Freda Kelly

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Freda Kelly (born July 14, 1944 ) was the secretary and fan club representative of the British rock band The Beatles . In 2013, the documentary film Good Ol 'Freda was released , which describes her more than ten years of collaboration with the Fab Four .

history

Freda Kelly

In the early 1960s, Freda Kelly worked as a typist in Liverpool . She saw most of the Beatles' performances at the Cavern Club . When Brian Epstein took over management of the group in early 1962, he asked Kelly if she would like to work as his secretary. Against her father's advice, she took the job. At that time she was 17 years old.

Her main task was to process the fan post and publish a fan magazine. At first she ran the fan club at her home address; however, when hundreds of letters arrived daily, the fan club moved to Kelly's office in Epstein's record store.

In 1965 Epstein moved his office to London . Kelly's father wouldn't let her move there. When she wanted to quit, Epstein let her work in Liverpool - she was only supposed to come to London a few days a month.

After Epstein's death in 1967, Kelly continued to work for the Beatles. She married and became a mother, but her work for the group didn't officially end until 1972. Still, she continued to answer fan mail for another three years. She said she burned her diary from the 1960s, for which British newspapers bid her large sums, years ago.

Kelly turned down numerous offers to write a documentary about her collaboration with the Beatles. It was only at the insistence of her daughter and after the birth of her grandson that she turned to the filmmaker Ryan White. Over the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter , they collected 50,000  dollars for a documentary to create feature length. Good Ol 'Freda premiered at the 2013 SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas . The title comes from the Beatles ' Christmas record, recorded for their fans in 1963: George Harrison thanks Freda Kelly for her work, and the other three Beatles shout “Good Ol' Freda”. The German title of the documentary was In the anteroom of the Beatles .

Most recently, Freda Kelly worked as a secretary for a law firm.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Beatles secretary Freda Kelly: Crises, cult and chewing gum . At: Spiegel Online , March 15, 2013
  2. ↑ a b c d e f Elizabeth Day: Good Ol 'Freda: the Beatles' secretary tells her story. In: The Observer , November 17, 2013 ( English )
  3. ↑ Andreas Böhme: The good soul of the Beatles. Freda Kelly was the secretary of the most famous band in the world - she still keeps many secrets today. In: Berliner Morgenpost . October 28, 2018, accessed October 30, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Kelly, Freda
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British secretary and fan club officer for the Beatles
DATE OF BIRTH July 14, 1944