Allan Williams, the original manager of The Beatles, has passed away at the age of 86.
Williams met John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Stu Sutcliffe at the Jacaranda, his Liverpool music club in 1958. In 1960, Williams gave The Beatles (with the addition of Pete Best on drums) at the Jacaranda and other clubs in Liverpool including The Cavern Club. Williams also arranged for The Beatles to be booked in Hamburg, West Germany. It was there The Beatles tightened their sound and began to attract attention. However, The Beatles fell out with Williams over money (what else?).In 1962, Williams practically gave away The Beatles to Brian Epstein and the rest. Add Ringo Starr and the rest, as they say, was history.
In later years, Williams was a fixture at Beatles conventions around the world. However, in Liverpool, he was viewed with a certain amount of derision as this 1992 Globe & Mail profile of Williams attests. Even his obit in The Guardian tends to downplay his role casting him merely as the man who drove The Beatles to Hamburg. Perhaps he wasn't the one who brought them stardom, but he was considerably more than a van driver.
We all get our start somewhere and for The Beatles that start began with Allan Williams.
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