Brian Epstein
The entire role of a manager is to make sure that their act never loses their momentum. The best musicians want to stay that way for as long as they can, and as long as they are still gigging and playing to massive stadiums around the world, that’s enough for them to keep moving forward. But becoming a true professional is something that needs a little more practice to get right, and Brian Epstein was the first one to see the potential of The Beatles and twist them in a different direction.
Although the Fab Four were already one of the biggest names in Liverpool before Epstein discovered them, he was determined to move them into bigger venues. But first, they needed to have a bit of a makeover, and from designing their iconic suits to having them synchronise their bow every time they ended one of their songs, Epstein was the first to present a more gentle form of rock and roll to the mainstream.
He may not have had as many ‘Fifth Beatle’ credentials as George Martin, but Epstein kept The Beatles at the forefront of the spotlight until his death, even managing to pivot when dealing with John Lennon’s ‘bigger than Jesus’ quotes. The Beatles were never certain if Epstein was going to stick around forever, but considering they were still referring to him as ‘Mr Epstein’ years after he died in the Get Back documentary, they all still knew the giant they had lost.
Patti Boyd
Most artists would be nowhere if not for the muses that they write for. Anyone can take the cynical route and write the kind of song designed to make money, but if there’s someone special to sing that love song to, it makes it all worth it when a crowd of people is singing along with you. The Beatles may have started as a bar band singing any love song they could get their hands on, but something changed in George Harrison’s musical DNA when he began writing for Pattie Boyd.
‘The Quiet One’ had only recently begun writing songs of his own, but throughout The Beatles’ career, he never failed to look to her for inspiration, whether that was ‘Something’, ‘I Need You’, or eventually ‘Dark Horse’ when she left him for Eric Clapton. It wasn’t like Clapton didn’t have his fair share of tunes for her, either, penning ‘Wonderful Tonight’ and ‘Bell Bottom Blues’ about her before and birthing one of the most incredible guitar licks of all time on ‘Layla’.
While everyone from Yoko Ono to Linda McCartney to Marianne Faithfull served as an inspiration to some of the greatest composers in rock, the songs that Boyd is associated with are still among the first things that most people think of when looking at the best rock and roll has to offer. Harrison may have spent his entire life trying to solidify his relationship with God, but there was probably some divine intervention that drew him to write something so beautiful for his other half.