The Beatles’ first contract with manager Brian Epstein is expected to sell for about £300,000 at auction.
Paul McCartney, John Lennon, George Harrison and their first drummer Pete Best signed the document on 24 January 1962, before achieving worldwide fame.
“[Epstein] stopped them eating on stage,” Gabriel Heaton, a specialist at the Sotheby’s auction house, said.
“He made sure they played the songs properly and coherently, and he got them bowing at the end of a set.”
The document, said to have been signed by the band in the front room of Best’s mother’s house, was the first of two contracts drawn up between Epstein and The Beatles.
It gave Epstein responsibility for finding the band work, and managing their schedule and publicity.
He was also to oversee “all matters concerning clothes, make-up and the presentation and construction of the artists’ acts and also on all music to be performed”.
Mr Heaton said: “He was just blown away by the passion, the energy, the charisma, the raw sexuality on stage.
“They had the stage energy but he instilled a sense of professionalism in them.”
The band’s previous manager, Allan Williams, had warned Epstein “they’ll let you down”.
Brian Epstein
- The Liverpool-born manager was in charge of the record section of his family’s shop, North End Music Stores, when he first saw The Beatles at the city’s Cavern Club
- After signing the band, he changed their image from leather jackets and jeans to suit and ties
- Epstein managed other Merseyside acts, including Cilla Black, and Gerry and The Pacemakers
- He died in 1967, aged 32, following a drug overdose – the inquest ruled it as an accidental death
However, Epstein did not sign the contract himself, saying “even though I knew I would keep the contract in every clause, I had not 100% faith in myself to help The Beatles adequately”.
“I wanted to free The Beatles of their obligations if I felt they would be better off,” he said.
The contract outlines that Epstein’s fee would be 10%, rising to 15% if their earnings should exceed £120 a week – McCartney had negotiated the maximum limit down from 20%.
Following Best’s departure from the band, another contract was signed on 1 October 1962 with Ringo Starr as drummer – and Epstein’s cut at a higher percentage.
The original contract, from the collection of Epstein’s publisher Ernest Hecht, is being auctioned for the first time next month.
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THE BEATLES A Hard Day's Night (1964 UK second pressing 13-track mono vinyl LP on the black & yellow Parlophone label with 'The Gramophone Co Ltd' perimeter text & 'Sold in UK' central label text, Garrod & Lofthouse front laminated flipback picture sleeve with mid sized block 'mono' logo on the front, rounded flipbacks & Emitex inner PMC1230) See 'More Info' for further details ... #Top 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time
- The Beatles - The Beatles In Mono - EX - UK - cd album box set - £175.00, $227.50, €210.00 (New Item) (arrived 02-Apr-2025 10:04)on April 3, 2025 at 2:49 pm
THE BEATLES The Beatles In Mono (2009 UK limited edition THIRTEEN CD mono box set manufactured in Japan, all having received true analogue remastering treatment by a dedicated team of engineers at Abbey Road studios. All the albums [apart from Mono Masters]come housed in LP-style packaging reduced in exquisite detail to CD-sized format, with everything from the recreation of the vinyl label to the Emitex or paper inner sleeve replete with original text. The jackets are exactreproductions of theoriginal UK vinyl releases & have been manufactured in Japan to the very highest quality & attention to detail, housed in an outer slipcase, with the forty four page illustrated booklet. This example is strictly graded Excellent, the edges of the box show some discolouration and light shelfwear. However, all discs remain Near Mint in their respective resealable bags. Offered at an advantageous price) See 'More Info' ... #Top 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time
- The Beatles - Rarities + Obi - Japanese - vinyl LP - £50.00, $65.00, €60.00 (New Item) (arrived 31-Mar-2025 17:00)on April 3, 2025 at 2:49 pm
THE BEATLES Rarities (1980 Japanese 15-track LP, housed in a gatefold picture sleeve which has the famous 'Butcher sleeve' photograph inside, complete with fold-out illustrated lyric insert & the '#35 Stars & Stripes' obi-strip. The packagingshows little signs of age & the vinyl is Near Mint EAS-81325)
- The Beatles - I Want To Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There - Sealed - UK - 7" vinyl - £19.99, $25.99, €23.99 (New Item) (arrived 01-Apr-2025 09:57)on April 3, 2025 at 2:49 pm
THE BEATLES I Want To Hold Your Hand / I Saw Her Standing There (RSD Black Friday 2024 UK/EU exclusive limited edition black vinyl 7" single, cut from the original US version of the master tapes by Kevin Reeves in Nashville, using all-analog cutting process and the 1970 lathe that was in the Capitol studio. The same masters as used for the latest U.S. Mono series albums and the 1964 box set. Picture sleeve replicating the original 1964 cover artwork, with 'The BeatlesAreComing!' hype sticker, factory sealed) #RSD Black Friday 2024
- The Beatles - Revolver - Red vinyl - EX - Japanese - vinyl LP - £65.00, $84.50, €78.00 (New Item) (arrived 01-Apr-2025 10:32)on April 3, 2025 at 2:49 pm
THE BEATLES Revolver (1969 Japanese first Apple issue of the 1966 14-track stereo LP pressed on 'Everclean' Red Vinyl, picture sleeve complete with Japanese / lyric insert and black die-cut Apple inner. Thesleeve shows moderate signs of wear, the insert has noticeable foxing and despite foxing to the labels, the vinyl is Excellent with just a few light scuffs to indicate play AP-8443) #Top 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time
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