While it was clear in 1962 that The Beatles were a tight band, it would have been impossible to imagine how they would change the face of popular music in the decade that followed.
Clearly, former manager Allan Williams lacked that foresight, having revealed in a recent interview that he handed the band over to Brian Epstien for a mere £9 (worth around £250 then) after the fab four failed to pay back money that they owed him.
According to the NME, Williams dropped the band after they failed to pay him back the £9 as part of the 15% commission that he was owed for their legendary concerts in Hamburg. It was a decision that he would regret for the rest of his life:
"I still lose sleep over it 50 years later. No-one could have guessed The Beatles would become so famous. At that time there were 300 groups in Liverpool, who were as good or better than The Beatles. And I didn't even get my £9... I remember watching them doing a performance before the Queen about a year later and throwing a cushion at the TV."
Williams would turn to drink in light of his decision to sell John, Paul, George and Pete (Ringo joined the band on Brian Epstein’s recommendation in 1962), but in recent years, he has come to terms with his decision to sell The Beatles:
"I no longer have regrets. I am glad to have been there in the '60s at the start of it all."
In other Beatles news, Backbeat, the 1994 film that told the story of early fifth Beatle Stu Sutcliffe, has been turned into a musical on London’s west end.
hahahaha so funny. lets all give him a little attention thats all he needs
