The Beatles' former manager has revealed how he sold the band for £9 before their career took off. Allan Williams was the boss of the Fab Four for three years before he handed them over to Brian Epstein in 1962, who took them onto to score their first chart within a year. The 81-year-old said he ...
The Beatles‘ former manager has revealed how he sold the band for £9 before their career took off.
Allan Williams was the boss of the Fab Four for three years before he handed them over to Brian Epstein in 1962, who took them onto to score their first chart within a year.
The 81-year-old said he fell out with the band after they failed to pay him back £9 – the equivalent of £250 today – as part of a 15 per cent commission payment for their early Hamburg gigs where they first made their name, reports The Daily Record.
Williams said: “I still lose sleep over it 50 years later. No-one could have guessed The Beatles would become so famous.”
He added: “At that time there were 300 groups in Liverpool, who were as good or better than The Beatles. And I didn’t even get my £9.”
Their former manager said he turned to drink after he saw the four-piece rise to global stardom. “I remember watching them doing a performance before the Queen about a year later and throwing a cushion at the TV,” he explained.
“But I no longer have regrets. I am glad to have been there in the 60s at the start of it all.”
A handwritten letter written by Paul McCartney inviting a mystery drummer to audition for the band is set to be auctioned off next month.
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