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(3/24/08 updated 3:50 p.m. ET)
a.. Neil Aspinall passed away today at age 66, reports the Associated Press.
The Beatles announced his death in a statement issued jointly by Paul,
Ringo, Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono.
"As a loyal friend, confidant and chief executive, Neil's trusting
stewardship and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy for generations to
come. All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him but will always
retain the fondest memories of a great man."
a.. A statement from the family of Neil Aspinall sent to us by Geoff Baker:
Neil Aspinall, The Beatles' friend, guide and Apple mastermind, has died.
One of the great legends of the music business, Neil Aspinall, has died in
New York after a brief illness and a glorious life.
He was 66. His wife Suzy and his five children were with him as he passed
over.
Neil Aspinall was the man who was closer to all of The Beatles than
anyone. Under his creative and caring direction, The Beatles business
phenomenon and its trademark Apple transcended far beyond the Sixties.
He was the Beatles' friend who became their roadie who became the chief of
their empire and the unassuming, modernising mastermind behind the band's
enduring appeal and influence for four generations.
Although he would deny it, he was long considered to be "the real Fifth
Beatle" by the music and entertainment industries which for 40 years revered
and respected him as one of the wisest men in the record business.
Today Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr paid tribute to "a loyal friend
and a great man".
In a statement on behalf of Paul, Ringo, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrison,
Apple Corps said today: "The Beatles and the entire Apple Corps family, both
past and present, wish to extend their greatest sympathy to the family of
Neil Aspinall. As a loyal friend, confidant and chief executive, Neil's
trusting stewardship and guidance has left a far-reaching legacy for
generations to come. All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him
but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man".
Neil was born in October 1941 to Liverpool parents evacuated to Prestatyn,
North Wales. He was the Liverpool schoolboy who became pals with Paul
McCartney and George Harrison at the Liverpool Institute for Boys, where
together they formed the 'Mad Lad' gang, sharing cigarettes behind the
sheds, "doing ridiculous things together" and, as teenagers, adding John
Lennon to the Mad Lads.
Although he studied for and briefly became an accountant, when his friends
later formed The Beatles with Pete Best and then Ringo Starr, Neil joined
the gang that was to change the world. Always he was right at their side; as
their first road manager and driver of their old Commer van, then as The
Beatles' minder, spotlight operator, confidante, fixer, personal assistant
and their mate.
In a rare interview, Neil once said "People used to say to me then 'What
do you do?' I'd stopped being an accountant or pretending to be one by this
time and I said 'I drive the band around' and they'd say 'Yeah - I know
that, but what do you do for a living?' Two years later, the same people
were saying 'You lucky git, Neil'".
In 1964 during the making of The Beatles movie 'A Hard Day's Night', Neil
met his future wife Suzy. They were married in 1968. Neil was a very proud
father and grandfather. ,
Following the death of The Beatles manager Brian Epstein in 1967, Neil was
asked by the band to take over the management of their company Apple Corps
when it was founded in 1968. Typically, he agreed on condition that he would
manage the corporation "only until they found somebody else". He remained
the chief of Apple Corps until last year.
Shrewd, innovative and totally-trusted, Neil was the unseen architect of
the reinvention of the post-Sixties Beatles, first with The Beatles At The
BBC cd in the mid-90s, followed by the record-breaking Beatles Anthology and
Beatles 1 albums.
As the keeper of The Beatles flame and protector of their legend, it was
Neil who quietly acquired for Apple the Beatles rights back to countless
photographs and film footage that enabled the making of the Grammy-winning
Beatles Anthology TV and video series and the band's celebrated
autobiography.
It was also Neil who masterminded the modern merchandising of The Beatles,
notably with the relaunch of The Beatles Yellow Submarine film and CD,
making it a bigger success in the 90s than it had originally been in the
Sixties. From Let It Be Naked to The Beatles' recent Cirque du Soleil show
hit Love, to every Beatles business success since the band broke up in 1970,
Neil Aspinall steered the ship - and the submarine - always ensuring the
Beatles' strong bond with Liverpool in every venture.
It has been reported that during the last 20 years of Neil's time at the
helm of Apple Corps, The Beatles sold in excess of 70 million albums.
Although modest in any claim of his achievements, his quick and dry wit
was amused by a comment made in The Observer newspaper during the
hugely-successful 1995-96 Beatles Anthology project. The multi-media
project, of which Neil was executive producer, once again cemented the
Sixties band's dominance of the music scene around the world - "the only
band to have become bigger than The Beatles is The Beatles", commented The
Observer on the Anthology-led resurgence of Fab.
His friend, Apple aide and ABC TV producer David Saltz said today: "Neil
was the most brilliant and inspirational guy that everybody just gravitated
around; he had an amazing mind and he was a very groovy guy".
Neil Aspinall's wise, commonsense approach to what he dubbed "not the
music business but the Beatles business" commanded great affection and
respect in all who had the privilege of working with him but he was an
intensely-private and naturally modest man in both his professional and
personal lives, never taking a bow himself. Neil avoided all personal
publicity and always refused requests for interviews, pointing the credit to
the band who made the records.
In The Beatles Anthology Neil said: "My happiest memories of being with
the band were some of the laughs that we had backstage and in dressing rooms
when nobody else was around and we were swapping jokes together. No big
deal, really. It was those little personal things that are my favourite
moments. We always had a laugh."
Besides running Apple Corps, Neil created Standby Films with Suzy - makers
of the acclaimed 1999 Jimi Hendrix movie, Hendrix: Band Of Gypsys. Neil was
also one of the co-founders of Paul McCartney's performing arts university
LIPA, now housed in the building of their old school.
Few outside Neil's circle knew of his own talent as a wry artist with
coloured inks - but now an exhibition of his previously-never-before-seen
work is to be held on a date to be announced.
Neil Aspinall fell ill to lung cancer two months ago. He has been under
care at the Sloan-Kettering hospital in New York.
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