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Asher, Jane  - Actress, Paul's fiancée
     b. Apr 5, 1946
Jane Asher was engaged with Paul McCartney six months (after 5 years romance) counting from the Christmas of 1967.
   As a 17-year old actress, she had a regular vacancy for the show Juke Box Jury. In April 1963 she was hired to write an article of the Beatles' concert that night. That was how the two met and started dating, although she was at the beginning more impressed of George's appearance.

 
  
Aspinall, Neil  - Road manager, administrator of Apple Corps Ltd.
      
Met The Beatles first time in the late 1960 as a result of renting lodgings at the house of Pete Best and soon afterwards became their road manager and was since then an important assistant for the Beatles. He became more as an personal man to them after the Mal Evans started as the second roadie for the Beatles. In the critical situation of 1968 (after the death of Brian Epstein) he was appointed managing director of Apple Corps.
  Neil Aspinall played for instance a tamboura on Within You Without You, a harmonica on Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, and percussion on Magical Mystery Tour, and sang on the chorus of Yellow Submarine.
 
  
Bach, Barbara [Goldbach]  - Model, actress, Ringo's wife
     b. Aug 27, 1947 - New York, USA
After her 16th birthday, Barbara Bach left school and began on a highly successful modelling career becaming the leading American model. At the age of 18 she married an Italian businessman and producer and moved to Rome for the next ten years. This led to an acting career, first starring some Italian B-movies, but eventually founding herself with major parts in several international films such as The Jaguar Lives and The Volcanic Island. After returning to USA during her devorce she was casted for the Bond-girl in 007 - The Spy Who Loved Me. Later she also for example auditioned for the TV-series Charlie's Angels but was bypassed.
  Barbara met Ringo in the late 70's in the shootings of comedy film Caveman, in which they both starred in leading roles. The couple fell instantly in love and got married on April 27, 1981.

 
  
Best, Randolf Peter (Pete)  - Drummer
     b. Nov 24, 1941 - Madras, India
In 1959 the Quarry Men had problems finding a permanent drummer for the band before Pete Best, son of the owner of Club Cashab joined in. That's also how they managed to get Club Cashab their permanent place to perform. After the group had dispensed with Allan Williams as their part-time agent, Pete and his mother Mona Best took over the bookings with Pete organising diary and transport to the gigs, eventually getting his close frien Neil Aspinall to become their road manager.
    But anyway in 1962 after all the big recording contracts and before the next session other boys (or actually Brian Epstein) dismissed Pete for although he had looked the part, but his drumming was poor. They hired Ringo Starr to fill his empty vacancy.
 
  
Clapton, Eric Patrick  - Guitarist, "Slowhand", "god"
     b. Mar 30, 1945 - Ripley, Surrey, UK
Eric Clapton was raised in a musical household. His grandmother played piano and his mother and uncle both enjoyed listening to the sounds of the big bands. Clapton got his first guitar at the age 13 - as a birthday present. Finding it difficult to play, he put it away for a few years and started to play again at about the same time he started college. In early 1963 Clapton joined in his first band, The Roosters. But in October 1963, Keith Relf and Paul Samwell-Smith recruited him to become a member of The Yardbirds because Clapton was the most talked about player on the R&B pub circuit.
  First time he met the Beatles in 1964 when 'The Yardbirds' were one of the support acts for The Beatles Christmas Show at the Hammersmith Odeon in London. The show ran for three weeks from 24 December 1964 to 16 January 1965. George Harrison and Clapton became very close friends.
  In April 1965, John Mayall invited Clapton to join his band, John Mayall's Blues Breakers. During his tenure with this band, Clapton established his reputation as a guitarist. After a short Greece tour with them the band recorded album Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton.
  In late 1966, he teamed up with Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker to form Cream. No later than at least now, Eric Clapton and the band was brought worldwide acclaim.
  In 1968 Clapton was asked by Harrison to play lead guitar on While My Guitar Gently Weeps for the upcoming Beatles-album The Beatles (a.k.a. 'The White Album').
  After Cream's break-up in 1968, Clapton founded Blind Faith - rock's first "supergroup" - with Steve Winwood, Ginger Baker, and Rick Grech.
  In the summer 1970 he formed Derek and the Dominos with members from Delaney & Bonnie - a band in which Clapton had been playing as a sideman after 'Blind Faith' broke up. 'Derek and the Dominos' recorded shortly a seminal rock album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs. It's a concept album whose theme is revolved around Clapton's unrequited love for Pattie Harrison The two eventually got married in March 27, 1979. The relationship didn't last happy very long caused by Clapton's increasing addiction on drugs - specially heroin - and alcoholism. Clapton and Pattie divorced in 1988.
  Eric Clapton's life has been infused with big tragedies and great sadness. On August 1990, guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan and Clapton's road-crew members Colin Smythe and Nigel Browne were killed in a helicopter crash. In March 1991, his son Conor (b. 15 August 1986) fell to death from his mother's Manhattan high-rise apartment. Clapton's grief is hearable in the song Tears In Heaven. Clapton did not return to drink or drugs following these events.
  In February of 1998, Clapton announced the opening of Crossroads Centre, a rehabilitation facility for drug and alcohol abuse in Antigua. One of its founding principles is to provide subsidized care for some of the poorest people of the Caribbean who could not afford to enter such a facility on their own. A foundation was established to provide this much-needed care.
  Successful albums like August, Journeyman, Unplugged, and The Crossroads have kept him well in the public mind for all the years. He have also occasionally returned onto his roots of blues recording some great pieces of blue music.

 
  
Evans, Malcolm  - Bodyguard, road manager
     b. 1937 - UK | d. Jan 6, 1976 - Los Angeles; CAL, USA
Mal Evans was a 27-year-old telecommunications engineer at the post office in Liverpool when he came across the Beatles by accident in 1962. He discovered the band playing at the Cavern during his lunch break, and he was hooked. He started spending a lot of time at the Cavern, and became friends with George Harrison, who recommended him as bouncer at the Club. He had been guarding the door at the Cavern for about three months when the pace was getting so hectic for Neil Aspinall and the Beatles that they decided to take on Evans to help.
  On the Beatles tours Mal drove the van, set up and tested all the equipment and chatted to the ancious audience while the Beatles stayed in the dressing room.   Mal Evans played on many records as for example on Rubber Soul, Sgt. Pepper's and The Beatles (organ, harmonica, trumpet, tambourine etc). He also had few brief appearances in Help!, Magical Mystery Tour and Let It Be.
  Evans was shot and killed in Los Angeles by a police as an accident.
 
  
Harrison, Olivia [Arias]  - Secretary, George's wife since 1978
     b. 1948 - Hawthorne, CAL, USA

In the 70's Olivia Arias was a secretary for A&M Records. George Harrison had then recording contract for the same company. They met at a party in 1974, began phone conversations and found out they had much in common. The couple grew very close to each other and got married September 2, 1978. They also have one child, Dhani, who was born August 1, 1978.

 
  
Harrison, Patricia Anne [Boyd]  - Model, George's wife
     b. Mar 17, 1945 - Hampstead, UK
The couple met each other in the shootings of A Hard Day's Night in which Patti Boyd played a schoolgirl named Jean in a train. On Christmas day, 1965 George proposed Patti to be his wife and they got married on January 21, 1966 after a year dating, at the Epsom Registry Office in Surrey. After more than ten years "media-marriage" the two separated June 9, 1977. For the sake of her husband, also her modeling career ended just few years after the wedding. Years 1979-1986 Patti was married with guitarist Eric Clapton. For example the songs Layla and Wonderful Tonight are written to her.

 
  
Lennon, Cynthia [Powell]  - Hairdresser, John's wife
     b. Sep 10, 1939 - Blackpool, UK
Met John Lennon in 1958 at the Liverpool College of Art and got married with him on August 23, 1962 at Registry Office in Mount Pleasant. The couple got divorced November 8th, 1968, because of John's falling in love with Yoko Ono.
  John and Cynthia have one mutual child Julian (b. April 8, 1963).

 
  
Martin, George  - Producer, recording manager
     b. Jan 3, 1926 - London, UK
George Martin was born in London 1926 and enrolled the Guildhall School of Music in the age of 21 earning then a classical education for music. Martin started his career as EMI's A&R man 1950. He began to work for Parlophone records under Oscar Preuss and then became head of the label when Preuss retired in 1955. Parlophone concentrated mainly on classical music, jazz, middle-of-the-road and comedy records (Peter Sellers). Martin recorded these artists while Ron Richardson took over the few pop stars on the label.
   When Brian Epstein was desperate of getting recording contract for The Beatles, was George Martin only one who granted them their audition, but it was Richardson who was down as Beatles' recording manager when they came for their first session on Wednesday 6 June 1962. Chris Neal, one of the engineers, once said 'I remember George Martin taking a quick look at them and going down to the canteen to have a cup of tea.' When the Beatles were performing 'Love Me Do', the chief engineer Norman Smith was impressed by this original song and told Neal to go down and get Martin, who then returned and took over the session.
   In 1965 Martin left EMI as a result for disputes on his salary. By request he anyway stayed producing Beatles' recordings.    Often named as the "Fifth Beatle" George Martin produced all the records of the Beatles, except Let It Be, which was partly manegered by Phil Spector. Martin also used to play the piano on many Beatles-songs. The greatest achievement of him has been said the talent of him to carry out Beatles' usually quite wild ideas and images. Because no one of the band couldn't understand notes, George Martin had to think up all the ideas on the paper for horn and string sections. The title of his memoir released in 1979 was significantly "All You Need Is Ears".
  After Beatles' broke-up Martin worked for instance with American, Jeff Beck, Neil Sedakan, Gary Brooker, Cheap Trick and Jimmy Webb. He also produced some of the solo albums of Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr.
 
  
McCartney, Linda [Eastman]  - Photographer, Paul's wife
     d. April 17, 1998, Tuscon, Arizona, USA
Raised in Scarsdale, New York, Linda Eastman was a Fine Art major at The University of Arizona. In the 60's she was working for the Rolling Stone magazine and photographed famous rock stars all over the world. This is also how she met her future husband Paul (married March 12, 1969 in Marylebone).
  She have had numerous exhibitions of her works in galleries all around the world from South America to Australia. Linda also played keyboards in Paul's band and together they organized big charity events in 80's and 90's. She is also known as a passionate vegetarian and animal-lover.
  Linda McCartney died sadly in 1998 for cancer of the breast.
 
  
Ono, Yoko  - Artist, John's wife
     b. Feb 13, 1933 - Tokyo, Japan
Married John Lennon (second husband after Tony Cox) in Gibraltar March 20, 1969.
  The couple met each other at one of Yoko's exhibitions of modern art. Before and after the weddings the two grew very tightly together and became practically inseparable. Yoko effected on everything John did and vice versa. This literally tight relationship is said to be one of the reason why Beatles broke up. The others weren't used to have anyone additional person involved with them for example in the studio or the recording sessions.
  On October 9, 1975 she gave birth to John's second child Sean.
  Yoko Ono is very talented and often misunderstood artist and a character who was a superstar of modern art even before she met John Lennon.
  Yoko was also a part of The Plastic Ono Band in the early 70's.

 
  
 
Plastic Ono Band, The  - Band of John & Yoko
     
During and after the break-down of the Beatles John and Yoko started a new group, The Plastic Ono Band, which was introduced for the first time in September 1969 in Toronto. In addition to John and Yoko the group comprehended also Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White.

 
  
Spector, Phillip Harvey  - Producer
     b. Dec 19, 1940 - NYC; NY, USA
"Phil Spector is among the greatest producers of rock and roll, and some would passionately argue that he is the greatest ever. His ambitious approach to the art of record production helped redefine and revitalize rock and roll during its early-Sixties slump. On a string of classic records released between 1961 and 1966 on his Philles label, he elevated the monaural 45 rpm single to an art form. "Little symphonies for the kiddies," he called them, and they were indeed dramatic pop records possessed of a grandeur and intimacy theretofore uncommon in rock and roll." ( - Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame)
  In addition to the Beatles' Let It Be, John Lennon's 'Plastic Ono Band' (and other solo projects such as Imagine) and George Harrison's All Things Must Pass he has also produced records for instance for such artists as Gene Pitney (Every Breath I Take), Curtis Lee (Pretty Little Angel Eyes) and The Paris Sisters (I Love How You Love Me).

 
  
Starkey, Maureen [Cox]  - Hairdresser, Ringo's wife
     b. Aug 4, 1946 - Liverpool, UK | d. December 30, 1994
Maureen was a Cavern Club regular and was dating Johnny Guitar from Rory Storm and The Hurricanes at the time when Ringo was the drummer of that band.
  She got married with Ringo on February 11, 1965. This seemed to be a pretty nice marriage until one gathering evening of Ringo, Maureen, Patti and George in 1975, when George announced he was in love with Maureen. So this was probably one of numerous reasons that also ended the marriage of George and Pattie.
  Ringo and Maureen divorced in July 17, 1975 after ten years marriage.

 
  
Sutcliffe, Stuart Fergusson Victor  - Artist, bass & voc of Q.M.
     b. Jun 23, 1940 - Edinburgh, UK | d. Apr 10, 1962 - Hamburg, Germany
Stu Sutcliffe was a basist and vocalist of the Beatles' early formations from about early 1960 to mid-1961. He was a good friend of John Lennon from the Liverpool Art College in the late 50's. It was an odd match that Sutcliffe was considered one of the college's best students, and Lennon one of its worst, but they had a lot of mutual intellectual and aesthetic adventurousness.
  At the time The Quarry Men had been looking for a permanent bass player and so they found Stuart (he had just bought a electric bass guitar after winning 65 pounds for one of his art works). His mother was the owner of Club Cashab in Liverpool and so they got also a permanent place to perform. Soon Stu anyway found out his lack of musical talents and resigned out of the group. When the band returned from Hamburg in December 1960 after 58 night row in Keiserkeller, Stu stayed there. Earlier he had met and fell in love with fellow artist Astrid Kirchherr. Kirchherr was the first photographer to take pictures of the Beatles that caught their charisma on film, and also influenced Sutcliffe to change from his James Dean-type hairstyle. This was the origination of the Beatles hairstyle, and although it was initially ridiculed by some of the other guys in the band, all of them (except Pete Best) eventually took on the haircut too. In Hamburg Stu Sutcliffe also successfully continued his art studies.
  He died tragically for cerebral haemorrhage on April 10, 1962.
 
  
Taylor, Derek  - Journalist, press officer
     b. May 7, 1932 - Liverpool, UK | d. Sep 8, 1997
In 1963 Derek Taylor was a journalist and wrote musical reviews for Daily Express. In his review of the Beatles' concert at the Manchester Odeon he was unequivocally enthusiastic about the rising stars, and wrote: "The Liverpool Sound came to Manchester last night, and I thought it was magnificent...The spectacle of these fresh, cheeky, sharp, young entertainers in apposition to the shiny-eyed teenage idolaters is as good as a rejuvenating drug for the jaded adult." This review and the many followers in that year was his access to the Beatles' inner circle. He ended up to ghostwrite a weekly column by George Harrison for the Daily Express (later ghosting Brian Epstein's autobiography) and in April 1964 became the press officer of the Beatles and a personal assistant to Brian Epstein.
  In the mid 60's Taylor moved to Hollywood and and worked with the Byrds, Beach Boys, Paul Revere and less commercial artists such as Captain Beefheart and Phil Ochs. In 1968 he rejoined the Beatles and held court at Apple as Press Officer putting the best face for the chaos of business and management inside Apple. It was Taylor who in April 1970 wrote the following press release without either denying than confirming the Beatles' split of: "Spring is here and Leeds play Cheshire tomorrow and Ringo and John and George and Paul are alive and well and living in hope. The world is still spinning and so are we and so are you. When the spinning stops, that'll be the time to worry. Not before."
  After the coming to an end Taylor worked for instance for Warner Brothers, Elektra and Atlantic, becoming a vice-president of Warner Brothers. In the mid 80's he returned to Apple Corps and was involved in the archival Beatles projects, such as the Anthology compilations and videos. Derek Taylor died in 1997 exhausted by a long illness.
 
  
 
Vaughan, Ivan  - Friend of John's, psychiatrist
     b. 18 Jun, 1942 | d. 1994
As an important person of John Lennon's early life Ivan Vaughan was to be responsible for introducing Paul McCartney to him at the July 6, 1957 garden fête of St Peter's Church in Woolton, Liverpool. Ivan was a close childhood friend of John's but when John started in the Quarry Bank High School for Boys, he attended to the Liverpool Institute where he befriended Paul. He used to play tea-chest bass in John's skiffle group Quarry Men but soon drifted from the band. He had noted Paul's interest in rock 'n' roll and thought John and he might get on together.    When going on the 60's Ivan stayed a close friend to John and Paul and was often invited to come over. He was the one to come up with 'ma belle' as in rhyme for 'Michelle' as well as the other French lines of the song. During the 70's Ivan was struck with Parkinson's disease and started a well-noted battle against it. A documentary was made about him in 1984 and a book Ivan - Living With Parkinson's Disease was published in 1986. He passed away in 1994 staying a very close frien to Paul until the very end.
 
  
Voormann, Klaus  - Artist, musician
     b. April 29, 1942 - W. Berlin, Germany
In addition his appearance at The Plastic Ono Band in the 70's, Klaus Voormann is a very notable artist with great success. He has for example designed the album covers for Revolver (from which he won a Grammy award in 1966) and the Anthologies.
  He's also a talented bass player and have played with such bands and artist as for example Manfred Mann, B.B. King and Gary Wright.

 
  
Wings, The  - Paul McCartney's band after the Beatles
      
Within a year after Beatles' break-up Paul McCartney formed with his wife Linda a new band called The Wings, which was intended to be a full-fledged recording and touring band. Former Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine and drummer Denny Seiwell became the group's other members
  Even if it ever hasn't been much adored by the critics, it anyway became one of the most popular and best-selling bands of the 70's. It has also become one of the icons of the music of that decade.
  Wings' first album Wild Life in December 1971 wasn't a big hit, and was actually eventually renounced as a flop. In 1972 the Wings (which now featured former Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough) released three new singles in England - the protest Give Ireland Back to the Irish, the reggae-fied Mary Had a Little Lamb and the rocking Hi Hi Hi. They sold very well. Released in the spring 1972 album Red Rose Speedway received quite weak reviews, but became number one on US chart. Later in 1973, Wings embarked on their first British tour, at the conclusion of which McCullough and Seiwell left the band. At the meantime McCartney wrote and recorded the theme for James Bond-film Live And Let Die in 1973.
The bullseye of Wings was found later that year, when the group released album Band On The Run, which was highly reviewed and successed spending four weeks at the top of the US charts and eventually going triple platinum.
  After the success of 'Band On The Run' Paul re-formed the Wings with guitarist Jimmy McCulloch and drummer Geoff Britton. After the lineup change the band recorded 1975 album Venus and Mars and 1976 Speed of Light which both were well successed. After these events the group did a big American tour which was captured on triple-album Wings over America.
  In 1977 they released single Mull Of Kintyre which became the most-selling single in the UK ever with over two million copies sold! After this they released platinum-album London Town in 1978. In the same year McCulloch left the band. In 1979 Wings yet released Back to the Egg, which sold platinum but stayed far from any real success.
  1980 Denny Laine left Wings because Paul didn't want to tour in the wake of John Lennon's assassination and in doing so, he effectively broke up the Wings.



© 2001 The BeatleWEB. author, webmaster Matti Kovanen