Neil Aspinall

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Neil Aspinall (born October 13, 1941 in Prestatyn , Wales , † March 24, 2008 in New York , USA ) was a British event technician, musician and manager. He was a road manager and personal assistant to the Beatles . Sometimes he is also referred to as the fifth Beatle .

Live and act

Aspinall was a childhood friend of Paul McCartney and George Harrison at the Liverpool Institute for Boys . Aspinall and McCartney attended the same class, Harrison was among them in the year. Aspinall initially worked as a lighting technician for the Beatles. On the occasion of a Beatles performance with Helen Shapiro and after a request from Shapiro's tour director Johnny Clapson, Aspinall was officially named the Beatles' road manager. He chauffeured the group and their equipment from performance to performance. After Mal Evans , who shared an apartment on Sloane Street with Aspinall, started working for the Beatles, Aspinall rose to be the Beatles' personal assistant. In February 1967, the beginning of the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was recorded in Aspinall's apartment .

As a player of more exotic instruments (e.g. guiro , maracas and tambura ) in some songs by the Beatles and background vocalist in Yellow Submarine, Aspinall also worked as a musician.

In 1970 he became CEO of Apple Corps . Aspinall took Allen Klein , Apple Inc. and EMI to court on behalf of the Beatles . Aspinall ended his management position at Apple in April 2007. Together with his American wife Suzy he was managing director of Standby Films Ltd. You run this company from her home in Twickenham ( Middlesex off).

Neil Aspinall died of lung cancer on March 24, 2008 at Sloan Kettering Cancer Clinic in New York at the age of 66 . Paul McCartney had come from England specifically to help him at the bedside.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Brian Roylance, Nicky Page, Derek Taylor : The Beatles Anthology. (Chronicle Books, San Francisco 2000). German translation: Ullstein, Munich 2000, ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 89.
  2. ^ The Beatles Anthology. P. 241.
  3. ↑ “Fifth Beatle” Neil Aspinall is dead . In: Spiegel Online , March 24, 2008.
personal data
SURNAME Aspinall, Neil
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British event technician, musician and managing director
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1941
PLACE OF BIRTH Prestatyn , Wales
DATE OF DEATH March 24, 2008
Place of death New York , USA