Allen Klein
Encyclopedia
Allen Klein was an American businessman, talent agent and record label executive. His clients included The Beatles
and The Rolling Stones
.
, the son of Jewish immigrants from Budapest
, Hungary
. His father was a butcher by trade, and his mother died before his first birthday. As a teenager, he worked in several jobs while attending evening classes. He excelled at mental arithmetic
, and graduated from Upsala College
, East Orange, New Jersey
, in 1956.
He undertook bookkeeping for several people in showbusiness, and audited record companies. In 1957 he began his own business, a partnership with his wife Betty. Record industry insiders began to fear his blunt-speaking tenacity, and well-placed people began to recommend him. Klein regarded himself as a shrewd and tenacious businessman, exampled by him having a modified Bible quote on his desk, reading: "Though I walk in the shadow of the valley of evil, I have no fear, as I am the biggest bastard in the valley."
, and in 1963 Klein started to take control of all aspects of Cooke's career and demanded an independent record company. The role of business manager, someone who would take the artist's side in negotiations with the recording industry, was unprecedented. Klein secured an unprecedented agreement, with Cooke starting a new label (Tracey Records, to be distributed by RCA Records
) that would own the rights to all of his future recordings, site fees, gate revenues for concerts, 10 percent of all records sold, and back royalties
.
was formed in 1956 and Parkway, a subsidiary
, was formed in 1958. They were based in Philadelphia and specialised in teen market pop music
. They had run out of hits by 1964, but struggled on until 1967, when Klein bought them, together with rights to music by The Animals
, Herman's Hermits
, Bobby Rydell
, ? and the Mysterians, Chubby Checker
and recordings produced by Mickie Most
.
. In 1966 Klein bought Andrew Loog Oldham
's share of the Rolling Stones' management, though Oldham continued in his role as the band's producer until late 1967. Mick Jagger
had studied at the London School of Economics
and was sufficiently impressed with Klein's business acumen to recommend him to Paul McCartney
. Not long afterwards though, Jagger started to doubt Klein's trustworthiness. The Stones decided to fire Klein, and set up their own business structure in 1970. Klein sued, and the legal settlement meant giving Klein the rights to most of their songs recorded before 1971; Keith Richards
later described the settlement as "the price of an education." Klein's ABKCO
label released the rarest of all Stones albums, Metamorphosis. By the late 1990s, some of the 1960s albums were becoming hard to acquire on CD. Finally, in 2002, Klein's son Jody oversaw a remaster
ing of the 1960s albums, to much acclaim.
, Klein and John Lennon
met casually, but did not discuss business. Following the death of Brian Epstein
in 1967, The Beatles were without a manager as such, although NEMS, headed by Epstein's brother Clive, had been taking care of day-to-day business, with Peter Brown
acting as liaison to both the Beatles and the Epsteins, and Paul McCartney
steering the band artistically. Without a performing schedule, and with recording and filming dates in their own hands, the Beatles had not needed a traditional kind of manager. They had, however, gradually lost many of the people Epstein had made business deals with early in their career, such as music publisher Dick James
and financial adviser
Dr. Walter Strach, which had secured the band financially. They were used to asking for something to be done, without thinking of the price; much of Apple Corps
had been set up in this way. Epstein had been the one to put the brakes on spending, talk over practicalities, and say "no." This had been all but forgotten. Without a damper, the band had overspent, and overtrusted, and problems arose.
By 1969, Apple Corps was in a financial mess, and it was becoming obvious that a business brain was needed to sort things out. Several names were considered, including Lord Beeching. McCartney favoured Lee Eastman
, his father-in-law, as the man for the job, a suggestion ill-received by the others, as they felt Eastman would give McCartney's interests preference. Klein contacted Lennon after reading his press comment that the Beatles would be "broke in six months" if things continued as they were. Klein was willing to break precedent, and only take a commission on increased business; if Apple continued to lose money, he would be paid nothing.
After a meeting at Klein's suite in the Dorchester Hotel
(opposite London
's Hyde Park
), where Klein impressed Lennon with both his in-depth knowledge of Lennon's work (he could quote lyrics from all of his songs) and his "streetwise" attitude and language, Lennon convinced George Harrison
and Ringo Starr
that Klein should take over instead. McCartney agreed to pose for photographs with Klein as a show of unity, pretending to sign a new contract, but he never put his signature on the paper. This fundamental disagreement about who should manage them, fueled by a years-long buildup of resentments and insecurity about other matters such as power and influence within the group, was one of the key factors in the eventual break-up
.
In 1969, Klein re-negotiated their contract with EMI
, granting them the highest royalties ever paid to an artist at that time; 69 cents per $6–7 album. In exchange, EMI was allowed to repackage earlier Beatles material as compilation
s, which Brian Epstein had not permitted. Klein oversaw the issuing of the single "Something
"/"Come Together
," at a crucial point when Apple needed income. He helped to conclude the troubled Get Back project (released as Let It Be
), by bringing Phil Spector
to England
to work on the tapes. He also transformed office habits at Apple, installing a time clock
for the staff and insisting meals be pre-ordered from the building's kitchen instead of cooked on demand. Klein slashed expenditures at Apple, cancelled payouts and charge accounts for many Beatles associates, and friends of friends, who had worked or consulted for the company.
On the other hand, Klein also managed to alienate many of the people who had previously been part of the Beatles's business and personal circle, with his abrasive style of management and negotiation. His cost-cutting measures at Apple included what was considered by some to be the "cold-blooded" firing of many of the employees who had flocked to the band's experiment in "western Communism
" (including the erratic Magic Alex
, and Epstein's old friend Alistair Taylor
). Klein also closed the Zapple Records imprint, supervised by McCartney's friend, Barry Miles
. He spoke occasionally at Apple and Beatles press conferences; a reporter for the London Evening Standard remarked later that Klein "must have set some kind of record for unprintable language" at one such conference. He was also unable to save Northern Songs
from a buyout by ATV
, which took away ownership of nearly all the band's song copyrights.
McCartney continued to distrust Klein, though admitting to him at one point "If you are screwing us, I don't see how." Following their informal agreement to split in late 1969, he eventually sued the other three Beatles for what he called "a divorce," and the Beatles as a business unit came to an end. McCartney has stated he chose to legally dissolve the Beatles rather than allow Klein to milk and diminish their artistic legacy.
. It was here that his reputation started to unravel. Rather than prearrange matters with UNICEF, Klein waited until after the concert to approach them, leading to questions about the proceeds, and finally a US tax investigation. While a cheque was cut at the time, additional proceeds meant for UNICEF were frozen in an escrow
account until the 1980s. Also, Klein had sided with Harrison in believing Yoko Ono
should not perform at the concert, wanting Lennon to appear without her, causing Lennon to cool on Klein. After several suits and countersuits, Klein settled for a final payment of £3.5 million in 1977. In 1978, he was parodied by John Belushi
as "Ron Decline" in the TV film All You Need Is Cash
(a roman à clef
with the Beatles turned into The Rutles
). In 1979, Klein was sentenced to two months in jail for tax evasion after helping himself to the proceeds from the sale of promotional copies of the Concert For Bangladesh triple album.
It turned out Klein and Harrison were not completely finished with each other. While Klein had supported and advised Harrison during the first phase of his "My Sweet Lord
" lawsuit, Klein later bought Bright Tunes, the music publishing company that sued Harrison, thus becoming his legal opponent. A judge ruled later that Klein had unfairly switched sides of the lawsuit, and it counted against Klein in court. (Harrison ultimately became the owner of "He's So Fine
", the song at the heart of the case.)
, such as the Philles Records
and Phil Spector International
catalogs, in the 1980s.
s starring and written by Tony Anthony
. A Stranger In Town and The Stranger Returns were released in the USA by MGM. A dispute with MGM over the last of the three, The Silent Stranger, led to it not being released for seven years after production. Klein and Anthony also collaborated on the film Blindman, featuring Ringo Starr
as a Mexican bandito. Klein also appeared briefly on camera, in a similar role.
an director Alejandro Jodorowsky
's El Topo, persuaded Klein to buy the rights and bankroll Jodorowsky's next film, The Holy Mountain (1973). The Jodorowsky-Klein collaboration was an artistic success, but plans for a follow-up never materialized. Witnessing the commercial success of hard-core pornographic films, such as Deep Throat
and The Devil In Miss Jones
, which broke through to the mainstream, Klein saw similar potential in Pauline Réage
's bestseller The Story Of O
, but Jodorowsky walked out on the deal. In retribution, Klein withdrew every print of El Topo and The Holy Mountain, and turned down all subsequent requests by film festivals from around the world to show them.
Both films were withdrawn from circulation for more than 30 years, making sporadic, bootleg
appearances on video – and being usually only of poor quality. Jodorowsky publicly endorsed these pirated copies of his work, since he was unable to show or distribute the films legally. The dispute over the films ended in 2004, when Jody Klein contacted Jodorowsky and offered a reconciliation. In response to the films' re-appearance, both the Cannes
and London
Film Festivals have organised gala screenings. Both films are also available in DVD format.
sampled
an orchestration from Andrew Loog Oldham
's version of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time
," the rights to which are owned by Klein's ABKCO Industries. Before the release of the album, The Verve negotiated a licensing agreement with Klein, who administered The Stones' catalogue, to use the sample (or at least the compositional rights to the sample). In 1997, The Verve's album Urban Hymns
peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard charts
. A bitter legal battle ensued, resulting in The Verve turning over 100% of the royalties to ABKCO. Klein argued that The Verve had violated the previous licensing agreement by using too much of the sample in their song. Capitalizing off the success of the song, Klein licensed The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" to Nike
, who proceeded to run a multi-million dollar television campaign using The Verve's song over shots of its sneakers. Klein also allowed the song to be used in advertisements for Vauxhall
automobiles. (Additionally, though the song was authored by The Rolling Stones, the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra performed the sampled recording, and also filed suit upon the success of the song.) When "Bittersweet Symphony" was nominated for a Grammy Award
, Mick Jagger
and Keith Richards
of the Rolling Stones were named as the nominees, rather than The Verve.
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
and The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
.
The accountant
Allen Klein was born in Newark, New JerseyNewark, New Jersey
Newark is the largest city in the American state of New Jersey, and the seat of Essex County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Newark had a population of 277,140, maintaining its status as the largest municipality in New Jersey. It is the 68th largest city in the U.S...
, the son of Jewish immigrants from Budapest
Budapest
Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...
, Hungary
Hungary
Hungary , officially the Republic of Hungary , is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is situated in the Carpathian Basin and is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine and Romania to the east, Serbia and Croatia to the south, Slovenia to the southwest and Austria to the west. The...
. His father was a butcher by trade, and his mother died before his first birthday. As a teenager, he worked in several jobs while attending evening classes. He excelled at mental arithmetic
Arithmetic
Arithmetic or arithmetics is the oldest and most elementary branch of mathematics, used by almost everyone, for tasks ranging from simple day-to-day counting to advanced science and business calculations. It involves the study of quantity, especially as the result of combining numbers...
, and graduated from Upsala College
Upsala College
Upsala College was a private college in East Orange, New Jersey, USA, founded in 1893. Construction of the campus started in 1900. The college closed in 1995, after several years of financial problems.-History:...
, East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange, New Jersey
East Orange is a city in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census the city's population 64,270, making it the state's 20th largest municipality, having dropped 5,554 residents from its population of 69,824 in the 2000 Census, when it was the state's 14th most...
, in 1956.
He undertook bookkeeping for several people in showbusiness, and audited record companies. In 1957 he began his own business, a partnership with his wife Betty. Record industry insiders began to fear his blunt-speaking tenacity, and well-placed people began to recommend him. Klein regarded himself as a shrewd and tenacious businessman, exampled by him having a modified Bible quote on his desk, reading: "Though I walk in the shadow of the valley of evil, I have no fear, as I am the biggest bastard in the valley."
Sam Cooke
Klein became the business manager of Sam CookeSam Cooke
Samuel Cook, , better known under the stage name Sam Cooke, was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, and entrepreneur. He is considered to be one of the pioneers and founders of soul music. He is commonly known as the King of Soul for his distinctive vocal abilities and...
, and in 1963 Klein started to take control of all aspects of Cooke's career and demanded an independent record company. The role of business manager, someone who would take the artist's side in negotiations with the recording industry, was unprecedented. Klein secured an unprecedented agreement, with Cooke starting a new label (Tracey Records, to be distributed by RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
) that would own the rights to all of his future recordings, site fees, gate revenues for concerts, 10 percent of all records sold, and back royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
.
Cameo Parkway
Cameo RecordsCameo-Parkway Records
Cameo-Parkway Records was the parent company of Cameo Records and Parkway Records, which were major American Philadelphia-based record labels from 1956 and 1958 to 1967...
was formed in 1956 and Parkway, a subsidiary
Subsidiary
A subsidiary company, subsidiary, or daughter company is a company that is completely or partly owned and wholly controlled by another company that owns more than half of the subsidiary's stock. The subsidiary can be a company, corporation, or limited liability company. In some cases it is a...
, was formed in 1958. They were based in Philadelphia and specialised in teen market pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
. They had run out of hits by 1964, but struggled on until 1967, when Klein bought them, together with rights to music by The Animals
The Animals
The Animals were an English music group of the 1960s formed in Newcastle upon Tyne during the early part of the decade, and later relocated to London...
, Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits
Herman's Hermits are an English beat band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as Herman & The Hermits. The group's record producer, Mickie Most , emphasized a simple, non-threatening, clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers...
, Bobby Rydell
Bobby Rydell
Bobby Rydell is an American professional singer, mainly of rock and roll music. In the early 1960s he was considered a so-called "teen idol"...
, ? and the Mysterians, Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker is an American singer-songwriter. He is widely known for popularizing the twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard's R&B hit "The Twist"...
and recordings produced by Mickie Most
Mickie Most
Mickie Most was an English record producer, with a string of hit singles with acts such as The Animals, Arrows, Herman's Hermits, Donovan, Suzi Quatro and the Jeff Beck Group often issued on his own RAK Records label....
.
The Rolling Stones
In 1965, Klein became the co-manager of The Rolling StonesThe Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
. In 1966 Klein bought Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...
's share of the Rolling Stones' management, though Oldham continued in his role as the band's producer until late 1967. Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
had studied at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
and was sufficiently impressed with Klein's business acumen to recommend him to Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
. Not long afterwards though, Jagger started to doubt Klein's trustworthiness. The Stones decided to fire Klein, and set up their own business structure in 1970. Klein sued, and the legal settlement meant giving Klein the rights to most of their songs recorded before 1971; Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
later described the settlement as "the price of an education." Klein's ABKCO
ABKCO Records
ABKCO Music & Records, Inc. is a major independent record label, music publisher, and film and video production company. It owns and or administers the rights to music by Sam Cooke, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Herman's Hermits, Marianne Faithfull, The Kinks as well as the Cameo Parkway label,...
label released the rarest of all Stones albums, Metamorphosis. By the late 1990s, some of the 1960s albums were becoming hard to acquire on CD. Finally, in 2002, Klein's son Jody oversaw a remaster
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
ing of the 1960s albums, to much acclaim.
The Beatles
During the filming of The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll CircusThe Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus is a film released in 1996 of an 11 December 1968 event put together by The Rolling Stones. The event comprised two concerts on a circus stage and included such acts as The Who, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, and Jethro Tull...
, Klein and John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
met casually, but did not discuss business. Following the death of Brian Epstein
Brian Epstein
Brian Samuel Epstein , was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle...
in 1967, The Beatles were without a manager as such, although NEMS, headed by Epstein's brother Clive, had been taking care of day-to-day business, with Peter Brown
Peter Brown (music industry)
Peter Brown is an American-based English businessman. He currently resides in New York City.-The Beatles:Brown was a personal assistant to Brian Epstein and The Beatles during the 1960s. He was a confidant to the Epstein family, and bore some resemblance to Brian in his looks and manner...
acting as liaison to both the Beatles and the Epsteins, and Paul McCartney
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
steering the band artistically. Without a performing schedule, and with recording and filming dates in their own hands, the Beatles had not needed a traditional kind of manager. They had, however, gradually lost many of the people Epstein had made business deals with early in their career, such as music publisher Dick James
Dick James
Dick James , born Reginald Leon Isaac Vapnick, was a music publisher and the founder of the DJM record label and recording studios, as well as The Beatles' publisher Northern Songs.-Early life:...
and financial adviser
Financial adviser
A financial adviser, is a professional who renders financial services to individuals, businesses and governments. This can involve investment advice, which may include pension planning, and/or advice on life insurance and other insurances such as income protection insurance, critical illness...
Dr. Walter Strach, which had secured the band financially. They were used to asking for something to be done, without thinking of the price; much of Apple Corps
Apple Corps
Apple Corps Ltd. is a multi-armed multimedia corporation founded in January 1968 by the members of The Beatles to replace their earlier company and to form a conglomerate. Its name is a pun. Its chief division is Apple Records, which was launched in the same year...
had been set up in this way. Epstein had been the one to put the brakes on spending, talk over practicalities, and say "no." This had been all but forgotten. Without a damper, the band had overspent, and overtrusted, and problems arose.
By 1969, Apple Corps was in a financial mess, and it was becoming obvious that a business brain was needed to sort things out. Several names were considered, including Lord Beeching. McCartney favoured Lee Eastman
Lee Eastman
Lee Eastman, born Leopold Vail Epstein, was a New York show business attorney, and art collector the son of Louis and Stella Epstein. His sisters were Emmaline and Rose...
, his father-in-law, as the man for the job, a suggestion ill-received by the others, as they felt Eastman would give McCartney's interests preference. Klein contacted Lennon after reading his press comment that the Beatles would be "broke in six months" if things continued as they were. Klein was willing to break precedent, and only take a commission on increased business; if Apple continued to lose money, he would be paid nothing.
After a meeting at Klein's suite in the Dorchester Hotel
Dorchester Hotel
The Dorchester is a luxury hotel in London, opened on 18 April 1931. It is situated on Park Lane in Mayfair, overlooking Hyde Park.The Dorchester was created by the famous builder Sir Robert McAlpine and the managing director of Gordon Hotels Ltd, Sir Frances Towle, who shared a vision of creating...
(opposite London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Hyde Park
Hyde Park, London
Hyde Park is one of the largest parks in central London, United Kingdom, and one of the Royal Parks of London, famous for its Speakers' Corner.The park is divided in two by the Serpentine...
), where Klein impressed Lennon with both his in-depth knowledge of Lennon's work (he could quote lyrics from all of his songs) and his "streetwise" attitude and language, Lennon convinced George Harrison
George Harrison
George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...
and Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
that Klein should take over instead. McCartney agreed to pose for photographs with Klein as a show of unity, pretending to sign a new contract, but he never put his signature on the paper. This fundamental disagreement about who should manage them, fueled by a years-long buildup of resentments and insecurity about other matters such as power and influence within the group, was one of the key factors in the eventual break-up
The Beatles' breakup
The Beatles' break-up describes the events related to the break-up of The Beatles, one of the most popular and influential musical groups in history. The break-up has become almost as much of a legend as the band itself or the music they created while together...
.
In 1969, Klein re-negotiated their contract with EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
, granting them the highest royalties ever paid to an artist at that time; 69 cents per $6–7 album. In exchange, EMI was allowed to repackage earlier Beatles material as compilation
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
s, which Brian Epstein had not permitted. Klein oversaw the issuing of the single "Something
Something
"Something" is a song by The Beatles, written by lead guitarist George Harrison in 1969. It was featured on the album Abbey Road, and was also the first song written by Harrison to appear on the A-side of a Beatles' single...
"/"Come Together
Come Together
"Come Together" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on The Beatles' September 1969 album Abbey Road....
," at a crucial point when Apple needed income. He helped to conclude the troubled Get Back project (released as Let It Be
Let It Be (film)
Let It Be is a 1970 documentary film about The Beatles rehearsing and recording songs for the album Let It Be in January 1969. The film features an unannounced rooftop concert by the group, their last performance in public...
), by bringing Phil Spector
Phil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to work on the tapes. He also transformed office habits at Apple, installing a time clock
Time clock
A time clock, sometimes known as a clock card machine or punch clock or time recorder, is a mechanical timepiece used to assist in tracking the hours an employee of a company worked. In regards to mechanical time clocks this was accomplished by inserting a heavy paper card, called a timesheet,...
for the staff and insisting meals be pre-ordered from the building's kitchen instead of cooked on demand. Klein slashed expenditures at Apple, cancelled payouts and charge accounts for many Beatles associates, and friends of friends, who had worked or consulted for the company.
On the other hand, Klein also managed to alienate many of the people who had previously been part of the Beatles's business and personal circle, with his abrasive style of management and negotiation. His cost-cutting measures at Apple included what was considered by some to be the "cold-blooded" firing of many of the employees who had flocked to the band's experiment in "western Communism
Communism
Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...
" (including the erratic Magic Alex
Magic Alex
Yanni Alexis Mardas , better known as Magic Alex, the name given him by The Beatles when he knew the group between 1965 and 1969, is a self-styled electronics wizard and one-time head of The Beatles' Apple Electronics.Mardas arrived in England in 1965, exhibiting his Kinetic Light Sculptures at...
, and Epstein's old friend Alistair Taylor
Alistair Taylor
James Alistair Taylor was the English personal assistant of Brian Epstein who accompanied him to the Cavern Club when he first saw The Beatles play on 9 November 1961...
). Klein also closed the Zapple Records imprint, supervised by McCartney's friend, Barry Miles
Barry Miles
Barry Miles is an English author known for his participation in and writing on the subject of the 1960s London underground. He has written numerous books and his work has also regularly appeared in left-wing papers such as The Guardian...
. He spoke occasionally at Apple and Beatles press conferences; a reporter for the London Evening Standard remarked later that Klein "must have set some kind of record for unprintable language" at one such conference. He was also unable to save Northern Songs
Northern Songs
Northern Songs was a company founded in 1963, by music publisher Dick James, Brian Epstein, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, to publish songs written by Lennon and McCartney , as well as songs written by George Harrison and Ringo Starr, who were all members of The Beatles...
from a buyout by ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
, which took away ownership of nearly all the band's song copyrights.
McCartney continued to distrust Klein, though admitting to him at one point "If you are screwing us, I don't see how." Following their informal agreement to split in late 1969, he eventually sued the other three Beatles for what he called "a divorce," and the Beatles as a business unit came to an end. McCartney has stated he chose to legally dissolve the Beatles rather than allow Klein to milk and diminish their artistic legacy.
Solo Beatles
Klein helped Lennon and Ono with their film Imagine, and helped Harrison to organize The Concert for BangladeshThe Concert for Bangladesh
The Concert for Bangladesh was the name for two benefit concerts organised by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar, held at noon and at 7 PM on August 1, 1971, playing to a total of 40,000 people at Madison Square Garden in New York City...
. It was here that his reputation started to unravel. Rather than prearrange matters with UNICEF, Klein waited until after the concert to approach them, leading to questions about the proceeds, and finally a US tax investigation. While a cheque was cut at the time, additional proceeds meant for UNICEF were frozen in an escrow
Escrow
An escrow is:* an arrangement made under contractual provisions between transacting parties, whereby an independent trusted third party receives and disburses money and/or documents for the transacting parties, with the timing of such disbursement by the third party dependent on the fulfillment of...
account until the 1980s. Also, Klein had sided with Harrison in believing Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
should not perform at the concert, wanting Lennon to appear without her, causing Lennon to cool on Klein. After several suits and countersuits, Klein settled for a final payment of £3.5 million in 1977. In 1978, he was parodied by John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
as "Ron Decline" in the TV film All You Need Is Cash
All You Need Is Cash
All You Need Is Cash is a 1978 television film that traces the career of a fictitious British rock group called The Rutles...
(a roman à clef
Roman à clef
Roman à clef or roman à clé , French for "novel with a key", is a phrase used to describe a novel about real life, overlaid with a façade of fiction. The fictitious names in the novel represent real people, and the "key" is the relationship between the nonfiction and the fiction...
with the Beatles turned into The Rutles
The Rutles
The Rutles are a band that are known for their visual and aural pastiches and parodies of The Beatles. Originally created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes as a fictional band to be featured as part of various 1970s television programming, the group recorded, toured, and released two UK chart hits in...
). In 1979, Klein was sentenced to two months in jail for tax evasion after helping himself to the proceeds from the sale of promotional copies of the Concert For Bangladesh triple album.
It turned out Klein and Harrison were not completely finished with each other. While Klein had supported and advised Harrison during the first phase of his "My Sweet Lord
My Sweet Lord
"My Sweet Lord" is a song by former Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison from his UK number one hit triple album All Things Must Pass. The song was written in praise of the Hindu god Krishna...
" lawsuit, Klein later bought Bright Tunes, the music publishing company that sued Harrison, thus becoming his legal opponent. A judge ruled later that Klein had unfairly switched sides of the lawsuit, and it counted against Klein in court. (Harrison ultimately became the owner of "He's So Fine
He's So Fine
"He's So Fine" is a recording by The Chiffons which topped the Billboard Hot 100 for four weeks in the spring of 1963. One of the most instantly recognizable Golden Oldies with its doo-lang doo-lang doo-lang background vocal, "He's So Fine" is also renowned as the plaintiff song in the now-infamous...
", the song at the heart of the case.)
Phil Spector
Klein bought the rights to music produced by Phil SpectorPhil Spector
Phillip Harvey "Phil" Spector is an American record producer and songwriter, later known for his conviction in the murder of actress Lana Clarkson....
, such as the Philles Records
Philles Records
Philles Records was a record label formed in 1961 by Phil Spector and Lester Sill, the label taking its name from a hybrid of their first names. Initially, the label was distributed by Jamie/Guyden in Philadelphia...
and Phil Spector International
Phil Spector International
Phil Spector International was a record label operated between 1970 and 1980 by Malcolm Jones. It served as a reissue label for the catalogue of Phil Spector's Philles Records....
catalogs, in the 1980s.
The Stranger films
Klein produced a trilogy of spaghetti westernSpaghetti Western
Spaghetti Western, also known as Italo-Western, is a nickname for a broad sub-genre of Western films that emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's unique and much copied film-making style and international box-office success, so named by American critics because most were produced and...
s starring and written by Tony Anthony
Tony Anthony (actor)
Tony Anthony , is a former film actor, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his starring roles in spaghetti westerns.-Early career:...
. A Stranger In Town and The Stranger Returns were released in the USA by MGM. A dispute with MGM over the last of the three, The Silent Stranger, led to it not being released for seven years after production. Klein and Anthony also collaborated on the film Blindman, featuring Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
as a Mexican bandito. Klein also appeared briefly on camera, in a similar role.
Alejandro Jodorowsky films
Lennon, after seeing and being impressed with ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
an director Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky
Alejandro Jodorowsky Prullansky, known as Alejandro Jodorowsky, is a Chilean filmmaker, playwright, actor, author, comic book writer and spiritual guru...
's El Topo, persuaded Klein to buy the rights and bankroll Jodorowsky's next film, The Holy Mountain (1973). The Jodorowsky-Klein collaboration was an artistic success, but plans for a follow-up never materialized. Witnessing the commercial success of hard-core pornographic films, such as Deep Throat
Deep Throat (film)
Deep Throat is a 1972 American pornographic film written and directed by Gerard Damiano and produced by Louis Peraino and starring Linda Lovelace ....
and The Devil In Miss Jones
The Devil in Miss Jones
The Devil in Miss Jones is a pornographic film, written, directed and produced by Gerard Damiano and starring Georgina Spelvin. It is widely regarded as a classic adult film, released during the Golden Age of Porn. Damiano made the film after his 1972 success with Deep Throat...
, which broke through to the mainstream, Klein saw similar potential in Pauline Réage
Pauline Réage
Anne Desclos was a French journalist and novelist who wrote under the pseudonyms Dominique Aury and Pauline Réage.-Early life:...
's bestseller The Story Of O
Story of O
Story of O is an erotic novel published in 1954 about love, dominance and submission by French author Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage.Desclos did not reveal herself as the author for forty years after the initial publication...
, but Jodorowsky walked out on the deal. In retribution, Klein withdrew every print of El Topo and The Holy Mountain, and turned down all subsequent requests by film festivals from around the world to show them.
Both films were withdrawn from circulation for more than 30 years, making sporadic, bootleg
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
appearances on video – and being usually only of poor quality. Jodorowsky publicly endorsed these pirated copies of his work, since he was unable to show or distribute the films legally. The dispute over the films ended in 2004, when Jody Klein contacted Jodorowsky and offered a reconciliation. In response to the films' re-appearance, both the Cannes
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
and London
London Film Festival
The BFI London Film Festival is the UK's largest public film event, screening more than 300 features, documentaries and shorts from almost 50 countries. The festival, , currently in its 54th year, is run every year in the second half of October under the umbrella of the British Film Institute...
Film Festivals have organised gala screenings. Both films are also available in DVD format.
The Verve
On their song "Bittersweet Symphony," the British rock group The VerveThe Verve
The Verve were an English rock band formed in 1989 in Wigan by lead vocalist Richard Ashcroft, guitarist Nick McCabe, bassist Simon Jones, and drummer Peter Salisbury. Guitarist and keyboardist Simon Tong later became a member. Beginning with a psychedelic sound indebted to shoegazing and space...
sampled
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
an orchestration from Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham
Andrew Loog Oldham is an English producer, talent manager, impresario and author. He was manager and producer of The Rolling Stones from 1963, and was noted for his flamboyant style.-Biography:...
's version of The Rolling Stones' "The Last Time
The Last Time (song)
In 1967, after the imprisonment of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, on drugs charges, The Who recorded covers of "The Last Time" and "Under My Thumb" as a single. The intention was to help Jagger and Richards make bail, but by the time the single was made available, they had been released. The...
," the rights to which are owned by Klein's ABKCO Industries. Before the release of the album, The Verve negotiated a licensing agreement with Klein, who administered The Stones' catalogue, to use the sample (or at least the compositional rights to the sample). In 1997, The Verve's album Urban Hymns
Urban Hymns
Urban Hymns is the third album by English rock band The Verve, released on 29 September 1997 on Hut Recordings. It earned nearly unanimous critical praise upon its release, and went on to become the band's best-selling release and one of the biggest selling albums of the year...
peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard charts
Billboard charts
The Billboard charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs or albums in the United States. The results are published in Billboard magazine...
. A bitter legal battle ensued, resulting in The Verve turning over 100% of the royalties to ABKCO. Klein argued that The Verve had violated the previous licensing agreement by using too much of the sample in their song. Capitalizing off the success of the song, Klein licensed The Verve's "Bittersweet Symphony" to Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
, who proceeded to run a multi-million dollar television campaign using The Verve's song over shots of its sneakers. Klein also allowed the song to be used in advertisements for Vauxhall
Vauxhall Motors
Vauxhall Motors is a British automotive company owned by General Motors and headquartered in Luton. It was founded in 1857 as a pump and marine engine manufacturer, began manufacturing cars in 1903 and was acquired by GM in 1925. It has been the second-largest selling car brand in the UK for...
automobiles. (Additionally, though the song was authored by The Rolling Stones, the Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra performed the sampled recording, and also filed suit upon the success of the song.) When "Bittersweet Symphony" was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, Mick Jagger
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip "Mick" Jagger is an English musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist and a founding member of The Rolling Stones....
and Keith Richards
Keith Richards
Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...
of the Rolling Stones were named as the nominees, rather than The Verve.
External links
- Allen Klein - Daily Telegraph obituary