Epstein used his sales ability to get the band more and better jobs playing music. He also used his position (as manager of one of the leading music stores in northern England) to make contact with different record labels, hoping to get the Beatles signed up. An audition with Decca Records on New Year's Day 1962 sounded hopeful, but Decca decided to turn the band down, as did most of the labels Epstein approached.
Decca gave Epstein a copy of the band's demo (demonstration) tape, which he used to promote them, but could not find anyone interested. He thought an actual record might work better than the tape, so he went to have a test record made. The recording engineer who made the record told Epstein about George Martin, who worked for EMI's Parlophone Records and had been looking for a rock band to record. Martin liked what he heard well enough to offer the band another audition.
The Beatles passed their EMI audition as a group, and signed a contract with Parlophone. Drummer Pete Best did not meet Martin's standards, though, and Martin planned to use a studio drummer instead on their records. When the band found out, they asked Epstein to fire Best, and they replaced him with Ringo Starr, who quit another band to join them.
Over the next year (1963), The Beatles became the most popular recording act in Britain and Europe, and then in America during 1964. Following their success, Epstein signed up other bands and singers, including Gerry and the Pacemakers, Cilla Black, Billy J. Kramer and the Remo Four. Each found success and hit records, but none became as popular as the Beatles. Epstein started a management company, NEMS Enterprises (named after the music store), who later signed up the Bee Gees, Jimi Hendrix, and Cream.
Like many pop stars, Epstein also had fans, and gave away signed photographs of himself. He published an autobiography (his life story) in 1964, with help from Derek Taylor, who was the Beatles's press agent. Epstein was still interested in theater, and he bought the Saville Theatre in London, which presented plays and rock concerts.
As time went on, Epstein felt more and more stress in his working and personal lives, and turned to sleeping pills, to help him cope. During 1967, he became afraid that the Beatles would not stay with him when their management contract expired (ended) that year, and his insomnia increased. One weekend while the band was away in Wales, Epstein overdosed on sleeping pills, and died in his sleep.
An autopsy concluded that Epstein did not commit suicide, but accidentally took too many sleeping pills over a long period of time, without giving the pills a chance to clear out of his body. The Beatles and all the artists he managed mourned his death. It was said later that losing him was the beginning of the Beatles breakup, which happened in 1970.
Jurong
Jurong (裕廊) is a town in the western side of Singapore. It used to be a swamp until the 1960s, when Goh Keng Swee, a minister, together with the United Nations, cleared the swamps, making Jurong an industrial estate (a place where industries are built to make goods). Jurong is divided in Jurong East, where houses and shops are built and Jurong West, mainly an industrial estate. Jurong East is under the Jurong Group Representation Constituency or Jurong GRC, while Jurong West is under the West Coast Group Representation Constituency. Jurong is connected to Johor Bahru by the Second-Link at Tuas. Jurong has the Jurong Bird Park and Chinese Gardens.
Plastic Ono Band
The Plastic Ono Band was a rock and roll band formed by Yoko Ono with husband (and former Beatle) John Lennon. They were active from 1969 until 1974.
Lennon and Ono recorded their first single together, titled "Give Peace A Chance", in a Montreal hotel with a roomful of guests, including Tommy Smothers, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Timothy Leary, and the local Hare Krishna chapter. The pair were in an auto accident before the single was to debut (be played in public for the first time), and they had to stay in the hospital. Not wanting to cancel the debut, they sent the first version of their "new band" – a set of plastic cases that held the sound equipment – which played in their place. It was a strange kind of debut for a new band, but the song (a protest against the Vietnam War) became a minor hit that year, in England and in the United States.
The second version of the Plastic Ono Band included Ono and Lennon in person, along with musicians Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Alan White. They performed together at a rock concert in Toronto in September 1969, and it was the first time Lennon had played in public with a band other than the Beatles. The show went well, and helped Lennon decide to leave the Beatles, which he had thought about doing for some time. A second single, "Cold Turkey", was recorded with this lineup.
After the Beatles ended, Lennon decided he did not want to have another permanent band, and he and Ono used the Plastic Ono Band name to refer to any musicians who appeared on the records they made together. Even listeners were called a part of the band, especially when the band gave a concert. An advertisement for one of their records included a page from a telephone book, and the words "YOU are the Plastic Ono Band".
Ono and Lennon separated for a time during 1973 and 1974. Lennon still used forms of the band name on the two albums he released during their separation, while Ono's records of the time appeared under her name alone. When they got back together in 1975, Ono became pregnant, and both decided to retire from music to be parents. Their son Sean Lennon was born on October 9, 1975, which was Lennon's 35th birthday.
In 1980, Lennon and Ono decided to restart their music careers, but this time their records appeared under their own names, and the Plastic Ono Band name was retired.
Olsztyn
Olsztyn is a city in northeast Poland, on the Łyna river. Olsztyn is the biggest city and the capital of the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.
The town is near a lake region of forests and plains. There are 13 lakes in the town and many more surrounding it: (Krzywe, Długie, Żbik, Redykajny and others).
Olsztyn is twinned with:
Lee Iacocca
Lido Anthony "Lee" Iacocca ( ; October 15, 1924 – July 2, 2019) was an American automobile executive and writer. He was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Iacocca created the Ford Pinto in 1971 and the Ford Mustang in 1964. He was best known for his time as chairman of the Chrysler Corporation from 1979 until his retirement in 1992. From 1970 to 1978, he was President of the Ford Motor Company.
Iacocca studied at Lehigh University and at Princeton University.
Governor Robert P. Casey wanted to make Iacocca a United States Senator after John Heinz's death, but Iacocca declined. Iacocca was an Independent who supported the presidential bids of George W. Bush, John Kerry, Bill Richardson and Mitt Romney. He considered running for President in 1988, but declined.
"Portfolio" named Iacocca the 18th-greatest American CEO of all time.
In 1984, he released his autobiography. In 2007, Iacocca released "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?", a "New York Times" bestseller.
Iacocca died on July 2, 2019 at his home in Bel Air, Los Angeles, California at the age of 94. The cause was problems from Parkinson's disease.
Standard
A standard is a basis for comparison. Standards are made either by many people that agree on something, or if some organisation makes it so. There are many different standards in many fields of daily life. Standards are important so that correct comparisons can be produced.
Other standards make things work together. For example, rail cars with a standard gauge can run on tracks that follow the same standard. Communication protocols such as Morse code and USB are standards that allow different machines and people to communicate.