Allen Klein Former Beatles Manager Dies
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Allen Klein, one of the most ruthless managers in the history of the music biz, succumbed to Alzheimer's at age 77, on the 4th of July.
Klein was in the music biz for fifty years and gained many enemies due to his not too kind business ethics. Back n the 1960's, he managed the Rolling Stone for five years and bought the copyrights for two of the Stone's biggest hits, (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction and Jumpin' Jack Flash from a former manager. This purchase was instrumental in ending the relationship between Klein and the Stones, and the Stones more or less said they learned a valuable lesson. An very expensive lesson at that.
Klein was then hired by John Lennon in 1969 to manage the Beatles, against the protests of fellow Beatle, Paul McCartney (too bad Sir Paul's intuition was not working when he married gold digger Heather Mills years later.) Klein was known for being a "shark" in the music biz and striking huge deals with record labels that padded his pockets to the brim and caused many of his clients to despise him. Some did admire his ability to kibitz with record labels and the talent he had of getting the most bang for his buck, however, he was considered cold blooded by most and Klein went to court numerous times fighting the very people he managed. Many blame him for trying to rob the Beatles of their artistic legacy and even more damaging, many feel he was the reason behind the Beatles split — Yoko Ono was also blamed for the same.
A snippet from Wikipedia about his ruthlessness with the Beatles:
By 1969, Apple Corps was in a financial mess, and it was becoming obvious that a business brain was needed to sort things out. Several names were considered, including Lord Beeching. Paul McCartney favoured Lee Eastman (father of McCartney's wife, Linda) as the man for the job, a suggestion that did not sit well with the other three Beatles, as they felt that Eastman would be batting for McCartney's interests ahead of those of the rest of the group. Klein contacted Lennon after reading his press comment that the Beatles would be "broke in six months" if things continued as they were. Klein was willing to break precedent, and only take a commission on increased business; if Apple continued to lose money, he would be paid nothing.After a meeting at Klein's suite in the Dorchester Hotel (opposite London's Hyde Park, where Klein impressed Lennon with both his in-depth knowledge of Lennon's work (he could quote lyrics from all of his songs) and his "streetwise" attitude and language, Lennon convinced George Harrison and Ringo Starr that Klein should take over instead. McCartney agreed to pose for photographs with Klein as a show of unity, pretending to sign a new contract, but he never put his signature on the paper. This fundamental disagreement about who should manage them, fueled by a decade-long build up of resentments and insecurity about other matters such as power and influence within the group, was one of the key factors in the eventual break-up of the Beatles.
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