[32] Henderson hosted lavish, profitable live rhythm and blues shows at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and formed a partnership with Klein to begin doing the same in Philadelphia. The Stones agreed to a five-year payment plan suggested by Klein's son, Jody. [5], After years of pursuit by the IRS, Klein was convicted of a misdemeanor charge of making a false statement on his 1972 tax return, for which he spent two months of 1980 in jail. Inspired by Lennon's enthusiasm, Klein bought the film and put it in American release. by Allen Klein . [3] (The Rolling Stones's $1.25 million advance from the Decca Records label in 1965, for example, was deposited into a company that Klein had established, and the fine print of the contract did not require Klein to release it for 20 years. Richard Allen Klein Obituary. Klein is survived by his estranged wife, Betty, his children, Robin, Jody and Beth, and four grandchildren. "[114], Klein responded by suing the Beatles and Apple in New York, in order to recoup the loans he had made to his three former clients and other costs owing to ABKCO. It was said that he would lay his head on his desk during the class, apparently sleeping. Spector’s publishing company, Mother Bertha Music, Inc, was controlled by Trio, a Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller company, which was in turn administered by Warner/Chappell Music. [4] In 1972 Klein alleged that some of the songs on their album Exile on Main Street had been composed while the Stones were still under contract with ABKCO. Tracey would manufacture Cooke's recordings and give exclusive rights to RCA to sell them for 30 years, after which the rights would revert to Tracey. The judge encouraged the two sides to reach a settlement.[72]. Types Of Death Records. 1964 (at the hands of terrified motel manager, Bertha Franklin, who was armed with a .22 handgun and a broom stick) has sparked the imagination of conspiracy theorists. When the exasperated teacher directed a question at him, Klein gave the correct answer without lifting his head. [147], This article is about the American businessman. By July 1967, Klein and his associate Abbey Butler had acquired a controlling interest and filed to rename Cameo-Parkway as ABKCO, which is an acronym for "The Allen and Betty Klein Company." [29], Klein acquired a reputation as a tough negotiator who could bring money to his clients. 05 July 2009 • 18:42 pm. Levy at first refused to pay but Klein forced him to agree a partial settlement of the royalties owed, of which Klein took 25%. Bennett pleaded guilty to a single misdemeanor charge and became a witness against Klein. Andrew Loog Oldham commented at a subsequent memorial service that Klein had greatly magnified the success of the Rolling Stones. All royalties and publishing profits go to the Klein's corporation. His November 1970 three-disc set, All Things Must Pass, was a sales triumph, and produced hit singles in "My Sweet Lord" and "What Is Life". Introduced as "the most feared promoter in the world", Decline is so intimidating to his colleagues that they choose to throw themselves out of skyscraper windows rather than face him.[146]. He eventually negotiated vastly improved deals for The Animals,[47] Herman's Hermits,[47] the Kinks,[48] Lulu,[49] Donovan,[50] and Pete Townshend of the Who. A distributor never materialized, but Klein's enthusiasm for film persisted. In the late 1950s Klein shared an office with press agent Bernie Kamber, who represented Burt Lancaster, one of Marty's producers. In 1963 Cooke signed a five-year contract for Allen Klein to manage Kags Music and SAR Records and made him his manager. [11][12], In early work experience with a magazine and newspaper distribution company he showed skill with numbers, and learned about how profits were often concealed from those who had been crucial in generating them. Lenser, Allen L. "Blonde"February 2, 1951 - January 18, 2021SERVICES PENDINGPreceded in death by parents, Frank Lenser and Charlotte Klein; sister, Lori Rodriguez. In 1962 Klein produced a film called Without Each Other. [143] He died on July 4, 2009 in New York City. [7] His mother died of cancer soon afterward, and Klein lived for a time with his grandparents,[8] then subsequently in a Jewish orphanage,[9] until his father remarried shortly before Klein's 10th birthday. After the Stones coup, other artists came to Klein for help. Starting in 1986, when the introduction of compact discs brought great profits to the music industry, relations began to improve between Klein and the Stones. [14] After military service, and with the assistance of the G.I. [117][118] He also attempted to influence the outcome of Lennon's arrangement with music publisher Morris Levy regarding an alleged copyright infringement (of the Chuck Berry song "You Can't Catch Me") in Lennon's 1969 Beatles composition "Come Together". ", The song became a hit, popular for use at sporting events, and it was a big money-maker for ABKCO, which licensed its use for commercials advertising Nike shoes and Opel automobiles. In the power struggle between the two Americans, only McCartney backed Eastman; the other three agreed a contract that gave Klein 20% of the Beatles' earnings. Klein's goal was to get Spector all the money owed him, and also to wrest a concession allowing Spector to co-administer the future licensing of his music. [52], In the spring of 1965 Andrew Loog Oldham, co-manager of the Rolling Stones, saw in Klein a terrific business adviser and ally, one who could help him win an incipient power struggle with Eric Easton, a music business veteran who was then the other half of the band's management team. He eventually fell out with each of them, however, with Lennon writing in 1974 the vituperative song Steel and Glass about him. He died on July 4, 2009 in New York City. Yet we are asked to believe that three of the four Beatles found this "beady-eyed" "grossly overweight" "scorpion" such an attractive figure that they were prepared to trust him with their futures. [24] A key early contact was attorney Marty Machat, who frequently performed legal work for Klein over the years. [139][63], In 1988 Klein began managing Phil Spector’s business affairs, including his publishing and recording assets. Paul McCartney preferred to be represented by Lee and John Eastman, the father and brother respectively of McCartney's girlfriend Linda, whom he married on March 12. [80][81], Klein contacted John Lennon after reading his press comment that the Beatles would be "broke in six months" if things continued as they were. [87] Klein's attempt to fire Neil Aspinall, a longtime confidant of the Beatles, was immediately thwarted by the band. Klein invested this money, which earned far more than what Klein was obligated to pay to his clients, and he kept the difference in the accounts, thereby maintaining control over the money. Cooke would receive a cash advance of $100,000 per year for three years, followed by $75,000 for each of two option years. Allen Klein helps people find laughter in grief. The first of these intruders was Yoko Ono; the second was Linda Eastman; and the third was Allen Klein. ABKCO mainly licensed recordings to other companies but in 1991 it reissued a four-CD collection of recordings produced by Phil Spector. Allen Klein: The Man Who Bailed Out the Beatles, Made the Stones, and Transformed Rock & Roll By Fred Goodman Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 320 pp., $27 “Don’t talk to … [62][63] [45] Though the latter two prospects did not materialize, Most was suddenly one of the most talked-about and financially gratified figures in the English recording industry, and Klein was a step closer to eventual agreements with both the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. Klein countered with, and quickly secured, an arrangement paying the Stones twice as much, in the form of an advance. … No such rehabilitation [as was later afforded Ono and Eastman] was available for Allen Klein, who entered the Beatles' story as a villain from central casting, and never escaped that role. [97][98] He wanted to be released from his partnership with Lennon, Starr, and Harrison, who had in recent months proved a steady three-to-one majority against McCartney's proposals. [134] In 2008 Jodorowsky released the films in Europe and was sued by Klein. He then produced and financed Jodorowsky's next film, The Holy Mountain, an allegorical journey with psychedelic overtones. Allen Klein, the brash music mogul whose five-decade career included stints as the business manager for the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, died Saturday in New York. But the group had already hired John Eastman, the American brother of Paul McCartney's future wife Linda, as their general counsel. [31], Klein was hit with his first crisis in managing the Beatles when Clive Epstein, brother of Brian Epstein and chief heir to NEMS, the management company his brother had founded, sold NEMS to Triumph, a British investment group managed by Leonard Richenberg. In the spring of 1971, Harrison learned from his friend and mentor, Ravi Shankar, about the desperate people of Bangladesh, who had been devastated both by military violence and a vicious cyclone. [120][121][nb 3], Klein's 1973 lawsuit against the Beatles was settled out of court in January 1977, with Ono representing the former bandmates. [113] Early the following month, Lennon told an interviewer: "Let's say possibly Paul's suspicions were right … and the timing was right. [41] As with Cooke, Klein arranged for his clients to be paid over a period of time to reduce their tax liability. Allen Klein, who died on July 4 aged 77, was the American accountant who briefly managed the Beatles and was widely blamed for the group’s final split. 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