Peter Brown (music industry)
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Peter Brown is an American businessman, born and educated in England. He currently resides in New York City.
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[edit] The Beatles
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 and helped set up their new company Apple Corps. He survived Allen Klein's initial gutting of Apple's staff at the personal request of The Beatles. He eventually left Apple on his own shortly after Allen Klein took over. 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. This makes Brown one of only four living people (other than the surviving Beatles themselves)to be mentioned by name in a Beatles song, the others being Doris Day and B. B. King (both mentioned in "Dig It") and Bob Dylan (mentioned in "Yer Blues").
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 co-wrote (with author Stephen Gaines) a biography of the Beatles titled The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles, which was published in 1983.
[edit] Career timeline
- 1964: Executive assistant to Brian Epstein; Director of NEMS Enterprises
- 1967: Executive director of newly-formed Apple Corps; appointed General Manager of Beatles & Co.
- 1971: President and CEO of the Robert Stigwood Organization US (RSO)
- 1977: Formed The Entertainment Development Company
- 1983: Published The Love You Make; formed Brown & Powers
- 1994: Brown and Powers becomes Brown & Argus
- 1997: Brown and Argus becomes Brown Lloyd James
