Derek Taylor (journalist)

Derek Taylor (born May 7, 1932 in Liverpool , † September 8, 1997 in Sudbury ) was a British journalist , author and publicist . Taylor became known for his work as a spokesman for the rock group The Beatles . He began his career as a journalist for the local newspaper Liverpool Daily Post and Echo . He later wrote for the national newspapers News Chronicle , Sunday Dispatch, and Sunday Express, among others . He also worked as a regular columnist and theater critic for the Daily Express in its Manchester editorial office .

Press officer for the Beatles

Taylor's first contact with the Beatles came when he was commissioned in May 1963 to write a concert review for the Daily Express about the Beatles' performance at the Manchester Odeon. Its editors were awaiting a report that would be critical of the group, viewed by the national press at the time as a meaningless youthful fad. However, Taylor liked what he saw and heard, and wrote an extremely positive article:

“The Liverpool Sound came to Manchester last night, and I thought it was magnificent […] The spectacle of these fresh, cheeky, sharp, young entertainers in apposition to the shiny-eyed teenage idolaters is as good as a rejuvenating drug for the jaded adult. "

“The Liverpool sound hit Manchester last night and I thought it was great. [...] The appearance of these fresh, cheeky, elegant, young entertainers in front of the teenagers who adore them with shining eyes acts like a rejuvenation cure for tired adults. "

- Derek Taylor, 1963

Shortly afterwards, he received an invitation to meet the group and won the trust of the musicians and their manager, Brian Epstein . As the Beatles gained more and more attention in the UK, the Daily Express set up a permanent Beatles column that was to be authored by one of the Beatles. The choice fell on George Harrison , who prepared the contributions together with Taylor.

In April 1964, Beatles manager Brian Epstein recruited Taylor from his newspaper job and hired him as a personal assistant. Taylor assisted Epstein in writing Epstein's autobiography A Cellarful of Noise . Taylor conducted interviews with Epstein, which he recorded on tape, and created the biography from them, retaining most of Epstein's basic formulations. The biography was published in October 1964. Taylor then worked as an employee of the Beatles' press office, as its director Tony Barrow could not cope with the steadily increasing tasks alone. Taylor was supposed to look after the Beatles exclusively and serve as a liaison to the press. Taylor accompanied the Beatles as press spokesman on their concert tour through the United States in the summer of 1964. At the end of this tour, he resigned because of friction with Epstein. Taylor left the UK shortly afterwards and moved to California with his family . There he founded his own PR agency in 1965 and worked for groups such as the Byrds , the Beach Boys and Paul Revere & the Raiders .

During this time Taylor established the Byrds as a new kind of American band, pointing to similarities to the Beatles - and encouraged music journalists to portray the Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson as a musical genius. Taylor was instrumental in organizing the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967 and also worked as a publicist and spokesman for the festival.

George Harrison composed the song Blue Jay Way while staying in California in 1967. He was waiting one evening for Taylor and his wife to visit Harrison in his rented house on Blue Jay Way in Los Angeles . To pass the time, Harrison began playing an in-house organ, developing the piece in the process.

Taylor also made Harry Nilsson better known. After hearing his piece on the car radio in 1941 , he bought 25 copies of Nilsson's album Pandemonium Shadow Show and sent them to contacts in the music industry. The four Beatles also received the album and were so impressed that they invited Nilsson to London . Nilsson became friends with John Lennon and Ringo Starr . He later worked with both of them on various albums.

In early 1968 Taylor returned to England after the Beatles had hired him to head the Apple Corps press office . As a senior executive at Apple, Taylor had an important role in many of the Beatles 'and Apple Corps' projects. His role has been documented in several biographies; For example, in the memoir of Taylor's assistant Richard DiLello, published in 1972 under the title The Longest Cocktail Party , or the memoirs of Chris O'Dell, a former Apple secretary, published in 2009 under the title Miss O'Dell .

John Lennon mentioned Taylor in his song Give Peace a Chance , along with Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary and Norman Mailer who, like Taylor, were present when the song was recorded.

Taylor left Apple Records in 1970 as a result of Allen Klein's efforts to organize the chaos in the company.

After the Beatles

After Taylor left Apple, he worked for the record company WEA Records . On this label, the artists of those labels were marketed in Great Britain, which were owned by the Kinney Corporation in the USA. These labels were Warner Bros. , Reprise , Elektra and Atlantic Records . Taylor was director of special projects, working with artists such as the Rolling Stones , Yes , America , Neil Young , Carly Simon and Alice Cooper, among others . It enabled the early 1970s, the British jazz singer George Melly , two albums for WEA record ( Nuts , 1972. Son of Nuts , 1973). On Taylor's recommendation, the Liverpool rock band Deaf School , with the later music producer Clive Langer as guitarist, received a recording contract.

Independently of his work for WEA, Taylor produced Harry Nilsson's album A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night in 1973 . A few years earlier he had written the liner notes for Nilsson's album Aerial Ballet .

Back in America

Taylor returned to the United States in the late 1960s, where he worked for A&M Records as a publicist for former member of the Byrds Gene Clark , who founded the Phoenix group with Laramy Smith. In the mid-1970s, Taylor held the post of Vice President of Marketing at Warner Bros. Records . In this position he secured the rights to the Rutles project for the company and oversaw the worldwide marketing of the film and the accompanying soundtrack.

Back in England

In the early 1980s, Taylor co-authored books by Michelle Phillips and Steven Spielberg . He also worked for George Harrison's film production company Handmade Films . In the early 1990s he was asked again to work for Apple and to oversee the marketing of the various new Beatles releases, such as Live at the BBC and the Anthology .

author

Taylor wrote his casually phrased memoirs in 1973, which were published under the title As Time Goes By . In 1980 Taylor worked again with George Harrison and helped him to complete his autobiography I Me Mine . 1981 published The Making of Raiders of The Lost Ark , Taylor's observations in the shooting of the movie Raiders of the Lost Ark . 1983 was followed by his autobiography Fifty Years Adrift (In An Open Necked Shirt) , which appeared in December 1983 in a limited edition of 2,000 signed copies. The foreword was from George Harrison.

In 1987, previously released Beatles album was released to celebrate the 20-year Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band , the book It Was Twenty Years Ago Today , with a look back at the people and events that contributed to the making of the album. The book contains interviews and photos, as well as extensive excerpts from the television documentary of the same name by the broadcaster Granada TV .

death

Derek Taylor died on September 8, 1997 to cancer . He worked for Apple Corps until his death.

Private life

Taylor was married to Joan Taylor from 1958 until his death. The couple had six children.

Works

• Derek Taylor: As Time Goes By . Davis-Poynter, London 1973, ISBN 978-0-87932-068-3 .

• Derek Taylor: The Making of Raiders of The Lost Ark . Ballantine Books, London 1981, ISBN 978-0-345-29725-9 .

• Derek Taylor: Fifty Years Adrift (In An Open Necked Shirt) . Genesis Publications, London 1983, ISBN 978-0-904351-22-4 .

• Derek Taylor: It Was Twenty Years Ago . Bantam Press, London 1987, ISBN 978-0-593-01269-7 .

Web links

• Philm Freax Photos
• Official obituary for Apple's Derek Taylor

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Obituary for Derek Taylor. In: www.independent.co.uk. 1997, accessed January 18, 2017 . 
2. ↑ Live: Odeon Cinema, Manchester. In: http://www.beatlesbible.com . 1963, accessed December 1, 2014 . 
3. ^ Richard Di Lello: The Longest Cocktail Party , Edinburgh: Canongate, 2005. P. 18 f.
4. ↑ George Harrison: I, Me, Mine . London: Phoenix, 2004. ISBN 0-7538-1734-9 . P. 114
5. ↑ Taylor's liner notes for Nilsson's album Aerial Ballet . (No longer available online.) In: http://www.harrynilsson.com/ . 1967, formerly in the original ; accessed on December 1, 2014 .  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.    
6. ^ Obituary for Harry Nilsson. In: www.independent.co.uk. 1994, accessed December 1, 2014 . 
7. ↑ Derek Taylor. In: http://www.beatlesbible.com . Retrieved December 1, 2014 .