Peter Brown (music industry)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Peter Brown is an American businessman, born and educated in England.

Brown was a personal assistant to Brian Epstein and The Beatles during the 1960s. He was a confidant to the Epstein family, and bore some resemblance to Brian in his looks and manner. (Their backgrounds were dissimilar; while Epstein's family were Jewish and affluent, Brown's family were Roman Catholic and lived modestly.) Brown was one of the few people to have direct contact with each Beatle, and know their daily whereabouts.

After Epstein's death, Brown assumed many of the day-to-day management duties Epstein had performed, until he was later displaced by the arrival of Lee Eastman and Allen Klein. He was also a board member of Apple Corps, the Beatles's company.

Brown was witness to both the weddings of Paul and Linda McCartney, and John Lennon and Yoko Ono, during 1969. Lennon immortalised Brown in a line from "The Ballad of John and Yoko" ("Peter Brown called to say 'You can make it OK, you can get married in Gibraltar near Spain'"), one of the last Beatles singles.

After the Beatles ended in 1970, Brown became President and Chief Executive Officer of the Robert Stigwood Organisation. In 1977, Brown formed the Entertainment Development Company. He also founded Brown & Powers, a public relations firm, in 1983, which later became Brown & Argus, and finally Brown Lloyd James in 1997.

Brown wrote a biography of the Beatles titled The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles, which was published in 1983. As stated in its jacket, the book had the cooperation of all four former Beatles, and was authorised by each member except Lennon (who had died in 1980). It contained a few previously-unrevealed details about their private lives, but was more notable for providing inside details to many familiar stories.