bedroom and found him dead in bed. The police were then called and senior police
officers went to the flat." "The 8.30 p.m. pop concert at the Saville Theatre, London
headed by the Jimi Hendrix Experience last night was cancelled as a tribute to Mr. Epstein
who owned the theatre's lease." "The people Mr. Epstein brought to fame included Cilla Black,
Billy J. Kramer, The Dakotas and Gerry and the Pacemakers."
Epstein's torment revealed by diary by Robin Young in The Times, 26th. April, 2000 :
"Secret diaries which the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein entrusted to his chauffeur for
safekeeping reveal the demons that drove him to suicide at the age of 32. They are
to be auctioned tomorrow, along with a four-page letter from Paul McCartney and a
hand-drawn John Lennon Christmas card. The 14 lots in the sale at Christie's,
South Kensington, are being sold by Epstein's former chauffeur, Bryan Barrett. Mr Barrett
said yesterday that he had kept them unseen in a cupboard for the past 33 years, since
Epstein died of a drug overdose at the age of 32. Mr Barrett, 70, said he felt he could sell
the items now because it would no longer hurt anyone to make them public. Mr Epstein's
immediate family are all dead. Epstein was Britain's most successful pop manager of the
1960s, but his frank and revealing diaries record the unhappiness of his schooldays, the
misery caused by his homosexuality, the despair he felt even at the height of his fame and
the torment he suffered over his arrest for importuning in 1957."
McCartney sets record straight - with a little help from his friends by David Lister in
The Independent, 4th. September, 2000
Includes extracts from The Beatles Anthology, (2000). George: "We got twenty-five
quid a week in the early Sixties when we were with Brian Epstein, when we played the clubs.
But £25 a week was quite good. My dad earned £10. Then we started earning much more,
but Brian would keep it and pay us wages. He once tried to get us to sign a deal
saying he would guarantee us £50 a week for ever and he would keep the
rest. We thought, 'No, we'll risk it, Brian. We'll risk earning a bit more than £50 a week'."
MUST SEE Website
