Alistair Taylor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Alistair Taylor | ||
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 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 | |
| Origin | Runcorn, Cheshire, | |
| Died | 9 June 2004 | |
| Occupation(s) | Personal Assistant and General Manager | |
| Years active | 1961 - 1969 | |
| Label(s) | Apple | |
James Alistair Taylor (born in Runcorn, Cheshire, 21 June 1935, died in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, 9 June 2004) was the personal assistant of Brian Epstein who accompanied him to the Cavern Club when he first saw The Beatles play on 9 November 1961. Then he became, for a short period, General Manager of Apple Corps.
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[edit] Biography
[edit] At NEMS
Born in Runcorn, Cheshire, Taylor did his National Service in the Royal Air Force and worked in a series of jobs as : mover, timber importer and docker in the Liverpool Docks.
The opportunity of his life appears the day he had a job interview with Brian Epstein for a salesman job at NEMS. Brian likes him so much that he decided to offer him a job as his personal assistant in the shop.
Taylor invented the name of Raymond Jones to do an order for Tony Sheridan’s album, because he thought they were losing money with that 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 a 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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At NEMS he used to write articles for the Mersey Beat musical newspaper, signing as Brian Epstein.
[edit] From Cavern...
Alistair accompanied Epstein to the Cavern Club when he first saw The Beatles play on 9 November 1961. During that show Taylor first met The Beatles, and his first opinion was "..this four horrible young men on stage, dressed with black leather trousers, black jackets, smoking, drinking and making noise..", but "...they were charismatic and exciting" and "I thought they were sensational"[1]
As Brian Epstein’s personal assistant, he witnessed crucial moments in the Beatles career as the sign of the first contract with Brian (which he also signed as "In the presence of:").
In 1962 Alistair worked for the Pye Records during 15 months, because he moved to London (before the Beatles did) due to the asthma of his wife.
[edit] Mr. Fixit
In 1963 he returned to NEMS to work as general manager (for £1,000 per annum).
The Beatles named him Mr. Fixit for his ability to find solutions to all the boys' needs. For example:
- Buying some cigarettes
- Hiring a limousine
- Devising their escapes from the fans outside their performances
- Organizing their holiday trips
- Being companion to Paul in the Ivor Novello Awards in 1965
- Acting as consultant to John for the purchase of Dornish Island (Ireland) for £1,550.
- Being the middle-man in the purchase of High Park, the Scottish farm, for Paul, Jane, and Martha
- Helping Paul to write "Hello, Goodbye".
- Finding 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.
There he met people like Gerry & the Pacemakers, Cream, the Moody Blues, Cilla Black, and the Bee Gees.
[edit] Inside Apple
In December, 1967, shortly after the death of Brian Epstein on 27 August 1967, John asked him to work as General Manager in 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 him disguised as a one-man band, and big letters 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, caused an avalanche of applicants.
Taylor can be heard in "Revolution 9" apologising to George Martin and beseeching forgiveness for not bringing him a bottle of claret[2]. This piece of studio control room chatter had a unknown recording date.
During the rooftop Get Back concert, on 30 January 1969, Alistair was among the people in the street.
When Allen Klein arrived at Apple on 3 February 1969, Alistair was sacked along with 16 staff members during one of the first purges at Apple. The Beatles did not tell him why.
[edit] After the Beatles
After that, he worked in a tea-room, in a factory and in a hotel, before his retirement. Then he enjoyed participating in Beatles fan conventions around the world.
In the mid 1990s, 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).
In 1998 he appeared in a documentary at the British Arena (TV series), in the episode : The Brian Epstein Story: The Sun Will Shine Tomorrow : Part 1
Taylor died in his sleep in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, on 9 June 2004 after a short bronchial illness.
[edit] Artistic work
[edit] Books
He was the author of :
- Yesterday: The Beatles Remembered with Martin Robers , Pan Macmillan (April 7, 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 (September 1, 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
[edit] Theatre
- "From Cavern to Rooftop" in which he spoke about his memories with interludes of Beatles music
[edit] Tapes
He made a series of four audio tapes with the titles of : "From Cavern to Rooftop" ; "From Strawberry Fields to Magical Mystery Tour" ; "Remembering Brian" and "Inside Apple".
[edit] External links
[edit] Notes
- ^ Interview by Juan Agüeras, in The Beatles Garden, fanzine of the Spanish Sergeant Beatles Fan Club, Nº 18, 1997
- ^ The complete Beatles Chronicle, Mark Lewisohn, Chancellor Press, 1992, ISBN 1-85152-975-6
