Derek Taylor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Derek Taylor (May 7, 1932 – September 8, 1997) was a British journalist, best known as the long-serving press agent for the hugely popular rock band, 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.
In 1964 Taylor co-wrote A Cellarful of Noise, the autobiography of the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein, after several months of collaborating with George Harrison on a running newspaper column. He became Epstein's personal assistant, and the Beatles' press agent. In 1965 he moved to Los Angeles and started his own public relations company, managing the PR for bands like Paul Revere and the Raiders, the Byrds and the Beach Boys. He 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.
Taylor was also a catalyst in Harry Nilsson's musical career; hearing Nilsson's song "1941" on a car radio, he bought a case (twenty-five copies) of his album Pandemonium Shadow Show, sending copies to different industry people – including all four Beatles, who soon invited Nilsson to London. Taylor wrote the liner notes for Aerial Ballet and later Nilsson albums, and served as producer on A Little Touch of Schmilsson in the Night.
In 1968, Taylor returned to England to work for the Beatles again, as the press officer for the newly created Apple Corps. As a VIP at Apple, Taylor had a major role in the company's ups and downs, making or enforcing many crucial business and personal decisions, for the Beatles and Apple's staff, and witnessing many key moments in the latter days of both. His role is well-portrayed in The Longest Cocktail Party, a memoir of Apple by former "house hippie" Richard DiLello, and other Beatles biographies.
Taylor gets a name-check in the last verse of "Give Peace a Chance", along with Tommy Smothers, Timothy Leary, and Norman Mailer, who all participated in the recording.
In 1980, Taylor collaborated again with George Harrison, helping to complete I Me Mine, Harrison's autobiography. Taylor followed with one of his own, Fifty Years Adrift, published in 1982 by Genesis Publications.
Derek Taylor died of cancer on September 8, 1997.
