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Music Entrepreneur Allen Klein dies at 77
5-Jul-2009
Written by: Lawanda Johnson
Klein dies at 77 after suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Allen Klein was born in Newark, New Jersey on December 18, 1931. He spent several years in an orphanage after the death of his mother. He served in the U.S. Army and he started his own accounting firm in the late 1950s.
Klein earned a reputation as a heartless operator, obtaining lucrative deals from labels for his clients such as Sam Cooke, Bobby Darin and Herman’s Hermits. He also managed the Rolling Stones for five years in the mid-1960s and later managed the Beatles which he tried and failed to secure control of their copyrights. Klein once said to John Lennon that he “hired him to protect his interest in The Beatles, because he wanted ‘a real shark’ to keep the other sharks away.”
Klein helped the Stones negotiate a new contract with their label; however, he bought the rights to the band’s 1960s songs and recordings such as "(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction" and "Jumpin’ Jack Flash" from a former manager resulting in the end of their business relationship. At that time, a New York Times articled titled him as "the toughest wheeler-dealer in the pop jungle."
"I never wanted to be a manager. It was going over the books that I loved. And I was good at it," Klein told the Star-Ledger of Newark in 2002.
According to BBC News, his funeral will take place in New York on Tuesday.
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