Mark Lewisohn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mark Lewisohn (born 1958) is an English historian and writer on popular culture acclaimed by fans as one of the world's foremost experts on The Beatles. He is the author of The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years (ISBN 0-681-03189-1), written after he was commissioned by EMI in 1987 to listen to all of The Beatles' original session tapes. Lewisohn - who worked as news editor for Johnny Dean's The Beatles Book- also wrote The Complete Beatles Chronicle (ISBN 0-600-60033-5). Whereas these two books are "reference" books, Lewisohn is currently working on an epic three volume biography of The Beatles, reportedly called FAB, that will conclude in 2016. According to the author, the first volume of the collection is due 2009.
Other books by Lewisohn include: The Beatles Live! (1986), out of print at the present time, The Beatles Day By Day (1990, out of print), The Beatles London (1994, second edition 2008, along with Piet Schreuders and Adam Smith), Radio Times Guide to Comedy (1998) and Funny, peculiar: the true story of Benny Hill (2002). The Radio Times Guide to Comedy was also available until 2007 online as the BBC Guide to Comedy. He has also written nostalgic articles for the Radio Times.
Lewisohn also helped editing the book Hendrix: Setting The Record Straight, written by John McDermott and Eddie Kramer, and contribute with forewords to some outstanding Beatles-related works as follows: Recording The Beatles, by Brian Kehew and Kevin Ryan, and Beatles Gear - All The Fab Four's Instruments, From Stage To Studio, by Andy Babiuk.
Due to a superb ability to research facts and genuine interest on the whole Beatles oeuvre, Mark Lewisohn has been invited to participate in several works involving the Fab Four's legacy - group and solo.
After working for a long time as editor and writer for Paul McCartney's (now closed) fanzine Club Sandwich, Lewisohn was invited by the former Beatle to write the liner notes included on several albums, namely: Flaming Pie, Band on the Run: 25th Anniversary Edition and Wingspan: Hits and History and edit Paul McCartney's 'Wingspan' book.
In 2000, Mark Lewisohn was commissioned to write liner notes for the retrospective 6-CD box set Produced by George Martin - 50 Years in Recording, released in July 2001. He also contributed with notes for the booklet of The Beatles' The Capitol Albums, Volume 1, released in 2004. In 2007 he wrote the foreword to the long awaited German book "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand - Die Beatles in Deutschland 1960 - 1970" (www.komm-gib-mir-deine-hand.de) by Thorsten Knublauch & Axel Korinth.