September 23, 2024
The Beatles’ first manager Allan Williams dies, aged 86
1960: A photograph taken by John Lennon showing an early incarnation of the Beatles sitting in front of the inscription ‘Their Name Liveth For Evermore’, at the Arnhem War Memorial in the eastern Netherlands; (left to right) Beatles manager Allan Williams, his wife Beryl, Williams’ business partner and black Calypso singer Lord Woodbine, Stuart Sutcliffe, Paul McCartney, George Harrison (1943 – 2001) and Pete Best. (Photo by John Lennon/Keystone Features/Getty Images)
THE Beatles’ first manager, Allan Williams, has died at 86, it has been announced.
Williams took the budding musicians under his wing while they decorated and cleaned his Jacaranda Club in Liverpool.
The band were later driven to Hamburg in Germany in 1960 by Williams and they learned many of the skills that helped them to stardom.
The Jacaranda announced the death on Friday, writing on Facebook: “Today is one of the saddest days in our history.
“The Jacaranda’s original owner and the man who discovered The Beatles, Allan Williams, has sadly passed away at the age of 86.”
When the band first asked to play at the Jacaranda, Williams instead gave them jobs renovating the Slater Street venue.
Sir Paul described Williams in The Beatles Anthology as “a great guy, a really good motivator”.
Williams parted ways with the band – then comprising John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Stuart Sutcliffe and Pete Best – in 1961.
They signed with Brian Epstein the following January.
The Beatles Story exhibition said Williams’ role as their first booking agent and manager “helped shape the band in to what we see and know today”. news.sky.com
