Beatles Sign for Epstein
Liverpool, Merseyside The 24th of January 1962 AD
While The Beatles signed a contract in Liverpool, formally making Brian Epstein their manager on January 24 1962, for his own reasons Epstein did not in fact sign with The Beatles , at least not until October 1 the same year. Epstein obviously had confidence in the group – he had been supporting them for many weeks by January 24 – but later implied he was giving them the option of dropping him if they had so wished. The legal position of the contract is debatable: neither Paul nor George were of age, both being under 21; and without Epstein’s signature the lawyers would have had a field-day in any dispute, though it is probable that given his financial backing the contract would have held.
Brian Epstein negotiated a very significant cut of the band’s gross earnings for the next five years; they were not happy giving him this 25 per cent, but he had set things in motion with record companies, had improved their image and stage act, and had impressed them with his big car and other trappings of the wealth that they would go on to enjoy and exceed – except for Pete Best: by the time the true contract was signed in October Pete Best had been replaced by Ringo - Richard Starkey.
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