Pattie Boyd Said Beatles Manager Brian Epstein Made the Band More Sophisticated
In 1961, Brian Epstein met the self-managed and recording contract-less Beatles. After hearing buzz about the group, Epstein went to see the band for himself. While they were a bit rough around the edges, Epstein saw the group’s appeal and potential. He signed on as their manager and helped skyrocket their career as one of the world’s biggest bands. He also helped bring a bit more polish into their daily lives. According to George Harrison’s first wife, Pattie Boyd, Epstein made the band more sophisticated.
The Beatles met Brian Epstein in 1961
In the early 1960s, Epstein was working at his family’s shop when he first began to hear about The Beatles. Curious, he went to one of their performances and immediately took note of their talent and charm.
“I was immediately struck by their music, their beat and their sense of humor on stage,” he said, per Biography. “And even afterward, when I met them, I was struck again by their personal charm and it was there that it all started.”
Though he didn’t have experience as a manager, he convinced the group to hire him. He held a firm belief that the rest of the world would become enamored with the band as he had. With Epstein’s help, they became one of the biggest musical acts in the world.
George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd said he made the band more sophisticated
According to Boyd, Epstein “made everything possible for us; everything glorious.” She explained that he introduced the band to luxuries like fine wine.
“George wasn’t a wine drinker until he arrived in London, where Brian introduced him to it,” she wrote in the book Wonderful Tonight. “When we went to places like Annabel’s I would write down the names of some of the wines Brian ordered, which we had enjoyed, like Châteauneuf-du-Pape, Clos de Vougeot, and Nuits-St.-Georges.”
She said that while Epstein grew up in the same place as The Beatles, he was more sophisticated and passed this on to the band. It also helped that he was a bit older than the bandmembers.
“Brian changed things for all of the Beatles, taught them more sophisticated ways,” Boyd wrote. “He came from Liverpool too, but a smart area — his parents owned a well-established furniture shop in which he had opened a music department, called NEMS, North End Music Store — and had been privately educated. He was also older than they were — twenty-seven when he started managing them — and more experienced in the ways of the world.”
The Beatles had a difficult time managing themselves after Brian Epstein died
In 1967, Epstein died of a drug overdose at the age of 33. The band had relied on Epstein for everything up until that point and worried that they wouldn’t be able to manage themselves.
“I knew that we were in trouble then,” John Lennon said per History, adding, “I didn’t really have any misconceptions about our ability to do anything other than play music. I was scared.'”
The band fought more after Epstein’s death and felt generally rudderless. They remained together for a further three years before disbanding in 1970.
