Allen Klein Former Beatles Manager Dies - Page 3
A little more from the BBC News:
Music entrepreneur Allen Klein, blamed by many for contributing to the demise of The Beatles, has died in New York at 77 after suffering from Alzheimer's.In a career spanning five decades, Klein earned a reputation as a ruthless operator, extracting lucrative deals from labels for his clients.
In the mid-1960s, he managed The Rolling Stones for five years.
Later managing The Beatles, he tried and failed to secure control of copyrights on their behalf.
"Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, because I'm the biggest bastard in the valley"Allen Klein, parodying the 23rd Psalm. Though reviled by many, others admired his ability to negotiate with record labels.
"Don't talk to me about ethics," he once told Playboy magazine. "Every man makes his own. It's like a war."
Accountant at heart
"I never wanted to be a manager," Klein told The Star-Ledger of Newark in 2002. "It was going over the books that I loved. And I was good at it."
Allen Klein was born in Newark, New Jersey, on 18 December 1931 and spent several years in an orphanage after his mother's death during his infancy.
Later raised by a grandmother and an aunt, he served in the US Army before joining a Manhattan accounting firm, according to his company.
He started his own firm, which later became ABKCO, in the late 1950s.
His other clients in the music business including Sam Cooke, Bobby Darin and Herman's Hermits.
According to the Associated Press, he was reputed to be the basis for the slick manager Ron Decline played by John Belushi in the 1978 film The Rutles, as well as the inspiration for John Lennon's 1974 song Steel and Glass.
His funeral will take place in New York on Tuesday.
Klein's life story is the perfect example of, you can do whatever you want in life if you want it bad enough. But at what price?
In your push to make your dream a reality in life, one should realize along the way, that the way you live your life can greatly affect others. But I don't think Klein cared one way or the other how people perceived him.
This reminds of a quote from the movie Bronx Tale. When "Sunny" who was played by Chaz Palminteri was asked if he would rather be feared or loved, his answer was:
"That's a good question. It's nice to be both, but it is difficult...but if I had my choice, I would rather be feared. Fear lasts longer than love."
In my opinion, with Klein's soured reputation, it was obvious that he preferred to be feared rather than loved. One may wonder if his passing on the 4th of July, was some sort of final message from Klein to his past clients. Although some disgruntled clients may say that Karma finally caught up with Klein in the end with him suffering from Alzheimer's disease, many who knew Klein's personality, may think that Klein probably had the whole thing planned to pass away on the 4th of July, so he can go out with a bang. A bit far fetched? Sure, but it certainly matched his style. Continued on the next page
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