The Beatles right-hand man steps down as Apple Corps CEO
Neil Aspinall, the Beatles' right-hand man since 1961, has stepped down as the managing director of their joint company Apple Corps. Yesterday (April 10th) Apple Corps issued a press release announcing that Jeff Jones has become the company's new chief executive officer.
Jones, a longtime music industry veteran, left his position as executive vice president of Legacy Recordings/Sony BMG Catalog Worldwide, where he has been since 1995. Jones is best known for revamping the Columbia label's back catalogue -- including the works of such seminal '60s acts as Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and the Byrds.
Jones issued a statement about joining the Beatles' team, saying that, "The opportunity to head up Apple Corps Ltd is a dream come true! I have been a huge Beatles fan from the moment they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. The music the Beatles created remains as vital and relevant as the day it was recorded. The multiple opportunities to reach music lovers, both new and old, with the Beatles' spectacular body of work makes this position incredibly challenging and exciting."
In the statement announcing his replacement, Aspinall was described as playing "an indispensable role for the four. He was there since the inception of the band in Liverpool and has meant so much to the Beatles' family for all these years and still does. However, he has decided to move on. Apple as a whole, and each member of this company, wishes him great success in whatever endeavor he chooses to pursue in the future."
Aspinall was the last of the Beatles' hometown inner circle to still be employed by them. There has been no official word as to why Aspinall has stepped down. Coincidentally, the news of Aspinall's departure comes 37 years to the day after Paul McCartney's announcement that he was leaving the Beatles.
McCartney's former press agent Geoff Baker, who also did publicity for the group in the 1990's, told The Associated Press that, "This is astonishing news. Neil was the fifth Beatle and the architect of all the Beatles' success over the past 15 or 20 years. I can't see how the Beatles' legacy will be looked after as well without him, and I'm amazed that Paul and Ringo (Starr) are letting this happen."
Beatlefan magazine's publisher Bill King helped put the change into perspective by saying that, "Since Aspinall has been a member of the Beatles' inner circle so long, it's sad to see him moving on, but perhaps this will lead to more timely releases on Apple's part. Fans have become frustrated by how long it has taken Apple to react to what the market needs and wants, and how oblivious they've been to what the Beatles' longtime fan base wants."
King added that, "Hopefully Jeff Jones, with his record label background, will push Apple's owners/directors to get all these many projects off the back burners."
About Neil Aspinall:
Neil Aspinall, who is now 64, first became friends with Paul McCartney and George Harrison in grade school. In 1961, at the suggestion of original drummer Pete Best, he became the Beatles' driver and road manager. Aspinall, who was nicknamed "Nell" by John Lennon and jokingly called "Mr. X" by McCartney, traveled with the group on every tour, working out logistics and security during the height of Beatlemania.
Aspinall is one of the few people to have also attended nearly every recording session by the group and was the group's closest friend and confidante. When the band started their company Apple during the spring of 1967, Aspinall's role within the Beatles' organization grew even larger.
By the time of Apple's official launch the next year, Aspinall was overseeing many key operations. After Apple manager Allen Klein's four-year tenure with the band ended in early 1973, Aspinall took over the group's affairs and over the next 25 years sorted out the Beatles' tremendous tangle of lawsuits -- both with outside parties and within the band itself.
In 1971 Aspinall began assembling a documentary on the band, called The Long And Winding Road, which eventually grew in to the mammoth 1995 series The Beatles Anthology, which he executive produced. Aspinall was responsible for such recent Beatles successes as the Live At The BBC collection and the multi-platinum Beatles 1 album, and was a key player in settling the band's longtime feud with Apple Computers earlier this year.
Aspinall is also tied into the Beatles' extended circle by blood. Aspinall was a boarder of Pete Best's family in the early '60s, and had an affair with Best's mother Mona, who was 20 years his senior. The relationship resulted in a son, Roag Best, who was born in July 1962. Upon Pete Best's firing from the Beatles in August 1962, Aspinall was about to quit the group out of allegiance to the family, but Pete himself talked him into keeping the job. Aspinall and Mona Best were involved for several more years.
Aspinall married his wife Suzy Ornstein in 1968. They have four children. His son Roag Best currently drums with half-brother Pete Best in the Pete Best Band.
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Jones, a longtime music industry veteran, left his position as executive vice president of Legacy Recordings/Sony BMG Catalog Worldwide, where he has been since 1995. Jones is best known for revamping the Columbia label's back catalogue -- including the works of such seminal '60s acts as Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and the Byrds.
Jones issued a statement about joining the Beatles' team, saying that, "The opportunity to head up Apple Corps Ltd is a dream come true! I have been a huge Beatles fan from the moment they appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. The music the Beatles created remains as vital and relevant as the day it was recorded. The multiple opportunities to reach music lovers, both new and old, with the Beatles' spectacular body of work makes this position incredibly challenging and exciting."
In the statement announcing his replacement, Aspinall was described as playing "an indispensable role for the four. He was there since the inception of the band in Liverpool and has meant so much to the Beatles' family for all these years and still does. However, he has decided to move on. Apple as a whole, and each member of this company, wishes him great success in whatever endeavor he chooses to pursue in the future."
Aspinall was the last of the Beatles' hometown inner circle to still be employed by them. There has been no official word as to why Aspinall has stepped down. Coincidentally, the news of Aspinall's departure comes 37 years to the day after Paul McCartney's announcement that he was leaving the Beatles.
McCartney's former press agent Geoff Baker, who also did publicity for the group in the 1990's, told The Associated Press that, "This is astonishing news. Neil was the fifth Beatle and the architect of all the Beatles' success over the past 15 or 20 years. I can't see how the Beatles' legacy will be looked after as well without him, and I'm amazed that Paul and Ringo (Starr) are letting this happen."
Beatlefan magazine's publisher Bill King helped put the change into perspective by saying that, "Since Aspinall has been a member of the Beatles' inner circle so long, it's sad to see him moving on, but perhaps this will lead to more timely releases on Apple's part. Fans have become frustrated by how long it has taken Apple to react to what the market needs and wants, and how oblivious they've been to what the Beatles' longtime fan base wants."
King added that, "Hopefully Jeff Jones, with his record label background, will push Apple's owners/directors to get all these many projects off the back burners."
About Neil Aspinall:
Neil Aspinall, who is now 64, first became friends with Paul McCartney and George Harrison in grade school. In 1961, at the suggestion of original drummer Pete Best, he became the Beatles' driver and road manager. Aspinall, who was nicknamed "Nell" by John Lennon and jokingly called "Mr. X" by McCartney, traveled with the group on every tour, working out logistics and security during the height of Beatlemania.
Aspinall is one of the few people to have also attended nearly every recording session by the group and was the group's closest friend and confidante. When the band started their company Apple during the spring of 1967, Aspinall's role within the Beatles' organization grew even larger.
By the time of Apple's official launch the next year, Aspinall was overseeing many key operations. After Apple manager Allen Klein's four-year tenure with the band ended in early 1973, Aspinall took over the group's affairs and over the next 25 years sorted out the Beatles' tremendous tangle of lawsuits -- both with outside parties and within the band itself.
In 1971 Aspinall began assembling a documentary on the band, called The Long And Winding Road, which eventually grew in to the mammoth 1995 series The Beatles Anthology, which he executive produced. Aspinall was responsible for such recent Beatles successes as the Live At The BBC collection and the multi-platinum Beatles 1 album, and was a key player in settling the band's longtime feud with Apple Computers earlier this year.
Aspinall is also tied into the Beatles' extended circle by blood. Aspinall was a boarder of Pete Best's family in the early '60s, and had an affair with Best's mother Mona, who was 20 years his senior. The relationship resulted in a son, Roag Best, who was born in July 1962. Upon Pete Best's firing from the Beatles in August 1962, Aspinall was about to quit the group out of allegiance to the family, but Pete himself talked him into keeping the job. Aspinall and Mona Best were involved for several more years.
Aspinall married his wife Suzy Ornstein in 1968. They have four children. His son Roag Best currently drums with half-brother Pete Best in the Pete Best Band.
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