Tuesday 25 March 2008

Fifth Beatle Passes Away

"Nell" seriously was "the Fifth Beatle" - much-more-so than Brian Epstein. He was right there beside them thru thick and thin in good times and bad. He was, in reality, one of the truely "good blokes" in the music industry.

Neil (left) with Brian Epstein, leaving a plane during the height of Beatlemania in the mid '60's
Neil Aspinall, a close friend of The Beatles, died in New York of lung cancer, former band members said on Monday. He was 66.

After going to school in Liverpool with Paul McCartney and George Harrison, Aspinall became road manager and personal assistant for the so-called Fab Four, one of the most successful pop bands of the 1960s. He died after receiving care at the Sloan-Kettering hospital in Manhattan.

"All his friends and loved ones will greatly miss him, but will always retain the fondest memories of a great man," McCartney, Ringo Starr and the widows of John Lennon and Harrison said in a statement released by Aspinall's family.

Neil in 1969, managing Apple for The Beatles.

Aspinall fell ill to lung cancer two months ago and McCartney was reported by British media to have flown to New York to visit him on his deathbed. He died on Sunday night at the hospital, a family spokesman said.

He is survived by his wife Suzy and five children.

"I've known Neil many years and he was a good friend. We were blessed to have him in our lives and he will be missed," Starr said in a separate statement.

Last year Aspinall stepped down as chief executive of Apple Corps Ltd, which he headed since 1968 after it was formed to cover The Beatles' financial and business affairs. (Source)
Peas be with ewe

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4 comments:

  1. Your neighbor is lucky.. the noise is music! He/she could be living next to a carpenter with big power tools. Now that's noise to complain about!!

    Thank you for stopping by!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fifth Beatle? Surely Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best have better claims to that title? Not to mention Billy Preston and a host of other folk who played on one or more of the Beatles' recordings.

    Actually I've always thought of myself as the 11th Beatle. If only I'd been a few years older... if only I'd been born in Liverpool... Who knows?

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  3. As far as someone who shared in their intimate day-to-day lives, sat right there beside them while they were recording, who organized their lives while they were busy being Beatles, "Nell" more than anyone else qualifies as the "Fifth Beatle", believe me! heh heh.

    No one else would have put up with their shit! rofl.

    The "Sixth" Beatle was also undoubtedly Mal Evans, their loyal long-suffering roadie.

    interesting comment about the power tools, as one of the nearby neighbours does exactly that about once a month... we even made a comment about it ourselves. I guess the lady was just having a 'bad day'.

    Cyalayta
    Warren Grimsby and His bent-Spoons Orchestra :)

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  4. No, no, no. I am the sixth Beatle. But for the bad luck not to be born in Liverpool, and not to be born about five years earlier, and not to have enough talent as a guitarist, not to mention zero talent as a singer... I would have been one of the fab four. I did have the hair (once upon a time).

    ReplyDelete