布莱恩·爱普斯坦

生平

生平最伟大的作品莫过于披头士乐队，他同时也负责其他音乐家的事务，包括盖瑞与前导者合唱团、Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas、绮拉·布蕾克以及The Remo Four。他的经纪公司则根据他的家族音乐事业NEMS（North End Music Stores，北角音乐店），命名为NEMS Enterprises。

爱泼斯坦曾付费供披头士合唱团在迪卡唱片公司的录音室录制Demo，又在迪卡无意与披头士签约后，说服知名唱片制作人乔治·马丁试听乐团的作品。一反先前其他英国唱片公司的态度，爱泼斯坦随后获得马丁一只代表EMI子公司帕洛风唱片的唱片合约。马丁后对此表示，由于爱泼斯坦锲而不舍的热情，以及他对乐团有朝一日能扬名国际的把握，使他最终签下了披头士。

1967年8月，爱泼斯坦因服食过量药物死于伦敦家中，终年32岁。披头士乐队早年的成就被归功于爱泼斯坦的管理与做事风格。保罗·麦卡特尼曾如此形容爱泼斯坦：“如果有人能成为披头士第五位成员，那便是布赖恩。”

Brian Samuel Epstein ( EP-styne; 19 September 1934 – 27 August 1967) was an English band manager and music entrepreneur who managed the Beatles from 1961 until his death in 1967.

Epstein was born into a family of successful retailers in Liverpool, who put him in charge of their music shop, where he displayed a gift for talent-spotting. He first met the Beatles in 1961 at a lunchtime concert at Liverpool's Cavern Club. Although he had no experience of artist management, Epstein put them under contract and insisted that they abandon their scruffy image in favour of a new clean-cut style. He also attempted to get the Beatles a recording contract, eventually securing a deal with EMI's Parlophone label.

Within months, the Beatles were international stars. Some of Epstein's other young discoveries had also prospered under his management. They included Gerry and the Pacemakers, Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, Tommy Quickly, Cilla Black and The Big Three. In 1967, he died of a combined alcohol and barbiturate overdose, ruled as accidental, at the age of 32.

Ancestry

Epstein's grandfather, Isaac Epstein, was Lithuanian-Jewish. He arrived in Britain in the 1890s at the age of eighteen, from what was then part of the Russian Empire. His grandmother, Dinah, was the daughter of Joseph, a draper, and Esther Hyman, who had emigrated from Russia to Britain circa 1871/72 with their eldest son, Jacob. The Hymans had six other children.

Early life

Brian Epstein was born on 19 September 1934 at 4 Rodney Street, Liverpool. Harry and Queenie had a second son, Clive, 22 months later. During World War II the Epsteins moved to Southport, where two schools expelled Epstein for laziness and poor performance, but the family returned to Liverpool in 1945. The Epsteins lived at 197 Queens Drive, Childwall in Liverpool, and remained there for the next 30 years.……

The Beatles

Epstein first noticed the Beatles in issues of Mersey Beat and on numerous posters around Liverpool created by his commercial artist associate Tony Booth, before he asked Mersey Beat editor Bill Harry who they were. Harry had previously convinced Epstein to sell the magazine at NEMS, with the Beatles featured on the front page of its second issue.……

Business dealings

Epstein once offered all four Beatles a fixed wage of £50 a week for life (equivalent to £1,000 in 2025). Harrison remembered that he was earning £25 a week at the time (equivalent to £500 in 2025), which was more than the £10 a week that his father was earning (equivalent to £200 in 2025). The group declined Epstein's offer, believing that they were worth much more than £50 a week.

Personal life

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 served as best man and paid for the couple's celebratory lunch afterwards.……

Sexual orientation

Epstein's homosexuality was not publicly known until some years after his death, although it had been an open secret among his friends and business associates.……

Death

After his father died in July 1967, Epstein sat shiva, the traditional week of mourning, in Liverpool, having just come out of the Priory Clinic where he had been trying to cure his acute insomnia and amphetamine addiction.……

Legacy

Epstein was upset that he was not honoured along with Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, and Starr when they received the MBE in 1965, though Harrison once said that the MBE stood for "Mister Brian Epstein".……