Derek Taylor Biography

Derek Taylor (May 7, 1932 – September 8, 1997) was a British journalist, best known as the long-serving press agent for The Beatles. He was a local journalist in Liverpool who worked for the Liverpool Daily Post and Echo, the News Chronicle, the Sunday Dispatch, and the Sunday Daily Express, and was also a regular columnist and theatre critic for the Northern Daily Express.

Taylor first met the band after reviewing their stage performance. Instead of the anticipated negative review of a rock-n-roll group, Taylor gave their act the highest praises. Invited to become acquainted with the Beatles camp, he soon became a confidant, and gained his share of exclusives on them.

As the Beatles gained national attention in Britain, Derek Taylor's editors conceived of a running column by a Beatle to boost circulation, under their byline but to be ghostwritten by Taylor. George Harrison was the member chosen. Initially given only the right to approve or disapprove of the content, Harrison's dissection of the first draft turned the column into an ongoing collaboration between him and Taylor, with Harrison providing the stories and Taylor giving them polish.

Brian Epstein hired Derek Taylor away from his newspaper job, putting him in charge of Beatles press releases, and playing media liaison to himself and the band. He also became Epstein's personal assistant. In 1964 Taylor co-wrote A Cellarful of Noise, Epstein's autobiography, then departed, moving his growing family to California. In 1965 he started his own public relations company, managing the PR for bands like Paul Revere and the Raiders, The Byrds and The Beach Boys. (Taylor was the first to apply the controversial "genius" label to Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson.) Derek Taylor was a co-creator and producer of the historic Monterey Pop Festival in 1967.

George Harrison's song "Blue Jay Way" was written during his 1967 visit to California, on a foggy night waiting for Taylor and his wife to come visit ("There's a fog upon L.A. / And my friends have lost their way"). Finding a small electric organ in his rented house (on Blue Jay Way), Harrison worked on the song until they arrived.

The Bealtes Entourage:

• George Martin
• Brian Epstein
• Neil Aspinall
• Mal Evans
• Derek Taylor
• Allen Klein
• Tony Sheridan
• Klaus Voorman
• Peter Brown
• Sid Bernstein
• Allan Williams
• Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
• Freda Kelly
• Geoff Emerick
• Norman Hurricane Smith