Highlights
- The Beatles had a bitter feud with their former manager Allen Klein.
- Klein sought to fire longtime employees of The Beatles in order to make more money.
- The tensions between McCartney and Klein continued even after the band split.
Throughout modern music history, there have only been a handful of acts that have stood out as all-time greats. Arguably the most successful rock band in history, there is no denying that The Beatles is one of those legendary acts.
Thanks to all the success that they enjoyed, every member of The Beatles became incredibly rich and famous. On top of the band’s music going down in history, stories of the members fighting have also become legendary. In fact, Paul McCartney even publicly feuded with the band’s former manager, Allen Klein.
Who Was The Controversial Beatles Manager Allen Klein?
Since The Beatles are one of the most famous bands in history, generations of music fans know all four members by name. While Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr have all gone down in history, other people helped by The Beatles become so popular.
Over the years, there have been several people who’ve been called the so-called “fifth Beatle”. Some of those people include producer George Martin, public relations manager Derk Taylor, and road manager Neil Aspinall. Stuart Sutcliffe, Pete Best, Beatles manager Brian Epstein, and others have also been labeled the “fifth Beatle”.
In most cases, the people who had a huge impact on The Beatles’ legacy were on good terms with the members of the band. However, there is a key figure in the band’s history who got into a bitter battle with Paul McCartney, Allen Klein.
In 1967, The Beatles’ famous manager Brian Epstein took his final breath. After Epstein passed away, The Beatles had to figure out who would take over their business affairs. After Allen Klein was suggested by Lennon and supported by Harrison and Starr, he took over the role.
Before Klein became associated with The Beatles, he’d already worked with other huge bands like The Rolling Stones. As a manager, Klein became known for securing huge money deals for his clients. Despite that reputation, McCartney never wanted to work with Klein.
Why Did Paul McCartney And The Beatles Get Rid Of Allen Klein?
In Music Radar’s article about McCartney and Klein, they quote the Beatles singer talking about why he never trusted Klein. Based on McCartney’s past statements, he felt Klein could ruin everything The Beatles built together.
“Nowadays, people get it, but at the time I think the others felt they were the ones being hurt by my actions. Allen Klein already had a history with The Rolling Stones. I just thought, ‘Oy oy oy, this guy has got such a bad reputation.’ And good old John says, ‘If he’s that badly talked about, he can’t be all bad.’”
McCartney continued, “John had this kind of distorted thinking which was amusing sometimes. But not when someone was going to take everything that John, George [Harrison], Ringo [Starr], and I owned, and really worked hard to get.”
“So I stood up as the sensible one and said, ‘This is not good.’ Klein wanted 20%, and I said, ‘Tell him he can have 10% if you have to go with him.’” McCartney continued, “‘Oh, no, no, no,’ they came back. ‘No he wants 20.’ “It seemed to me they were all just f**king out of it and making no attempt to do anything sensible.”
According to Far Out Magazine, Paul McCartney’s belief that Allen Klein shouldn’t be involved with The Beatles only became cemented once the band signed with him. “When Paul was outvoted, and Klein made his way into the heart of The Beatles’ world, McCartney quickly realized that, in contrast to Epstein, he didn’t care about the wellbeing of his clients.”
The magazine also claimed that Klein sought to fire many people who’d worked with The Beatles for years, so he could make more money. Klein even reportedly tried to fire The Beatles’ beloved road manager Neil Aspinall, but every member of the band refused to let that happen.
In Music Radar’s aforementioned article about McCartney and Klein, they listed another reason why tensions continued for years. According to McCartney, Klein played a role in a vicious song that was directed at the former Beatles singer.
During the height of the former bandmates feuding, Lennon released what would be called a diss track today about McCartney. According to McCartney, Klein played a role in the creation of the song, “How Do You Sleep?”
“John actually had Allen Klein and Yoko in the room suggesting lyrics during writing sessions,” read McCartney on Inside The Songs. “In the song How Do You Sleep, the line, ‘The only thing you did was Yesterday’, was apparently Allen Klein’s suggestion. And John said, ‘Hey, that’s great – put that in.’”
McCartney continued, “I can see the laughs doing it and I had to work very hard not to take it too seriously, but at the back of my mind, I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute! All I ever did was ‘Yesterday’?’
Did Paul McCartney And Allen Klein Resolve Their Feud?
After Paul McCartney and John Lennon went through that really rough patch, the two of them famously made up. During an appearance on The Howard Stern Show, McCartney spoke about the lovely note his friendship with Lennon ended on.
“I think we just realized, ‘Come on, guys. We love each other. What are we doing? We’re messing around.’” McCartney said, “And I ring John and I was baking bread and got quite good at it. So when I heard John was doing it, it was great! We could just talk about something so ordinary.”
McCartney continued, “There’s no threat or anything. It was just two guys talking about, ‘Well, I don’t know. Do you leave it overnight or what do you do?’. And someone says, ‘Yeah, I leave it overnight in a hot cupboard’ and you’d just be chatting. And it was really nice and I was so glad that we got back to that relationship that we’d always had when we were kids. We’d lived in each other’s pockets for so long that it was great to get back to that.”
On the other end, there is absolutely no indication that McCarntey and Klein ever were on good terms. In fact, McCartney’s former Beatles bandmates eventually seemed to realize McCartney was right.
Since The Beatles were so monumentally successful, they continued to have a manager after they broke up. Three years after the band split, the other three Beatles decided not to renew Klein’s contract.
In response, Klein sued The Beatles for a staggering $19 million which is the equivalent of more than $130 million in today’s money. Ultimately, the lawsuit was settled out of court with The Beatles paying Klein more than $4 million.
Source: NewsFinale
