Mal Evans Biography

Malcolm 'Mal' Evans (May 27, 1935 – January 5, 1976) is best known as the road manager, assistant, and a friend of The Beatles.
In the early 1960s, Evans was employed as a telephone engineer, and also worked part-time as a bouncer at the Cavern Club, where The Beatles performed. Their manager Brian Epstein later hired Evans as their assistant road manager - Neil Aspinall was The Beatles' first road manager. Peter Brown, one of Epstein's staff, later wrote of Evans as "a kindly, but menacing-looking young man" - Evans was tall and heavily-built - and states that he was also employed as the band's bodyguard. Evans contributed to many Beatle recordings, and appeared in some of the films they made. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, but Evans carried on assisting the band and working with them in the studio.

Mal Evans was killed by police on January 5, 1976 at his rented duplex in Los Angeles. Officers were called when neighbours reported Evans and his girlfriend having a loud, drunken quarrel. Police believed that the air gun Evans was holding was a firearm, and shot him dead. Evans was cremated on January 7, 1976 in Los Angeles, and his ashes were sent by post back to England, but were lost.

Three months after starting at the Cavern Club, Mal Evans was hired by Brian Epstein as a road manager. Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall’s duties were to drive the van while the band were on tour, set up and test the equipment, and then pack it up again. The Beatles were being driven back to Liverpool from London by Evans through heavy fog on  January 21, 1963, when the windscreen was hit by a pebble and cracked, so Evans had to break a large hole in it to see the road ahead. This was in winter, so The Beatles had to huddle up in the back with a bottle of whisky and try to stay warm in the freezing temperatures.

Mal Evans had many other duties. As well as acting as a bodyguard, he was sent to buy anything they needed, such as suits, boots, meals, or drinks.. If Lennon said "Socks, Mal", Evans would have to rush to a local Marks and Spencer store and buy six pairs of cotton socks for him. In 1967, Evans wrote in his diaries that he "bought Ringo some undies for his visit to the doctor". The Beatles started their first European tour in January 1964, and Evans was allowed to take his wife and son with him, but was involved in a "big punch-up" with photographers in Paris while protecting them. Epstein’s associate, Alistair Taylor, once asked him why he was driving an Austin Princess limousine, rather than a Daimler, a Bentley, or a Rolls-Royce. The Beatles were forced to choose an Austin (as Evans explained) because they had tested every car to see how wide the doors would open as they (literally) had to "dive into the car" to escape their fans.

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