Brian Samuel Epstein was an English music entrepreneur, and is best known for being the manager of The Beatles up until his death. He also managed several other musical artists such as Gerry & the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Cilla Black, The Remo Four & The Cyrkle. His management company was named NEMS Enterprises after his family's music stores, also called NEMS (North End Music Store).
Background
Epstein was born on 19 September 1934, in Rodney Street, Liverpool, England. Harry and Queenie - his parents, also had another son, Clive, who was born 22 months after his older brother. During World War II, the Epsteins moved to Southport—where two schools expelled Epstein for laziness and poor performance—but returned to Liverpool in 1945. The Epsteins lived at 197 Queens Drive, Childwall, in Liverpool, living there for 30 years.
Throughout Epstein's life he was known to be kind and caring to his family, friends of his family, and business colleagues. When Lennon married Cynthia Powell, on 23 August 1962, Epstein attended the wedding as the best man and paid for their celebration lunch afterwards. During Cynthia's pregnancy, Epstein paid for a private room in a hospital and offered the Lennons the sole use of his flat on Falkner Street when they needed somewhere to live. He also agreed to be the godfather to Lennon's son Julian.
Education
His parents had moved him from one boarding school to another, including Clayesmore School in Dorset
14-year-old Epstein spent two years at Wrekin College in Shropshire, where he was taught the violin.
Career
Shortly before his 16th birthday, he sent a long letter to his father, explaining that he wanted to become a dress designer, but Harry Epstein was adamantly opposed to this idea, and his son finally had to "report for duty" at the family's furniture shop. After serving an apprenticeship for six months for another company, he started work for his family's business on a £5 per week wage, and was congratulated on the first day of work after selling a £12 dining room table to a woman who had originally wanted to buy a mirror.
In December 1952, Epstein was drafted as a data entry clerk into the Royal Army Service Corps, and was posted to the Albany Street Barracks near Regent's Park, in London, where he was often reprimanded for not picking up his army pay. After returning to Liverpool Epstein was put in charge of Clarendon Furnishing shop in Hoylake, and in 1955 was made a director of NEMS. In September 1956, he took a trip to London to meet a friend, but after being there for only one day, he was robbed of his passport, birth certificate, chequebook, wristwatch, and all the money he had on him. As he did not want his parents to find out, he worked as a department store clerk until he had earned enough money to buy a train ticket back to Liverpool. Back in Liverpool, he confessed his homosexuality to a psychiatrist—a friend of the Epstein family—who suggested to Harry Epstein that his son should leave Liverpool as soon as possible. During the sessions Epstein revealed his ambition of becoming an actor, so his parents allowed him go to London to study.
After saying the he "felt like an old man at the age of 21", Epstein attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London. His RADA classmates included actors Susannah York, Albert Finney and Peter O'Toole, but Epstein dropped out after the third term, saying that he had become "too much of a businessman to enjoy being a student, and I didn't like being a student at all." In 1964, he revealed that he would have liked to produce a theatre play, or even act, "in something by Chekov", or a "straight drama" by John Osborne.
Back in Liverpool, his father put his son in charge of the record department of the newly-opened NEMS music store on Great Charlotte Street. Epstein worked "day and night" at the store to make it a success, and it became one of the biggest musical retail outlets in the North of England. The Epsteins opened a second store at 12–14 Whitechapel, and Epstein was put in charge of the entire operation. Epstein often walked across the road to the Lewis's department store (which also had a music section) where Peter Brown was employed. He watched Brown's sales technique and was impressed enough to lure Brown to work for NEMS with the offer of a higher salary and a commission on sales. On 3 August 1961, Epstein started a regular music column in the Mersey Beat magazine, called 'Record Releases by Brian Epstein of NEMS'.
In a meeting with the group at NEMS on 3 December 1961, Epstein proposed the idea of managing them. Lennon, Harrison and Pete Best arrived late for the meeting in the afternoon at 4 pm—they had been drinking at the Grapes pub in Mathew Street—but McCartney was not with them, because, as Harrison explained, he had just got up and was "taking a bath". Epstein was upset at this, but was placated by Harrison jokingly saying, "He may be late, but he'll be very clean." Lennon had invited Wooler to be at the meeting so he could later give his opinion of Epstein, but introduced him by saying, "This is me dad". Epstein was reticent throughout the short meeting, only asking if they had a manager (to which they replied in the negative) and culminating with, "It seems to me that with everything going on, someone ought to be looking after you". Epstein had further meetings with the group on 6 December and 10 December 1961. On 13 December 1961, after Epstein's invitation, Mike Smith of Decca records travelled from London to Liverpool to watch the group at the Cavern Club, which led to an audition in London on 1 January 1962 (see The Decca Audition).
Being under the age of 21, McCartney, Harrison and Best had to have the legal consent of their parents to enter into a contract. Best and his mother (Mona Best, owner of The Casbah Coffee Club) were impressed with Epstein because of his office, expensive watch, suits and large car, as were the other Beatles, and Best’s mother thought Epstein "could be good for them [The Beatles]". McCartney's father was sceptical about a Jewish manager, and warned his son to be careful about finances. Lennon's guardian, Mimi Smith, refused at first, believing that Epstein had enough money to drop the group after a few months when something else came along that interested him, but as Lennon had just turned twenty-one, his Aunt's advice could be ignored.
The Beatles finally signed a five-year contract with Epstein on 24 January 1962, which gave Epstein 25 per cent of their gross income. The Beatles would then share any income after various expenses had been deducted. Epstein then formed the management company NEMS Enterprises, telling his parents that managing The Beatles was only a part-time occupation, and would never interfere with the family business. The Beatles signed Epstein's first management contract, but Epstein did not sign it himself, although English law would have enforced the contract through the doctrine of part performance. He later told Taylor, "Well, if they ever want to tear it up, they can hold me but I can't hold them". The contract stated that Epstein would receive a management commission of 25% per cent of their gross income, after a certain financial threshold had been reached. The Beatles argued for a smaller percentage, but Epstein pointed out that he had been paying their expenses for months, without receiving anything in return. On 1 October 1962, four days before the release of "Love Me Do", Epstein signed Lennon and McCartney to a three-year NEMS publishing contract.
Although Epstein had had no prior experience of artist management, he had a strong influence on their early dress-code and attitude on stage. When Epstein discovered the band, they wore blue jeans and leather jackets, performing at rowdy rock 'n' roll shows where they would stop and start songs when they felt like it, or when an audience member requested a certain song. Epstein encouraged them to wear suits and ties; insisted that they stop swearing, smoking, drinking or eating onstage; and also suggested the famous synchronised bow at the end of their performances. McCartney was the first to agree with Epstein's ideas, believing it was, in part, due to Epstein's RADA training. Epstein explained that the process from leather and jeans to suits was a slower process: "I encouraged them, at first, to get out of the leather jackets and jeans, and I wouldn't allow them to appear in jeans after a short time, and then, after that step, I got them to wear sweaters on stage, and then, very reluctantly, eventually, suits." The collarless suits the group started wearing were of German design (they had seen them in Hamburg), which Epstein approved of, saying: "I thought it was an excellent design at the time."
Lennon was against the idea of wearing suits and ties, but later said, "I'll wear a suit. I'll wear a bloody balloon if somebody's going to pay me". Epstein began seeking publicity by "charming and smarming ... the newspaper people", as Lennon said in 1972. According to McCartney, "The gigs went up in stature and though the pay went up only a little bit, it did go up", and that the band was "now playing better places". Another improvement Epstein made was that the group was now far more organised, having a single concert diary in which to record bookings, rather than using whoever's diary was to hand. Although usually calling him Mr Epstein, or Brian, in interviews, the group abbreviated his name to "Eppy" or "Bri" in private, which they did for anyone connected to them that were considered friends.
Epstein once offered the individual Beatles a fixed wage of £50-a-week for life, instead of receiving money from record sales. Harrison remembered that he was earning £25 a week at the time—which was more than the £10 a week his father was earning—but the group declined Epstein's offer, as they thought that they were worth much more than £50-a-week.
McCartney had been taking a much more active interest in NEMS' finances, as the group were becoming aware that some artists with more ruthless managers—such as the Rolling Stones under Allen Klein—claimed to be receiving more commercially advantageous terms. After Epstein's death his brother, Clive, took over the control of NEMS; being the second largest shareholder of the company. Stigwood then tried to take over the management of NEMS, but all four Beatles vehemently opposed him, with Lennon saying, "We don't know you. Why would we do this?"
McCartney admitted that they signed all the contracts Epstein presented to them without reading them first, but when Lennon was asked for a comment about Epstein's business dealings after Epstein’s death, he said, "Well, he was alright. I've found out since, of course, that he wasn't quite as honest to us as he made out". Many other interviews with Lennon report him as being very loyal to Epstein, however, even saying, "We had complete faith in him when he was running us. To us, he was the expert". When asked, in 1964, about his own standing as a manager or businessman, Epstein replied, "Fair, as a businessman, fair. I've got a business background, and probably, a reasonable business brain. I'm no, sort of, genius [laughter]." Asked about his defects, Epstein said, "I'm probably too conscious of ideas, rather than finance behind ideas."