Brian Epstein

Brian Samuel Epstein (19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from January 1962 until his death. He was referred to as the "fifth Beatle" due to his role in the group's business affairs, image and rise to global fame.
Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him in charge of their music shop. Here he displayed a gift for talent-spotting. He first met the Beatles in 1961 at a lunchtime concert at Liverpool's Cavern Club. Although he had no experience of artist management, Epstein put them under contract and insisted that they abandon their scruff-image in favour of a new clean-cut style, with identical suits and haircuts. He then persuaded George Martin of EMI group to produce their records.
Within months, the Beatles were international stars. Epstein accompanied them to America, where he was besieged by merchandising offers, but had signed away 90 per cent of the rights in advance. This is viewed as his one miscalculation. Some of Epstein's other young discoveries had also prospered at this time under his management. They included Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Tommy Quickly, and Cilla Black. In 1967, he died of a drug overdose, ruled as accidental, at the age of 32.
== Links to Peel ==
After Epstein had became successful as the Beatles' manager (and a few months before his death), he became an avid listener of Peel's Perfumed Garden show on Radio London. On Radio Radio, Peel explained how the boss of Radio London was horrified when he found out that he was playing his own choice of records and reading poetry, whilst stopping reading the news and weather:
"And the first inkling I think that Alan Keane had that this was going on was when, or so legend has it, when Brian Epstein phoned him up to congratulate him on having had the foresight to have put such a programme out. And of course he listened to it and was horrified. But by this time Radio London only had a few months to run anyway, so they decided they may as well leave things as they were."
Epstein's death came less than a fortnight after Peel had lost his DJ job following the closedown of Radio London. He had no way to express his feelings about it in public, as he had not yet begun to write columns for International Times and was not well known enough to be asked to contribute to the weekly music papers' tributes to the Beatles' former manager. Much later, on his 25 August 1999 show, Peel claimed that he bought Eddy Fontaine's "Nothin' Shakin'" at NEMS record store in Liverpool, where he was served by Brian Epstein:
"My original copy (of that) I bought at NEMS in central Liverpool, and I was served by Brian Epstein. Some of you may not know who (he) was, but you should do."
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
Category:People