Neil Aspinall
Neil Aspinall | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | Road Manager, Personal assistant, Record producer, Executive |
| Spouse | Suzy Aspinall (née Ornstein) |
| Children | Vincent "Roag" Best (with Mona Best) |
Neil Aspinall (born in Prestatyn, North Wales, October 13 1942) is best known as the road manager and personal assistant for The Beatles. He was a childhood friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison at the Liverpool Institute grammar school in Liverpool. Aspinall and McCartney were in the same class, and Harrison was in the year below them.
He later joined The Beatles organisation as their road manager, which meant driving his old Commer van over badly maintained British roads for hours every day and night, with The Beatles and their equipment in the back. After Mal Evans started working for The Beatles, Aspinall graduated to becoming The Beatles' personal assistant, and was later promoted to Apple Corps Executive in 1970.
On behalf of The Beatles, Aspinall has been involved in court cases against Allen Klein, Apple Inc., and EMI over the years. He also supervises the marketing of The Beatles' music, videos, and merchandising. Aspinall and his American wife Suzy are the sole directors of Standby Films Ltd., which is run from their home in Twickenham, Middlesex.
Early life
Aspinall's mother was evacuated to Prestatyn (North Wales) during the air-raids on Liverpool, while his father was away at sea with the Royal Navy. His mother returned to Liverpool in 1942 (after the bombing had stopped) and Aspinall attended West Derby School, where he passed his 11-plus exams. He gained a place at the Liverpool Institute in Mount Street, Liverpool, and was put in the same class as Paul McCartney for English and Art lessons.[1] Aspinall commented about his first meeting with George Harrison (who also attended the Institute):
My first encounter with George was behind the school’s air-raid shelters. This great mass of shaggy hair loomed up and an out-of-breath voice requested a quick drag of my Woodbine. It was one of the first cigarettes either of us had smoked. We spluttered our way through it bravely but gleefully. After that the three of us did lots of ridiculous things together (Aspinall, McCartney and Harrison). By the time we were ready to take the GCE exams we’d added John Lennon to our 'Mad Lad' gang. He was doing his first term at Liverpool College of Art which overlooks the Liverpool Institute playground and we all got together in a students coffee bar at lunchtime.[2][3]
Aspinall took nine GCEs at the Institute, and passed eight of them, but failed the French exam. He left school in July 1959, and studied accountancy.[4] Aspinall worked for a Liverpool company for two years, receiving a wage of £2.50 per week as a trainee accountant.[3]
The Beatles
Cynthia Lennon first met Aspinall when The Beatles played at the opening of The Casbah Club (in the cellar of the house owned by Mona Best) on 29 August 1959.[5] Aspinall was renting a room in the Best's house when Best asked him to be the Beatles' road manager. The Beatles had previously used public transport to get them to local gigs, but by February 1961, they had to look for someone to drive them there. (Many Liverpool bands played two or three concerts per night at different locations.) Frank Garner had occasionally driven them to gigs, but he had a job as the bouncer at the Casbah club and he did not have the time to do both. Aspinall bought a van, which was an "old, grey and maroon Commer van" that cost 80 pounds.[6] He charged each of The Beatles five shillings (25p) per Beatle, per gig. In July 1962, The Beatles returned from their second trip to Hamburg, and Aspinall decided to become their official road manager, as he was earning more money driving them around than he was earning by being an accountant.[3]
Aspinall drove The Beatles down to London on New Year's Eve 1961, for a Decca audition, but lost his way and so the trip took ten hours.[7][8] They arrived at 10 o'clock at night, and were "just in time to see the drunks jumping in the Trafalgar Square fountain" [Lennon].[9] In 1963, he was joined by Mal Evans, who also helped set up The Beatles's equipment (and acted as a bodyguard) which freed Aspinall to concentrate on other duties.[10][11]
After Pete Best was sacked by Brian Epstein (at the direction of the other three Beatles) Aspinall was waiting downstairs in Brian Epstein's NEMS record shop, and was the first one to talk to the (then) ex-Beatle in The Grapes pub, across from The Cavern.[12] Aspinall was furious and said that he would leave The Beatles as well, but Best strongly advised him not to.[1] Aspinall decided to stay with The Beatles, but ended his relationship with Mona Best (and his three-week-old baby, Roag). Aspinall asked McCartney and Lennon at the next concert why they had fired Best and was told, "It’s got nothing to do with you. You’re only the driver." [13] Aspinall worked closely with Brian Epstein, who provided weekly notes for Aspinall to give to The Beatles about their stage act, their concert appearances, and the fee they would receive.[14] British roads in the early 60s were notoriously pot-holed and slow to navigate, and Aspinall had to drive his old van across the country many times, with The Beatles in the back with their equipment.[15]
When The Beatles first went to America, George Harrison became ill, and had a temperature of 102. He was ordered to stay in bed, so Aspinall replaced him for the Ed Sullivan Show camera rehearsals.[16]
Personal assistant
Aspinall's job as personal assistant to The Beatles consisted of driving them to concerts and meetings, but mostly meant being there whenever they needed something to be arranged or bought for them, such as suits, boots, meals, and drinks.[17] Before the cover of Sgt. Pepper could be completed by Peter Blake, Aspinall was sent out to find photographs of all of the people that were to be shown on the front cover.[18]
After recording sessions, Lennon, Harrison, and Starr would be chauffeured back to their houses in the 'stockbroker belt' of southern England, but Aspinall would often drive McCartney and Mal Evans in an Austin Princess limousine to a late-night club to eat.[19] The Bag O'Nails night-club was one of their favourites, at 8 Kingly Street in Soho, London, as it also presented Live Music. They would eat steak, chips, and mushy peas, but Aspinall would always produce a flashlight from his pocket (in the dimly-lit club) to inspect the portions on each of their plates.[20] This was to make sure that the portions were exactly as they had ordered, which was much to the amusement of McCartney.[21]
Musician
Aspinall played tamboura on "Within You Without You", harmonica on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", percussion on "Magical Mystery Tour", and sang on the chorus of "Yellow Submarine".[4]
Manager
In 1968, after the death of Brian Epstein, the Beatles asked Aspinall to take over the management of Apple Corps, which was founded in April 1968.[22] He is quoted in the Anthology series saying that he did it after being asked, but did not want to do it full-time, and would only do it until they found somebody else.[23] George Martin (The Beatles' record producer) was against the idea, as he thought that Aspinall did not have the necessary social qualifications to be able to speak to the upper-class executives at EMI.[24] Aspinall accompanied McCartney and Lennon to New York, on 11 May 1968, to announce the formation of Apple to the American Media.[25] Apple had five divisions: Electronics, film, publishing, records, and retailing. Aspinall later talked about The Beatles' business arrangements:
We did not have one single piece of paper. No contracts. The lawyer, the accountants and Brian, whoever, had that. Maybe The Beatles had been given copies of various contracts, I don't know. I didn't know what the [recording] contract was with EMI, or with the film people or the publishers or anything at all. So it was a case of building up a filing system, find out what was going on while we were trying to continue doing something.[26]
Derek Taylor (Apple's Press officer) said that Aspinall hated being stuck in the Apple office (at 3 Savile Row, London) all through the recording of The White Album and Let It Be. Life in the Apple office was improved, however, by having a chef and various assistants at hand; the liquor bill was £600 per month and the food bill was close to that. This was mostly due to Aspinall and Peter Brown enjoying four-course lunches with expensive wines, in the dining room at Apple.[27] After Allen Klein was brought in to be The Beatles' manager Aspinall was dismissed, but later reinstated after The Beatles complained, and because Klein realised that Aspinall was no threat to his control of the company.[28] Klein was finally condemned in a High Court action started by McCartney in 1971, but lawsuits between Klein and Apple kept Aspinall busy until 1977.[29]
Apple Corps Executive
McCartney (who has known Aspinall longer than any of the other Beatles) has praised him for trademarking the Apple name worldwide, and calls Aspinall, "Mr X" in the Apple Corps organisation.[30] In the early 1990s, Aspinall became the executive producer for The Beatles Anthology. He is still a Director of The Beatles' company Apple Corps Ltd. via his own Standby Films Ltd. In 1994, Apple paid Standby £408,000, and Aspinall paid himself a salary of £62,000.[1]
In 1978, Aspinall instigated a suit against Apple Inc. for trademark infringement (on behalf of Apple Corps). The suit settled in 1981, with an amount of £41,000 being paid by Apple Inc. to The Beatles. As a condition of the settlement, Apple Inc. agreed to stay out of the music business.[31] The next case arose in 1989, when Apple Corps sued Apple Inc. over the Apple IIGS (which included a professional synthesizer chip) claiming violation of the 1981 settlement agreement. In 1991, a settlement of around £13.5 million was reached.[30] In September 2003, Apple Inc. was sued by Apple Corps again, this time for introducing the iTunes Music Store and the iPod, which Aspinall and Apple Corps believed was a violation of the previous agreement by Apple Inc. not to distribute music. The trial began on 2006-03-27 in the UK and ended on 2006-05-08 in victory for Apple Inc.. The judge ruled the company's iTunes Music Store did not infringe on the trademark of Apple Corps.[32]
Aspinall was involved in several court cases when Apple Corps took action against EMI:[33]
We have tried to reach a settlement through good faith negotiations and regret that our efforts have been in vain. Despite very clear provisions in our contracts, EMI persist in ignoring their obligations and duty to account fairly and with transparency. Apple and The Beatles are, once again, left with no choice but to sue EMI.[34][35]
Aspinall continues to advise the surviving Beatles and Lennon's and Harrison's estates, and supervises the marketing of Beatles music, videos, and merchandising. In 1999, he was the producer of a video film about Jimi Hendrix, called "Hendrix: Band of Gypsys".[36]
Personal life
During 1961-1962, Aspinall had become good friends with Pete Best and subsequently rented a room in the house where Pete Best lived with his parents. During one of the extended business trips of Pete Best's father, Aspinall became romantically involved with Pete Best's mother Mona Best, who was over 20 years older. During this period Aspinall fathered a child by Mona: Vincent "Roag" Best.[5][37] Aspinall's son by Mona was born in late July 1962, and just three weeks later (on August 16, 1962) Pete Best was dismissed from The Beatles.[12][1]
On 30 August 1968, Aspinall married Suzy Ornstein at the Chelsea Register office, London.[38] Suzy Aspinall is the daughter of Bud Ornstein, the chief executive of United Artists Pictures (UK). Aspinall met her during 1964/1965, when her father was the United Artists representative overseeing the production of the first two Beatles' films: A Hard Day's Night and Help!.[39] Aspinall and his wife are the sole directors of Standby Films Ltd., which is run from their home in Twickenham, Middlesex.[13]
Notes
- ^ a b c d Neil Aspinall Biography - Mersey Beat Retrieved: 11 February 2007
- ^ Spitz 2006. p124
- ^ a b c First meeting with George Harrison - Merseybeat Retrieved: 11 February 2007
- ^ a b Unterberger, R., "Neil Aspinall biography" All Music Guide link Retrieved: 8 October 2006
- ^ a b Cynthia Lennon – “John” 2006. p44.
- ^ Miles 1998. p73
- ^ Spitz 2006. p285
- ^ Miles 1998. p89
- ^ Cynthia Lennon, “John” 2006. p108.
- ^ Miles 1998. pp92-93
- ^ Photo of Aspinall and Mal Evans Retrieved: 12 February 2007
- ^ a b Spitz 2006. p331
- ^ a b Aspinall, Beatles and money - Mersey Beat Retrieved: 11 February 2007
- ^ Spitz 2006. p280
- ^ Spitz 2006. pp376-379
- ^ Spitz 2005. p464
- ^ Spitz 2006. p736
- ^ Miles 1998. p336
- ^ Miles 1998. pp166-167
- ^ Location of The Bag o’Nails Retrieved: 11 February 2007
- ^ Miles 1998. p141
- ^ Miles 1998. p440
- ^ Granados 2004. p12
- ^ Spitz 2006. p735
- ^ Spitz 2006. p716
- ^ Granados 2004. p19
- ^ Dilello 2005. p54
- ^ Miles 1998. p546
- ^ The Sunday Times: The Culture: Section 10: 12 November, 1995, pages 4-5
- ^ a b Miles 1998. pp581-582 Cite error: The named reference "Milesp581-582" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ History of Apple v Apple: bbc.co.uk 8 May 2006 Retrieved: 3 February 2007
- ^ Beatles lose court case against Apple Inc., bbc.co.uk: 11 May, 2006 Retrieved: 29 January 2007
- ^ Apple V EMI - Times Online August 31, 2006 Retrieved: 11 February 2007
- ^ EMI court case, bbc.co.uk: 31 August 2006 Retrieved: 29 January 2007
- ^ The Beatles and EMI’s court cases: bbc.co.uk 16 December 2005 Retrieved: 3 February 2007
- ^ Neil Aspinall at IMDb – Roles as actor/producer. Retrieved: 12 February 2007
- ^ Review of “Drummed Out” – The sacking of Pete Best Retrieved: 11 February 2007
- ^ “Beatles People” – Photo of Neil Aspinall Retrieved: 12 February 2007
- ^ Andrew Loog Oldham Biography: Guardian Unlimited – 6 April 2001 Retrieved: 12 February 2007
References
- Beatles, The (2000). Anthology. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35605-0.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Best, Pete, Best, Rory; Best, Roag (2003). The Beatles: The True Beginnings. Thomas Dunne Books. ISBN 0312319258.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: year (link) - DiLello, Richard (2005). The Longest Cocktail Party. Canongate Books Ltd. ISBN 1-84195-602-3.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Granados, Stefan (2004). Those Were the Days. Cherry Red Books . ISBN 978-1901447125.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Lennon, Cynthia (2006). John. Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 0-340-89828-3.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Miles, Barry (1998). Many Years From Now. Vintage-Random House. ISBN 0-7493-8658-4.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - Spitz, Bob (2006). The Beatles: The Biography. Little, Brown and Company (New York). ISBN 1-84513-160-6.
{{cite book}}: Check date values in:|year=(help)CS1 maint: year (link)