Derek Taylor joins Apple

Between April and December 1964, journalist Derek Taylor was employed by Brian Epstein’s NEMS, handling press releases for The Beatles. In early 1965, he departed from London for California to serve as a publicist for bands like the Byrds, the Beach Boys, and the Mamas and the Papas.

On this day, Derek Taylor returned to London to take up the position of head of the press office at Apple Corps.

One Sunday morning, I met the four Beatles and we were talking about Apple and what was going to happen, and what we were going to do, when one of them said, ‘Aye, I’ll tell you who will be great with this, Derek Taylor. Our old mate, Derek.’ Derek was a hell of a character, and, at this time, was in Los Angeles. The Beatles said, ‘Derek will be great for Apple,’ and I said, ‘Yes, great. Doing what?’ They said, ‘Well, we’ll think of something.’ So, I rang Derek, and said to him, ‘Hello, I’ve got some people here, they want to talk to you.’ There and then, during that phone conversation, Derek agreed to pack up in Los Angeles and come over to England to work for Apple.

Alistair Taylor – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman, 2008

At the end of 1967 I got a call from all of The Beatles, a conference call from Hille House. That was where they had the big Apple launch meeting and they said, ‘Come and join us, and you can run Apple Records.’ It sounded like a wonderful treat. We had all changed. We’d been at a big housewarming party at Brian Epstein’s house in Sussex in May, Sgt Pepper time. I had been given LSD by George, and John had given me a dose separately and earlier, so I had a big double dose and we did see wonderful things. We became hippies, really. And The Beatles had changed a lot from being rather charming but world-weary pop stars into being extremely nice, gentle, buggable souls. They really were very sweet in 1967, and we believed we were going to make everything very beautiful and that it was going to be, now, a wonderful world. So the idea of going back to England from California after having had three good years there was, I thought, like going to the Holy Land.

When all the stuff on the phone was over and done with – about what I was actually going to do, it was said: ‘Well, you don’t have to do anything, man. We don’t believe in labels or structures or anything. Just come and be – that sort of thing – ‘and we’ll pay your fare.’ So I came over in April 1968. Work structures were still slightly important, but not very. ‘The Lord will provide’ was the idea.

Derek Taylor – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

From Wikipedia:

[…] In April 1968, at Harrison’s request, Taylor returned to England to work for the Beatles again, as the press officer for their newly created Apple Corps. Taylor oversaw the public launch of the company’s record label, Apple Records, in August 1968, marked by the release of the Beatles’ single “Hey Jude“. As part of the campaign, “Hey Jude” and three other Apple singles were compiled in a gift box and despatched to Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen Mother and the British prime minister. During this period, Taylor frequently clashed with Paul McCartney, about whom he later wrote: “I don’t think I ever hated anyone as much as I hated Paul in the summer of 1968.” That same year, Taylor provided uncredited contributions to the lyrics of two songs issued on the band’s double album, The Beatles: “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” and “Savoy Truffle“. […]

BEATLE MAN BACK

DEREK Taylor, DISC’s former American columnist, was being strongly tipped this week to become the Beatles’ new manager. He returned from the US recently and is staying with Paul McCartney and his father just outside Liverpool.

Spokesman for NEMS Enterprises, for whom Taylor once worked as press officer before moving to America, strongly denied Taylor was taking over. “There is no truth in the story,” said Tony Barrow.

From Disc And Music Echo – December 9, 1967

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