Умер Нил Эспиналл

(((

Neil is in the middle here.

Не спросит Костлявая:
"Можно ли войти?",
Дверь срывая с петель...

Эх... R.I.P

Нил в Ришикеше в феврале 1968 г.

В память о Ниле - Ришикеш 1968-го..

:(

Жаль, приятный был человек, отзывчивый...

...

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr pay tribute to Neil Aspinall, the 'Fifth Beatle'

<-- He also sang backing vocals, and stood in for George Harrison on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1964 (second from left)

Adam Sherwin, Media Correspondent

Neil Aspinall, the confidant described as the “Fifth Beatle” who became mastermind of the Fab Four’s business empire, has died, aged 66.

A schoolfriend of Sir Paul McCartney and George Harrison, Aspinall drove the Beatles’ battered blue Commer van. The bespectacled accountant advised the band for 40 years, overseeing the often chaotic finances of their Apple company.

Sir Paul visited Aspinall in a New York hospital days before he died from lung cancer.

In the early days Aspinall’s job was to fend off screaming girls. He took part in many of the Beatles’ pranks and even sang backing vocals on Yellow Submarine. He became guardian of the Beatles’ shambolic business interests at Apple Corps in 1968, on the condition that he would do it “only until they found someone else”. He quit the position last year.

Aspinall reinvented the Beatles brand for new audiences. He persuaded Sir Paul and Ringo Starr to take part in the 1995 Beatles Anthology series. The 2000 singles compilation album One, which sold 30 million copies, was also his idea. In a statement from Apple Corps, Sir Paul and Starr described Aspinall as a great man who would be missed. The Beatle widows Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison also put their name to the statement. It read: “As a loyal friend, confidant and chief executive, Neil’s trusting stewardship and guidance has left a legacy for generations to come.”

Mrs Harrison and the couple’s son, Dhani, added: “He was our constant and avuncular caretaker for so many years; there is no way to measure how much he will be missed.”

Hunter Davies, the author of a number of books on the Beatles, said: “Neil Aspinall was the most important person in the whole saga of the Beatles. It is extraordinary that he gave up his studies to work with them, and never qualified to be an accountant, and yet he ended up representing them in talks with people from Sony and other companies.

“It was also amazing that, just as the Beatles grew from being this little band at a time when nobody realised what a talent they were, he also developed alongside them into this great figure who ran Apple for 30 years.”

Aspinall struck up a friendship with the young McCartney and Harrison at the Liverpool Institute for Boys. They bonded over cigarettes smoked behind the school’s air-raid shelters. “By the time we were ready to take the GCE exams, we’d added John Lennon to our ‘Mad Lad’ gang,” Aspinall said.

He had an eight-year affair with Mona Best, the mother of the Beatles’s ousted first drummer Pete Best, which produced a son in 1962. As road manager, he drove the van for £1 an hour and was with the band when they conquered America. He stood in for Harrison when the guitarist fell ill during the rehearsals for a television show.

Aspinall also played percussion on Magical Mystery Tour as well as singing on the Yellow Submarine chorus.

John Lennon claimed that they smoked marijuana in the lavatories at Buckingham Palace when they collected their MBEs in 1965. But Aspinall never revealed the band’s secrets, despite numerous “kiss and tell” offers, and sought to find common ground between Ono and the other band representatives in discussions over their legacy.

Aspinall had begun work on remastering the Beatles catalogue with a view to its digital release on iTunes before quitting. He was said to have had disagreements with members of the Apple board over the future exploitation of Beatles material.

Last month Sir Paul said: “Neil was our mate for a long, long time and nobody could replace Neil because he was so special. He’s a great guy.”

Geoff Baker, a former adviser to Sir Paul, said: “Neil was the man who was closer to all of the Beatles than anyone. Although he would deny it, he was long considered to be ‘the real Fifth Beatle’ by the music and entertainment industries which respected him as one of the wisest men in the record business.”

Friends said that Aspinall used to smoke but gave up years ago. He is survived by wife, Suzy, and five children.

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3612765.ece

Покоися с миром , Нил.

Beatles fixer and friend takes secrets to the grave

Hunter Davies
Tuesday March 25, 2008
The Guardian

<-- Neil Aspinall (left) talks to Beatles Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Photograph: Robert Whitaker/Hulton archive

Neil Aspinall, who died yesterday aged 66, was one of only two people of any importance in the Beatles saga who never told their story. Which is strange, when you think we've had a thousand Beatles books these last 40 years, from people who never met them, to lawyers who did in passing, chauffeurs who once drove them and scruffs who stood outside their offices hoping for autographs.

Neil knew everything, everybody, and now, alas, has taken it all to the grave. Unless there is a posthumous memoir, waiting to be released, which I doubt. I asked him countless times, saying he should get it all down, before it's too late, if just for his children. He always said no. Neil was there from the very beginning, a constant friend and associate, never leaving the magical mystery circle, until a few months ago when he retired as head of Apple Corps, looking after their business interests. Quite a job, when you think of all the legal dramas after the Beatles split, and the personality differences at one time between Paul and Yoko.

Born in Prestatyn in 1941, Neil was in the same year at Liverpool Institute as Paul, and the year above George. His first memory of George was George asking him, behind the bike shed, for a drag on his ciggie. He studied to become an accountant but came back into contact with Paul and George through his friendship with Pete Best, at one time the Beatles drummer.

Neil was living at the house of Pete's mother, Mona, who ran the Casbah, the little club where the Beatles then played as the Quarrymen. Neil started working for them as a part-time roadie in 1961, running them to local gigs in an old van for five shillings per man per gig - £1 a night.

One of the more dramatic events in early Beatles history, known well by all true believers, occurred in 1962 when Pete Best was sacked as drummer and Ringo took over. There were demonstrations on Merseyside, fans campaigning for Pete who was looked upon as much handsomer. Pete went on to slice bread for a few pound a week while the Beatles went on to be the most famous group in the world.

What never came out at the time was that Neil was having an affair with Mona, Pete's mother. In fact they had a son who was born that same year. Neil, only 19, was caught in a terrible emotional turmoil, with Pete sacked by his new best friends and Mona, his lover, furious at how Pete, her son was being treated. John did tell me this gossip, sniggering, in 1967 when I was doing their biography, but said don't repeat it. I only half believed it anyway. John also told me that he, John, had a one-night stand with Brian Epstein, their manager, which I now believe was true.

That same year, 1962, Neil gave up his accountancy studies and joined the Beatles full-time. Later, when they had started national touring, he was joined by another roadie, Mal Evans. Mal was big and beefy and unflappable. Neil was lean, rather neurotic, always seemed worried.

He was with them through all their years of fame. He would get shouted at, told to fetch impossible things, fix ludicrous arrangements. In 1968, Paul decided on the spur of the moment to come and visit me in Portugal with his new girlfriend Linda, and her daughter Heather. Neil was told to get them on a plane to Faro. The last flight had gone. So, late at night, Neil secured a private jet and off they went.

But Neil was more than a roadie and fixer - he was their friend and confidant, helped with words of songs when they got stuck, with personal relationships when they wanted them unstuck.

His accountancy training proved invaluable when he came to run Apple. As the years went on, he masterminded much of the group's professional affairs and back catalogues. On the whole, Neil won most of the battles, helping them make further millions. He did also have a creative streak, acting as the producer of the film Let it Be and organising the Beatles Anthology.

Neil was totally loyal and faithful to them - and yet not at all starstruck. He was more than aware of their foibles, greed, stupidities, unreasonableness, would readily slag them off. It was clear he was part of the family, so while moaning, as all family members do, he would never betray their secrets.

When I pressed him for inside stories, he used to say he couldn't remember. Mick Jagger always says the same. In Neil's case, it could be because he wasn't really much interested in the personal stuff. His mind didn't quite work that way. He had a dry, austere, rather resigned, cynical view of most people, more interested in facts and figures than tittle tattle. He was there, but was somehow floating above it all. The Beatles were very fortunate to have him.

· Hunter Davies is author of The Beatles, WW Norton and Co

http://music.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,2267904,00.html#article_continue

Sir Paul, Starr and the widows of Lennon and Harrison said: "All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man."

In a separate statement, Starr added: "I've known Neil many years and he was a good friend. We were blessed to have him in our lives and he will be missed."

And Harrison's widow Olivia and the couple's son Dhani said: "Neil takes with him the love and history of his extended family.

"He was our constant and avuncular caretaker for so many years; there is no way to measure how much he will be missed."

Aspinall died at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

It's understood he was suffering from lung cancer.

He is survived by his wife, Suzy, and five children.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7311581.stm

Да, уж кому было писать мемуары, так эту Нилу... Проработал всю жизнь нянькой у битлов в самых разных ипостасях: шофер, роуди, юрист, бухгалтер...

In the early days of the Beatles Aspinall was the guy responsible for driving them from gig to gig.

Who would've not wanted to be in that car?

Presumably, he was waiting outside George Harrison’s house, honking the horn or helping John Lennon load in his Rickenbacker and amp.

Maybe on the way to a show in Leeds, Paul McCartney asked him to turn up a Buddy Holly song on the car radio.

He probably helped Ringo Starr look for the drum key he misplaced last night at the Cavern Club.

Aspinall was part of humdrum life in the Beatles, before and after the mania.
He never took a bow after “From Me To You,” never asked the swells to rattle their jewelry, and never said he was bigger than Jesus.

He was just off to the side, wondering if they had enough gas money to get them home.

And that’s part of rock ‘n’ roll too.
http://www.theday.com/re.aspx?re=fe6da373-d343-48b8-8860-ca16e5d77ec4

...

Жаль, что в 60-е курение практически не осознавалась как опасная привычка. Курили все, включая беременных женщин. Сейчас статистика смертности от рака легких тех, кому на рубеже 50-60 - просто чудовищная. Скоро, похоже, он станет самым "популярным" из видов рака, если можно так выразится.

2iandri:

>Жаль, что в 60-е курение практически не осознавалась
>как опасная привычка. Курили все, включая беременных
>женщин. Сейчас статистика смертности от рака легких
>тех, кому на рубеже 50-60 - просто чудовищная.
>Скоро, похоже, он станет самым "популярным" из
>видов рака, если можно так выразится.

А Фрэнк Заппа умер от рака простаты. Тоже весьма распространенная форма. И что?

Ведущие британские музыкальные критики лихорадочно пытаются выяснить, оставил ли скончавшийся в минувший понедельник в Нью-Йорке бывший менеджер The Beatles Нил Аспиналл рукопись своей биографии или какие-либо записи, касающиеся легендарной английской группы, передает ИТАР-ТАСС.

Как пишет на страницах The Guardian один из ведущих музыкальных специалистов Великобритании Хантер Дэвис, Аспиналл был как никто другой посвящен в "самые важные тайны" The Beatles. Аспиналл был одноклассником Пола Маккартни и Джорджа Харрисона, однако наиболее тесная дружба его связывала с ударником Питом Бестом, который был участником группы на самом первом этапе ее творческого пути.

Аспиналл жил в доме Беста и проводил большую часть времени в его семье. Мать Беста Мона владела клубом, в котором легендарная ливерпульская группа начала свою музыкальную карьеру. В 1962 году неожиданно для всех Пит Бест был исключен из состава коллектива, и вместо него за ударные инструменты сел Ринго Старр.

В течение нескольких месяцев The Beatles стала первой мировой супергруппой, а Пит Бест занялся резкой хлеба для ливерпульского общепита. В течение всех последующих лет поклонники группы и специалисты безуспешно пытались узнать у Аспиналла, что в действительности произошло в группе, когда ее покинул Бест.

Однако Аспиналл упорно отказывался делиться воспоминаниями. Это касалось не только истории с Бестом, но и всего, что связано с ливерпульской группой. Аспиналл как никто другой был посвящен в секреты The Beatles и в личные отношения между участниками группы. Он постоянно находился среди них, сначала как разъездной менеджер, а с 1968 года как глава звукозаписывающий компании Apple Records.

Именно Apple выпустила большую часть дисков "битлов". Британские музыкальные критики надеются, что, если Аспиналл оставил воспоминания, они могут пролить свет на не проясненные до сих пор вопросы, относящиеся к истории коллектива.

Newsru.com