Mal Evans
Encyclopedia
Malcolm Frederick 'Mal' Evans (27 May 1935 – 5 January 1976) was best known as the road manager, assistant
, and a friend of The Beatles
: John Lennon
, Paul McCartney
, George Harrison
, and Ringo Starr
.
In the early 1960s, Evans was employed as a telephone engineer
, and also worked part-time as a bouncer
at the Cavern Club, where The Beatles performed. Manager Brian Epstein
later hired Evans as their assistant road manager, in tandem with Neil Aspinall
. Evans was tall and heavily-built, and Peter Brown (one of Epstein's staff) later wrote of Evans as "a kindly, but menacing-looking young man". Evans contributed to many Beatle recordings, and appeared in some of the films they made. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, but Evans carried on assisting the band and working with them in the studio.
Evans was killed by police on 5 January 1976 at his home in Los Angeles
. Officers were called when his girlfriend phoned the police and told them that Evans was confused and had a gun. The police believed that the air rifle Evans was holding was a rifle and shot him dead.
girl, Lily, after meeting her at a funfair in New Brighton
, Merseyside
, and their first child, Gary, was born in the same year. The Beatles were the house band at Liverpool
's Cavern Club when Evans first heard them perform during his lunch break. He was then living in Hillside Road, Mossley Hill
and working as a telephone engineer for the Post Office
. He became a committed fan, even though his musical hero at the time was Elvis Presley
.
He first befriended Harrison, who put forward Evans' name to the Cavern Club's manager, Ray McFall, when he needed a doorman
. The 27-year-old Evans was accepted—even though he wore thick-framed glasses
—mainly because of his burly 6 ft 6in frame, which was an asset when holding back the numerous fans at the Cavern's door, and later as an unofficial bodyguard
for them. He was later nicknamed the "Gentle Giant" and "Big Mal". In 1962, Evans wrote that it was "a wonderful year", as he had Lily (his wife), his son Gary, a house, a car, and he was working at the Cavern club, which he wrote into a 1963 Post Office Engineering Union diary, which also had information concerning Ohm's law
and Post Office pay rates.
Three months after starting at the Cavern Club, Evans was hired by Brian Epstein
as road manager, on 11 August 1962. Evans and Neil Aspinall
’s duties were to drive the van while the band was on tour, set up and test the equipment
, and then pack it up again. The Beatles were being driven back to Liverpool from London by Evans through heavy fog on 21 January 1963, when the windscreen was hit by a pebble and cracked, so Evans had to break a large hole in it to see the road ahead. This was in winter, so The Beatles had to lie one on top of the other in the back with a bottle of whisky and try to stay warm in the freezing temperatures; something McCartney later referred to as a "Beatle sandwich".
Evans had many other duties. As well as acting as a bodyguard, he was sent to buy anything they needed, such as suits, boots, meals, or drinks. If Lennon said "Socks, Mal", Evans would have to rush to a local Marks and Spencer store and buy six pairs of cotton socks for him. In 1967, Evans wrote in his diaries that he "bought Ringo [Starr] some undies
for his visit to the doctor". The Beatles' memorabilia is in continuous demand, but a full set of autographs by all four could be forgeries
: Evans and Aspinall used to sign many of them when Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were too busy.
The Beatles started their first European tour in January 1964, and Evans was allowed to take his wife and son with him, but was involved in a "big punch-up" with photographers in Paris
whilst protecting them.
Epstein’s associate, Alistair Taylor
, once asked him why he was driving an Austin Princess
limousine, rather than a Daimler
, a Bentley
, or a Rolls-Royce
. The Beatles were forced to choose an Austin (as Evans explained) because they had tested every car to see how wide the doors would open as they (literally) had to "dive into the car" to escape their fans.
by Bob Dylan
in New York
in 1964, and McCartney remembered asking Evans "again and again" to write down McCartney's newly found cannabis-influenced thoughts about life by repeating "Get [write] it down, Mal, get it down!" Evans was as affected by the drug as everybody else, so took a very long time to find a pencil and a piece of paper. The next morning Evans gave the sheet of paper to McCartney, who noted that McCartney had dictated: "There are seven levels!" (of life, as he later explained). The Beatles attended "The Night of 100 Stars" at the London Palladium
on 23 July 1964, and during the show Evans constantly supplied them with whisky and Coca-Cola, which he delivered to them balanced on a wooden oar he had found backstage.
The Beatles were assisted by Evans on their American tour, and when they played two shows at the Hollywood Bowl
in the summer of 1965. Epstein arranged for them all to have a four-day rest in a luxurious horseshoe-shaped house on stilts in Benedict Canyon
off Mulholland Drive
in Los Angeles. They spent their time there smoking large marijuana
joints, and Evans and Lennon swam in the large outdoor swimming pool with cigarettes in their mouths, to see who could keep them alight the longest. After recording sessions in London, Lennon, Harrison, and Starr would be chauffeured back to their houses in the “stockbroker belt” of southern England, but Evans, Aspinall, and McCartney would drive to a late-night club to eat steak, chips, and mushy peas
. The Bag O'Nails
nightclub was one of their favourites, at 8 Kingly Street in Soho
, London, as it also presented live music
. In his memoirs Evans wrote: January 19 and 20: "Ended up smashed in Bag O'Nails with Paul [McCartney] and Neil [Aspinall]. Quite a number of people attached themselves, oh that it would happen to me... freak out time baby for Mal."
In July 1966, The Beatles toured the Philippines
, and unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos
. After the snub was broadcast on Philippine television and radio, all of The Beatles' police protection disappeared. The group and their entourage had to make their way to Manila
airport on their own. At the airport, road manager Evans was beaten and kicked, and the band members were pushed and jostled about by a hostile crowd. Once the group boarded the plane, Tony Barrow
and Evans were ordered off, and Evans said, "Tell Lil I love her," thinking he was about to be jailed or killed. Epstein was forced to give back all the money that the band had earned while they were there before being allowed on the plane.
in 1966, McCartney went by himself on holiday to France, but arranged to meet Evans in Bordeaux
at the Grosse Horloge church, on the corner of cours Victor Hugo and rue St. James. At exactly the pre-arranged time of one o'clock Evans was standing under the church clock when McCartney arrived. They later drove to Madrid
together, but got bored, and phoned Epstein's office in London and asked to be booked on a safari holiday in Kenya
. When they arrived there they visited the Amboseli Reserve
at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro
, and also stayed at the exclusive Treetops Hotel
, where the rooms are built on the branches of trees.
They spent their final night in Nairobi
at a YMCA
, before they returned to London. The Beatles—according to McCartney—needed a new name, and on the flight back to England Evans and McCartney played with words to see if they could come up with something new. Evans innocently asked McCartney what the letters “S” and “P” stood for on the pots on their meal trays, and McCartney explained that it was for salt and pepper, which led to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
name. They arrived back in London on 19 November 1966. Before the cover of Sgt. Pepper could be completed by Peter Blake
, Evans and Aspinall were sent out to find photographs of all of the people that were to be shown on the front cover.
In the spring of 1967—as soon as the album was completed—Evans flew with McCartney to Los Angeles to see McCartney's then-fiancée, Jane Asher
, who was acting with the Old Vic
theatre company. The three of them went on a trip to the Rockies
, returning to LA by Frank Sinatra's jet: "We left Denver in Frank Sinatra's Lear Jet, which he very kindly loaned us. A beautiful job with dark black leather upholstery and, to our delight, a well-stocked bar." When they were back in LA, they were invited to visit the house of Michelle and John Phillips, from the Mamas & the Papas
. Brian Wilson
was there later, as he was working on the Beach Boys
Smile album. Evans wrote about singing "On Top of Old Smokey" with McCartney and Wilson, but was not impressed by Wilson's avant-garde attitude to music: "Brian [Wilson] then put a damper on the spontaneity of the whole affair by walking in with a tray of water-filled glasses, trying to arrange it into some sort of session."
in late 1967 with encouragement from Greek-born "Magic Alex", the director of Apple Electronics, to buy an island or a group of islands. The idea was that the whole Apple entourage would live on the islands in their own separate homes, but would be connected to each other by tunnels leading to a central dome. Evans and his family were included in the plan, but it was abandoned as being unworkable after McCartney refused to participate. McCartney had no housekeeper in 1967, so Evans moved in with him at 7 Cavendish Avenue, St John's Wood
, which is near Abbey Road Studios
. It was at Cavendish Avenue that McCartney bought his first Old English Sheepdog
, Martha, although Evans often complained about the dog fouling the beds. Evans later bought a house in Sunbury-on-Thames
, which was between McCartney's house, and Lennon, Harrison, and Starr's houses outside London.
While working on the Magical Mystery Tour
film, Evans wrote about his work duties: "I would get requests from the four of them to do six different things at one time and it was always a case of relying on instinct and experience in awarding priorities. They used to be right sods for the first few days until they realised that everything was going to go smoothly and they could get into the routine of recording... Then I would find time between numerous cups of tea and salad sandwiches and baked beans on toast to listen to the recording in the control room."
After the Magical Mystery Tour recordings, Evans flew to Nice
with McCartney to film The Fool on the Hill
clip, although McCartney set off without luggage or a passport. McCartney got past customs by saying “You know who I am”, but he and Evans were not allowed into the hotel restaurant in Nice because they “didn't look the part”, and had to eat dinner in Evans’ room. Because the money they had with them had been spent on clothes, and NEMS was supposed to send them more, they arranged for credit over two nights in a nightclub: "We took advantage of our credit standing, as money had still not arrived from England. News about Paul's [McCartney] visit to the club the previous night had spread, and the place was jammed. Now Paul, being a generous sort of person, had built up quite a bar bill, when the manager of the club arrived demanding that we pay immediately. On explaining who Paul was and what had happened, he answered, 'You either pay the bill, or I call the police.' It certainly looked like we were going to get thrown in jail. It was ironical, sitting in a club with a millionaire, unable to pay the bill."
in February 1968, to visit the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
's ashram
, after meeting him on 24 August 1967 at the London Hilton. Evans had arrived in India a few days earlier to inspect the ashram, but soon as Starr got off the plane, he demanded that Evans find a doctor, as his inoculation shots were causing him pain: “When we arrived at the local hospital, I tried to get immediate treatment for him [Starr], to be told curtly by the Indian doctor, 'He is not a special case and will have to wait his turn.' So off we go to pay a private doctor ten rupees for the privilege of hearing him say it will be all right." Evans wrote in his diary on 17 February 1968: "The press
really tried kicking down the gates into the Ashram, the Indian people on the Ashram called me half way through, but as soon as an Indian reporter told me "No bloody foreigner is going to stop me in my own country", I cooled it." Evans’ diary says that he enjoyed his time in India: “It’s hard to believe that a week has already passed. I suppose the peace of mind and the serenity one achieves through meditation makes the time fly," and that he also enjoyed the food, unlike Starr, who had brought a suitcase full of baked beans with him. After India, Harrison and Evans flew to New York, visiting Bob Dylan and The Band
, who were rehearsing at their Big Pink house/studio, in Woodstock.
When Apple
was formed in 1968, Evans was promoted from road manager to personal assistant
, although his weekly £38 salary remained the same: "January 13, 1969: Paul [McCartney] is really cutting down on the Apple staff members. I was elevated to office boy [Evans was made MD of Apple, very briefly] and I feel very hurt and sad inside—only big boys don't cry. Why I should feel hurt and reason for writing this is ego... I thought I was different from other people in my relationship with The Beatles and being loved by them and treated so nice, I felt like one of the family. Seems I fetch and carry. I find it difficult to live on the £38 I take home each week and would love to be like their other friends who buy fantastic homes and have all the alterations done by them, and are still going to ask for a rise. I always tell myself—look, everybody wants to take from, be satisfied, try to give and you will receive. After all this time I have about £70 to my name, but was content and happy. Loving them as I do, nothing is too much trouble, because I want to serve them. Feel a bit better now—EGO?" Evans' financial problems started to become such a problem that he had to ask Harrison for money: "April 24: "Had to tell George [Harrison]—'I'm broke'. Really miserable and down because I'm in the red, and the bills are coming in, poor old Lil [his wife] suffers as I don't want to get a rise. Not really true don't want to ask for a rise, fellows are having a pretty tough time as it is."
Evans was the only member of the Apple entourage to be invited to attend (and be a witness
) when McCartney and Linda Eastman
were married at Marylebone
Registry Office on 12 March 1969. Evans wrote in his diary that he was due to be there at 9.45am but McCartney's brother, Michael McCartney's train from Birmingham
was delayed. Peter Brown
and Evans passed the register office at 9.15 and saw that there were only a few photographers and ardent fans standing in the rain, but when they left after the wedding at 11.30am they were mobbed by a crowd of about 1,000 people. When the Beatles played on the roof of Apple's offices in Savile Row, Evans was given the job of setting up the equipment (as always) and was then told to delay the policemen as long as possible.
Evans enjoyed an executive position at Apple until 1969, when Allen Klein
was hired as a manager to reorganise the whole company. Evans was fired by Klein the next year, because Klein complained to Lennon that Aspinall and Evans were "living like kings—like fucking emperors", although Evans was later reinstated after McCartney, Harrison and Starr complained. On 13 September 1969, Evans accompanied Lennon, Yoko Ono
, Klaus Voorman, Alan White
and Eric Clapton
to Toronto
, Canada, for the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival
Concert. He later commented about the concert: "I was really enjoying myself. It was the first show I had roadied for three years and I was really loving every minute of plugging the amps in and setting them up on stage, making sure that everything was right. Everyone wanted the show to go particularly well because Allen Klein, who had flown over, had organised for the whole of John's performance to be filmed. This was on top of it being video-taped by Dan Richter."
". Evans played single organ
notes on "You Won't See Me
", and harmonica
, kazoo
, and organ on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
". McCartney explained that he showed Evans where the notes were on the organ, and then nodded his head when he wanted Evans to play, and shook it when he wanted him to stop.
On "A Day in the Life
", Evans controlled an alarm clock
, counted the measures
in the original 24-bar break and was one of the five piano players simultaneously hitting the last chord of the song. Evans played tambourine
on "Dear Prudence
" and saxophone
on "Helter Skelter". He played a double solo with Lennon, although neither of them were proficient on the instrument. Evans contributed background vocals and shovelled a bucket of gravel
(as part of the rhythm) on "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
". Evans also contributed to the White Album
outtake "What's the New Mary Jane
", and hit an anvil
on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer
", because Starr could not lift the hammer high enough to get the right sound and keep in time with the song.
According to his diaries, Evans helped to compose songs on the Sgt. Pepper album. Evans wrote, on 27 January 1967: "Sgt Pepper. Started writing song with Paul [McCartney] upstairs in his room, he on piano" and "Did a lot more of "where the rain comes in" [a lyric from "Fixing a Hole
"]. Hope people like it. Started Sergeant Pepper".
On 1 February: "Sergeant Pepper sounds good. Paul tells me that I will get royalties on the song—great news, now perhaps a new home. On 2 February: "Recording voices on Captain [sic] Pepper. All six of us doing the chorus in the middle, worked until about midnight."
Keith Badman—author of The Beatles off the Record—referred to a tape recording of Evans speaking shortly before his death, on which Evans reiterated some of the statements made in the diary. According to Badman, Evans was asked at the time if it would be a problem that he was not credited, as the Lennon/McCartney
writing name was "a really hot item". Evans did not receive any royalties and stayed at his £38-a-week pay (equivalent to £ today).
, Evans played a confused channel swimmer
who pops up through an ice-hole in Austria
, and on a beach in the Bahamas. The Beatles asked Evans and Aspinall to find and hire the actors they wanted to perform in the Magical Mystery Tour
film, and to hire an old 60-seater coach
, on which they were told to paint the Magical Mystery Tour logo
which McCartney had designed. Evans later appeared in the film as one of the magicians who cast mysterious spells on the passengers of the bus.
In the Let It Be
film, Evans can be seen playing the anvil during early versions of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer
", and can be seen talking to police
officers on the Savile Row
rooftop when they came to stop the live performance. Before the rooftop concert, Evans placed a camera and a microphone in a corner of Apple's reception area, so that when the police came in to complain about the noise—which was expected—they could be filmed and recorded. The Beatles were often filmed by Evans during his time with them (without sound) and a collection of his recordings was later released on DVD
.
(then known as The Iveys) and suggested that they be signed to Apple. Although not trained as a studio technician, Evans produced several songs recorded by the Iveys/Badfinger
in 1969 and 1970. The most notable of these is the song "No Matter What" by Badfinger, which charted on Billboard's Top 10 in December 1970. Evans also produced some tracks for Keith Moon
's solo album Two Sides of the Moon
.
Evans separated from his wife in 1973, and subsequently moved from the UK to Los Angeles
(where Lennon had moved to live with May Pang
after his own separation from Yoko Ono
). Evans is credited on the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
album as providing "tea and sympathy". Evans co-wrote "You and Me (Babe)" with Harrison, which appears on Starr's solo album, Ringo
, in 1973. Evans was asked to produce the group Natural Gas
, and was working on a book of memoirs called Living The Beatles' Legend, which he was due to deliver to his publishers, Grosset & Dunlap
, on 12 January 1976. Evans was depressed
about his separation from his wife Lil Evans—who had asked for a divorce
before Christmas
—although he was then living with new girlfriend Fran Hughes in a rented motel apartment at 8122 W. 4th Street in Los Angeles.
Hughes then phoned the police and told them that Evans was confused, had a rifle, and was on valium. Four policemen
arrived and three of them, David D. Krempa, Robert E. Brannon and Lieutenant Higbie, went up to the bedroom. They later reported that as soon as Evans saw the three policemen he pointed a rifle at them. The officers repeatedly told Evans to put down the rifle (which they did not know at the time was an air rifle) but Evans constantly refused. The police fired six shots, of which four struck Evans, killing him instantly. Evans had previously been awarded the badge of "Honorary Sheriff
of Los Angeles County", but in the Los Angeles Times, he was referred to as a “jobless former road manager for The Beatles”.
Evans was cremated on 7 January 1976, in Los Angeles. None of The Beatles attended his funeral, but Harry Nilsson
and other friends attended, although Harrison arranged for Evans' family to receive £5,000, as Evans had not maintained his life insurance premiums, and was not entitled to a pension.
" were sold by the Evans estate for £56,600 at Sotheby's
, in London, to an unknown collector.
In 2010 the double-sided sheet of paper containing the hand-written lyrics and notes to "A Day in the Life" were sold at auction at Sotheby's in New York to an anonymous American buyer for $1.2m (£810,000). Other lyrics collected by Evans have been subject to legal action over the years: In 1996, McCartney went to the High Court
in England and prevented the sale of the original lyrics to "With a Little Help from My Friends
" that Evans' widow
Lily had tried to sell, by claiming that the lyrics were collected by Evans as a part of his duties and belonged to the individual Beatles.
A 2004 report of the discovery of a further collection of Evans's Beatles memorabilia proved to be false.
A notebook in which McCartney wrote the lyrics for "Hey Jude
" was sold in 1998 at an auction for £111,500. The notebook also contains lyrics for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
" and "All You Need Is Love
". It also contains lyrics, notes, drawings and poems by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, as well as by Evans.
Personal assistant
A personal assistant or personal aide is someone who assists in daily business or personal tasks. It is common in design to have a PDA, or personal design assistant....
, and a friend of The Beatles
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...
: 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...
, 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...
, 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...
.
In the early 1960s, Evans was employed as a telephone engineer
BT Group
BT Group plc is a global telecommunications services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is one of the largest telecommunications services companies in the world and has operations in more than 170 countries. Through its BT Global Services division it is a major supplier of...
, and also worked part-time as a bouncer
Bouncer (doorman)
A bouncer is an informal term for a type of security guard employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check legal age, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as intoxication, aggressive behavior, or attractiveness...
at the Cavern Club, where The Beatles performed. Manager 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...
later hired Evans as their assistant road manager, in tandem with Neil Aspinall
Neil Aspinall
Neil Stanley Aspinall was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head The Beatles' company Apple Corps....
. Evans was tall and heavily-built, and Peter Brown (one of Epstein's staff) later wrote of Evans as "a kindly, but menacing-looking young man". Evans contributed to many Beatle recordings, and appeared in some of the films they made. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, but Evans carried on assisting the band and working with them in the studio.
Evans was killed by police on 5 January 1976 at his home in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Officers were called when his girlfriend phoned the police and told them that Evans was confused and had a gun. The police believed that the air rifle Evans was holding was a rifle and shot him dead.
Early life
Details of Evans’ early life are unknown, apart from his birth date. No book has been written about him although he wrote his memoirs, Living The Beatles' Legend, from which extracts were released on 20 March 2005. Anything known about him starts in 1961, when Evans married a LiverpoolLiverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
girl, Lily, after meeting her at a funfair in New Brighton
New Brighton, Merseyside
New Brighton is a seaside resort forming part of the town of Wallasey, in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, in the metropolitan county of Merseyside, England. It is located at the northeastern tip of the Wirral Peninsula, within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, and has sandy beaches...
, Merseyside
Merseyside
Merseyside is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 1,365,900. It encompasses the metropolitan area centred on both banks of the lower reaches of the Mersey Estuary, and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wirral, and the city of Liverpool...
, and their first child, Gary, was born in the same year. The Beatles were the house band at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
's Cavern Club when Evans first heard them perform during his lunch break. He was then living in Hillside Road, Mossley Hill
Mossley Hill
Mossley Hill is a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England and a Liverpool City Council Ward. It is located to the south of the city, bordered by Aigburth, Wavertree, Childwall and Allerton. At the 2001 Census, the Mossley Hill ward had a population which was recorded at 12,650.-Notable...
and working as a telephone engineer for the Post Office
Royal Mail
Royal Mail is the government-owned postal service in the United Kingdom. Royal Mail Holdings plc owns Royal Mail Group Limited, which in turn operates the brands Royal Mail and Parcelforce Worldwide...
. He became a committed fan, even though his musical hero at the time was Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
.
He first befriended Harrison, who put forward Evans' name to the Cavern Club's manager, Ray McFall, when he needed a doorman
Bouncer (doorman)
A bouncer is an informal term for a type of security guard employed at venues such as bars, nightclubs or concerts to provide security, check legal age, and refuse entry to a venue based on criteria such as intoxication, aggressive behavior, or attractiveness...
. The 27-year-old Evans was accepted—even though he wore thick-framed glasses
Glasses
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses , spectacles or simply specs , are frames bearing lenses worn in front of the eyes. They are normally used for vision correction or eye protection. Safety glasses are a kind of eye protection against flying debris or against visible and near visible light or...
—mainly because of his burly 6 ft 6in frame, which was an asset when holding back the numerous fans at the Cavern's door, and later as an unofficial bodyguard
Bodyguard
A bodyguard is a type of security operative or government agent who protects a person—usually a famous, wealthy, or politically important figure—from assault, kidnapping, assassination, stalking, loss of confidential information, terrorist attack or other threats.Most important public figures such...
for them. He was later nicknamed the "Gentle Giant" and "Big Mal". In 1962, Evans wrote that it was "a wonderful year", as he had Lily (his wife), his son Gary, a house, a car, and he was working at the Cavern club, which he wrote into a 1963 Post Office Engineering Union diary, which also had information concerning Ohm's law
Ohm's law
Ohm's law states that the current through a conductor between two points is directly proportional to the potential difference across the two points...
and Post Office pay rates.
The Beatles
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...
as road manager, on 11 August 1962. Evans and Neil Aspinall
Neil Aspinall
Neil Stanley Aspinall was a British music industry executive. A school friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, he went on to head The Beatles' company Apple Corps....
’s duties were to drive the van while the band was on tour, set up and test the equipment
Vox (musical equipment)
Vox is a musical equipment manufacturer which is most famous for making the Vox AC30 guitar amplifier, the Vox Continental electric organ, and a series of innovative but commercially unsuccessful electric guitars and bass guitars...
, and then pack it up again. The Beatles were being driven back to Liverpool from London by Evans through heavy fog on 21 January 1963, when the windscreen was hit by a pebble and cracked, so Evans had to break a large hole in it to see the road ahead. This was in winter, so The Beatles had to lie one on top of the other in the back with a bottle of whisky and try to stay warm in the freezing temperatures; something McCartney later referred to as a "Beatle sandwich".
Evans had many other duties. As well as acting as a bodyguard, he was sent to buy anything they needed, such as suits, boots, meals, or drinks. If Lennon said "Socks, Mal", Evans would have to rush to a local Marks and Spencer store and buy six pairs of cotton socks for him. In 1967, Evans wrote in his diaries that he "bought Ringo [Starr] some undies
Underpants
-Boxer shorts:Boxer shorts, or simply boxers, have an elasticated waistband that is at or near the wearer's waist, while the leg sections are fairly loose and extend to the mid-thigh. There is usually a fly, either with or without buttons...
for his visit to the doctor". The Beatles' memorabilia is in continuous demand, but a full set of autographs by all four could be forgeries
Forgery
Forgery is the process of making, adapting, or imitating objects, statistics, or documents with the intent to deceive. Copies, studio replicas, and reproductions are not considered forgeries, though they may later become forgeries through knowing and willful misrepresentations. Forging money or...
: Evans and Aspinall used to sign many of them when Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr were too busy.
The Beatles started their first European tour in January 1964, and Evans was allowed to take his wife and son with him, but was involved in a "big punch-up" with photographers in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
whilst protecting them.
Epstein’s associate, 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...
, once asked him why he was driving an Austin Princess
Austin Princess
The Princess was a distinctive series of large luxury cars made by Austin and its subsidiary Vanden Plas from 1947 to 1968. However:The Princess name was later also used as follows:...
limousine, rather than a Daimler
Daimler Motor Company
The Daimler Motor Company Limited was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H J Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The right to the use of the name Daimler had been purchased simultaneously from Gottlieb Daimler and Daimler Motoren...
, a Bentley
Bentley
Bentley Motors Limited is a British manufacturer of automobiles founded on 18 January 1919 by Walter Owen Bentley known as W.O. Bentley or just "W O". Bentley had been previously known for his range of rotary aero-engines in World War I, the most famous being the Bentley BR1 as used in later...
, or a Rolls-Royce
Rolls-Royce (car)
This a list of Rolls-Royce motor cars and includes vehicles produced by:*Rolls-Royce Limited *Rolls-Royce Motors , which was owned by Vickers between 1980 and 1998, and after that by Volkswagen...
. The Beatles were forced to choose an Austin (as Evans explained) because they had tested every car to see how wide the doors would open as they (literally) had to "dive into the car" to escape their fans.
America and the Philippines
The Beatles were introduced to cannabisCannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1964, and McCartney remembered asking Evans "again and again" to write down McCartney's newly found cannabis-influenced thoughts about life by repeating "Get [write] it down, Mal, get it down!" Evans was as affected by the drug as everybody else, so took a very long time to find a pencil and a piece of paper. The next morning Evans gave the sheet of paper to McCartney, who noted that McCartney had dictated: "There are seven levels!" (of life, as he later explained). The Beatles attended "The Night of 100 Stars" at the London Palladium
London Palladium
The London Palladium is a 2,286 seat West End theatre located off Oxford Street in the City of Westminster. From the roster of stars who have played there and many televised performances, it is arguably the most famous theatre in London and the United Kingdom, especially for musical variety...
on 23 July 1964, and during the show Evans constantly supplied them with whisky and Coca-Cola, which he delivered to them balanced on a wooden oar he had found backstage.
The Beatles were assisted by Evans on their American tour, and when they played two shows at the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
in the summer of 1965. Epstein arranged for them all to have a four-day rest in a luxurious horseshoe-shaped house on stilts in Benedict Canyon
Benedict Canyon, Los Angeles, California
Benedict Canyon is an area in the City of Los Angeles, California near Sherman Oaks northwest of Beverly Hills.-Geography and history:The Canyon is a ravine in the Santa Monica Mountains that drops in a north to south direction from its high point at the crestline of the Santa Monica Mountains on...
off Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive
Mulholland Drive is a street and road in the eastern Santa Monica Mountains of Southern California. It is named after Los Angeles pioneer civil engineer William Mulholland...
in Los Angeles. They spent their time there smoking large marijuana
Cannabis (drug)
Cannabis, also known as marijuana among many other names, refers to any number of preparations of the Cannabis plant intended for use as a psychoactive drug or for medicinal purposes. The English term marijuana comes from the Mexican Spanish word marihuana...
joints, and Evans and Lennon swam in the large outdoor swimming pool with cigarettes in their mouths, to see who could keep them alight the longest. After recording sessions in London, Lennon, Harrison, and Starr would be chauffeured back to their houses in the “stockbroker belt” of southern England, but Evans, Aspinall, and McCartney would drive to a late-night club to eat steak, chips, and mushy peas
Mushy peas
Mushy peas are dried marrowfat peas which are first soaked overnight in water and then simmered with a little sugar and salt until they form a thick green lumpy soup. They are a traditional British accompaniment to fish and chips and sometimes mint is used as a flavouring...
. The Bag O'Nails
The Bag O'Nails
The Bag O'Nails was a live music venue and meeting place for musicians in the 1960s, situated at 8 Kingly Street, Soho, London. Bands and other musicians such as, Georgie Fame and Gass appeared there, often jamming with artists such as Jimi Hendrix...
nightclub was one of their favourites, at 8 Kingly Street in Soho
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and part of the West End of London. Long established as an entertainment district, for much of the 20th century Soho had a reputation for sex shops as well as night life and film industry. Since the early 1980s, the area has undergone considerable...
, London, as it also presented live music
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
. In his memoirs Evans wrote: January 19 and 20: "Ended up smashed in Bag O'Nails with Paul [McCartney] and Neil [Aspinall]. Quite a number of people attached themselves, oh that it would happen to me... freak out time baby for Mal."
In July 1966, The Beatles toured the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
, and unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, Imelda Marcos
Imelda Marcos
Imelda R. Marcos is a Filipino politician and widow of 10th Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos. Upon the ascension of her husband to political power, she held various positions to the government until 1986...
. After the snub was broadcast on Philippine television and radio, all of The Beatles' police protection disappeared. The group and their entourage had to make their way to Manila
Manila
Manila is the capital of the Philippines. It is one of the sixteen cities forming Metro Manila.Manila is located on the eastern shores of Manila Bay and is bordered by Navotas and Caloocan to the north, Quezon City to the northeast, San Juan and Mandaluyong to the east, Makati on the southeast,...
airport on their own. At the airport, road manager Evans was beaten and kicked, and the band members were pushed and jostled about by a hostile crowd. Once the group boarded the plane, Tony Barrow
Tony Barrow
Tony Barrow is an English press officer who worked with The Beatles between 1962 and 1968. He coined the phrase "The Fab Four", first using it in an early press release.-Life:...
and Evans were ordered off, and Evans said, "Tell Lil I love her," thinking he was about to be jailed or killed. Epstein was forced to give back all the money that the band had earned while they were there before being allowed on the plane.
Kenya and Sgt. Pepper
The Beatles' last concert was at Candlestick Park, San Francisco, on 29 August 1966, but Evans continued to run errands for them and to work with them in the studio. After recording RevolverRevolver (album)
Revolver is the seventh studio album by the English rock group The Beatles, released on 5 August 1966 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin. Many of the tracks on Revolver are marked by an electric guitar-rock sound, in contrast with their previous LP, the folk rock inspired Rubber...
in 1966, McCartney went by himself on holiday to France, but arranged to meet Evans in Bordeaux
Bordeaux
Bordeaux is a port city on the Garonne River in the Gironde department in southwestern France.The Bordeaux-Arcachon-Libourne metropolitan area, has a population of 1,010,000 and constitutes the sixth-largest urban area in France. It is the capital of the Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture...
at the Grosse Horloge church, on the corner of cours Victor Hugo and rue St. James. At exactly the pre-arranged time of one o'clock Evans was standing under the church clock when McCartney arrived. They later drove to Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
together, but got bored, and phoned Epstein's office in London and asked to be booked on a safari holiday in Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
. When they arrived there they visited the Amboseli Reserve
Amboseli Reserve
Amboseli National Park, formerly Maasai Amboseli Game Reserve, is in Kajiado District, Rift Valley Province in Kenya. The park is in size at the core of an ecosystem that spreads across the Kenya-Tanzania border...
at the foot of Mount Kilimanjaro
Mount Kilimanjaro
Kilimanjaro, with its three volcanic cones, Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira, is a dormant volcano in Kilimanjaro National Park, Tanzania and the highest mountain in Africa at above sea level .-Geology:...
, and also stayed at the exclusive Treetops Hotel
Treetops Hotel
Treetops Hotel is a hotel in Aberdare National Park in Kenya near the township of Nyeri, 1,966 m above sea level on the Aberdare Range and in sight of Mount Kenya...
, where the rooms are built on the branches of trees.
Nairobi
Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...
at a YMCA
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is a worldwide organization of more than 45 million members from 125 national federations affiliated through the World Alliance of YMCAs...
, before they returned to London. The Beatles—according to McCartney—needed a new name, and on the flight back to England Evans and McCartney played with words to see if they could come up with something new. Evans innocently asked McCartney what the letters “S” and “P” stood for on the pots on their meal trays, and McCartney explained that it was for salt and pepper, which led to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
name. They arrived back in London on 19 November 1966. Before the cover of Sgt. Pepper could be completed by Peter Blake
Peter Blake (artist)
Sir Peter Thomas Blake, KBE, CBE, RDI, RA is an English pop artist, best known for his design of the sleeve for the Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. He lives in Chiswick, London, UK.-Career:...
, Evans and Aspinall were sent out to find photographs of all of the people that were to be shown on the front cover.
In the spring of 1967—as soon as the album was completed—Evans flew with McCartney to Los Angeles to see McCartney's then-fiancée, Jane Asher
Jane Asher
Jane Asher is an English actress. She has also developed a second career as a cake decorator and cake shop proprietor.-Early life:...
, who was acting with the Old Vic
Old Vic
The Old Vic is a theatre located just south-east of Waterloo Station in London on the corner of The Cut and Waterloo Road. Established in 1818 as the Royal Coburg Theatre, it was taken over by Emma Cons in 1880 when it was known formally as the Royal Victoria Hall. In 1898, a niece of Cons, Lilian...
theatre company. The three of them went on a trip to the Rockies
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
, returning to LA by Frank Sinatra's jet: "We left Denver in Frank Sinatra's Lear Jet, which he very kindly loaned us. A beautiful job with dark black leather upholstery and, to our delight, a well-stocked bar." When they were back in LA, they were invited to visit the house of Michelle and John Phillips, from the Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas
The Mamas & the Papas were a Canadian/American vocal group of the 1960s . The group recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968 with a short reunion in 1971, releasing five albums and 11 Top 40 hit singles...
. Brian Wilson
Brian Wilson
Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
was there later, as he was working on the Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
Smile album. Evans wrote about singing "On Top of Old Smokey" with McCartney and Wilson, but was not impressed by Wilson's avant-garde attitude to music: "Brian [Wilson] then put a damper on the spontaneity of the whole affair by walking in with a tray of water-filled glasses, trying to arrange it into some sort of session."
Greece and Magical Mystery Tour
The Beatles and Evans flew to GreeceGreece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
in late 1967 with encouragement from Greek-born "Magic Alex", the director of Apple Electronics, to buy an island or a group of islands. The idea was that the whole Apple entourage would live on the islands in their own separate homes, but would be connected to each other by tunnels leading to a central dome. Evans and his family were included in the plan, but it was abandoned as being unworkable after McCartney refused to participate. McCartney had no housekeeper in 1967, so Evans moved in with him at 7 Cavendish Avenue, St John's Wood
St John's Wood
St John's Wood is a district of north-west London, England, in the City of Westminster, and at the north-west end of Regent's Park. It is approximately 2.5 miles north-west of Charing Cross. Once part of the Great Middlesex Forest, it was later owned by the Knights of St John of Jerusalem...
, which is near Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios
Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio located at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established in November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, its present owner...
. It was at Cavendish Avenue that McCartney bought his first Old English Sheepdog
Old English Sheepdog
The Old English Sheepdog is a large breed of dog which was developed in England from early herding types of dog. The Old English Sheepdog has very long fur covering the face and eyes...
, Martha, although Evans often complained about the dog fouling the beds. Evans later bought a house in Sunbury-on-Thames
Sunbury-on-Thames
Sunbury-on-Thames, also known as Sunbury, is a town in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne, England, and part of the London commuter belt. It is located 16 miles southwest of central London and bordered by Feltham and Hampton, flanked on the south by the River Thames.-History:The earliest evidence of...
, which was between McCartney's house, and Lennon, Harrison, and Starr's houses outside London.
While working on the Magical Mystery Tour
Magical Mystery Tour (film)
Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long British television film starring The Beatles that originally aired on BBC1 on 26 December 1967...
film, Evans wrote about his work duties: "I would get requests from the four of them to do six different things at one time and it was always a case of relying on instinct and experience in awarding priorities. They used to be right sods for the first few days until they realised that everything was going to go smoothly and they could get into the routine of recording... Then I would find time between numerous cups of tea and salad sandwiches and baked beans on toast to listen to the recording in the control room."
After the Magical Mystery Tour recordings, Evans flew to Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
with McCartney to film The Fool on the Hill
The Fool on the Hill
"The Fool on the Hill" is a song by The Beatles. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney and recorded in 1967...
clip, although McCartney set off without luggage or a passport. McCartney got past customs by saying “You know who I am”, but he and Evans were not allowed into the hotel restaurant in Nice because they “didn't look the part”, and had to eat dinner in Evans’ room. Because the money they had with them had been spent on clothes, and NEMS was supposed to send them more, they arranged for credit over two nights in a nightclub: "We took advantage of our credit standing, as money had still not arrived from England. News about Paul's [McCartney] visit to the club the previous night had spread, and the place was jammed. Now Paul, being a generous sort of person, had built up quite a bar bill, when the manager of the club arrived demanding that we pay immediately. On explaining who Paul was and what had happened, he answered, 'You either pay the bill, or I call the police.' It certainly looked like we were going to get thrown in jail. It was ironical, sitting in a club with a millionaire, unable to pay the bill."
India and Apple
The Beatles flew to IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
in February 1968, to visit the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
's ashram
Ashram
Traditionally, an ashram is a spiritual hermitage. Additionally, today the term ashram often denotes a locus of Indian cultural activity such as yoga, music study or religious instruction, the moral equivalent of a studio or dojo....
, after meeting him on 24 August 1967 at the London Hilton. Evans had arrived in India a few days earlier to inspect the ashram, but soon as Starr got off the plane, he demanded that Evans find a doctor, as his inoculation shots were causing him pain: “When we arrived at the local hospital, I tried to get immediate treatment for him [Starr], to be told curtly by the Indian doctor, 'He is not a special case and will have to wait his turn.' So off we go to pay a private doctor ten rupees for the privilege of hearing him say it will be all right." Evans wrote in his diary on 17 February 1968: "The press
Mass media
Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...
really tried kicking down the gates into the Ashram, the Indian people on the Ashram called me half way through, but as soon as an Indian reporter told me "No bloody foreigner is going to stop me in my own country", I cooled it." Evans’ diary says that he enjoyed his time in India: “It’s hard to believe that a week has already passed. I suppose the peace of mind and the serenity one achieves through meditation makes the time fly," and that he also enjoyed the food, unlike Starr, who had brought a suitcase full of baked beans with him. After India, Harrison and Evans flew to New York, visiting Bob Dylan and The Band
The Band
The Band was an acclaimed and influential roots rock group. The original group consisted of Rick Danko , Garth Hudson , Richard Manuel , and Robbie Robertson , and Levon Helm...
, who were rehearsing at their Big Pink house/studio, in Woodstock.
When Apple
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...
was formed in 1968, Evans was promoted from road manager to personal assistant
Personal assistant
A personal assistant or personal aide is someone who assists in daily business or personal tasks. It is common in design to have a PDA, or personal design assistant....
, although his weekly £38 salary remained the same: "January 13, 1969: Paul [McCartney] is really cutting down on the Apple staff members. I was elevated to office boy [Evans was made MD of Apple, very briefly] and I feel very hurt and sad inside—only big boys don't cry. Why I should feel hurt and reason for writing this is ego... I thought I was different from other people in my relationship with The Beatles and being loved by them and treated so nice, I felt like one of the family. Seems I fetch and carry. I find it difficult to live on the £38 I take home each week and would love to be like their other friends who buy fantastic homes and have all the alterations done by them, and are still going to ask for a rise. I always tell myself—look, everybody wants to take from, be satisfied, try to give and you will receive. After all this time I have about £70 to my name, but was content and happy. Loving them as I do, nothing is too much trouble, because I want to serve them. Feel a bit better now—EGO?" Evans' financial problems started to become such a problem that he had to ask Harrison for money: "April 24: "Had to tell George [Harrison]—'I'm broke'. Really miserable and down because I'm in the red, and the bills are coming in, poor old Lil [his wife] suffers as I don't want to get a rise. Not really true don't want to ask for a rise, fellows are having a pretty tough time as it is."
Evans was the only member of the Apple entourage to be invited to attend (and be a witness
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
) when McCartney and Linda Eastman
Linda McCartney
Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney was an American photographer, musician and animal rights activist. Her father and mother were Lee Eastman and Louise Sara Lindner Eastman....
were married at Marylebone
Marylebone
Marylebone is an affluent inner-city area of central London, located within the City of Westminster. It is sometimes written as St. Marylebone or Mary-le-bone....
Registry Office on 12 March 1969. Evans wrote in his diary that he was due to be there at 9.45am but McCartney's brother, Michael McCartney's train from Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
was delayed. 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...
and Evans passed the register office at 9.15 and saw that there were only a few photographers and ardent fans standing in the rain, but when they left after the wedding at 11.30am they were mobbed by a crowd of about 1,000 people. When the Beatles played on the roof of Apple's offices in Savile Row, Evans was given the job of setting up the equipment (as always) and was then told to delay the policemen as long as possible.
Allen Klein
Allen Klein
Allen Klein was an American businessman, talent agent and record label executive. His clients included The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.- The accountant :...
was hired as a manager to reorganise the whole company. Evans was fired by Klein the next year, because Klein complained to Lennon that Aspinall and Evans were "living like kings—like fucking emperors", although Evans was later reinstated after McCartney, Harrison and Starr complained. On 13 September 1969, Evans accompanied Lennon, 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...
, Klaus Voorman, Alan White
Alan White (Yes drummer)
Alan White is an English rock drummer known for his work with the progressive rock band Yes. White was also a member of the Plastic Ono Band, playing live in 1969 at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival, which was recorded and released three months later as Live Peace in Toronto 1969...
and Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
to Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada, for the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival
Toronto Rock and Roll Revival
The Toronto Rock and Roll Revival was a one day, twelve hour music festival held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada on September 13, 1969. It featured a number of popular musical acts from the 1950s and 1960s...
Concert. He later commented about the concert: "I was really enjoying myself. It was the first show I had roadied for three years and I was really loving every minute of plugging the amps in and setting them up on stage, making sure that everything was right. Everyone wanted the show to go particularly well because Allen Klein, who had flown over, had organised for the whole of John's performance to be filmed. This was on top of it being video-taped by Dan Richter."
Musical contributions
Evans contributed to many recordings, including lending his voice to "Yellow SubmarineYellow Submarine (song)
"Yellow Submarine" is a 1966 song by The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney , with lead vocals by Ringo Starr. It was included on the Revolver album and issued as a single, coupled with "Eleanor Rigby". The single went to number 1 on every major British chart, remained at number 1 for four weeks...
". Evans played single organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
notes on "You Won't See Me
You Won't See Me
"You Won't See Me" is a song by The Beatles, from the album Rubber Soul. Though credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was written by Paul McCartney. This is one of the few songs where McCartney sings lower harmony while Lennon and Harrison sing higher harmony together.-History:The song is about a crisis...
", and harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, kazoo
Kazoo
The kazoo is a wind instrument which adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. The kazoo is a type of mirliton, which is a membranophone, a device which modifies the sound of a person's voice by way of a vibrating membrane."Kazoo" was the name given by...
, and organ on "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song from the 1967 album by The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was composed by John Lennon...
". McCartney explained that he showed Evans where the notes were on the organ, and then nodded his head when he wanted Evans to play, and shook it when he wanted him to stop.
On "A Day in the Life
A Day in the Life
"A Day in the Life" is a song by The Beatles, the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song comprises distinct segments written independently by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with orchestral additions...
", Evans controlled an alarm clock
Alarm clock
An alarm clock is a clock that is designed to make a loud sound at a specific time. The primary use of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep or short naps; they are sometimes used for other reminders as well. To stop the sound, a button or handle on the clock is pressed; but...
, counted the measures
Bar (music)
In musical notation, a bar is a segment of time defined by a given number of beats of a given duration. Typically, a piece consists of several bars of the same length, and in modern musical notation the number of beats in each bar is specified at the beginning of the score by the top number of a...
in the original 24-bar break and was one of the five piano players simultaneously hitting the last chord of the song. Evans played tambourine
Tambourine
The tambourine or marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, though some variants may not have a head at all....
on "Dear Prudence
Dear Prudence
"Dear Prudence" is a song written by John Lennon, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was released by The Beatles as the second track on their 1968 double-disc album entitled The Beatles, commonly known as The White Album.-Composition:...
" and saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
on "Helter Skelter". He played a double solo with Lennon, although neither of them were proficient on the instrument. Evans contributed background vocals and shovelled a bucket of gravel
Gravel
Gravel is composed of unconsolidated rock fragments that have a general particle size range and include size classes from granule- to boulder-sized fragments. Gravel can be sub-categorized into granule and cobble...
(as part of the rhythm) on "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
"You Know My Name " is a song by The Beatles originally released as the B-side of the single "Let It Be" on 6 March 1970. Although first issued with their final single , it was recorded in four separate sessions beginning with three in May and June 1967, and one in 1969.-Composition:The song is a...
". Evans also contributed to the White Album
The Beatles (album)
The Beatles is the ninth official album by the English rock group The Beatles, a double album released in 1968. It is also commonly known as "The White Album" as it has no graphics or text other than the band's name embossed on its plain white sleeve.The album was written and recorded during a...
outtake "What's the New Mary Jane
What's The New Mary Jane
"What's the New Mary Jane" is a song written by John Lennon and performed by The Beatles. It was recorded in 1968 for the album The Beatles , but was not used.-Recording:...
", and hit an anvil
Anvil
An anvil is a basic tool, a block with a hard surface on which another object is struck. The inertia of the anvil allows the energy of the striking tool to be transferred to the work piece. In most cases the anvil is used as a forging tool...
on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by The Beatles, on their album, Abbey Road, sung by Paul McCartney. It was written by McCartney, though credited to Lennon–McCartney.-Background:...
", because Starr could not lift the hammer high enough to get the right sound and keep in time with the song.
According to his diaries, Evans helped to compose songs on the Sgt. Pepper album. Evans wrote, on 27 January 1967: "Sgt Pepper. Started writing song with Paul [McCartney] upstairs in his room, he on piano" and "Did a lot more of "where the rain comes in" [a lyric from "Fixing a Hole
Fixing a Hole
"Fixing a Hole" is a song written by Paul McCartney and recorded by The Beatles, featured on their 1967 album Sgt...
"]. Hope people like it. Started Sergeant Pepper".
On 1 February: "Sergeant Pepper sounds good. Paul tells me that I will get royalties on the song—great news, now perhaps a new home. On 2 February: "Recording voices on Captain [sic] Pepper. All six of us doing the chorus in the middle, worked until about midnight."
Keith Badman—author of The Beatles off the Record—referred to a tape recording of Evans speaking shortly before his death, on which Evans reiterated some of the statements made in the diary. According to Badman, Evans was asked at the time if it would be a problem that he was not credited, as the Lennon/McCartney
Lennon/McCartney
The Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership is one of the best-known and most successful musical collaborations in history...
writing name was "a really hot item". Evans did not receive any royalties and stayed at his £38-a-week pay (equivalent to £ today).
On film
Evans appeared in three (out of five) Beatles' films. In Help!Help! (film)
Help! is a 1965 film directed by Richard Lester, starring The Beatles—John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr—and featuring Leo McKern, Eleanor Bron, Victor Spinetti, John Bluthal, Roy Kinnear and Patrick Cargill. Help! was the second feature film made by the Beatles and is a...
, Evans played a confused channel swimmer
English Channel
The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...
who pops up through an ice-hole in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, and on a beach in the Bahamas. The Beatles asked Evans and Aspinall to find and hire the actors they wanted to perform in the Magical Mystery Tour
Magical Mystery Tour (film)
Magical Mystery Tour is an hour-long British television film starring The Beatles that originally aired on BBC1 on 26 December 1967...
film, and to hire an old 60-seater coach
Coach (vehicle)
A coach is a large motor vehicle, a type of bus, used for conveying passengers on excursions and on longer distance express coach scheduled transport between cities - or even between countries...
, on which they were told to paint the Magical Mystery Tour logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
which McCartney had designed. Evans later appeared in the film as one of the magicians who cast mysterious spells on the passengers of the bus.
In the 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...
film, Evans can be seen playing the anvil during early versions of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by The Beatles, on their album, Abbey Road, sung by Paul McCartney. It was written by McCartney, though credited to Lennon–McCartney.-Background:...
", and can be seen talking to police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
officers on the Savile Row
Savile Row
Savile Row is a shopping street in Mayfair, central London, famous for its traditional men's bespoke tailoring. The term "bespoke" is understood to have originated in Savile Row when cloth for a suit was said to "be spoken for" by individual customers...
rooftop when they came to stop the live performance. Before the rooftop concert, Evans placed a camera and a microphone in a corner of Apple's reception area, so that when the police came in to complain about the noise—which was expected—they could be filmed and recorded. The Beatles were often filmed by Evans during his time with them (without sound) and a collection of his recordings was later released on DVD
DVD
A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions....
.
After The Beatles
In 1968, Evans had discovered the band BadfingerBadfinger
Badfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
(then known as The Iveys) and suggested that they be signed to Apple. Although not trained as a studio technician, Evans produced several songs recorded by the Iveys/Badfinger
Badfinger
Badfinger were a British rock band consisting originally of Pete Ham, Ron Griffiths, Mike Gibbins and Tom Evans, active from 1968 to 1983, and evolving from The Iveys, formed by Ham, Griffiths and David "Dai" Jenkins in Swansea, Wales, in the early 1960s. Joey Molland joined the group in 1969,...
in 1969 and 1970. The most notable of these is the song "No Matter What" by Badfinger, which charted on Billboard's Top 10 in December 1970. Evans also produced some tracks for Keith Moon
Keith Moon
Keith John Moon was an English musician, best known for being the drummer of the English rock group The Who. He gained acclaim for his exuberant and innovative drumming style, and notoriety for his eccentric and often self-destructive behaviour, earning him the nickname "Moon the Loon". Moon...
's solo album Two Sides of the Moon
Two Sides of the Moon
Two Sides of the Moon is the only solo album from the primary drummer from The Who, Keith Moon. Rather than using the album as a chance to showcase his legendary drumming skill, Moon chose to sing on all the songs, and play drums only on "Crazy Like a Fox", "The Kids Are Alright" and "Move Over Ms....
.
Evans separated from his wife in 1973, and subsequently moved from the UK to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(where Lennon had moved to live with May Pang
May Pang
May Fung Yee Pang is best known as the former girlfriend of John Lennon. She had previously worked as a personal assistant and production coordinator for Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono....
after his own separation from 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...
). Evans is credited on the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was received with high critical praise upon release. Critic Greil Marcus remarked, "John's singing in the last verse of 'God' may be the finest in all of rock." In early 1971, the album reached number eight on the UK and went to number six in the US, spending eighteen...
album as providing "tea and sympathy". Evans co-wrote "You and Me (Babe)" with Harrison, which appears on Starr's solo album, Ringo
Ringo (album)
Ringo is the third album by Ringo Starr, released in 1973 on Apple Records. It peaked at #7 on the UK Albums Chart and #2 on the Billboard 200, and has been certified platinum by the RIAA. In Canada, it reached #1 on the RPM national albums chart...
, in 1973. Evans was asked to produce the group Natural Gas
Natural Gas (band)
Natural Gas was a rock band featuring Peter Wood, Joey Molland, Mark Clarke and Jerry Shirley. They released one album, Natural Gas, produced by Felix Pappalardi, in 1976.-Singles:*"Right Time" b/w "Dark Cloud"...
, and was working on a book of memoirs called Living The Beatles' Legend, which he was due to deliver to his publishers, Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap
Grosset & Dunlap is a United States book publisher founded in 1898.The company was purchased by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1982 and today is part of the British publishing conglomerate, Pearson PLC through its American subsidiary Penguin Group....
, on 12 January 1976. Evans was depressed
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
about his separation from his wife Lil Evans—who had asked for a divorce
Divorce
Divorce is the final termination of a marital union, canceling the legal duties and responsibilities of marriage and dissolving the bonds of matrimony between the parties...
before Christmas
Christmas
Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...
—although he was then living with new girlfriend Fran Hughes in a rented motel apartment at 8122 W. 4th Street in Los Angeles.
Death
On 5 January 1976, Evans was so despondent that Hughes phoned his collaborator on his book, John Hoernie, and asked him to visit them. Hoernie saw Evans "really doped-up and groggy", and Evans told Hoernie to make sure that he finished Living The Beatles' Legend. Hoernie helped Evans up to an upstairs bedroom, but during an incoherent conversation Evans picked up a 30.30 air rifle. Hoernie struggled with Evans, but Evans, being much stronger, held onto the weapon.Hughes then phoned the police and told them that Evans was confused, had a rifle, and was on valium. Four policemen
Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
arrived and three of them, David D. Krempa, Robert E. Brannon and Lieutenant Higbie, went up to the bedroom. They later reported that as soon as Evans saw the three policemen he pointed a rifle at them. The officers repeatedly told Evans to put down the rifle (which they did not know at the time was an air rifle) but Evans constantly refused. The police fired six shots, of which four struck Evans, killing him instantly. Evans had previously been awarded the badge of "Honorary Sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
of Los Angeles County", but in the Los Angeles Times, he was referred to as a “jobless former road manager for The Beatles”.
Evans was cremated on 7 January 1976, in Los Angeles. None of The Beatles attended his funeral, but Harry Nilsson
Harry Nilsson
Harry Edward Nilsson III was an American singer-songwriter who achieved the peak of his commercial success in the early 1970s. On all but his earliest recordings he is credited as Nilsson...
and other friends attended, although Harrison arranged for Evans' family to receive £5,000, as Evans had not maintained his life insurance premiums, and was not entitled to a pension.
Aftermath
In 1986, a trunk containing Evans' diaries and other effects was found in the basement of a New York publisher and sent to his family in London. In 1992, Lennon's original pages of lyrics to "A Day in the LifeA Day in the Life
"A Day in the Life" is a song by The Beatles, the final track on the group's 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song comprises distinct segments written independently by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, with orchestral additions...
" were sold by the Evans estate for £56,600 at Sotheby's
Sotheby's
Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...
, in London, to an unknown collector.
In 2010 the double-sided sheet of paper containing the hand-written lyrics and notes to "A Day in the Life" were sold at auction at Sotheby's in New York to an anonymous American buyer for $1.2m (£810,000). Other lyrics collected by Evans have been subject to legal action over the years: In 1996, McCartney went to the High Court
High Court of Justice
The High Court of Justice is, together with the Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, one of the Senior Courts of England and Wales...
in England and prevented the sale of the original lyrics to "With a Little Help from My Friends
With a Little Help from My Friends
-Joe Cocker version:Joe Cocker's version was a radical re-arrangement of the original, in a slower, 6/8 meter, using different chords in the middle eight, and a lengthy instrumental introduction...
" that Evans' widow
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died, while a widower is a man whose spouse has died. The state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or occasionally viduity. The adjective form is widowed...
Lily had tried to sell, by claiming that the lyrics were collected by Evans as a part of his duties and belonged to the individual Beatles.
A 2004 report of the discovery of a further collection of Evans's Beatles memorabilia proved to be false.
A notebook in which McCartney wrote the lyrics for "Hey Jude
Hey Jude
"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The ballad evolved from "Hey Jules", a song widely accepted as being written to comfort John Lennon's son, Julian, during his parents' divorce—although this explanation is not...
" was sold in 1998 at an auction for £111,500. The notebook also contains lyrics for "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (song)
"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" is a song written by Paul McCartney , and first recorded and released in 1967, on the The Beatles' album of the same name. The song appears twice on the album: as the opening track , and as "Sgt...
" and "All You Need Is Love
All You Need Is Love
"All You Need Is Love" is a song written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first performed by The Beatles on Our World, the first live global television link. Watched by 400 million in 26 countries, the programme was broadcast via satellite on 25 June 1967...
". It also contains lyrics, notes, drawings and poems by Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr, as well as by Evans.