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Notorius Manager Klein Passes |
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Written by KZYR
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Monday, 06 July 2009 |
He was accused of breaking up the Beatles and stealing somgs from the Rolling Stones, the infamous Allen Klein dies at age 77.
This report filed by Billboard.com
During a career spanning more than 50 years, the New Jersey-born
accountant enjoyed a reputation as a savvy gangster-like figure.
His ruthless business practices were reviled by many, but he also
earned grudging respect for bullying labels into giving rich deals
to his clients.
"Don't talk to me about ethics," he told Playboy magazine in 1971.
"Every man makes his own. It's like a war. You choose your side
early and from then on, you're being shot at. The man you beat is
likely to call you unethical. So what?"
It did not hurt his reputation when he was sentenced to two months
in prison in 1979 for tax evasion.
He once said John Lennon hired him to protect his interest in the
Beatles because he and wife Yoko Ono wanted "a real shark --
someone to keep the other sharks away."
His company, ABKCO Music & Records, is one of the biggest
independent labels in an industry controlled by multinational
corporations. The spokesman said it would remain family-controlled.
Two of Klein's three adult children work at the company, including
son Jody who runs ABKCO. (The acronym stands for Allen and Betty
Klein Co., Betty being his wife.)
Its assets include recordings by the Rolling Stones, the Animals,
Herman's Hermits, Bobby Womack, the Kinks, Chubby Checker, Bobby
Rydell and many others.
The publishing arm boasts more than 2,000 copyrights including
compositions by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling
Stones, Cooke, Womack, Ray Davies of the Kinks and Pete Townshend
of the Who.
SAM COOKE TO BEATLES
Klein broke into the music business by auditing record labels on
behalf of clients including Bobby Darin and Connie Francis. When he
found they were owed royalties, he took half of the difference as a
fee.
His first big management client was Sam Cooke, for whom he
negotiated a lucrative recording deal in 1963 that gave the soul
star unprecedented control over his own catalog.
Klein, who was already representing "British Invasion" artists such
as the Animals, Dave Clark Five and Herman's Hermits, set his
sights on the Rolling Stones, who were laboring under an onerous
deal.
He renegotiated their pact in 1965, and ended up managing the group
for about five years -- taking a 20 percent fee.
The Stones eventually tired of Klein. But the only way to break
free of him was to give up the rights to their master recordings
and rights to such timeless tunes as "(I Can't Get No)
Satisfaction" and "Jumpin' Jack Flash."
"In some ways Allen Klein was very much ahead of his time," Jagger
said in the 1989 Stones documentary "25x5." "We lasted about three
or four years with him, really, though the ramifications of that
still continue to this day."
Richards was more philosophical, describing their experience with
Klein as "the price of an education."
By then, Klein was focused on the ultimate prize, the Beatles. He
offered his help to Lennon in early 1969, when the Fab Four's
idealistic Apple Corps. label was fast draining the fractured
group's coffers.
George Harrison and Ringo Starr also warmed to his pitch, but Paul
McCartney was fiercely opposed. He preferred the expertise of his
father-in-law, high-powered New York attorney Lee Eastman.
Amid a series of complex maneuverings that also have consequences
to this day, Klein unsuccessfully tried to secure control of the
Beatles' copyrights on behalf of the group. Michael Jackson ended
up with the rights 16 years later.
Klein did score a rich recording deal for the Beatles, but
relations within the group were past frayed, and it dissolved in
1970.
That year, Harrison "honored" Klein in a rough version of his song
"Beware of Darkness" with the line "beware of ABKCO." "It might
have ended up being prophetic. But at the time it was just a little
joke," Harrison told Reuters in 2000.
Indeed, Harrison and Klein reunited in 1971 to put on the all-star
Concert for Bangladesh shows at Madison Square Garden in New York.
It took a decade for the funds to reach the refugees because of
complex tax problems.
In addition to his children and wife, Klein is survived by his
longtime girlfriend Iris Keitel, an ABKCO executive. His funeral
will take place in New York on Tuesday.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 06 July 2009 )
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